The Institute for Constitutional History (ICH), the nation's premier center dedicated to the exploration of the historical development of the U.S. constitution, invites applications—to be submitted by January 15, 2012—from advanced graduate students and early-career faculty who are interested in taking part in two Robert H. Smith seminars that the institute is organizing in spring 2012. There will be no tuition or other fees for participation in the seminars (although books and other necessary study material will have to be acquired by the participants themselves).

The seminar with the theme of "The Revolutionary Origins of American Constitutionalism," will be led by Pauline Maier, the William Rand Kenan, Jr., Professor of American History at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and by R. B. Bernstein, Distinguished Adjunct Professor of Law at New York Law School. This seminar, which will explore the origins of American constitutionalism and law in the Anglo-American past and the arguments and achievements of the revolutionary period (c. 1764–1789), will meet on Friday afternoons, 3:00–5:00 p.m., February 17 and 24, March 2, 9, 16 and 23, at the New-York Historical Society, in New York City.

The seminar with the theme of "Equal Justice under Law: The Enduring Legacy of the Warren Court, 1953–1969" will be led by Stephen Wermiel, a fellow in law and government at American University's Washington College of Law. This seminar, which will examine the Warren Court of the 1950s and 1960s, will meet Thursday evenings, 6:00–8:00 p.m., on February 9 and 23, March 1, 8, 22, and 29 at the George Washington University Law School, Washington, D.C.

Details about the seminars can be obtained by e-mailing Maeva Marcus, director of the ICH, at MMarcus@nyhistory.org. Details about the institution and its programs, as well as the two seminars can be found online at nyhistory.org/education/college-graduate-students/institute-constitutional-history.