History Kits

Get Your Hands on Some History | $25 for 2 Week Rental

Looking for a way to bring the Chippewa Valley Museum to you? History Kits are designed with interactivity in mind and contain artifacts to highlight specific timeframes and historical concepts. These kits are great for clubs, classrooms, and discussion groups whether you use them as micro exhibits, learning tools, or just to spark conversation. Please contact Karen Jacobson at (715) 834-7871, to reserve History Kits.

AVailable History Kits:

• The CCC: Civilian Conservations Corps
  The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) was a New Deal government program (1933-1942) that put young men to work on public works projects during the Great Depression of the 1930s. This kit uses the CCC as a lens to examine individual and national responses to the Great Depression.
  
    CCC Kit Inventory
  
• Child’s Work in the Progressive Era
  Learn about child labor and the successful fight to improve working conditions for everyone. Items in the kit highlight the labor experiences of children in Wisconsin, particularly in the Chippewa Valley, between the 1890s and 1920s.
  
    Child's Work Kit Inventory
  
• Citizen Activism: The Environmental Movement in 1970s Wisconsin
  Documents, maps, and photographs explore the environmental movements of the late 20th century and how Wisconsin residents participated in them. The kit includes a close study of the fight for and against the proposed Tyrone Nuclear Energy Park in Dunn County, WI.
• Discovering Your Community: Guide to Community Research
  This kit uses community-based documents, maps, and photographs to help you discover the history of your own community.
• Getting From Here to There: Maps and Transportation in Eau Claire County
  Historic and contemporary Eau Claire County maps, as well as transportation artifacts, show physical, environmental, demographic, and political changes over time. Compare and contrast different kinds of maps and understand their uses.
• The Great Depression: Voices from the Chippewa Valley
  Get to know what it was like living in the Chippewa Valley during the Great Depression and the New Deal era of the 1930’s, through a mix of historic photographs, quotes, graphics, and three-dimensional artifacts.
• History Detectives: Discovering History through Objects and Photographs
  This is a series of lessons and activities to help you pick up on local history. In addition to a selection of objects and photos, tools and lessons on analysis are included.
• In Sickness and in Health: Public Health in Eau Claire County
  Take a look at public health in Eau Claire County across the 20th century. Through artifacts, photos, and documents, examine how science and technology have changed, and usually improved, the health of Eau Claire County residents over the last 100 years.
• Lumber Country: Industry and Community in Northern Wisconsin
  Take a look at the impact of logging and lumbering on communities and individuals of the Chippewa Valley.
• Mapping History
  Maps are a window into how places change over time. Get to know about how and why people have altered their communities by interacting with a variety of maps.
• Playing Around: Fun and Games in the 1920s and ’30s
  This collection highlights how Chippewa Valley children entertained themselves during the 1920’s and 30’s. There are photos of children at play as well as toys from this era.
• Rubberheads: A Case Study of Industrialization in the Chippewa Valley
  Explore the evolution of tire making, and see how this history parallels changes in society over three quarters of a century.  Presented through a regional lens, we cover a time span of 75 years, beginning with the opening of a local tire company in 1917 and concluding with its closing in 1992.
• Whose Place Is This? Surveying, Owning, and Regulating the Use of Land in Eau Claire County
  In 1847, a survey crew set a corner monument on the Southeast Corner of Township 25, Range 8, the first spot to be surveyed in what came to be Eau Claire County. This kit explores the connection between land ownership and county government through historic maps and land records, photographs, survey equipment, and hands-on activities.
• Dairying
  Wisconsin is the Dairy State. Learn more about it through artifacts, documents and photographs. There’s even a working paddle butter churn included that can be used to turn cream into butter!
• Civil War
  Authentic artifacts and documents from the American Civil War help you better understand Wisconsin’s role in the war. It includes a bullet mold, a cannon ball, and feathers from Old Abe, the famous eagle mascot of the 8th Wisconsin Volunteer Infantry Regiment.
• Hmong in America
  Explore Hmong history and culture with this collection of traditional cultural objects, bilingual documents, textiles, and books.
• Immigration
  Investigate the story of European immigration to the Chippewa Valley through vintage accessories and household items.
• Wisconsin Indian Artifacts
  Learn about the Native Nations that live in Wisconsin today, and study some of the artifacts made and used by native people. This kit includes prehistoric, historic, and contemporary artifacts and photographs.
• Logging and Lumbering
  Delve into the life in the lumber camps and sawmills with vintage clothing and gear, photographs, and audiotapes.
• Pioneer Home Life
  Here’s what would keep you warm, clean, and busy during the late 1800s and early 1900s.
• School Days
  Before there were calculators and iPads, these items helped students learn about reading, writing, and arithmetic.
• World War I
  The personal gear in this kit belonged to Edwin A. Dahl who served in the U.S. Army in France in November, 1918, just before the war ended. Dahl farmed in Dallas, near Sand Creek, southwest of Chetek, Wisconsin.
• World War II
  This collection of WWII artifacts from both the front lines and the home front are housed in a footlocker used by local veteran James Pavelski.