Past Profiles Grades K-5

What people make up New Jersey's past? Through the everyday objects of people who lived in the state, students examine individuals, professions, and conventions across time and culture. Using current exhibitions, students will explore the rich diversity of our state.

Once Upon a Building Grades K-5

How many lives can a building have? Explore the inside and outside of The New Jersey Historical Society''s building, once a businessmen's club, now a museum and library. From identifying shapes and building elements, to locating pattern and design, to solving an architectural space problem through a hands-on activity, students understand the importance and complexity of architecture and its effect on the people that use the space.

Garden of Industry Grades K-5

From agriculture to textiles, explore how we rely on industry for our everyday needs. In the exhibition Ebb and Flow: New Jersey and its Rivers, students will "read" a photograph and explore historic objects to investigate how industry works and discover how it has changed the lives of people over time.

Tools of the Historian Grades 6-8

How do we learn about the past? Students search for clues to New Jersey's history in primary sources, employing methods and materials used by historians. As they explore photographs, letters, and newspaper articles from the Historical Society's archives, students learn how to extract information about a topic and explore this topic's impact on New Jersey.
Choose to view primary sources from either the Civil War, Works Progress Administration, Newark's History, or Mapping New Jersey. Please indicate your preference when scheduling.

Past Profiles: 4th and 5th Grades

What people make up New Jersey's past? Through objects, images and documents of people who lived in the state, students examine individuals, professions and conventions across time and culture. Students will learn ways to gain historical information from a variety of primary source materials.
•Past Profiles: Life of a Lenape Explore the life for the Lenape in New Jersey through objects and images.
•Past Profiles: Everyday Colonial Life in New Jersey Explore daily life in colonial New Jersey by exploring gender roles, community development and available resources.
•Past Profiles: A New Jersey Civil War Soldier Explore the people of the Civil War from New Jersey soldiers, their families and young students through letters, images and objects.

New Jersey: A State of Discovery Grades 4 and 5

These educator-led programs include hands-on activities tailored to support New Jersey's fourth and fifth grade social studies scope and sequence. These programs are only offered during the months indicated and space is limited. Book early!
October and November
•Life of the Lenape in New Jersey
Explore how life for the Lenape in NJ was very different than life now and how we share the same basic human needs. Through hands-on activities, students will use critical thinking skills to understand the life of the Lenape in New Jersey. Students will be historical sleuths tracing the path of the Lenni Lenape through downtown Newark using observation skills and historical maps.
December through February
•Colonial Life in New Jersey
What was daily life like for colonists in New Jersey? Using primary source materials such as home inventories and drawings, student will explore gender roles, communication practices and the strength of community in colonial New Jersey. Students will be historical sleuths tracing colonial life in Newark using observation skills and primary source materials, including maps, and historic images.
February through April
•A Civil War Soldier from New Jersey
What was it like for a Civil War soldier and the families that they left behind? Through hands-on activities and investigating primary sources, such as objects and photographs, students will discover the daily life of a New Jersey Civil War soldier and his family.
•History in Progress: The Civil War
Students will search for evidence of the impact of the Civil War on New Jersey in primary sources, employing methods and materials used by historians. As they explore photographs, letters, and newspaper articles from the Historical Society's archives, students learn how to extract historical information.
May through June
•Industrious New Jersey
Explore how we rely on industry for our everyday needs, from agriculture to textiles. Through exploration of primary sources and hands-on activities students examine the different roles of people in New Jersey's industrial past and present.

A State of Ebb and Flow Grades 4 and 5

Investigate how rivers have been both resources for and obstacles to human endeavor. In the exhibition A State of Ebb and Flow: New Jersey and its Rivers, students will explore New Jersey waterways through artifacts, maps, and other primary sources to discover the impact that rivers and canals have on transportation, settlement, food, and industry within New Jersey. Through a science "lab" students will discover the impact of waterway development on our state, and its natural resources. The exhibition, Ebb and Flow: New Jersey and Its Rivers, has been supported in part with funding from a Special Projects grant from the New Jersey Historical Commission, a division of Cultural Affairs in the Department of State; The Charles Emil Thenen Foundation; The Leavens Foundation; and The John Ben Snow Memorial Trust.