"An Organization of People who bring History to Life."
ALHFAM
It is not every day that one is treated like a member of the social elite, but that is how all callers are welcomed to Beechwood, the 1890's summer cottage of Caroline Astor. Actors portraying the Astor family, servants, and upscale friends, guide visitors through the estate, meeting Upstairs and Downstairs characters along the way. The site and its staff are also available for teas, private parties, holiday events, and murder mysteries.
Barkerville Historic Town
P. O. Box 19
Barkerville, British Columbia, Canada V0K 1B0
Telephone (250) 994-3302; (250) 994-3332
Restored 1870's gold mining community with over 140 structures, including interpretive sites, commercial shops, theater, and restaurants. Characters include local figure Judge Begbie, gold miners, dance hall girls, laundresses, gamblers, and merchants. Visitors can also meet a guest of the local game guide at one 1900 home.
1840 House, Baltimore City Life Museums Closed. Remains here for reference only.
800 East Lombard St.
Baltimore, MD 21202
Telephone: (410) 396-8395
Reconstructed 1840 row house of Irish immigrant and wheelright John Hutchinson.Interpretation features dramatic scenes about the Hutchinson family, theirfriends, their African-American servants, and other historical characters. Themes includeracial relations, urban issues, economic struggles, health and illness, and domestic life.
Canadian Museum of Civilization
100 Laurier St.
Hull, Quebec, Canada J8X 4H2
Telephone: (819) 776-7000
The CMC has its own resident theater company, Dramamuse, which develops and presents live interpretation programs that accent the museum's collections and galleries. The company has arepertoire of short plays, sketches, and spontaneous characters who mingle and converse withvisitors. The Museum's Canada Hall exhibition gallery has lifesize reconstructions of varioushistorical environments. Visitors to the Hall encounter characters such as a Basque whaler, andinnkeeper from 18th century New France, a voyageur, shanty cook, shop merchants, or aVictorian maid.
Cincinnati History Museum
1301 Western Ave.
Cincinnati, OH 45203
Telephone: (800) 733-2077 or (513) 287-7000
The CHM has five indoor gallery environments that incorporate interactivefirst-person interpreters. They are a 1770 Native American village; an 1828 flatboat; 1791 hunterscamp; a World War II homefront exhibit that features a full kitchen, living room, and train station;and a recreation of downtown Cincinnati's public landing in 1859. The last includes the Queen ofthe West steamboat and a row of shops such as a millinery, pork merchant, and coffee house. Visitors may meet, for example, trader John Anderson in the 1770 village, flatboat passengers Johann and Henrietta Utz, Irish coffee house owner Hannah Finn, or steamboat captain Richard Wade at their corresponding exhibits.
Colonial Williamsburg
Williamsburg, VA 23187-1776
Telephone: (800) HISTORY
The lives andtimes of 18th century Virginians, from slaves and servants to the political elite, are portrayed at this well-known restored and reconstructed Colonial capital city. A variety of first-person formats are offered daily, including interactive conversation, introduced scenarios, re-creations, participatory trials, dramatic scenes, and full-scale theatricals. The morespontaneous, interactive interpretive programs are identified with the phrase "A Person of thePast" in the weekly Visitor's Companion.
Conner Prairie
13400 Allisonville Rd.
Fishers, IN 46038-4499
Telephone: (800) 866-1836
Conner Prairie commemorates the life and times of William Conner, who established a tradingpost in Central Indiana and became a prominent citizen and political figure. At the site's recreated"Prairietown," first-person interpreters portray fictional composite townspeople typical of thosewho lived in the region in 1836. Characters include a weaver's family, doctor's family,innkeeper's family, household of potters, schoolmaster, storekeeper, Revolutionary War veteran,and others up and down the social ladder. The meat of daily interpretation is casual andconversational. Occasional special scenarios, including a fourth of July celebration and a funeral,provide additional interpretive context.
