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.

Salem 1630: Pioneer Village [MA]

Description

Visitors can step back in time to 17th-century New England at Salem's oldest living history museum. The site is a recreation of the English colony established by Roger Conant and his intrepid band of settlers. From these humbling beginnings the seeds of Revolution were planted.

The site offers exhibits and demonstrations.

Jamestown-Yorktown Foundation, Jamestown Settlement, and Yorktown Victory Center [VA]

Description

The Foundation operates the Jamestown Settlement and the Yorktown Victory Center, two living-history museums that explore America’s beginnings. Through film, artifact-filled galleries, and outdoor living history, these museums engage visitors in nearly two centuries of the nation's history—from the founding of America's first permanent English settlement in 1607 to the decisive Revolutionary War victory in 1781 and implementation of the Constitution and Bill of Rights. Today at Jamestown Settlement, the story of the people who founded Jamestown and of the Virginia Indians they encountered is told through film, gallery exhibits, and living history. New gallery exhibits and a new introductory film trace Jamestown's beginnings in England and the first century of the Virginia colony and describe the cultures of the Powhatan Indians, Europeans, and Africans who converged in 1600s Virginia. Outdoors, visitors can board replicas of the three ships that sailed from England to Virginia in 1607, explore life-size recreations of the colonists' fort and a Powhatan village, and tour a riverfront discovery area to learn about European, Powhatan, and African economic activities associated with water. In the outdoor areas, costumed historical interpreters describe and demonstrate daily life in the early 17th century. Today at the Yorktown Victory Center, America's evolution from colonial status to nationhood is chronicled through a unique blend of timeline, film, thematic exhibits and outdoor living history. An outdoor exhibit walkway details events that led American colonies to declare independence from Britain.

A second website for the organization can be found here.

The sites offer short films, exhibits, tours, demonstrations, lectures, educational programs, and recreational and educational programs.

Stanley-Whitman House [CT]

Description

Stanley-Whitman House is a living history center and museum that teaches through the collection, preservation, research, and dynamic interpretation of the history and culture of early Farmington. Programs, events, classes, and exhibits encourage visitors of all ages to immerse themselves in history by doing, acting, questioning, and engaging in Colonial life and the ideas that formed the foundation of that culture. Located in the historic village of Farmington, the museum facility is centered on a ca. 1720 National Historical Landmark house, furnished with period antiques to reflect the everyday activities of Colonial life in Connecticut. Surrounding the house are period raised bed gardens, an apple orchard, and heritage stone walls. The public service areas of the museum include a modern classroom, a period tavern room, post-and-beam Welcome Center, research library, and exhibit gallery.

The house offers exhibits; tours; workshops; lectures; educational programs; research library access; and other educational and recreational events, including living history events.

Proclamation of 1763

Description

This iCue Mini-Documentary describes Chief Pontiac's attempts to push British and Americans out of Indian territory in the Ohio Valley. In a concession, the British government issued the Proclamation of 1763.

This feature is no longer available.

King Philip's War

Description

This iCue Mini-Documentary introduces King Philip's War, begun by King Philip, a Wampanoag chief, after years of tension between English and Wampanoag cultures. The Indians launched raids on dozens of English towns, but they were ultimately defeated and hunted down.

This feature is no longer available.

Why Some New World Colonies Succeeded and Others Failed

Description

From the National Humanities Center website:

"In the first two centuries after 1492, most colonies in the New World failed. This workshop explores why. We will read accounts of failures and successes and discuss what happened. How much did colonizers' expectations have to do with success or failure? Were the desires and power of local Indians the most important factors? How large a role did weather and climate play? Was luck the deciding factor? Should we be surprised that any succeeded?"

Registration Deadline
Sponsoring Organization
National Humanities Center
Target Audience
"K-12 U.S. History and American Literature teachers"
Start Date
Cost
$35
Course Credit
"The National Humanities Center programs are eligible for recertification credit. Each workshop will include ninety minutes of instruction plus ninety minutes of preparation. Because the workshops are conducted online, they may qualify for technology credit in districts that award it. The Center will supply documentation of participation."
Duration
One and a half hours