Volunteers needed at area history museums

by Arlene Kaiser
Do you remember when you were in the second, third or fourth grade? Do you remember when your class went on a field trip to the Waterloo Farm and Dewey School Museums?

Do you remember the fun you had making butter, grinding corn, sawing wood, or hauling water so you could do the laundry?  Possibly your class made hats for the boys or bonnets for the girls, or a tin bucket to carry your lunch.  Perhaps your teacher read “Little House on the Prairie” books to you, such as “House in the Big Woods.”

Do you remember the excitement when you stepped off the bus and back to another time when your grandparents or great-grandparents were young, and when the pioneers started the farms in Michigan?

The field trips still are happening for more than 900 children each year at the Waterloo Farm and Dewey School Museums. The program provides a pioneer experience for children from five surrounding counties. Four volunteers at the school and eight volunteers at the farm conduct the sessions for six weeks in April and May and four weeks in September.

As you can see, the museum volunteers are spread thin. Some volunteers also have been involved in the program for more than 20 years and are ready to retire.

The museums need more men and women to volunteer and provide the pioneer experience for the children.  Only four to six hours during the week is required. Volunteers will be trained and guided through every step of the program.

The Dewey School program is run by one or two school marms or masters each day. If you are a retired teacher and love history, this would be a perfect position for you.

The Waterloo Farm program is worked by three people each day.  A shepherd gets the children to the proper building at the proper time and assists the Mr. and Mrs. Realy re-enactors.

Mr. Realy gives his presentation about farming and crops of the 1860s in the big barn. He also talis about farm chores the young people were doing at that time.

Mrs. Realy gives her presentation in the Log House, where she offers opportunities for the children to learn about cooking over a fire and hauling water for laundry. She also talks about the general upkeep of a family home without running water or electricity.

If you would like more information about volunteering for the program, please call Arlene at 517-392-3195.

A Mrs. Realy re-enactor gives her presentation in the Log House.

A girl hauls water at the Waterloo Farm Museum.

A boy helps saw through a small limb outside the Waterloo Farm Museum.

A student pumps water into a wooden bucket during her field trip to the Waterloo Farm Museum.