Fort Delaware State Park
45 Clinton St.
Delaware City, DE 19706
Telephone: (302) 834 -7941
Fort Delaware is a restored Civil War Confederate Prisonlocated on Pea Patch Island, accessible only by ferry. The site is staffed by interpreters portrayingUnion officers, Confederate prisoners, and various other characters, including soldiers, a blacksmith, a laundress, and local woman who provides succor for inmates.
Fort Snelling
Minneapolis, MN 55111
Telephone: (612) 726-1171
Fort Snelling, constructed between 1819 and 1825 and named after its first commander, Col.Joseph Snelling, was an army outpost and frontier trade station at the intersection of theMinnesota and Mississippi Rivers. As a hub of frontier activity in 1827, the year portrayed in first-person at the site, visitors can meet Col. Snelling and his family, soldiers of the 5th regiment,traders, natives, servants, merchants, tradespeople, and travelers of various origins and ethnicities.Special event scenarios include an Independence Day celebration, the arrival of keelboatmen, anda fur trade rendezvous.
Fortress Louisbourg National Historic Site
P. O. Box 160
Louisbourg, Nova Scotia, Canada B0A 1M0
Telephone: (902) 733-2630 (902) 733-2280
Two major invasions in 1745 and 1758 would cripple the French military presence at Cape BretonIsland's Fortress Louisbourg. But in 1744, (the site's focus year) the walled town was a thrivingseaport and center of French trade and military strength. In 1961, the Government of Canadabegan an impressive reconstruction of the walled fortress and many of its shops, streets, andyards. Each summer, over one hundred interpreters portray the full range of Louisbourg'sinhabitants: from fishermen, soldiers, bakers, servants, musicians and street vendors to theleisured upper classes. A working environment of over three dozen structures adds to the realism.The first-person program is supported by modern theme centers, exhibits, restaurants, and otherpublic services.
Freetown Village
P. O. Box 1041
Indianapolis, IN 46206
Telephone: (317) 631-1870
Freetown Village depicts the lives of free Black Indianapolis citizens in the year 1870. Thoughstill seeking a permanent site, the organization animates an exhibit at the Indiana State Museum inIndianapolis and offers outreach programs and special events such as dinners, weddings, andholiday celebrations. Characters include a barber and his seamstress wife, blacksmith's family,lawyer, preacher, root woman (healer), peddler, teacher, and laborer.
George Ranch Historical Park
10215 FM 762
Richmond, Texas 77469
Telephone: (281) 545-9212 or (281) 343-1218
George Ranch Historical Park museum complex includes Henry Jones' 1830s stockfarm (a precursor of the "ranch"), the Victorian home of banker/cattleman J. H. P. Davis, and aworking 1930s cattle ranch built by Mamie Davis and her husband Albert P. George. At the stock farm, roleplayers portray Henry and NancyJones and their relatives and neighbors in 1830, usually while performing appropriate dailyactivities. The Davis and George households are occasionally roleplayed in vignettes and forspecial events, the former in 1896 and the latter in 1938. Each October, the complex holds aMarket Days festival evoking the wild trading days of 1820s Colonial Texas.
Henry Ford Museum & Greenfield Village
20900 Oakwood Blvd
Dearborn, MI 48121-1970
Telephone: (313) 982-6100
Henry Ford Museum & Greenfield Village, founded by Henry Ford in 1929, nowcovers 93 indoor and outdoor acres. In Greenfield Village, roleplayers arefeatured daily in the 1850's Eagle Tavern. Year-round special eventprogramming brings to life characters such as Henry Ford, George WashingtonCarver and the Wright Brothers in scripted scenes and interactive firstperson interpretation provided by characters including a holiday greensdealer, a lightning rod salesman and a schoolteacher. (Added 9/22/98 by Marty Brown.)
Historic St. Mary's City
St. Mary's City, MD 20686
Telephone: (800) SMC-1634 or (301) 862-0990
HSMC is the recreated first capital of Maryland, established by Governor Leonard Calvert in1634. Live interpretation, however, focuses on the latter end of the 17th century. The site featuresa town center (the "Governor's Field" area) which includes a reconstructed 1676 State House and1670s ordinary; a recreated 1660s tobacco plantation and Woodland Indian hamlet; and replica ofthe Maryland Dove, a 1680s coastal trading vessel. Interpreters at the plantation portray the Godiah Spray family and servants in the year 1661; those in the Governor's Field area and on theMaryland Dove are in 1685. Special weekend events center on special themes such as a militiamuster, 17th century agriculture, domestic skills, and trades.
