Sauk County Historical Society [WI]

Description

The Sauk County Historical Society seeks to preserve and share the history of Sauk County, Wisconsin. To this end, the society operates a museum, located within the 1903 Tudor Revival-style Jacob Van Orden Mansion. This structure contains a variety of exhibits dedicated to topics of local historical interest. Topics include Devil's Lake, Native Americans, pioneers, military, and architecture.

The society offers museum tours and archival access. Reservations are required for group tours, and the archives require payment for non-member use.

Union County Historical Society [GA]

Description

The Union County Historical Society seeks to preserve and share the history of Union County, Georgia. To this end, the society operates a museum. The museum, located within the 1899 Historic Union County Courthouse, presents local history through a collection of textiles, costume, Native American objects, vernacular items, and medical equipment. Collection highlights include the Margarita Morgan Miniature House Collection.

The society offers exhibits, museum tours, and a non-circulating genealogical library.

Rensselaer County Historical Society [NY]

Description

The Rensselaer County Historical Society seeks to preserve and share the history of Rensselaer County, New York. To this end, the society operates the 1827 Hart-Cluett House, a Federal-style townhouse. Collections include furnishings, fine arts, decorative arts pieces, costumes, textiles, vernacular artifacts, and military artifacts.

The society offers exhibits; lectures; walking tours; scavenger hunts; hands-on outreach programs; educational programs; library access; Girl Scout programs; camps; and guided tours of the Hart-Cluett House , exhibits, and/or local architecture. Reservation are required for school groups.

Lehigh County Historical Society [PA]

Description

The Lehigh County Historical Society seeks to preserve and share the history of Pennsylvania's Lehigh Valley. To this end, the society operates a museum, six historical sites, and a research library. Collections include more than 35,000 artifacts and close to 3 million archival documents. Historical sites include the 1770 Trout Hall, the 1756 Troxell-Steckel Farm, the 1893 Claussville One-room School, Haines Mill, the 1868 Lock Ridge Furnace, and the 1893 Saylor Park Cement Kilns.

The society offers exhibits; guided tours; archival and library access; and outreach living history presentations, slide shows, and videos. Interactive school tours include pre- and post-visit material, and were developed in accordance with state educational standards. The society can provide boxed lunches upon request.

Wisconsin Historical Society

Description

The Wisconsin Historical Society seeks to preserve and share the history of the state of Wisconsin. To this end, the society operates the Wisconsin Historical Museum. Permanent exhibits include frontier and immigration history, as well as Native American life. The Native American exhibit includes an Aztalan-style house, which visitors are welcome to enter. Collections consist of more than 110,000 objects and 400,000 artifacts.

The museum offers exhibits, films, interactive audio-visual presentations, full-scale dioramas, workshops, storytelling, lectures, demonstrations, an activity-based self-guided tour, guided tours, hands-on activities, and educational programs in compliance with state educational standards. Reservations are required for school groups and for use of the lunchroom. The society also offers archaeology traveling trunks and outreach presentations for second through fourth grade students. The website offers an extensive state historical database, lesson plans, information on National History Day programming, virtual exhibits, an educational framework on historical thinking, educational games, a fourth-grade textbook, and exhibit-related teachers' guides.

Farmers' Museum [NY]

Description

The Farmer's Museum is an outdoor historical museum which presents the rural heritage of the U.S. Key features include an 1840s village, heritage gardens, and the Lippitt Farmstead. The farm site includes heritage breeds of sheep, turkeys, and cattle, as well as a farmhouse, barns, a granary, a hop house, a smokehouse, and a poultry house. An interactive 1910 county fair is on the grounds on a seasonal basis. Collections consist of over 23,000 artifacts including wallpaper, textiles, and a particularly strong showing of historical woodworking tools.

The museum offers period rooms, gardens, hands-on activities, demonstrations, historic skill workshops, lectures, educational children's programs, a children's interpretation program, and guided tours for groups. Two weeks advance notice is required for group tours. The website offers a museum blog.

J.E.B. Stuart Birthplace [VA]

Description

The J.E.B. Stuart Birthplace commemorates the site where J.E.B. Stuart (1833-1864), future Confederate commander, was born. Best known for his mastery of both cavalry and reconnaissance, Stuart treasured his family lands, but was unable to retire to them due to his death on May 12th, 1864, following a wound received at the Battle of Yellow Tavern. The site presents information on his family home, destroyed by fire, and his role in the Civil War.

The site offers a self-guided walking tour with interpretive signage.

Frank Lloyd Wright's The Westcott House [OH]

Description

Architect Frank Lloyd Wright (1867-1959) built The Westcott House in 1908 as a Prairie Style residence. Wright pioneered the Prairie Style (1893-circa 1917) as a means of connecting architecture with the natural landscape. Features include bands of windows, open floor plans, and emphasis on horizontal line—the horizontal echoing the Midwestern horizon and considered to be symbolic of freedom and domesticity. Wright is known for designing the totality of his works—from the architecture to the interior finishes and furnishings—in order to create a designed immersion environment. The Westcott House is the only Prairie Style dwelling in Ohio.

The house offers an 8-minute introductory video and a 45-minute guided tour. Reservations are highly recommended; and are necessary for tours in Spanish, Portuguese, Italian, German, French, Polish, Swedish and ASL. The second floor is not accessible by wheelchair.