Mann House [MI]

Description

The Mann House, built in 1883 and furnished with pieces from the 1840s to the turn of the century, allows visitors a view into the life of Michiganians at the close of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th.

The house offers exhibits, guided tours, and special programs for school groups.

Chippewa Valley Museum [WI]

Description

The Chippewa Valley Museum preserves and presents the history of Wisconsin's Chippewa Valley through exhibits on the region's history and through historical structures, including the 1866 Lars and Grethe Anderson log home, the 1882 one-room Sunnyview School, and the 1871 Schlegelmilch House. Visitors may also eat and drink at a turn-of-the-century ice cream parlor within the museum.

The museum offers exhibits, tours for school groups, history kits for rent, a one-room schoolhouse which educators may rent for classes, and research library access.

Yakima Valley Museum and H.M. Gilbert Homeplace [WA]

Description

The Yakima Valley Museum's 65,000-square-foot facility offers historical exhibits on the Yakima Valley—its natural history, American Indian culture, pioneer life, early city life, and the roots and development of the Valley's fruit industry. The museum also houses a collection of horse-drawn vehicles, from stagecoach to hearse; an historical exhibit and reconstruction of the Washington, DC, office of former Yakima resident and environmentalist, Supreme Court Justice William O. Douglas; and a changing schedule of special exhibitions. A special set of exhibits, the Children's Underground, provides hands-on activities that complement the core museum exhibitions; and visitors can eat and drink in a functioning replica of a late 1930s Art Deco soda fountain.

The Museum also owns and operates the restored 1898 H.M. Gilbert homeplace, which is available for tours.

The museum offers exhibits, research library access, guided tours for student groups, cultural trunks for rent, performances, and other recreational and educational events.

Heritage Farmstead [TX]

Description

The Heritage Farmstead preserves a representative example of Blackland Prairie farm culture and history from about 1890 to 1920 on its four-acre farmstead site. The centerpiece 1891 Farrell-Wilson house represents the daily life of a prosperous farm family on the North Texas Blackland Prairie.

The farmstead offers exhibits; guided tours by costumed docents, which may be adapted for school groups; living history demonstrations; and recreational and educational events.

Mahoning Valley Historical Society and the Arms Family Museum of Local History [OH]

Description

The Arms Family Museum is housed in Greystone, a century-old Arts and Crafts-style residence. On the first floor, in original period rooms, visitors can experience the Arms's love of handicraft, medieval architecture and design, and the natural environment. The lower level and second floor feature exhibits that explore the history of all the people who have lived in the Mahoning Valley. Artifacts displayed and interpreted in changing galleries help the visitor understand the way of life in the Mahoning Valley for different people at different times, whether Native American, pioneer settler, Welsh coal miner, African American freeman, or Eastern European immigrant.

The museum offers exhibits, guided tours for student groups, teacher resource kits for loan, curriculum guides, teacher in-services, in-class traveling suitcase outreach presentations, and research library access.

Shaker Museum and Library at Mount Lebanon Shaker Village [NY]

Description

The Shaker Museum interprets Shaker life and culture and exhibits artifacts from Shaker history, including Shaker furniture, oval boxes, textiles, craft machinery, art, tools, and agricultural machinery. The Shaker Library holds archival materials including books and historic pictures.

The museum offers exhibits; the research library offers library access, by appointment only.

NOTE: The museum and library are currently closed while the institution relocates to a new site at historic Mount Lebanon.

Greensboro Historical Museum [NC]

Description

The 17,000-square-foot Greensboro Historical Museum preserves and presents the history of the Piedmont area. Visitors can explore exhibits recreating Greensboro life at the turn of the previous century or on topics including short-story writer O. Henry, First Lady Dolley Madison, the Greensboro Sit-ins, war, and work life. They can also tour the 1788 Isley House, the 1781 McNairy House (restored to its 1850 condition), and the First Presbyterian Cemetery.

The museum offers exhibits, guided tours for school groups, traveling trunks on loan for a small fee, in-class outreach presentations for a small fee, and occasional recreational and educational events.

Newton History Museum at the Jackson Homestead [MA]

Description

The Newton History Museum presents permanent and changing exhibits on a variety of local historic topics. Visitors can discover what life was like for New England's earliest settlers, or learn about the abolition movement in Newton and how the Jackson family used their home as a stop on the Underground Railroad. The museum also serves as headquarters for the Newton Historical Society and holds its library and research collection.

The museum offers exhibits, educational programs for students, reference library access, and occasional recreational and educational events.

Magnolia Mound Plantation [LA]

Description

Magnolia Mound Plantation illustrates and interprets the lifestyle of the French Creoles who formed the culture which still influences and pervades life in southern Louisiana. The plantation house was once the center of a 900-acre operation with frontage on the Mississippi River. Spanning the colonial era and early statehood, Magnolia Mound's collection of furnishings and decorative arts include one of the foremost public groups of Louisiana-made objects, in restored and documented settings.

The plantation offers exhibits and educational programs, including school tours and traveling trunks.