Cultural resources manager of the Anacostia Museum Portia James displays and discusses a tool box painted in 1891, depicting a plantation owner and his family riding down into Hell and their slaves ascending to Heaven.
To view this video, select "Scholars," followed by "Portia James." From there, select one of the Windows Media viewing options.
Forensic anthropologist Dr. Doug Owsley discusses the colonial remains found at Harleigh Knoll in the Chesapeake Bay area and some of the information that studies of such remains can reveal.
The Bucks County Historical Society seeks to make the presentation of historical information both engaging and relevant to everyday life. To this end, the society operates the Mercer Museum, Fonthill Museum, and Spruance Library. The Mercer Museum, housed within a 1916 structure, presents pre-Industrialization artifacts of daily life. Exhibit topics include illumination, medicine, tinsmithing, transportation, and dairy farming, among more than 60 early American trades. The Spruance Library is housed within the Mercer Museum. The 1912 Fonthill Museum is a historic home. Once home to Henry Chapman Mercer (1856-1930), anthropologist, antiquarian, archaeologist, and designer of renowned Moravian tile, the Byzantine, Gothic, and Medieval structure is now furnished in period style. Many of the pieces are original to the site and their locations within the home.
The society offers exhibits, period rooms, guided tours of the Fonthill Museum, curriculum-based programs, curriculum-based traveling trunks, curriculum-based outreach presentations, concerts, workshops for children and teenagers, summer camps, Act 48 workshops, research library access, collections access, and research services. Reservations are strongly advised for the Fonthill Museum. The Mercer Museum is approximately 65 percent wheelchair accessible. The Fonthill Museum is wheelchair accessible on the first floor only. Collections access is by appointment only. A fee is charged for research conducted upon request. The website offers pre- and post-visit materials and an online catalog.
In this presentation, Carnegie Museum archaeologist Richard W. Lang recalls the 1964 rediscovery and the Carnegie Museum's excavation of the Fort Pitt Music Bastion, at 'The Forks of The Ohio' National Historic Landmark, in Point State Park, Pittsburgh, PA. Lang guides viewers through the site of the Fort Pitt restoration, discussing the history and discovery of the site, the difference between "restoration" and "reconstruction," and the importance of conserving the site.
Dianne Swann-Wright, Director of African-American and Special Programs at the Thomas Jefferson Foundation, discusses the contributions of slaves in creating Monticello—both in clearing the land and establishing the house itself and in crafting furniture and other pieces to finish the house.
This feature is no longer available.
Dianne Swann-Wright, Director of African-American and Special Programs at the Thomas Jefferson Foundation, looks at what artifacts found at Monticello reveal about the lives of slaves on the estate and the questions such artifacts raise.
This feature is no longer available.
The Smithsonian Early Enrichment Center is offering a one-day training seminar to examine how educators can use collections to enrich classroom experience. Young children are natural-born collectors. Toys, dolls, coins, or nature's treasures such as rocks and shells appeal to young children and help them understand the world around them. Educators can develop this innate curiosity by creating collections and exhibits that combine literature, art, and objects to introduce children to the magic of museums. Through hands-on experiences and museum visits, this one-day seminar will show educators how to use collections to help children develop skills to sort, classify, observe, and analyze. Participants will learn to enhance their teaching by developing collections that incorporate math, science, history, and language arts.
The Smithsonian Early Enrichment Center is offering an innovative training program for museum professionals and early childhood educators interested in using objects to teach young children. Participants will learn how a host of museum objects—including paintings, sculptures, an African headrest, and an old-time chestnut roaster—can help children, as young as two or three, understand their world. The program, featuring hands-on exercises with museum objects, lectures, discussions, and gallery experiences, is designed to help museum educators forge more creative encounters with young museum-goers, and to introduce early childhood educators to the magic of museums. Participants will be encouraged to think expansively about using children's literature, art, and objects to create explorations of thematic topics. By tapping resources in their own communities—resources such as objects in local museums and community centers, statues, public art, bridges, buildings, and more, participants learn to bring the world of museums to young children in their communities.
The Smithsonian Early Enrichment Center offers a morning seminar to examine how educators can enrich infant and toddler programs with art and objects. Very young children thrive in an environment that is rich in exposure to everyday objects, stories, and visual images. Age-appropriate books, art prints and objects can appeal to infants and toddlers and help them to understand the world around them. Participants in this seminar will learn how to develop this innate curiosity by creating an environment that supports arts-rich learning in the classroom as they nurture the growth of each child. They will learn how to choose exhibits, have successful outings, and build a classroom community that parents, teachers, and children will love.
Project Archaeology is a comprehensive archaeology and heritage education program for everyone interested in learning or teaching about our nation’s rich cultural legacy and protecting it for future generations to learn from and enjoy. Project Archaeology includes publications, professional development for educators, networking opportunities, and continuing support for participants. Using an innovative hands-on approach to history, Project Archaeology teaches scientific inquiry, citizenship, personal ethics and character, and cultural understanding. Teacher Workshops are offered to educators who want to use Project Archaeology materials in their classroom.