Hand's-On-History

Choose from three different interactive experiences Seward House Museum staff can either bring to schools for programs (within the Auburn, NY area) or that teachers can request as on-site activities as a pre-field trip experience. These modules allow students to interact with artifacts that play integral roles in telling the stories of the Seward family. Students learn the skills of museum professionals in handling objects and interrogating them for meaning. This activity will add approximately 30 minutes to a field trip. The modules are:

  1. Mr. Seward’s Travelling Trunk - A trunk of assorted artifacts that broadly reveal the history of the Seward family by the things they carried. Ideal for a general introduction to the Museum and the Seward family’s place in history. The trunk contains everyday items as well amazing pieces of nineteenth-century history.
  2. Fanny Seward’s Purse - Learn more about American girlhood in the nineteenth century through the handbag of the Seward’s youngest daughter, Fanny. Exploring the objects inside Fanny’s purse allows students to understand more about her life, as well as life for girls in the Civil War era. Fanny Seward portrayal possible upon request. A perfect companion for a specialty tour about Fanny’s life.
  3. Underground Railroad Luggage - The Seward House on 33 South Street was a stop on the Underground Railroad—a secret network of safe houses in which Conductors like Harriet Tubman led runaway slaves, or “Passengers,” to freedom. These dangerous journeys took place by night and on foot, so freedom seekers had to travel light. In this module, learn about what precious few things Passengers would carry with them on their flight to freedom.