Rhode Island Historical Society

Visit the museum with your students and open a door to Rhode Island's extraordinary hisory! See the world of the Brown family come alive as you walk through the many rooms of their impressive home. Connect to the past with several hands-on-history objects.

Choose one of five unique programs or choose our standard Rhode Island history tour which includes elements of all tours below. Each special tour will focus on notable eighteenth or early nineteenth century issues and events.

Call Dan Santos, Education Coordinator, at (401) 273-7507 x60 for more information and to schedule a tour.

Bring your lesson plans to life at the John Brown House Museum!

Manufacturing Success

From chocolate to cannon balls, John Brown's businesses produced many goods used locally and around the world. Learn about the process from raw material to finished product. See each item's influence on everyday life.

"That Unrighteous Traffick"

This program concentrates on the Brown family's involvement in the trans-Atlantic slave trade. Walk through "The Voyage of the Slave Ship Sally 1764-1765" exhibit and engage in the debates between John Brown and his brother Moses, an ardent abolitionist.

For All the Tea in China

1787, John Brown's ship The General Washington was the first ship to sail from Rhode Island to trade with China. Learn about what Rhode Island products were sent to China, and what treasures were sent back. See evidence of the China trade throughout the Brown mansion, including the use of tea in everyday life.

A Matter of Life and Death

From fantastic fetes to devastating diseases, the Brown family experienced the joy and pain of life...and they wrote about it. Mannequins wearing eighteenth and nineteenth century clothing illustrate the everyday stories of both celebrations and tragedies from Rhode Island's past. Learn about games and entertainment, as well as the terrible effects of such epidemics as small pox and yellow fever.

Pens, Pies, and Pincushions--Her-story of the New Republic

The lives of American women living in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries were as varied as they are today. From servant, to seamstress, to socialite, occupations differed, but often women were constrained by the same legal and social bounds. Learn about women's education, domestic and social life during your tour through Sarah Brown's mansion.

Other topics that can be covered during your visit to the John Brown House Museum include:

The American Revolutionary War
Neoclassical architecture
Rhode Island transportation history
George Washington in Rhode Island

and many more...contact us and learn how we can accommodate your educational needs!

Call Dan Santos, Education Coordinator, at (401) 273-7507 x60 for more information or to schedule a tour.

The Rhode Island Historical Society Education Department is proud to have collaborated with other distinguished Providence institutions including the Providence Preservation Society, Governor Stephen Hopkins House, First Baptist Church, and the Providence Athenaeum.

Last revised July 27, 2007 by webmaster

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