2023 Mass History Conference

Standardized curricula and testing, fewer field trips, decreases in resources for arts and humanities, a global pandemic. Given these barriers and more, how do local historical organizations share the educational and cultural value of their sites and spaces with local students and the community? Melissa M. Cybulski, local historian and Longmeadow Historical Society board member, presents her collaboration with the children’s department of the Richard Salter Storrs Library to offer a weekly afternoon program for 3rd- 5th graders about one of Longmeadow’s most famous residents, Johnny Appleseed. Bob Damon (Director, Historic and Heritage Resources City of Quincy) and Erin Wederbrook Yuskaitis (Principal, Yellow Room Consulting) discuss how they built the City of Quincy’s Summer Youth Corps Internship and Student Docent Programs in response to the loss of a long-standing partnership between Quincy Public Schools and the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.