In the Loupe: Preparing Kids to Visit Museums

Prepping a group of young people to visit a museum?

Sometimes museum spaces can seem a bit formal or unapproachable to kids, especially when there are no designated youth spaces. But even traditional, object-focused museums can be exciting for everyone. 

Though we no longer offer this remote program, educators and caregivers have told us they appreciated the prep activities we offered for our Skype: In the Loupe program, so we are sharing them here! 

Why do we keep it?

Sometimes the concept of a museum can be confusing to kids. History museums, in particular, might seem like unfamiliar buildings that hold old things in glass cases.  It's not always possible for smaller museums and historical societies to host children's programs or "please touch" exhibits, but that doesn't mean kids can't find these spaces engaging.

This first activity can be completed as a worksheet or a conversation. It is an opportunity to talk about the types of things people keep and find important. 

Q- Ask children what objects in their possession they find interesting, important, or dear? And why?

If the museum you are visiting has a website or social media presence, this might be an opportunity to share some interesting posts or articles. Helping kids orient and set expectations for their visit goes a long way to making the site visit or field trip successful.  At Morristown, we have a Junior Ranger program, and our activity booklet is available on site (in print) and on the web (PDF).

What is a Collection?

The artifacts or collections displayed in a museum can vary in content and materials.

Collections might include historic structures (buildings), library and archival materials (books and papers), natural specimens (flora, fauna, rock, and minerals), and museum artifacts (furniture, clothing, art, etc.). Some collections overlap into more than one category of description. 

This activity is fun to play on a chalkboard or white board with teeny post it notes. 

Newark high school students play the collection game.

Nomenclature

Nomenclature is the name or term given to something. Museums name, classify, and categorize artifacts as a way to record their unique qualities for identification and interpretation. 

Artifacts are categorized by type (what they are), purpose or use (what they are used for), and material (what they are made of). 

Museums also catalog or record specific details about artifacts, such as size, condition (good, fair, poor), historical information (when or how they were used and who used them), and provenance (who has owned an artifact and how it was acquired). Natural history artifacts, like specimens, might include additional scientific information like chemical content or indication of rarity. 

In most traditional museums, artifacts contain labels with this information.

Note the artifact description on this object label. 

 

Exploring Galleries with Specific Lenses

A fun way to explore galleries is to gamify your visit. We often have students use the following thought lenses when they look around. 

Consider...

Accessibility

• descriptions and language 
• is it user friendly?
• layout
• color and image contrast
• exhibit height
• connecting the story
• viewing or audio description

Story Telling & Dialog

• exhibit themes
• paring of artifacts
• does it inspire questions?
• layout (room and exhibits)
• educational use
• relevance to visitors
• is it engaging?

Preservation

• artifact condition
• artifact materials
• surrounding environment
• artifact conservation needs
• cases, mount, & displays
• lighting
• exposure (touching, humidity) 

Prep activities by Sarah Minegar

The Making of an Historical Park: Why Morristown?

MNHP dedication button, July 4, 1933.

By all accounts it was Mayor Clyde Potts who advocated earliest and most pointedly for some type of heritage tourism site at Morristown as early as 1930, immediately after the start of the Great Depression. What form or shape that might ultimately take was undetermined. Mayor Potts had as his close associate Lloyd W. Smith, who had recently purchased the bulk of the land known as Jockey Hollow from investor W. Redmond Cross and partners. It was likely Redmond Cross, through mutual acquaintances, who introduced NPS director Horace Albright to Clyde Potts and Lloyd Smith sometime in 1930 or 1931.

Morristown map de[icting the location
of the Continental Army Encampment, 
dated June 1929.

Director Albright was interested from the start of his tenue with the NPS in acquiring national historic site for the creation of a new type of park, a National Historical Park. When he was introduced to Potts and Smith, Albright probably could not believe his luck. Potts and Smith presented Albright with what was in essence a ready-made historical park. Potts could provide the land at Fort Nonsense, and Smith could provide land at Jockey Hollow for a new National Historical Park. Albright's new chief historian, Vern Chatelain, was equally enthused by the idea of a historical park in Morristown. 

Close up of label from March 1931
blueprint of the "Proposed
Jockey Hollow Park" 

At some point in 1931, Albright became interested in the Ford mansion being included in the new national park taking shape in Morristown. While the exact sequence of events are not known, Albright likely promoted the idea of the Ford mansion being part of the park to the Washington Association of New Jersey, who owned and operated the mansion as a tourist site since 1874. The Depression, and lagging membership, made the Association receptive to Albright's overtures. By mid 1932, the Ford mansion, Jockey Hollow, and Fort Nonsense, where lined up as the first National Historical Park. Legislation was prepared, and Congress debated the measure in January 1933, sending the final bill to President Hoover for signature. 

Morristown National Historical Park Celebrates 90 Years!

Welcome to Morristown National Historical Park’s 90th anniversary year. Among the various activities planned to commemorate public history becoming publicly funded, our social media sites will feature virtual exhibits from time to time looking at unique and rarely seen artifacts from the park's collections. We will look at the last 90 years through artifacts that will help explain the history of the park and the concept of public history which officially began when President Herbert Hoover signed the Morristown NHP into existence on March 2, 1933, as the first recognized national HISTORICAL park.

