Fort Vasquez Museum [CO]

Description

Visitors to the site of this 1835 fur-trading fort can follow the paths of founders Louis Vasquez and Andrew Sublette. The traders employed many of their mountain-man friends, including Baptiste Charbonneau and Jim Beckwourth, at their adobe outpost on the South Platte River.

The museum offers exhibits, tours, and educational programs.

Historical Museum at St. Gertrude [ID]

Description

The Historical Museum at St. Gertrude presents the history of North Central Idaho. Collections include more than 10,000 archival materials; 150 years of textiles; weaponry, some of which was used in the 1877 Nez Perce War; Nez Perce artifacts; a range of historic office machinery, including a 1902 Burroughs “Moon Hopkins” bookkeeping machine and an 1895 Dactyle calculator; world minerals; mining equipment; medical artifacts, including a 1900 fetal monitor and a tonsillectomy chair; and artifacts of Chinese immigrants. The museum also owns many of Polly Bemis' previous possessions. Bemis (1853-1933), originally from China, was brought to an Idaho mining camp as a female slave. Roughly 12,000 artifacts, some of which date to the 14th century, are on display.

The museum offers exhibits

Rancho de Guadalupe Historical Society [CA]

Description

The Rancho de Guadalupe Historical Society seeks to preserve and share the history of Guadalupe, California. To that end, the society operates a museum, a historic jail, and a non-circulating library. Artifacts on display include Native American adobes and pieces representative of the cultures which succeeded the Chumash—the Chinese, Filipinos, Mexicans, Swiss, Italians, Spanish, Japanese, and Portuguese.

The society offers exhibits and library access.

Nordic Heritage Museum [WA]

Description

The Nordic Heritage Museum presents the history of Scandinavian immigrants in the United States, as well as serving as a cultural center where people of all backgrounds are welcomed to be inspired by the values, traditions, art, and spirit of the Nordic peoples.

The Museum offers guided tours of the Dream of America immigration exhibit as well as self-guided tour options. Outreach trunks can be rented for classroom use for two-week periods, and include hands-on items, curriculum materials, and activities. Available trunks are the Immigrant Trunk, Nordic Folk Art Trunk, Trolls and Norse Gods Trunk, and Viking Trunk. The Nordic Adventures program provides presentations for your classroom on a number of Nordic subjects, free of charge. Weekend programs are also available for families.

Germantown Historical Society [PA]

Description

The Germantown Historical Society seeks to preserve and share the history of Philadelphia's German Township, now Germantown, Mt. Airy, and Chestnut Hill. To this end, the society operates a museum, library, and archives. The township was the original German settlement in the United States; the location of the first written abolitionist statement; an early commuter suburb; and the site of the October 4, 1777 Battle of Germantown. Materials in the library and archives date back to 1683. Specialties include African American genealogy, local railroads, and the Germantown Theatre Guild. Museum collections number more than 50,000 artifacts—over 8,000 of which are historical fashion pieces.

The society offers library and archive access, exhibits, educational programs, guided area walking tours, and research assistance. Research assistance requires payment. Reservations are required for walking tours, and the group must include at least 10 people.

Ute Indian Museum [CO]

Description

The Museum lies on the original 8.65-acre homestead owned by Chief Ouray and his wife, Chipeta. Migrating from the mountains in the summer to river valleys in the winter, the Utes used the abundant plants and animals of the Uncompahgre River valley for food, clothing, and shelter. Built in 1956 and expanded in 1998, the museum offers one of the most complete collections of the Ute people. The grounds include the Chief Ouray Memorial Park, Chipeta's Crypt, and a native plants garden. Recently renovated and expanded, the museum now includes the Montrose Visitor Information Center, gallery space, classrooms, and a museum store. The museum complex includes shady picnic areas, walking paths, and a memorial to the Spanish conquistadors who traveled through the area in 1776.

The museum offers exhibits, tours, and educational programs.

San Pasqual Battlefield State Historic Park [CA]

Description

San Pasqual Battlefield State Historic Park honors the soldiers who fought in the battle between the U.S. and Californio forces on December 6, 1846 in the midst of the Mexican-American War. Generals Stephen Kearny and Andres Pico both claimed victory. The battle was only one of the military encounters in California in the war, but it proved to be the bloodiest and most controversial as to the outcome. The park has been set aside, not as a monument to war, but as a reminder of the human ideals, actions, and passions that can drive nations to bloodshed.

The park offers exhibits; tours; and occasional recreational and educational events, including living history events.

Palace of the Governors [NM]

Description

The Palace of the Governors, an early 17th-structure built to house Spain's colonial government in the American Southwest, today chronicles the history of Santa Fe and New Mexico. Exhibits explore all of the periods of New Mexico's history, from Spanish colonial to Mexican to its time as a U.S. territory and, finally, a state. Museum-goers may also visit the Palace Print Shop and Bindery, a living exhibit which recreates 19th-century printing techniques.

The museum offers exhibits, self-guided and guided tours for school groups, research library access, and recreational and educational events.

Fort Ross State Historic Park [CA]

Description

Fort Ross was a thriving Russian-American Company settlement from 1812 to 1841. This commercial company chartered by Russia's tsarist government controlled all Russian exploration, trade, and settlement in the North Pacific, and established permanent settlements in Alaska and California. Fort Ross was the southernmost settlement in the Russian colonization of the North American continent, and was established as an agricultural base to supply Alaska. Fort Ross was a successfully functioning multicultural settlement for some 30 years. Settlers included Russians, Native Alaskans and Californians, and Creoles (individuals of mixed Russian and native ancestry.) Along with the chapel, the structure of most historical interest at Fort Ross is the Rotchev House, an existing building renovated about 1836 for Alexander Rotchev, the last manager of Ross. It is the only surviving structure. Several other buildings have been reconstructed: the first Russian Orthodox chapel south of Alaska; the stockade; and four other buildings called the Kuskov House, the Officials Barracks, and two corner blockhouses.

The park offers exhibits, tours, educational programs, research library access, and occasional recreational and educational events.

Textile Museum [DC]

Description

The Textile Museum presents the cultural significance and artistry of world textiles. The museum library contains more than 20,000 volumes, including listings of educational programs and textile collections; and the artifact collection contains over 18,000 artifacts from around the world—with the oldest dating to 3,000 B.C.E.

The museum offers guided highlights tours, interactive educational tours, hands-on activities, teacher workshops, and supporting materials for selected exhibits. Reservations are required for educational tours. The website offers digital exhibits.

The library is currently closed for reorganization.