The Golden Triangle Curriculum Cooperative of small, often isolated, rural school districts will address professional development in American history instruction in grades 5-12 in partnership with the University of Montana, Montana Historical Society, U.S. Forest Service Lewis and Clark Interpretive Center, and Montana Office of Public Instruction. The project aims to generate excitement about the history curriculum, build content knowledge and teaching skills, increase student proficiency, and develop materials and lasting alliances among teachers, scholars, historians, and tribes. Summer history institutes focus on history benchmarks of the Montana Social Studies Standards with which teachers want content and teaching assistance: three worlds meet, expansion and reform, emergence of modern America, post-war U.S., development of the industrial U.S., and contemporary U.S. Workshops, site visits, mentoring, research, and web-based materials will supplement participants' understanding of historical perspectives.