Teaching American History through Biography is a partnership between the Maine Humanities Council, Bowdoin College, and a consortium including Portland Public Schools and the Sebago Educational Alliance in south-central Maine. The project is designed to improve the teaching of American history as an independent subject in Grades 5 through 12 by increasing teachers' content knowledge through the close study of American biography. Participants receive training in archival techniques and research as a basis for independent research projects and the preparation of essays for the Council website. Other activities include after-school colloquia, summer institutes at Bowdoin College, field trips, a writing workshop, and a summary conference. Institute topics include the following: American Faces: The Colonial and Federal Eras; Why Did the Revolution Happen?; De Tocqueville's America; Reconstruction and its Aftermath; and Progressivism and Reform in Early 20th Century America. Biographies are used throughout the project to examine the development of the American Republic from the 17th through the 20th Centuries.