Knott's Berry Farm
8020 South Beach Blvd.
Buena Park, CA 90620
Telephone: (714) 827-1776 (714) 220-5244 (Educational programs reservation number)
Knott's Berry farm is an enormous theme park, complete with a ghost town, Native Americanpresentation area, rides, and a "Peanuts"-themed "Camp Snoopy." It also boasts a completereproduction of Philadelphia's Independence Hall, where the Declaration of Independence wasdebated and proclaimed. From Monday through Friday, walk-in visitors and pre-scheduled tourgroups can meet with Benjamin Franklin or Patrick Henry (portrayed alternately by the sameinterpreter, Gene Collins). Despite the glamour of the surroundings, Collins is reported to presentconvincing, museum-caliber interpretation.
Lincoln Log Cabin State Historic Site
R. R. #1, Box 172A
Lerna, IL 62440
Telephone: (217) 345-6489
Interpreters at the recreated home and farm of Abraham Lincoln's parents, Thomas and SarahBush Lincoln, and the restored home and farm of progressive farmer Stephen Sargent, portray theLincoln family and their neighbors in the year 1845. First-person programming is available dailyduring the summer and on weekends during Spring and Fall. Special events include a Sundayreligious service, a wedding, and a visit by Abraham Lincoln as a young lawyer.
Littleton Historical Museum
6028 South Gallup St.
Littleton, CO 80102
(303) 795-3950
Littleton Historical Museum is a 14-acre farm complex that illustrates typical homestead life in the South Platte Valley of the 1860s and 1890s. Composite characters populate farmsteads from each period and bring to life an 1860s schoolhouse and 1903 blacksmith shop.
Lower East Side Tenement Museum
97 Orchard St.
New York, NY 10002
(212) 431-0233
Tired of touring homes of the rich and famous? How about shlepping through restored tenement apartments from the 1870s (the Gumpertz family), 1916 (the Confino family), 1918 (the Rogarshevsky family--in the midst of mourning a death from tuberculosis), and the 1930s (the Baldizzi family)? On weekdays, there are several performances of "Mantas and Music," a first-person visit with Sephardic Jewish immigrant teenager Victoria Confino, who discusses her family, life on the Lower East Side, her cherished old country possessions and her new-fangled gagets, such as the Victrola. Visitors are projected into the role of "greenhorns," new arrivals who are moving into a neighboring flat. Reservation required for groups.
Museum of the Moving Image
South Bank Arts Centre
Waterloo, London, SE1 8XT
Telephone: 0171 401 2636
MOMI's exhibits trace the history of animation, film, and television from its roots to the present."Actor guides" with appropriate historical dress and demeanor are attached to selected galleries.
Mystic Seaport Museum
Mystic, CT 06355
Telephone: (860) 572-0711
Mystic Seaport Museum houses seventeen acres of galleries, ships, boats, restored and recreatedmaritime buildings and exhibits. The Seaport's Roleplayers are featured several times per day at selected interpretive sites including the Sailor's Reading Room. Characters include a femaledoctor, a whaling captain's wife, sea captains, whalers and sailors. Storytelling is the primaryroleplaying technique, employed very successfully. Mystic also has an active museum theaterprogram.
National Historic Oregon Trail Interpretive Center
Baker City, OR 97814
Telephone: (541) 523-1843
NHOTIC's programs illustrate the lives and times of 19th century emmigrants who traversed the Oregon Trail through a variety of first-person characters, scenes, and musical presentations. The Center focuses on six themes related to westward
migration and settlement: Pioneer Life, Mountain Men and early Trail Travelers (including missionaries), Native Americans, Natural History, Mining, and the General Land Office. FP is offered daily in the summer, weekends otherwise.
