Sibley County Historical Society and Museum [MN]

Description

The Society's Museum is housed in the 1885 Poehler home. In the back yard of the house stands a log cabin built by another German immigrant, Christian Didra, about 1858. This log cabin is a dramatic reminder of the harsh living conditions under which the earliest of the Sibley County pioneers existed.

The society offers occasional recreational and education events; the museum offers exhibits.

Historic Crail Ranch [MT]

Description

The Historic Crail Ranch preserves the story of Augustus Franklin Crail and his family. Living in the cabin in the early 1900s, the Crails kept pigs, sheep, and cattle; grew hay; and ran a lumber mill. Other structures on site included barns, a forge, a hay barn, a piggery, and a spring house. Architecturally, the ranch contains the oldest original building in Big Sky, Montana; and is an example of a historic log structure.

The ranch offers a living history experience.

The American 1890s

Image
Painting, Chicago World's Fair, The American 1890s
Annotation

A collaborative effort between students and faculty at Bowling Green State University in Ohio, this site includes two sections. In the first, a timeline from 1888 to 1899 provides, for each year, snapshots of major national events, personalities, and statistics as well as excursions to approximately 30 additional links, background essays, images, quotations, bibliographies, and other material. The second, "Bowling Green, Ohio: A Tour of the Crystal City," contains 27 photographs; a month-by-month timeline covering town events during the years 1892-97; a 19,000-word essay written in 1897 on Bowling Green's "early history"; and essays ranging from 1,500 to 3,000 words on specific topics. No search engine, but the site may be browsed by year. Useful both as a general overview of the period and as a local history resource.

Octagon Museum [DC]

Description

The oldest museum in the United States devoted to architecture and design, the Octagon Museum enables the American Architectural Foundation to increase public awareness of the power of architecture and its influence on the quality of life. The building was designed by Dr. William Thornton for Colonel John Tayloe III, and was constructed between 1799 and 1801, and is considered one of the best examples of Federal period architecture in the country. During the most recent restoration, the exterior and interior were restored to reflect the house during the Tayloes' occupancy between 1817 and 1828.

The museum offers exhibits and tours.

Victor Historical Society and Valentown Museum [NY]

Description

The Victor Historical Society operates the Valentown Museum. The museum contains harness shop, grocery store, meeting room, and cobbler's shop period settings and military, textile, farming, household, railroad, trolley, blacksmithing, and other exhibits. Collection highlights include a wagon used in the Revolutionary War.

The society offers exhibits, archive access, craft demonstrations, and summer camps. Demonstrations occur May through early September. Appointments are required for archive access.

Gallier House [LA]

Description

The 1857 Gallier House was designed by architect James Gallier, Jr. (born 1829) as his personal residence. The interior has been furnished to the period style immediately following the Civil War through 1880, and reflects the taste and lifestyle of wealthy urban designers of the day. The site also includes gardens, a carriage house, and restored slave quarters.

The house offers period rooms, one-hour guided tours, guided group tours, demonstrations for students, educational programs for students, history and archaeology summer camps, teacher workshops, and Scout workshops. Group tours are available by reservation on days when the museum is otherwise closed to the public. The website offers a virtual tour and lesson plans.

Centre Hill Museum [VA]

Description

The Centre Hill Museum is a historic house museum. The 1823 residence is used to discuss its own history, including Presidential visits and its role in the Civil War. The interior houses decorative arts dating from 1700 through the 1900s. Collection highlights include a circa 1900 aviary of stuffed birds. The structure displays Greek Revival, Federal, and Colonial Revival elements.

The museum offers exhibits.

Mackay Mansion [NV]

Description

Built in 1859 for George Hearst, a mining superintendent during the California gold rush, the house served as a mining office. The house was later bought by John Mackay, an Irish-American whose mining company found the largest silver mines in North America in the early 1870's.

Tours of the house are offered, but no specific educational programs are available for field trips.

Nevada State Museum

Description

The Nevada State Museum presents Nevada history. Exhibit topics include the Carson City mint, geology, Native American life, and Columbian mammoths.
Collection highlights include a 19th-century coin press, mammoth fossils, slot machines by designer Charles August Fey, the USS Nevada silver service, and a 1902 Basque sheepherder's wagon. The museum includes the Marjorie Russell Clothing and Textile Research Center, which preserves more than 10,000 artifacts.

The museum offers exhibits, tours, 90-minute guided hands-on student tours, and unguided student tours. Areas of emphasis available for student tours are geology, Native American culture, Nevada history, and botany and zoology. Appointments are required for all tours. The textile research center offers programs on costume history, as well as research library access. Appointments are required for library access. The website offers 14 virtual exhibits.