Lewis & Clark: The National
Bicentennial Exhibitionat the Oregon Historical Society
November 11, 2005 through March 11, 2006
Portland, Oregon
Contact: Annabelle Snow, Oregon Historical Society
503-306-5249
[email protected]
The Oregon Historical Society is your centralized location for family
learning about Lewis & Clark, the adventures they experienced, the
cultures they explored and the stories they have to tell about it.
In November of 2005, Lewis & Clark: The National Bicentennial Exhibition
brings to Portland a never-before-seen-together collection of stuff
that tells the story of Lewis & Clark. This is more than an exhibit.
This is an opportunity for kids young and old to embrace the story
of Lewis & Clark and understand it on a new level. The Historical
Society will facilitate this learning with many opportunities to engage
in the wildest adventure story history has to offer.
Before you come:
Check out our website at www.ohs.org for an online section called the
Oregon History Project. This is our online learning tool on the story
of Lewis & Clark and all about Oregon History.
Additionally, an extensive curriculum was developed to accompany the
exhibit. Written for grades 4-12, the curriculum focuses on the 9 major
themes of the National Exhibit. Available online at www.lewisandclarkexhibit.org.
While you are here:
Accompanying the exhibit is a Family Guide for children 5-10 years
of age to have a more focuses learning experience. Touch carts, staffed
by docents will be located in the lobby. The touch carts are stocked
with reproduction artifacts that echo the themes in the exhibit. There
will be a video that documents tribal perspectives found within the
Columbia River Basin. The audio guide that accompanies the exhibit
provides visitors with 89 stops filled with narration, direct quotes
from the journals and various L&C letters, Native American oral
tradition and present-day insight, music and sound effects.
Events not to be missed!
1) Moot court - October 13-14, 2005: A member of the expedition on
trial for stealing a canoe! Not to be missed. Do you think he should
be found guilty?
Other great programs for kids:
2) Music Program: Where kids can learn about the musical pastimes of
the Corps of Discovery
3) Play Back Theater: Where kids are "interviewed" by actors
who specialize in history. The interviews consist of questions about
the kids interest in Lewis and Clark. Then the actors "play back
(or act out) the kids responses
4) Family Treaty Program: A program for kids and adults that explains,
in a meaningful and fun way, the significance of the treaties as a "Legacy" of
Lewis and Clark.
5) Showing of the film "The Far Horizons" (the 1960s film
with Fred McMurray, Charlton Heston, and Donna Reed as Sacagawea)
I think one way to communicate the relevance of Lewis & Clark is
to tell the story, even in brief form. Tell about why it is important.
Talk about how it has affected our lives today. Bring it to the present.
Please let me know if I can provide any further information about the
above programs. We have images, facts, artifacts and more here at the
Historical Society. In a storyline about Lewis & Clark in Oregon,
it makes sense that we would pull up the educational side, which goes
great with the experiential Destination: The Pacific. We are the only
venue for the National Exhibit where visitors can both learn about
the story, see the artifacts, the diaries, the physical remnants of
the expedition and experience the story, the landscape, the culture,
the rain.
|