Nevada City Living History Museum
Montana Heritage Commission
PO Box 338
Virginia City, Mt. 59755
(406)843-5247
The Nevada City Living History Museum is a restored 1863 Gold Mining Town featuring over 100 furnished buildings located 1 ½ miles from Virginia City, Montana. Interpretive program includes First person programs, 4th wall presentations, featured on weekends Memorial – Labor day weekend. Characters include; Captain James Williams, Vigilante leader, Sheriff Neil Howie, Patience Cavanaugh, boarding house widow, Bill Hunter, road agent, Josiah Pratt; freighter, James Stuart- Montana frontiersman, Dr. Don Byam, frontier doctor, Miss MacNamara, school teacher, Mr. Johnson, Cheap Cash Store Keeper, Miss Coburn, town laundress, Johnny Grant, Blacksmith, William Palmer, Saloon keeper, interpretive programs feature a Past meets Present program that different aspects of early Montana are presented in first person to the museum visitor. Interpretive presentations are based on the 1863-1864 era of Territorial Montana.
(entry added 2/26/2008 by Dan Thyer, Living History Coordinator.)
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Norlands Living History Center
290 Norlands Road
Livermore, ME 04253
Telephone: (207) 897-2236 (Billie Gammon, Adult Live-ins) (207) 897-4366 (Office)
Although the Norlands was owned by the Washburn political dynasty, the living history focus ofthis working farm and schoolhouse site is the daily lives of the rural Pray and Waters families andtheir neighbors. Norlands offers a unique three-day live-in roleplay program aimed at teachers andothers who want to "rough it" in 1870. Participants are assigned roles--which do not necessarilycorrespond to their age or gender--and maintain those roles throughout a chore-filled weekend.
Ohio Historical Village
1982 Velma Ave.
Columbus, OH 43211
Telephone: (614) 297-2300
Ohio Historical Village, administered and located next to the Ohio Historical Center, is acompletely recreated Ohio village at the time of the American Civil War. Structures in the villageinclude a hotel, general store, print shop, school house, doctor's house, Black freeman's house,tinsmith, Soldier's Aid Society office, and farmhouse. On most weekends, visitors are likely towalk into events such as a temperance meeting, literary society meeting, or meet conversation-inclined first-person characters. A unique feature of first-person at OHV is their choice to rotatethe focus year annually. One year it is 1861, the next 1862, and so forth.
Old Barracks Museum
Barrack Street
Trenton, NJ 08608
Telephone: (609) 396-1776
The Old Barracks, originally constructed during the French and Indian War, is restored to itsappearance during the American Revolution when it was utilized as a military hospital. First-person programs about the differences between "patriots" and Loyalists, the activities of thehospital, and the December 1776 battle of Trenton between General Washington's troops andoccupying Hessians are offered to school children and other groups by advance registration.
Old Cowtown Museum
1871 Slim Park Dr.
Wichita, KS 67203
Telephone: (316) 264-0671
Old Cowtown's approximately three dozen relocated structures recreate two blocks of time inWichita's Anglo-American settlement. Its earliest days, 1865 to 1869, are reflected in thesettlement agent's house, settler's cabin, and Episcopal church. The rest of the site depictsWichita in the 1870s, including a business district full of storefronts, a railroad depot, and aresidential area. First-person, mostly planned scenarios and scripted scenes, is a common featureon weekends, when family visitors might encounter characters such as a sheriff, doctor,housewife, farmer, or cowboys discussing the cattle trade, gun regulations, and other dailyconcerns.
Old Fort William
Vickers Heights Post Office
Thunder Bay, Ontario, Canada P0T 2Z0
Telephone: (807) 473-2344 (site) or (800)-667-8386 (Thunder Bay Tourism)Old Fort William is a reconstructed headquarters of the North West Company, established in 1798near the Kaministiquia River. The settlement became the center of the North American FurTrade, a rendezvous point for French voyageurs and Ojibway trappers. The interpretive focusyear is 1815, the year before North West's takeover by the Hudson Bay Company. Interpretersportray North West's owner William McGillivray, mapmaker David Thompson, and assortedNatives, voyageurs, artisans, and company clerks.
