Women's History Month 2021: Museum Sponsored Events

Image by JamesDeMers from Pixabay, https://pixabay.com/users/jamesdemers-3416/

Museums sponsor and host events. These events are put together by museum staff and volunteers but they also may include outside groups. Conferences, lectures, field trips, demonstrations, reenactments, and other types of events help us to better understand a historical time period, an event, or a person.

I once went to a presentation on needlework samplers given by a local museum-sponsored Civil War group. I was the only person not dressed in Civil War attire and besides the fascinating presentation, it was interesting to talk to other members of the audience and hear about their experience putting together their Civil War persona. The research they did into the clothing they wore, the person they depicted, the time period. It's an impressive amount of time, effort, and study that goes into making sure everything is as accurate as can be. The whole event was truly an experience and invited me to start asking questions and thinking about my 19th century family in a different way.

During the pandemic, I've attended museum lectures, historical cooking demonstrations, author presentations, and more. These were provided by museums in the state where I live but also in other states and include museums I didn't know anything about until I saw the event advertised on Facebook. 

Museum events are an opportunity for us to learn more about our ancestor's time and place. Whether it's an author presenting her research via Zoom or going to an all-day event where reenactors give us a taste of that time period. It's important to seek these types of events out and think about how they can help us tell the story of our ancestors.

Resources

Mental Floss - 13 Secrets of Historical Reenactors

American Experience - The Reenactors