A Typical Week

Many people considering applying for a spot at the NEH Summer Institute wonder what exactly will I do in Milledgeville for almost a month? The answer is a lot!

Our cohort of 25 scholars are divided into three groups. These groups will experience the following:

  • Classes with our O’Connor Institute seminar leaders
  • Working in the O’Connor Collection on individual research projects with access to O’Connor’s manuscripts and other holdings
  • Individual conferences with the resident seminar leaders
  • Group dinners
  • Formal public lectures by seminar leaders
  • Teaching sessions with invited speakers
  • Casual discussion and networking in back porch sessions
  • Major trips to Emory University’s Special Collection in Atlanta and O’Connor’s childhood home in Savannah
  • Small trips to a variety of near-by sites including: Alice Walker sites in Eatonton, GA, filming location for Wise Blood in Macon, or attending service a O’Connor’s local church, Sacred Heart

In short, the days are packed but manageable. For avid O’Connor readers, it is rich time. Mrs. Turpin’s hogs in her pig parlor never had it so good!

All participants are expected to follow The Principles of Civility for NEH Professional Development Programs

Lectures

Each faculty member will give an evening lecture at the Institute that is open to the public. These will also live streamed via Facebook and Zoom.

In addition, various guest scholars will be brought in virtually as well as in person to provide more background on O’Connor and her work.

Movies

A full day of O'Connor related films, everything from the one-minute, chicken-walking-backward film to the only film interview of O'Connor to the feature-length version of Wise Blood.

Flannery O’Connor Childhood Home, Savannah, GA

Get up early to head to the Flannery O'Connor Childhood Home in Savannah. We'll get a guided tour of this thoroughly restored house museum, and we'll still have time for lunch and a walk around the neighborhood in which O'Connor grew up. We'll have a good bus that will keep travel time to a minimum, time in Savannah to a maximum on our one-day excursion. See the famous kiddie coop!
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Flannery O’Connor Collection at Stuart A. Rose, Emory University, Atlanta, GA

Flannery O’Connor Collection at Stuart A. Rose Manuscripts, Archives, and Rare Book Library, Emory University, Atlanta, GA
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Syllabrunch

Spend a day exchanging ideas and techniques for teaching Flannery O’Connor.

Optional Group Trips

Central State Asylum grounds; Alice Walker birthplace; and The Big House, home of the Allman Brothers band