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We are excited to announce that the Virtual History Hunters Youth Reporter Program received an Institutional Award of Merit from Pennsylvania Federation of Museums and Historical Organizations! Visit their page to follow along as they highlight all of this year's winners. Shout out to all of our talented History Hunters Educators and Site Partners: Cliveden, La Salle University Art Museum, Johnson House Historic Site, Wyck Historic House, Garden, and Farm, and Historic Germantown!
The History Hunters Youth Reporter Program virtual YouTube tours are now available in Spanish! It's not too late to register your 4th or 5th grade class for this year's virtual program. Follow the link below to register.
Executive Director Dennis Pickeral recently brought four objects from Stenton’s collection to the Virtual Curation Laboratory at Virginia Commonwealth University, where they were scanned by laboratory Director Dr. Bernard K. Means. The laboratory specializes in 3D scanning of historic and archaeological artifacts and fossils and the 3D printing of replicas for hands-on learning (
https://sketchfab.com/virtualcurationlab).
The objects included an excavated redware bowl with a slip-decorated image of a Native American, James Logan’s tinder lighter, an excavated slip cast white salt-glazed stoneware teapot, and a wooden relic box given to Deborah Norris Logan by John Fanning Watson. Once edits to the scans are completed, Stenton staff hope to make the images publicly available and create object lessons using the scans as part of the newly created virtual History Hunters Youth Reporter Program (
https://www.historyhunters.org/virtual-hh-pre-log-in). We also hope Dr. Means can create a 3D printed replica of the redware bowl that can be used in hands-on educational programs in the future.
From the Global Philadelphia Association...the storytime also features a virtual tour of Johnson House Historic Site with the History Hunters Youth Reporter Program!
This , give the gift of education and help support the History Hunters Youth Reporter Program . This school year, the program has gone through its biggest transformation yet, and will reach over 3,500 Philadelphia schoolchildren virtually through the new online curriculum. Registered teachers receive free access to the Virtual History Hunters webpages that offer digital copies of the workbook, additional virtual activities, object lesson videos, and Virtual Reality YouTube tours of the 5 History Hunters sites. After students view the virtual tour, a History Hunters Educator leads each class in a 30-minute lesson via video chat.
We are excited to share the Virtual Stenton Page with you today:
https://www.historyhunters.org/virtual-stenton Here you will find the Stenton VR Tour. As you watch the tour, click and drag the video around to look in all directions- as if you were really in Stenton!
Thank you for helping us provide virtual resources to Philadelphia teachers and students during this challenging school year. We look forward to continuing to expand our virtual reach with your support. Donate today at
www.stenton.org/givingtuesday
Each Friday, we highlight a favorite local business or one of our stellar guides. This week's star is our ever-curious history guide Rick, who joined us over a year ago. While his background extends further than his passion for history, let's try to get to know Rick a little in three questions:
𝐖𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐏𝐡𝐢𝐥𝐥𝐲 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐥𝐨𝐨𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐰𝐚𝐫𝐝 𝐭𝐨 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐦𝐨𝐬𝐭 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐪𝐮𝐚𝐫𝐚𝐧𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐞 (𝐡𝐨𝐩𝐞𝐟𝐮𝐥𝐥𝐲) 𝐥𝐢𝐟𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠?
I'm cheating here because I have two markers that will tell me that life is returning to normal. The first is for the energy to return to Reading Terminal Market. That's a place I try to visit as often as possible for lunch, groceries, or to just feel the positive energy. I've been there several times for groceries over the past few months, but that same energy isn't back. Yet I'm optimistic that it will be back soon. The second marker is for the History Hunters Youth Reporter Program, where I am an Educator, to return in the Fall. When the fourth grade field trippers return to the Historic Germantown houses where we share our remarkable city's history, it will be a clear sign to me that we're nearly back to normal.
𝐖𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐝𝐨 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐤 𝐢𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐛𝐢𝐠𝐠𝐞𝐬𝐭 𝐦𝐢𝐬𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐜𝐞𝐩𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐚𝐛𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐏𝐡𝐢𝐥𝐥𝐲?
That everyone here has a bad attitude and throws snowballs at Santa Claus. The snowball story has been kicking around since it actually happened at an Eagles game in the early 1960s and lazy journalists keep perpetuating it. But it's been over fifty years since that happened. Get some new material, people!
Having been born and raised in the Midwest, I know a thing or two about nice. And believe it or not, Philly people are by and large very nice. I've experienced that over and over during my 30+ years living here, and our Urban Adventures guests often comment on it.
