Have you been wondering what these trunks are that I keep speaking of yet? Well, let me give you the deets on them you can get a better idea of not just what they are labeled with but what the heck is in there. Like a cadbury cream egg, the good stuff is inside.
Like I’ve previously mentioned the museum lends out several trunks to teachers in the local school districts. Today I had the chance to actually crack them open and take a peek. The women of Nevada was one of my favorites. Inside are a plethora of teaching materials for teachers. First there is a DVD with a powerpoint presentation and other resource books on the specific trunk topic.
The rest of the trunk consists of specific material objects. The Women in Nevada trunk is a trove of domestic gadgets and cooking utensils. For example, below is a picture of a nineteenth century iron – looks a lot different than it does today, right?
A good number of items in this trunk I had never seen before. Take the below object. Can you guess what it’s for? It’s a biscuit cutter.
As a teaching tool, is a great exercise for children to show them these objects to see how people in Nevada lived 150 years ago. By analyzing the types of objects they used, we can start to formulate what life was like for these initial settlers. Unlike the museum, where children can only look, these trunks give them the hands-on approach to history with tangible objects that they can touch and examine. I’ll admit as I sat on the floor and rummaged through the objects inside, I felt like a little kid again, full of excitement and eager curiosity. But that is what history should be all about, right?
Until next time,
Allison
No comments:
Post a Comment