Old Sturbridge Village
1 Old Sturbridge Village Road
Sturbridge, MA 01566
(508) 347-3362
OSV is a collection of restored and recreated 19th century homes, farms, trade shops, and townbuildings that re-create the atmosphere of early industrial New England in the 1830s. First-person interpreters appear at selected locations and are featured at scheduled events such as re-created weddings, funerals, and town meetings.
Plimoth Plantation
P.O. Box 1620
Plymouth, Mass. 02362
Telephone: (508) 746-1622
Plimoth Plantation recreates the world of English settlers--known to us today as "The Pilgrims"--and the Wampanoag natives who also inhabit the western side of Cape Cod Bay. At the site's"Pilgrim Village," first-person interpreters portray the original inhabitants of Plymouth Colony ina recreation of the settlement's two main streets, gardens, and fields as they would have appearedin 1627. Three miles away, it is always March 1621 on board a reconstruction of Mayflower, theship that transported the "Congregation of Saints" and their fellow voyagers, whom they referredto as "Strangers," to the New World. Other interpretive features include exhibits, a craftsdemonstration center, and third-person Native American habitation.
Sainte Marie Among the Iroquois
P. O. Box 146
Liverpool, New York 13088
Telephone: (315) 453-6767
Sainte Marie Among the Iroquois, formerly known as Sainte Marie de Gannetaha, commemoratesthe two-year foray of Jesuit missionaries to establish a religious outpost amongst the OnondagaNation, 1656-1658. A reconstructed mission is the background for first-person interpreters whoportray actual priests, soldiers, and brothers in the year 1657, discussing the purpose of themission, their perceptions of the Natives, comparisons between life in Old France and NewFrance, and other aspects of life in the 17th century. The missions' "brothers" also demonstrateand discuss their secular labors, including blacksmithing, carpentry, and other domestic tasks. TheNative American viewpoint is interpreted in a separate third-person area, currently underdevelopment.
Science Museum of London
Exhibition Road
South Kensington, London SW7 2DD
United Kingdom
Telephone: 0171 938-8008/8080
Museum theater augments the museum's collections and exhibits. Historical personalities such asastronauts, aviators, and shipyard workers add a live dimension to selected galleries.
Sovereign Hill
Ballarat, Victoria 3350
Australia
Telephone: 03 5331 1944
The Victoria Gold Rush of the 1850s is the theme of Sovereign Hill, a re-created mining villageand exhibit center. Visitors tour an underground gold mine, visit diggings where they can actually pan for gold, and wander through a mining encampment, local Chinatown, and reconstructedstreet of functioning historical shops. Although most of the live interpretation is in third-person,dramatic scenarios between miners, campfollowers, and other characters unfold in the streets.Visitors have the opportunity to interact informally with the characters, who linger in the area as each scene concludes.
Upper Canada Village (St. Lawrence Parks Commission)
RR #1 (11 Kilometers east of Morrisburg)
Morrisburg, Ontario, Canada K0C 1X0
Telephone: (613) 543-3704
Upper Canada Village is the resting place of over two dozen buildings that were rescued andrelocated from locations now under the waters of the Saint Lawrence Seaway. These, augmentedwith several reproduction structures, illustrate the daily life of a typical Ontario community in 1866, the year prior to Canadian confederation. While many trades are depicted in third-person,selected sites are staffed by first-person interpreters portraying a Lutheran pastor, tavern keeper,household servant, newspaper editor, and a Methodist Sunday school superintendent who is alsothe convener of the Total Abstinence Society. The roleplayers also interact as a group in specialscenarios such as an Abstinence Society meeting.
Wylie House
307 East 2nd St.
Bloomington, IN 47405
Telephone: (812) 855-6224
Wylie House (constructed 1835) was the home of Indiana University's first president, AndrewWylie, and his family. Today, the University owns and operates the home as an 1840s historichouse museum. Bonnie Williams, the site's curator, offers a "ghost interpretation" portrayal ofWylie's adult daughter Elizabeth. Other characters are available as staffing permits. Visiting groups must request the program in advance.