Lower East Side Tenement Museum

Description

The Museum tells the stories of 97 Orchard Street. Built on Manhattan's Lower East Side in 1863, this tenement apartment building was home to nearly 7,000 working class immigrants. They faced challenges people understand today: making a new life, working for a better future, starting a family with limited means. In recognizing the importance of this seemingly ordinary building, the Tenement Museum has reimagined the role that museums can play in modern lives.

The museum offers exhibits, tours, educational programs, and educational and recreational events.

Montana Historical Society [MT]

Description

The Montana Historical Society offers the Montana Museum, the Original Governor's Mansion, and the Montana State Capitol to visitors. The Montana Museum contains exhibits on Montana homesteaders and a collection of artwork from Montana's "cowboy artist" Charles M. Russell (1864-1926). The Governor’s Mansion was used from 1913-1959 and was built in the Queen Anne style.

The Museum offers docent-led and self-guided group tours free of charge to school groups. The Museum has a variety of tours and educational programs suitable for grades K-12. Pre- and post-visit activities are available for teachers. The State Capitol offers free self-guided tours for school groups. The Original Governor’s Mansion provides guided tours and children’s guided tours.

Selfridge Military Air Museum [MI]

Description

The Selfridge Military Air Museum is located on the Selfridge Air National Guard Base in Michigan, and is home to an impressive collection of military air technology. In addition, the museum is home to a collection of air combat memorabilia, including newspapers, patches, and photographs.

The museum offers guided tours and exhibits. The website offers visitor information, photographs of museum displays, and a history of the museum.

Colorado Arts and Crafts Society [CO]

Description

The Colorado Arts and Crafts Society researches and promotes awareness of the Arts and Crafts Movement in Colorado (circa 1895-1920). Pride in personal workmanship is key to the Arts and Crafts Movement, instigated by philosopher John Ruskin and poet William Morris. The society is located within the 1917 Craftsman-style Boettcher Mansion.

The society offers tours, lectures, and educational programs.

Quiet Valley Living Historical Farm [PA]

Description

The 100-acre Quiet Valley Living Historical Farm presents the daily life of the Pennsylvania German family who lived on the farm between the 1760s and 1913. A farmhouse, originally erected in the 1760s; spring house; cabin; replica circa 1893 schoolhouse; a circa 1850 barn; and nine other structures complete the site's outfit of buildings. Creatures and crops located on site include rabbits, horses, chickens, goats, mules, cows, sheep, pigs, turkeys, flax, wheat, corn, rye, and potatoes.

The farm offers guided tours, hands-on period skill learning, educational programs, home school programs, costumed living history interpreters, children's summer programs, workshops on historical crafts and skills, outreach programs, and a picnic pavilion. Outreach program options include a visit from one of the farm's sheep or chickens. The website offers pre-visit information for teachers, post-visit activities, a farm animal sponsorship program, and a virtual tour.

Dorothy G. Page Museum and Historic Town Site [AK]

Description

The Dorothy G. Page Museum presents the history of the Wasilla, Knik, and Willow Creek areas, Alaska. Exhibit topics include mining; the Knik Trading Co.; the postal system; the Den'iana Athabascans, the local Native American population; and Joe Reddington Sr. and Dorothy G. Page, founders of the Iditarod. Eight historic structures display the 1917 beginnings of Wasilla.

The museum offers exhibits and tours. Reservations are required for tours.

Collier Memorial State Park [OR]

Description

Collier Memorial State Park has an outdoor camping focus but also has one of the finest Logging Museums in the country. The outdoor museum features more than 75 pieces of antique logging and railroad equipment as wells as a Pioneer village.

The outdoor museum offers free, self-guided tours. There are no educational programs designed for school groups. Wagon rides and costumed interpreters may be offered, check before making reservations.

Bannack State Park [MT]

Description

Bannack State Park is the site of Montana's first major gold discovery on July 28, 1862. This strike set off a massive gold rush that swelled Bannack's population to over 3,000 by 1863. As the value of gold steadily dwindled, Bannack's bustling population was slowly snuffed out. There are over 50 buildings that line Main Street with their historic log and frame structures that recall Montana's formative years.

A second website for the site can be found here.

The site offers exhibits, tours, educational programs, and occasional recreational and educational events (including living history events).

Belcourt Castle [RI]

Description

Unique among the mansions of Newport, "Belcourt," a Louis-XIII-style hunting lodge, was designed by Richard Morris Hunt, "the Dean of American architects." The 60-room summer cottage cost 3 million dollars, employing 300 skilled European craftsmen between 1891 and 1894. Today, celebrating 50 years in the Tinney Family, Belcourt Castle is home to an extensive collection of art and antiques from over 30 countries spanning diverse cultures and centuries. The collection includes 13th-century European stained glass, 10th- to 20th-century furniture from around the world, 17th- to 20th-century paintings, Renaissance armor, and a gold coronation coach.

The site offers tours.

Dana-Thomas House

Description

The Dana-Thomas House, perhaps the best-preserved example of famed architect Frank Lloyd Wright's "Prairie period" dwellings, was built for feminist socialite and heiress Susan Lawrence Dana (1862–1946). Constructed between 1902 and 1904, the house has been restored to appear as it might have been furnished shortly after being built. In 1974 the structure was entered on the National Register of Historic Places and in 1976 was designated a National Historic Landmark. One-hour guided tours begin at the carriage house visitor center, which contains a small exhibit area, an auditorium, and the Sumac Shop. Tours open with a 10-minute orientation video that provides background information on Frank Lloyd Wright, Susan Lawrence Dana, and construction of the Dana-Thomas House. Visitors see a stunning collection of elegant art glass, Arts and Crafts style furniture, dramatic lamps, and ceramics. Several items owned by Susan Lawrence Dana and her family are on display.

The site offers tours, exhibits, a short film, and educational and recreational events.