Minnesota Historical Society

Description

The Minnesota Historical Society seeks to preserve and share the history of Minnesota. To this end, the society operates a history center and 26 historical sites located throughout the state. The Minnesota History Center collections include more than 230,000 artifacts, including a collection of Ojibwa pieces; 6,000 works of art; and 53,000 cubic feet of government records, among other items.

The Minnesota History Center offers a 30-minute introductory film, exhibits, interactive field trip programs, library access, and two lunch sites—one indoor and one outdoor. Reservations must be made at least two weeks in advance for field trip programs and/or use of the indoor dining area. Lunches can be ordered ahead from the museum restaurant. The center can arrange for sign language interpreters and wheelchair availability. The society also offers outreach presentations given by costumed interpreters and continuing education workshops for teachers.

The website offers blogs on selected artifacts, local historical organizations, and the archives; a forum for historical researchers; video podcasts; historical images; lesson plans on Minnesota and the Holocaust; and a Minnesota history curriculum available for purchase.

Bulow Plantation Ruins Historic State Park [FL]

Description

In 1836, the Second Seminole War swept away the prosperous Bulow Plantation where the Bulow family grew sugar cane, cotton, rice, and indigo. Ruins of the former plantation—a sugar mill, a unique spring house, several wells, and the crumbling foundations of the plantation house and slave cabins—show how volatile the Florida frontier was in the early 19th century. Today, a scenic walking trail leads visitors to the sugar mill ruins, listed on the National Register of Historic Sites. The park has picnic facilities and an interpretive center that tells the plantation's history.

The park offers exhibits

Cumberland County Historical Society [PA]

Description

The Cumberland County Historical Society is dedicated to preserving the historical heritage of Carlisle, Pennsylvania, and the surrounding area. The society has two distinct historic properties, the Hamilton Library and associated local history museum as well as the Two Mile House. The society also has a special collection of Carlisle Indian School historic documents.

The society offers group tours of the museum, exhibits on local history, research resources, and detailed histories of the society properties and Carlisle.

History Center of Olmsted County and Mayowood Estate [MN]

Description

The History Center of Olmstead County presents the history of Olmstead County, Minnesota. To this end, the center operates as a museum. The museum includes rooms devoted to the decorative arts; a hands-on children's cabin; and exhibits on topics which include IBM, St. Mary's Hospital, the 1883 Rochester tornado, and historical medicine. Artifact collections include textiles, military, decorative arts, Native American, agricultural and mechanical, and medical items. The center also operates the Mayowood Estate historic house museum. Erected in 1911 as the home of Dr. Charles H. Mayo, cofounder of the Mayo Clinic, Mayowood now contains period rooms.

The museum offers exhibits, educational programs, hands-on activities, museum tours, traveling trunks, and library access. Reservations are required for tours. The center also organizes baseball games, played in 1860s style. The Mayowood Estate offers period rooms and guided tours. The website offers virtual exhibits.

San Juan Bautista State Historic Park [CA]

Description

This park is part of a nationally recognized historic landmark and can be found adjacent to the extant portion of one of California's 21 Spanish-era mission church sites. The park and its Plaza represent what was once the "town square" of the largest town in central California and a vital crossroad for travel between northern and southern California. In the park visitors can gain an appreciation of California peoples, from Native Americans, through the Spanish and Mexican cultural influences, right up to the American period in the late 19th century. The park site includes several structures built in the 1800s. These include the four main historic structures of the Plaza Hotel, the Zanetta House/Plaza Hall as well as Plaza Stables, and the newly reopened Castro-Breen Adobe with colorful and informative exhibits to help create a learning environment for people of all ages. Many of the interiors are arranged as furnished vignettes. The park also features a blacksmith shop, the historic jail, and an early American settler's cabin.

The park offers exhibits, tours, and occasional living history events.

Daniel Boone Homestead [PA]

Description

The Daniel Boone Homestead is a state historic site which preserves a number of historic structures. Daniel Boone's parents first settled the site in 1730 and the region was populated by many diverse people—English, Welsh, Scots-Irish, Germans, Swedes, Huguenots, and Lenape Indians. Daniel was born here in 1734 and spent his first 16 years here before his family migrated to North Carolina. Today the site tells the story of Daniel's youth and the saga of the region's 18th-century settlers by contrasting their lives and cultures. This region left a lasting impact on Daniel Boone's life, and on the history of Pennsylvania.

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

Bayside Historical Society, Lawrence Cemetery, and Museum [NY]

Description

The Bayside Historical Society seeks to preserve and share the history of Bayside and Queens, New York, as well as neighboring communities. To this end, the society operates a number of exhibits within the 1887 Gothic Revival Army Officer's Club. The society also maintains the Lawrence Cemetery, a family plot with burials dating between 1832 and 1939. Individuals of note interred on site include Cornelius Van Wyck Lawrence, Mayor of the New York City between 1834 and 1837; County Judge Effingham Lawrence and his Native American servant Lawrence Moccasin; and Colonel Frederick Newbold Lawrence, president of the New York Stock Exchange between 1882 and 1883.

The society offers exhibits, tours of the Officer's Club, educational programs, and archival access. Lawrence Cemetery is open by appointment only. The second floor of the Officer's Club is not wheelchair accessible. The website offers virtual exhibits.

Hickory Hill [GA]

Description

Hickory Hill served as the home for Tom Watson, the divisive US Senator from Georgia. Watson, although elected as a democrat, soon was one of the senate's biggest advocates for southern black farmers. Today, Hickory Hill serves as a historic house museum which chronicles the life and times of Thomas Watson.

The home offers field trip programs, guided tours, summer camps, and exhibits on Thomas Watson. The website offers a biography of Watson, visitor information, a calendar of events, and resources for teachers including curriculum guides and worksheets.