Day Camps Nurture Budding Historic Preservationists

By using historic properties as educational tools, the day camps incorporate a mixture of archaeology, history, architecture, and preservation into their activities.

By Demetra Aposporos

	In a summer day camp at the Amherst Museum, children learn about architecture by touring historic buildings. Photo Courtesy of Amherst Museum

As a way to instill in kids a love of history and old buildings, historic-house museums are reaching out to some of their youngest visitors with weeklong summer day camps held on the premises. The summer camps, many of which were introduced within the past five years, also help dispel the notion that house museums aren't kid friendly. Only 29% of families with children showed an interest in visiting historic houses, according to a 2006 survey by research firms, Synovate and DataPath Systems, and the National Trust for Historic Preservation.

By using historic properties as educational tools, the day camps incorporate a mixture of archaeology, history, architecture, and preservation into their activities. At the Wilton House in Richmond, Virginia, for instance, children ages 7 to 11 tour the entire 18th-century plantation, learning how people lived, what they ate, and why the house looks the way it does. We talk about what makes it Georgian and how that's different from other architectural styles, says Wilton House museum director, Dana Hand Evans.

Activities get more sophisticated as the kids get older. Campers ages 11 to 14 at Clermont, an 18th-century New York mansion, design miniature period rooms for one activity and on the last day, put on a play about past residents. Teenagers are a harder sell, but Old World Wisconsin offers a three-day camp for kids ages 12 to 15 that trains them to become junior docents. After spending three days learning about site interpretation, history, and building materials, the campers play tour guide on the final day. We have them fully dressed in period clothing and working in a building along with the staff, answering questions from the public, says Joe Monarski, education coordinator for Old World Wisconsin.

House museums typically offer camp sessions only one or two weeks during the summer, and most cap the number of kids at fewer than 30. Even though summer is months away, spaces-like those at all summer camps-fill up fast.

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