Inside the CHS is moving!

In 2006 Barbara started the Manuscript blog on WordPress, talking about all the collections and her experiences working at CHS. She has kept it going mostly on her own, until the rest of the staff volunteered to help out, turning the manuscript blog in to Inside the CHS. Our staff has done an amazing job blogging daily about their passions and experiences working the the museum field. After over a year of growth on WordPress the blog is ready to come home to CHS.org.

However, we have even bigger news! We are not going to simply add Inside the CHS to the current site, we built a whole new CHS.org.  We are all working hard to get the site ready for launch in the next couple of weeks, so you might see a little down time here on Inside the CHS. To get ready, all our writers are taking a little summer time break. They are recharging their blogging batteries and to taking some time to learn how to use the new CHS.org

This blog will still be here, but all new posts, as well as our archive, will be moving to the new CHS.org. So enjoy some of the older posts, discover a new author, or send us some idea for new posts.

See you soon on the new CHS.org

Summer Time= Recharging Teachers

I usually talk about my past teaching experiences in the blog posts; so I thought I would switch it up and talk a little about the work here in the museum. Since I will doing a good deal of editing and writing for our new website this month, I decide to just to a quick top five list.

Switching Gears for the Summer

Summer is here, which means less teaching for the education staff. We still have summer programs, but we are not as busy in July and August. The lighter teaching schedule gives me a little down time to breathe, work on the website, and reflect on my teaching this year. 

Flowers are Blooming!

You can take a family photo just like these girls from the 1950s.

Ladies enjoying the roses at Elizabeth Park, circa 1910

Summer is right around the corner – the weather is getting warmer, the grass has turned a brighter green, and flowers are popping up in gardens all over the state! Perhaps one of the most amazing Connecticut gardens to view at this time of year is the Rose Garden at Elizabeth Park (Hartford, CT). The garden was created in 1904 by Theodore Wirth and spans just over 2 acres of land, filled with approximately 800 different varieties of roses. 

Being a Teacher- Part Two

Teaching in a museum setting is such a different experience than teaching in a school. As a museum educator I have a chance to work off of lesson plans,with no homework or tests, to grade. The students are there to have fun and most of the time they are excited to be out of the class room, even if they don’t always show it. So even on a bad museum day, it does not hold a candle to my first week of teaching.

Not a Moment to Spare!

SO. BUSY.

These two words sum up the schedule of our educators over the last few weeks. In April, the CHS Education Department served about 3,000 children, teachers, and parents through its educational programs. May is gearing up to be an even busier month for our department! So, please accept the following humorous photograph in lieu of a long blog post. Stay tuned for June (and summer vacation!)……

Busy! Busy! Busy!

Erin Strogoff is the Lead Museum Educator at the Connecticut Historical Society

Being a Teacher- Part One

I have been working on a post about moving from the classroom to a museum setting, and my biggest issue has been how do you start, and how long of a post do I want to create? Without the past I can’t really compare the present, so I guess I will start at the beginning, with my first day teaching.

Being an Intern at CHS: Steve’s Story

“So that’s the broadsword John Brown’s son used in the raid at Harper’s Ferry? Are you kidding me??” ~A scene from my first day at CHS.

From the moment I set foot inside the building, I knew I was in for a truly special experience working at CHS as an education intern. The behind the scenes tour of the museum collection is a fitting place to begin my story, because it reinforced what I already knew about history museums; that is, that they preserve the past, and that they often have incredible artifacts, painstakingly protected for posterity’s sake. However, if there is one thing I have learned in my time here, it is that museums like CHS do not simply safeguard stories and mummify the memories of decades long gone. Rather, they can act as vibrant spaces for discovery and inquiry where the past comes to life before our very eyes.

Being an Intern at CHS: Sara’s Story

Our program at UConn requires all fifth-year Education Master’s students to participate in an internship. CHS is the only offered internship in the entire program that does not take place in a school. So when I found out I was assigned to CHS, I was excited about the chance to work in a museum and increase my historical knowledge base. However, I was also wary about what I would gain from the experience. As it turns out, I didn’t need to worry because not only did I learn the story behind the Charter Oak and how to tell the difference between a real nutmeg and a fake one sold by Yankee Peddlers, I also learned how to be a better teacher.

Keeping Track of History

In the next few weeks I will be teaching a great deal of programs about immigration. The museum and outreach program focus on the stories of the people who have left their homes looking for a better, or different, life here in Connecticut. Being the son of an immigrant, the program has special meaning for me, and it has made me think about my own story.