𝐖𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐨𝐧𝐞 𝐩𝐥𝐚𝐜𝐞 𝐰𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐫𝐞𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐝 𝐭𝐨 𝐚 𝐟𝐢𝐫𝐬𝐭-𝐭𝐢𝐦𝐞 𝐯𝐢𝐬𝐢𝐭𝐨𝐫 𝐚𝐬 𝐚 "𝐦𝐮𝐬𝐭 𝐬𝐞𝐞"?
I'm going to cheat on this answer as well. Since most of the first-time visitors who I meet are on our History in HD tour, they will already have seen Independence Hall. That's our World Heritage Site and our star attraction. But once they've taken our tour, I often recommend that they see the Eastern State Penitentiary. It's truly a unique site that wraps major current-day relevance into a really interesting historical context and remarkable structure. It's also in a neighborhood slightly removed from Center City (downtown Philly), so it allows people to get a little beyond the typical visitor area.
𝐻𝑎𝑣𝑒 𝑎 𝑞𝑢𝑒𝑠𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛 𝑓𝑜𝑟 𝑅𝑖𝑐𝑘 𝑜𝑟 𝑤𝑎𝑛𝑡 𝑡𝑜 𝑘𝑛𝑜𝑤 ℎ𝑜𝑤 𝑦𝑜𝑢 𝑐𝑎𝑛 𝑔𝑒𝑡 𝑜𝑛 ℎ𝑖𝑠 ℎ𝑖𝑠𝑡𝑜𝑟𝑦 𝑡𝑜𝑢𝑟? 𝐿𝑒𝑎𝑣𝑒 𝑎 𝑐𝑜𝑚𝑚𝑒𝑛𝑡 𝑜𝑟 𝑠𝑒𝑛𝑑 𝑢𝑠 𝑎 𝑚𝑒𝑠𝑠𝑎𝑔𝑒 𝑎𝑡 𝑖𝑛𝑓𝑜@𝑝ℎ𝑖𝑙𝑎𝑑𝑒𝑙𝑝ℎ𝑖𝑎𝑢𝑟𝑏𝑎𝑛𝑎𝑑𝑣𝑒𝑛𝑡𝑢𝑟𝑒𝑠.𝑐𝑜𝑚!
Today's History Hunters Youth Reporter Program lesson dives into the importance of diaries.
After the Revolution, James Logan’s grandson George and his wife Deborah Norris Logan came to live at Stenton. Deborah wrote about the family and about Stenton in her diaries and letters. Because these diaries and letters were saved, we have been able to learn a lot about the history of Stenton.
Visit
https://www.historyhunters.org/virtual-classroom-learning-at-home to read excerpts from Deborah's diaries and for inspiration to start writing your own!
Portrait: Deborah Logan (Stenton) after Peale
What do you know about your family's history? Today's History Hunters Youth Reporter Program lesson includes sample family trees from Stenton, Cliveden, La Salle University Art Museum's Belfield, Johnson House Historic Site Germantown, and Wyck Historic House, Garden, and Farm. Create your own tree, learn about family heirlooms, and describe one that is special to your family!
https://www.historyhunters.org/virtual-classroom-learning-at-home
This , give the gift of education. Help support the History Hunters Youth Reporter Program, now in its 16th year! This year, Stenton will welcome 3,500 Philadelphia school children through History Hunters. Check out this video to learn more about the program, and visit
www.stenton.org/givingtuesday to donate.Thank you for your continued support!
This week is National Arts in Education Week. The annual celebration recognizes the importance of the arts in education. Alumni of the History Hunters Youth Reporter Program know the transformative power of the arts in education. To hear their stories, check out the video at
www.historyhunters.org
Our second profile of the three extraordinary honorees for the Historic Germantown Hall of Fame is Alice Lea Tasman.
Alice Lea Tasman, a citizen of the northwest part of the city who has a passion for the historic sites of our area, particularly Stenton, and who has continually reached out to those less fortunate to lift them up in many ways. She spearheaded funding that has led to the success of the History Hunters Youth Reporter Program, an initiative that brings young students to many of Historic Germantown's member sites and which has affected the lives of 30,000 young people since its founding.
Her appreciation for her area's historic sites led her to be one of the founders of the Chestnut Hill Historical Society, now the Chestnut Hill Conservancy.
We are proud to induct Alice Lea Tasman into the Historic Germantown Hall of Fame in 2019!
For Tickets:
www.freedomsbackyard.com/shop
Thursday, June 20th 6:00-8:00PM at Historic Germantown
