African-American Life in Colonial Monticello: Columns

Description

Dianne Swann-Wright, Director of African-American and Special Programs at the Thomas Jefferson Foundation, discusses the columns at Monticello and the life of the slave, Jupiter, who carved them. She also mentions the railings, carved by a slave artisan.

To view this video, select "Scholars," followed by "Dianne Swann-Wright." From there, scroll to the feature, and choose one of the two Windows Media options.

Stephen Foster Folk Culture Center State Park [FL]

Description

Situated on the banks of the Suwannee River, this center honors the memory of American composer Stephen Foster, who wrote "Old Folks at Home," the song that made the river famous. The museum features exhibits about Foster's most famous songs and his music can be heard emanating from the park's 97-bell carillon throughout the day. In Craft Square, visitors can watch demonstrations of quilting, blacksmithing, stained glass making, and other crafts.

The park offers exhibits, demonstrations, workshops and classes, and educational and recreational events.

American Swedish Institute [MN]

Description

The American Swedish Institute is a historic house museum, cultural center, and history and culture museum dedicated to the history, culture, and accomplishments of Swedish Americans. The institute is located within an early-20th century chateauesque mansion. Exhibit topics include immigration, craft traditions, homeland nostalgia, historical Swedish populations in Minneapolis and St. Paul, and Swedish-American vaudeville.

The institute offers period rooms; exhibits; group tours; children's language and culture classes; summer day camps; a Lucia choir; customizable school tours; student educational programs; and student outreach programs, including role-playing, living history, and storytelling presentations. Reservations are required for group tours and all student programs.

Susquehanna State Park [MD]

Description

Susquehanna State Park preserves the history of the Susquehanna River area—from the native Susquehannocks and circa 1622 settlement to modern day. Key sights include an operational 1794 grist mill; a portion of the 1836 Susquehanna and Tidewater Canal; two canal locks; a historic toll house; the 1804 Rock Run House; and the Steppingstone Museum. The Rock Run House was built as the home of John Carter, a partner in the operation of the Rock Run Mill; and today it contains period furnishings. The Steppingstone Museum is furnished to circa-1900 rural style, and demonstrates art and craft skills used between 1880 and 1920.

The site offers grist mill demonstrations, art and craft demonstrations, self-guided walking tours, mansion tours, museum tours, and period rooms.

Bucks County Historical Society and Museums [PA]

Description

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.

Plimoth Plantation

Description

Plimoth Plantation, a bicultural museum, offers powerful personal encounters with history built on thorough research about the Wampanoag People and the Colonial English community in the 1600s. The Plantation's exhibits, programs, live interpreters, and historic settings encourage a new level of understanding about present-day issues affecting communities around the world. The Plantation is made up of several organized areas, including the Wampanoag Homesite, the Mayflower II, the 1627 English Village, the Crafts Center, and the Nye Barn.

The plantation offers exhibits, tours, living history demonstrations, workshops, lectures, and educational and recreational programs.

Historic Miller-Cory House

Description

The Miller-Cory House is a story-and-a-half clapboard farmhouse with shingled roof, brace and beam construction, and nogging-filled walls typical of an average New Jersey homestead of the mid-18th century. It was begun in 1740, at the time Samuel Miller married his wife Sabra. Three sections were completed before Samuel Miller's death in 1782. The property came into the possession of Joseph Cory in 1784, and remained in the Cory family until 1921. Today, the Miller-Cory House is a nationally recognized living museum. It has been certified as an historic site and has been entered on both the State and National Registers of Historic Places. It is the focus of the Miller-Cory House museum to effectively create the atmosphere of an 18th-century farm in the midst of suburban, metropolitan New Jersey. On Sundays, costumed docents describe 18th-century life as they guide guests through the house. Visitors are introduced to a variety of colonial skills as trained artisans recreate the crafts and tasks of the 18th- and early 19th-century farm family.

The site offers tours, living history demonstrations, and educational and recreational programs.

Everyday Life in Early America

Description

"The seminar will explore the lived experience of ordinary Americans during the colonial period of history. Topics will include: family and household, community organization, making a living, religious belief and practice, witchcraft and magic, and shared patterns of human psychology. Material culture will also receive considerable emphasis: domestic architecture, furnishings, the natural environment. Mornings will be devoted to lectures and discussion; afternoons to field trips and library work."

Registration Deadline
Sponsoring Organization
Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History
Phone number
1 646-366-9666
Target Audience
Secondary
Start Date
Cost
None ($400 stipend)
Course Credit
"Participants who complete the seminar in a satisfactory manner will receive a certificate. Teachers may use this certificate to receive in-service credit, subject to the policy of their district. No university credit is offered for the course."
Duration
One week
End Date