Ammi Phillips on Familiar Ground: Grades K-12 Time I hour Max Group: 20
By looking at the five portraits by itinerant artist Ammi Phillips (working 1811-1865), we can learn about the people of the past, their socio-economic background, and the artistic conventions of the time. Ammi Phillips was perhaps the best known folk portraitist of the nineteenth century. This program combines the study of art and history, and will give the participants an opportunity to try their own hand at folk art!
Portraits from the 1999 Exhibit.
Portraits in their new location in the Library and hallway of the Gay=Hoyt House.
Travelling Programs
(Note: All travelling programs, with the exception of the Beckley Furnace Trip, may also be held at the Historical Society.)
The Nineteenth Century School Room: Grades 2-5 Time: 1 1/2 hours Max. Group Size: 20
Students will learn and experience what went on in an 19th century school room. Reading, mathematics and writing exercises will be taught using exercises taken from 19th century school books. Samples of actual 19" century school books and copybooks will be available. What happened when students were disruptive? You will probably find out!
Detecting the Past: Grades 5-9 Time: 1 1/2 –2 hours Max. Group Size: 20
Using old diaries, letters, sermons, account books and photographs, students will get a first hand opportunity to use pr
imary source material to piece together bits of the past. Read excerpts from Mrs. Juckett's diary of 1878 to determine what chores made up the daily activities of a late 19th century country woman; translate the letters and sermons of Ebenezer Knibloe, an early 19th century Sharon minister; examine early photographs of the Sharon Green, what has changed? What has stayed the same? [Note: This unit can be further developed into two or more classroom visits where students focus on one diary and read it through, determine what the writer's life was like, and then write their own diary either as a contemporary student, or a person living in the past. Please feel free to discuss further options with your museum teacher.]
Connecticut’s Iron Heritage: Site Visit to the Beckley Furnace Grades 2-12 Time: 2 hours Max. Group Size: 35
Join museum director Liz Shapiro and noted author/lecturer Ed Kirby for a lesson in the geology, mechanics and social history of the tri-state iron industry. This field trip will take place at the Beckley Furnace in East Canaan. Students will see the stabilized remains of the Beckley Furnace and through lecture, early photographs and diagrams, and artifacts, gain a sense of the enormous importance of iron to our local economy. Each student can bring a piece of "slag" home as a souvenir. Appropriate footwear is a must!
Connecticut’s Iron Heritage II: The Sharon Valley Lime Kiln Grades 2-12 Time: l 1/2 hours Max. Group Size: 35
Once again Liz Shapiro and Ed Kirby, author of the award-winning book, Echoes of Iron in Connecticut's Northwest Corner, explore the geology and mechanics of the local manufacture of lime. Lime, a necessary additive to iron ore during the smelting process, was also important to farmers for use in de-acidifying the soil and to painters and plasterers. Visit the site and learn more about the local economy of 150 years ago, and of the importance and preservation of this unique structure.