Education

GRADES 2 & 3

Your guide will lead your students through downtown Troy to show what makes Troy an urban environment. Program focuses on downtown’s unique buildings, the role the play in forming our community, and how urban, suburban and rural communities support one another.

Common Core Connection

Back at the museum, students build on the research they gathered through visual observation to present knowledge through oral and written communication.

GRADES 4-8

1.5 hours for tour only; 3 hours for tour + workshop

The date is January 25, 1850, and the residents of 59 Second Street are getting ready for a big party. Readers’ theater and object- handling opportunities engage students in the lives of owners and immigrant servants who lived and worked in this beautiful 19th century home. Students will learn reasons immigrants came to Troy and see for themselves how technological change has impacted daily life. A post-tour document analysis workshop features archival materials directly related to the skits that students enact in the Hart-Cluett House. The workshop can be completed at your school or at RCHS.

Common Core Connection

Students recall information gathered on the tour and integrate knowledge to answer questions.

GRADES 3-5

Why is Troy called the “Collar City”? Students learn for themselves as they try scrubbing a shirt on a washboard and then see how a real detachable collar works. Handling artifacts from important Troy industries and a digital presentation “tour” of Troy in 1881 help students understand the geographic, economic and technological factors that led Troy to be one of the most prosperous U.S. cities of the 19th century.

GRADES 3-5

Handling a (reproduction) set of shackles similar to the ones worn by Charles Nalle during his escape will draw students into the drama of Nalle’s tale. Learn about the African-American population of Troy prior to the Civil War and “meet” some of the important figures that took part in the Nalle story.

GRADES 3-5

Students will learn about the ABCs of daily life in the 19th century and prepare for their trip to the Hart-Cluett House by handling tools & implements and matching them to their 21st century function – if one exists!

Contact the museum if there is a topic or activity that your group is interested in!

Topics covered by our collection include:

-Urban and Rural Life

-Protest and Reform

-People and their Environment

-Immigration in Rensselaer County

-The Industrial Revolution

-The Gilded Age

-Art and Architecture

We can design a program that fits your needs!

Contact the Hart Cluett Museum at (518) 272-7232 x17, submit the form on this page, or email adoren@hartcluett.org at least 3 weeks prior to the date you want.

Confirmation and program guidelines will be sent prior to the visit.

If you do not hear from us, do not assume your program request was received.

Group Size

Programs accommodate up to 28 students. To maintain our current program fees and ensure that all students receive a quality experience, HCM must limit group size to 28 students. Exceptions will not be permitted.

Chaperones

For museum visits and tours, one chaperone is required for every 10 students.

For History In Your Classroom programs, a teacher is required to stay in classroom during program.

Museum Visits and Tours: $8/student, chaperones and classroom teachers receive free admission.

History in your Classroom and Virtual Programs: $120/program

Fees are rated per program per day. Travel fees may be charged if school is located outside of Rensselaer County.

Billing

Invoices are mailed after the museum visit. Payment is due within 30 days. Please note that museum teachers cannot accept any payments at the time of the program.

The more the merrier!

Scheduling more than one presentation of a classroom program per day reduces total travel fees. A program may be scheduled up to three times on the same day.

Successive presentations of the same program should stay in the same room, and allow 15 minutes between each program for preparation and set up.

Tours must be cancelled at least 48 hours in advance. Groups canceling after that time will be billed for the full cost of the tour. Walking tours happen rain or shine.