#MorristownNHP90

Stay tuned!

[Image description: MNHP’s 90th anniversary logo. A prominent dark green 90 is featured. Artistic icons representing each of our four park sites fills the zero. In the center is the tour road and three snow-covered soldier huts, representing Jockey Hollow. Moving clockwise is an image of the Ford Mansion, the Fort Nonsense cannon and park sign, and the New Jersey Brigade water tower and Cross Garden. Under the 90 the text reads, “Morristown NHP Celebrates 90 Years.” Artwork by visual designer, Chelsea Bakos-Kallgren.]

COVID-19 Park Closure

Effective immediately, all Morristown National Historical Park site locations and grounds are closed.

Morristown National Historical Park (NHP), in response to State of New Jersey’s Executive Order 107 issued on March 21st directing all residents to stay at home until further notice to curb the spread of COVID-19, is announcing that all park gates providing access to the grounds and trails at Jockey Hollow Area (including restroom facilities), Fort Nonsense Area, and the New Jersey Brigade/Cross Estate Area are closed until the Executive Order is lifted.



Washington’s Headquarters Museum and the Ford Mansion remain closed.

Jockey Hollow Visitor Center and Wick House remain closed.

All visitor access gates to the Jockey Hollow Area and restrooms will remain closed.

All visitor access gates to Fort Nonsense Area will remain closed.

All visitor access gates to the New Jersey Brigade/Cross Estate Area will remain closed.



The health and safety of our visitors, employees, volunteers, and partners at Morristown NHP is our number one priority. The National Park Service (NPS) is working with federal, state, and local authorities to closely monitor COVID-19. The National Park Service (NPS) encourages all visitors to park lands to adhere to guidance from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and state and local public health authorities to protect visitors and employees. #covid19 #nj #coronavirus #parkclosure #morristownnhpclosed #stayathomeorder #stayhomesavelives .


Please check our park website for the latest updates: www.nps.gov/morr and stay tuned for virtual museum features next week! .


[Image Description: This post features a closeup image of a skeleton keyhole at the historic Ford Mansion.  Sarah Minegar].

Making Connections

Free Reception and Illustrated Talk by Xiomáro on Saturday, May 19, 2018, 2-4 pm

It’s always a pleasure and honor for me to photograph the National Parks, especially historic houses like the Ford Mansion. In 2017, I was commissioned by Morristown National Historical Park to create images of the home for use in an accessibility book. The large format book will enable physically challenged visitors to “experience” the mansion – George Washington’s headquarters during the winter of 1779-1780 – through narrated photographs, which interpret the house as done on a visitor tour.

Floyd Kitchen hearth.

The project was of particular interest to me because it was a direct connection with another collection of photographs I created in 2013: the William Floyd Estate in Mastic, Long Island.  General Floyd served in the first Continental Congress in 1774 and is a signer of the Declaration of Independence. By the late 1770s, the British occupied Long Island and Floyd had to escape to Connecticut. He returned to a ransacked house, which he restored to receive visitors such as Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, and other notable guests. Unlike the Ford Mansion, Floyd’s sprawling 25 room house was continuously occupied by his descendants up until 1976 when it was donated to the National Park Service as part of Fire Island National Seashore. 

The Floyd collection was created to draw more attention to the estate and the little-known Founding Father represented by it.  That is one of the aspects of my work that I find most fulfilling:  making photographs that serve as goodwill ambassadors to raise awareness of smaller northeastern sites, which are often overshadowed by larger western parks such as the Grand Canyon.  With the support of Fire Island, the Floyd photographs have been exhibited and garnered much media attention.

Ford Mansion kitchen hearth.

I share that intent with the Ford Mansion. The photographs of Washington’s headquarters are on display at the museum now until December 28, 2018. The exhibition was curated by Jude M. Pfister, the park’s Chief of Cultural Resources. It is pleasing to know that the images raise awareness of “the Ford Mansion’s essence as a home," as noted by Jude, because "the domestic aspects are easily lost in the presence of Washington.”

These overarching themes in my work, as well as my aesthetic and techniques, will be addressed during my free illustrated talk during a reception at the museum on Saturday, May 19, 2018 from 2:00 pm to 4:00 pm. To place the Ford Mansion photographs in context, I will use PowerPoint to show select images I have created for other parks over the past six years. 

Traveling Medicine Chest, Floyd Estate.

As I think you will see from the presentation I will make, there are interesting connections to be made between these parks. We are fortunate that the pages of history can come alive by visiting the Ford Mansion, the William Floyd Estate, and other related sites that form a tapestry of our nation’s founding. 

Traveling Liquor Box,
Morristown NHP Collection.

I hope to see you there with your friends.  To promote a greater understanding of the home that served as Washington’s headquarters, I will be giving away a copy of Jude’s award-winning book, The Jacob Ford Jr. Mansion:  The Storied History of a New Jersey Home (The History Press, 2009).  I will also be giving away a 5”x7” photographic print from the exhibit.

In the meantime, for more information about my work and to see my other collections and videos, visit www.xiomaro.com where you can also download a free photo eBook on the Ford Mansion.

This blog entry by Xiomáro.