Frontier Resources: Hands On History Dates for Fall 2006

Frontier Resources: Hands On History Dates for Fall 2006

Historic Fort Boonesborough and Boone's Station

I always have a good time when I go to Boonesborough, and now living history opportunities are opening up at Boone's Station as well. Here is a link to current happenings at Boonesborough and Boone's Station.

Hands On History - Spring 2006 - Town Meeting

Here I am holding our Town Meeting, where students re-enact a Town Meeting in early America, learning about democracy and voting rights.

Hands On History - Spring 2006 - Woodworking

Mike Thompson teaches about woodworking. Here we see a student learning to use a draw knife.

Hands On History - Spring 2006 - Oxen and Wagon

Wilmington Meeting members took some photos at Quaker Knoll Campground during the Spring session of the Hands On History program.

Here we have a group of students attending the Oxen/Freight station. Below is Gerry Barker teaching about early Freight.

Hands On History - Brief description of topics

Some of the topics our Hands On History program may include, but are not limited to:

OXEN- An explanation of the importance of oxen to early America and how children were involved with them is followed by an opportunity for students to try their hand at driving oxen.

QUAKER HISTORY - Early Quaker History and how Quaker's influenced Southwestern Ohio and the Early United States.

CHILDREN’S WORK- A view of the importance of children on the frontier while they work to shape a grindstone.

FRONTIER SCHOOL- An introduction to the experience of children in Ohio schools of the 1800's through the early 1900's.

TOWN MEETING- Students experience frontier democracy by taking part in a town meeting and wrestling with a vital issue of the day.

SPINNING- An introduction to the problem of cloth supply for the Ohio frontier family involves a chance for students to try to make a piece of yarn.

CHILDREN’S GAMES- A look at entertainment on the frontier while students try an outdoor game of the 1800s.

WESTERN MOVEMENT -

TREATY RIGHTS

INDENTURED SERVITUDE- Forty percent of the population of Colonial America arrived under terms of indenture. This station examines the lives of the children who found themselves so situated.

Our 2006 Autumn program runs October 3-6, 9-13 and 16-17, 2006. Our 2007 dates are May 14-24, 2007 and Oct 1-11, 2007. The program takes about 4 hours, running from 9:30 a.m. until 2:00 P.M, or as your busing schedule permits. Cost is $5.00 per student. There is no cost for teachers and chaperones.

Please contact me for additional information, or to schedule your visit.

Hands On History - Overview

For several years Frontier Resources, a non-profit organization I'm involved with, has offered a school program designed to capture the interest of the student of Ohio history. The program makes maximum use of Hands-On and interactive learning.

Frontier Resources is an organization that designs and presents programs to students all over the country. Our specialty is “Hands-On History”. Our programs are designed to give students a taste of the activities, both work and play, of children of early Ohio. In other posts I will go into more detail about the various topics our members can present.

Quaker Knoll Campground is a lovely site on the north end of Cowen Lake State Park. It is located at 675 Sprague Road, Wilmington, Ohio 45177. We are also piloting a program that will come to your school.

Our 2006 Autumn program runs October 3-6, 9-13 and 16-17, 2006. Our 2007 dates are May 14-24, 2007 and Oct 1-11, 2007. The program takes about 4 hours, running from 9:30 a.m. until 2:00 P.M, or as your busing schedule permits. Cost is $5.00 per student. There is no cost for teachers and chaperones.

Please contact me for additional information, or to make your reservation.

Jumps Research - Recreating Cries of London 'Strawberries, Scarlet Strawberries'

One of the pictures we found in our jumps research is a Cries of London Mezzotint called 'Strawberries, Scarlet Strawberries'. We poured over this, looking at the details, trying to figure out what is she wearing?

She appears to be wearing a shift, as one would expect from that time, even though it is not always visible. In this case we can see the sleeves. We can see she is wearing a white modesty piece/kerchief over the shift, made of what appears to be a very thin, light weight fabric, tucked into the upper-body brown garment.

We can see that the garment does not cover the bust. It appears to stop below it, and possibly curve around it. We cannot see how the Strawberry seller's garment is attached, nor whether it goes over the shoulders. Could these be jumps?

Going on the fact that a tight fitted garment that is not boned won't stay up, we decided to assume that there is some sort of shoulder aspect to the garment. We created a pattern that is like a tight-fitted vest that instead of covering the bust, goes under it, like the garment in this picture, supporting the bust some on the sides. What basically happens is that the shift is held in place by this garment, the shift then holding and providing support to the bust.

I created a garment from this pattern, did a number of adjustments to the fit, and finally got something I was happy with. It is possible the original laces or hooks behind. For my ease the garment I made laces up the front with a hook and eye at the very top. I need to be able to dress myself, and hooks or lacing behind requires help.

Here is a picture of the final result, noting that the fabrics and colors are nothing like the original, and of couse I'm much older as well. We didn't get the right angle, but I think this photo shows how the jumps fit the body along the sides. The bust edge of the jumps are covered by the blue modesty piece. The shoulder straps curve around where the arm attaches to the shoulder, giving freedom of the movement through the shoulders that is needed to work.

Results: I've found jumps to be extremely comfortable for low-impact work. Just the sorts of work one would expect to be doing most of the time. In fact, they are more comfortable than many modern bras.