Outreach/Traveling History Programs
Bring History into your classroom or activity center! Our traveling Trunks offer you the opportunity to bring hands-on artifacts right to your group. One of our interpreters in authentic period clothing will make the presentation come alive with additional information and stories. Presentations are 45-minutes to 1 hour long. The cost per trunk is $80.00 per 30 person classroom plus 50c/mile and $2 per person for each person over the initial 30.
Available programs:
Queen City of the Prairie - Step back and take a look at the early days of Rockford settlement. Who came and what did they find here.
School Days – Revisit the days of the one-room schoolhouse. What was it like in 1900? What were the pros and cons?
Etiquette/Parlor Games – Compare and contrast the rules of deportment from 1900 to today’s etiquette and participate in parlor games as they were played during the Victorian Era.
Civil War - For Lincoln and Liberty - Thrill to the stories of soldiers and civilians as you learn the causes and consequences of America's Civil War. Check out the contents of our trunk...everything from uniforms to knapsacks, currency to hardtack.
Vintage Base Ball - Everyone has fun as they learn to play the gentlemanly game of baseball as it was meant to be played by 1858 rules with no gloves allowed, underhand pitching and one-bounce outs. If you haven't got the energy to run, you can cheer us on with period slang. This program can be offered either outdoors on any flat field or indoors in a school gymnasium.
Transcontinental Railroad - Find out how the transcontinental railroad helped to change 1880s America. While you examine the trunk contents hear about who and what arrived on the train. Everything from immigrants and orphans to fresh fruit and Vaudeville.
James Henry Breasted, Archeology and the Tomb of King Tut - Hear the story of how one of Rockford's own was at the opening of King Tut's Tomb as you learn about the skills and tools necessary to unearth the history of ancient Egypt.
Primary Source Documents - Discover the importance of primary documents in research and how to authenticate them as you learn how to research family history as well as artifacts.
Sock Monkey History - Learn why Rockford is the official "Home of the Sock Monkey" and how this popular folk art toy is linked to the Rockford Red Heel Work Sock and the local textile industry that provided jobs for thousands of Rockfordians for generations.
The Remarkable Bessica Medlar Raiche: First Woman Avaitor of America - Learn about the first woman in America to fly an aeroplane solo...the most famous person from Rockford that most people have never heard of. Bessica Faith Medlar Raiche was an amazing woman who graduated from Rockford High School in 1893, studied painting in Paris, spoke four languages, became one of America's first woman gynecologist/obstetricians, and with her husband, Frank, designed and constructed aeroplanes in the parlor of their New York home. On September 16, 1910 she made the first accredited solo flight by a woman in the United States...many years before Amelia Earhart.
The History and Evolution of the Pledge of Allegiance - Millions of school children recite the pledge to the flag everyday and every new United States citizen is required to memorize it, but few people know who wrote it, when and why. Hear the true story of our unique pledge of allegiance that was first written as a kick off for the Chicago World's Fair in 1892.
World War II - Rockford's Own Witnesses to War - Learn about World War II from the point of view of soldiers, sailors, airmen and people on the homefront from the Rockford area.
