Jacobsburg Historical Society [PA]

Description

The Jacobsburg Historical Society preserves and interprets the historical Henry family estate, early industrial properties, and the family's gun and iron making heritage. Henrys not only produced firearms for all U.S. major conflicts from the Revolutionary War through the Civil War, but they were also the primary suppliers of rifles for the largest American business enterprise of the early 19th century, John Jacob Astor's American Fur Company. The Henry firearm became the most prominent weapon of the western frontier due to its durability, accuracy, and relatively low cost. The society operates the Pennsylvania Long Rifle Museum; the 1832 John Joseph Henry House; and the Nicholas Hawk Gun Shop, a reconstruction of an 1802 structure.

The society offers visitor center exhibits, a historic house museum, living history encampments, school programs, a monthly community lecture series, a youth history day camp, a number of publications, and early American gunsmithing courses.

McLean County Historical Society [ND]

Description

The McLean County Historical Society preserves local history, and shares it with the public via a series of museums located in Washburn, North Dakota. These museums consist of two main museum buildings, the Joe Taylor Cabin (1869), the Sioux Ferryboat (in use 1952–1962), and an old school house (1882). The main museum buildings contain fossils, information on Lewis & Clark, farming tools, military memorabilia, models of historic structures, Native American artifacts, coal industry history, musical instruments, train station artifacts, memorabilia from local organizations, and a variety of period room dioramas.

The museums offer exhibits.

Garibaldi Museum [OR]

Description

The Garibaldi Museum presents information concerning Captain Robert Gray; his historical vessels, the Lady Washington and the Columbia Rediviva; trade with the Native Americans of the Pacific Northwest; and the maritime world of the 1700's. Gray discovered the Columbia River on May 11, 1792. During James Madison's second term as President (1813–1817), the U.S. used this discovery to lay claim to the Oregon Country. Among the museum displays are models of the Columbia Rediviva and Lady Washington; an 8–foot–tall reproduction of the Columbia Rediviva's figurehead; a half model of the same vessel, showing how the ship was provisioned for the long voyage; reproduction seafarers' garb; and musical instruments. One wing of the museum is devoted to the history of the City of Garibaldi, displaying pictures and artifacts from the turn of the century.

The museum offers exhibits, several of which are interactive; scholarships for local high school seniors and Tillamook Bay Community College students; and a 4th grade education program.

Blair County Historical Society [PA]

Description

The Blair County Historical Society seeks to preserve and share the history of Blair County, Pennsylvania. The society operates a museum with period rooms and exhibits on the early iron industry, transportation, medicine, military history, toys, geology, and education. The museum is housed in the Baker Mansion. This home was occupied by iron master Elias Baker and his family beginning circa 1836. Other sites operated by the society include the Royer Mansion, previously owned by another iron master; the Dick Schoolhouse; and Etna Furnace. The Blair County Historical Society holds a collection approaching 100,000 artifacts. The major period covered is 1850 through the 1920's. The collection includes a wide variety of items depicting everyday life, including clothing and accessories, furniture, household appliances, toys, china, ceramics and glassware, lighting devices, and tools. Other categories include firearms and military relics, medical tools and equipment, transportation artifacts, rocks and minerals, and material from local schools and businesses.

The society offers a traveling trunk focused on mid–19th–century daily life; Royer Mansion tours; Baker Mansion tours; a museum exhibits; research library; and archives.

Portland Museum [KY]

Description

The Portland Museum shares the history of Portland, a riverside community in Louisville, Kentucky, and its history as an independent town. Portland was home to Captain Mary Millicent Miller, the first woman licensed as a steamboat master in the United States. Collections include costumes, artwork, photographs, documents, oral histories, and vernacular objects.

The museum offers exhibits, an automated sound track, films, hands-on antique letterpress equipment, walking tours, games, readers and classroom materials for purchase, and educational materials in accordance with Kentucky educational standards. The website offers information on education transportation grants.

Museum of the City of New York [NY]

Description

The Museum of the City of New York presents the history of New York City and its people. Permanent exhibits offer artifacts and information relevant to New York's theatrical history, interior design, firefighting, maritime commerce, and toys made or used in the city. The collection consists of 1.5 million items in the following categories: decorative arts; prints, photographs, paintings, sculptures, and drawings of the city and/or its people; theater and Broadway; toys; and costumes and textiles.

The museum offers a 25-minute introductory multimedia presentation, exhibits, lectures, performances, guided school tours, educational programs, self-guided tours, summer programs, educator workshops, an after school architecture and urban planning program, and Saturday American history classes. Reservations are required for all school groups, guided or self-guided. Headsets and neck loops are available for hard-of-hearing visitors, and all films are captioned. The website offers materials for self-guided school groups.

Due to ongoing renovations, the fire engines are in storage; and the halls containing the exhibit New York Interiors (1690-1906) is currently closed.

Adams Museum and House [SD]

Description

The Adams Museum and House seeks to preserve and share the history of Deadwood, South Dakota and the surrounding Black Hills. The Adams Museum collections include folk art, Lakota artifacts, and Wild Bill Hickok's (1837-1876) gun, among other items. Other figures represented in the collections include Calamity Jane (1852-1903) and Deadwood Dick, a fictional character whose name was used by a variety of individuals. The Adams House is a 1892 Queen Anne Victorian, abandoned entirely furnished in 1934, which now functions as a circa 1900 house museum.

The museum offers three floors of exhibits and self-guided tours. The house offers period rooms and an orientation exhibit.

Schroeder Saddletree Factory Museum [IN]

Description

For 94 years, workers at the Ben Schroeder Saddletree Company crafted tens of thousands of wooden frames for saddle makers throughout the United States and Latin America. It was the nation's longest lasting, continually operated, family-owned saddletree company. John Benedict "Ben" Schroeder, a German immigrant, started his business in a small brick workshop in 1878, though it grew to include a woodworking shop, boiler room and engine shed, a sawmill, a blacksmith shop, an assembly room, the family residence, and several outbuildings. After his death, Ben's family kept his dream alive by adding stirrups, hames for horse collars, clothespins, lawn furniture, and even work gloves to their line of saddletrees. The factory closed in 1972 and was left completely intact. Recognized by historians as one of America's premier industrial heritage sites, the Schroeder Saddletree factory has been restored to allow visitors to Madison to tour through this vintage workplace. Belts turn and the original antique woodworking machines spin into action. Sawdust is whisked from machines into the boiler room, where it once fueled the steam boiler that powered the equipment. Saddletree patterns hang, cobweb covered, from the ceiling.

The museum offers tours, demonstrations, and exhibits.