See American history come alive through the museum’s American art collection. Students handle and identify artifacts such as Ice Tongs that were used as a tool for carrying blocks of ice. The growth of New England ice harvesting changed how people ate, worked and planned. Printmakers Currier and Ives depicted this life changing way early New Englanders preserved food in the print “Winter in the Country Getting Ice,” adapted from a painting by  Connecticut artist George Durrie. This is only one of over 800 Currier and Ives prints the Springfield Museums has in its collection which is the largest holdings of lithographs in the nation. Interpreting the historical significance of artwork, students will try on period costume and learn how before the invention of cameras people would pose for several hours unlike today.

Grades 3-5