The Quest for Bean Babies

By: Jenna Peterson, School and Farm Programs Intern

The school year is coming to a close, which means that school tours at NYSHA are wrapping up. This year, students visiting had the opportunity to participate in the brand new Museum Quest activity. Museum Quest is a series of up to eleven stations scattered across the Farmers’ Museum and the Fenimore Art Museum, including the Mohawk Barkhouse and the newly relocated Seneca Log House.

Each station boasts its own theme, and lasts around twenty minutes. Museum Teachers lead students through activities like discovering just what 1840’s underwear looks like, learning how to barter and trade using limited supplies, or seeing what materials make up the art in the Thaw Gallery.

Last Wednesday, I got to teach the “Bean Babies” activity. Planting is such an important part of agricultural life, and being able to see a plant grow is always an amazing sight. The activity starts by looking through the gardens at Lippit Homestead. I asked kids to decide which plant was their favorite, and to tell me five words that described each one. This led to discussion of the parts of plants and seeds. Funny thing was, one of the visiting schools had just taken a test on plants, and knew a lot more than I did!
Once the kids taught me everything I had forgotten from 6^th grade biology, we moved to actually making the Bean Babies. It is pretty simple, but I think they are pretty neat. A damp cotton ball and a bean are put into a small plastic bag. The baggie is then put onto a string, and the bean baby necklace is complete. I had a handful of bean babies that had been made over the previous weeks, so the students could see just how quickly their beans would grow!

Even though things have been a bit chaotic, we have been thrilled to have so many students at the museums. Our record was 651 in one day! Around 3,500 students were able to participate in the Museum Quest program. We cannot wait to offer this program again next spring.

Next stop, Week-Long Experiences!

More Milking Fun!

By: Erin Crissman, Curator Since my recent milking experience, I've been able to entice others to try their hands at milking Buttercup. My sister arrived on Friday at 3pm after a long drive from Philadelphia. After a quick hug, I said "You're just in time to milk Buttercup!" She and her friend Barb took a quick carousel ride then met Christine Olsen (Registrar at the Fenimore Art Museum) and I at the Sweet-Marble Barn for milking at 3:30. This is one of the true pleasures of working at The Farmers' Museum. I can offer my visiting friends and relatives experience s they won't find anywhere - a ride on an amazing carousel and an opportunity to milk a very patient cow!

Here's my sister Lindsey:

Christine Olsen, Registrar at the Fenimore Art Museum. It was her first milking experience too! In case you're wondering, children of all ages are welcome to milk Buttercup every day at 3:30. Here's a great blog post from Two Barefoot Pincesses who tried milking last week.

Creating The Farmers' Museum: Get Moving!

By: Erin Crissman, Curator

American outdoor living history museums, like The Farmers’ Museum, are 20th century creations. Skansen in Sweden is the world’s oldest, started in 1891. Some open-air museums, like Williamsburg (1927), are entire restored towns. Others, like The Farmers’ Museum (1942) are village settings created by moving relatively local historic buildings to a central location. Some, like The Henry Ford’s Greenfield Village (1929), have buildings and artifacts from across the country! When beginning to re-create a historic village in the 1940s, the Museum’s founding director, Louis C. Jones, didn’t have very far to go. Across the street, the New York State Historical Association and Fenimore House (today the Fenimore Art Museum) had a growing collection of primary source material – paintings, drawings, lithographs that illustrated what New York’s villages had looked like in 100 years ago. You can see one of the project’s most influential works here. Jones and early museum staff set out to collect all of the buildings important to a New York village. The first buildings were Todd’s Store, Filers Corners Schoolhouse, and Bump Tavern. Below are photographs of some of the museum's buildings in transition.

Louis C. Jones oversees moving Dr. Jackson's Office from Westford, NY

Re-constructing Fields' Blacksmith Shop -1950s

A crane positions the rear wing of the Westcott Shop -1997

Moving Cornwallville Church for the second time. It was originally placed behind Lippitt farmhouse, in the background of this photo. - 1990s