Museum Programs (K-12)
Primary /Secondary Programs (K-12) offer interesting and innovative workshops connecting exhibitions and library resources to classroom curriculum for grades K-12. Teachers are invited to schedule their classes to participate in the following types of programs:
Self-Guided Visits allow you and your class to visit NHM on your own. Activity Guides are available upon request.
All programs are taught by trained museum staff. Museum Programs and Outreach are designed for classes of up to 30 students. One adult per ten students is required.
Advance reservations are required. Email education@newhavenmuseum.org to schedule a program.
The programs listed below are available at NHM, Tuesdays – Fridays, throughout the school year. Please see Scheduling Programs for more information. All programs are created to connect with Connecticut curriculum standards and all content is designed for specific grade levels.
Museum Programs
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Amistad: Retold
Who were the people who led the Amistad Revolt and what are the legacies of their uprising and the subsequent trials in our local, nation, and global history? This program provides a tour of the Amistad: Retold exhibition, focusing on resistance to enslavement, abolition, the judicial system, and representation of Amistad in the arts. Students will interpret works of art and primary sources, discussing themes such as justice, freedom, and liberation.
Option 1 (45–60-minute exhibition tour):
View the iconic 1840 portrait of Sengbe Pieh by New Haven artist Nathaniel Jocelyn, Hale Woodruff’s 1939 mural studies, and a serigraph of Jacob Lawrence’s “Revolt on the Amistad” (1989).
Option 2 (90-minute exhibition tour & walking tour):
Experience the exhibition and a short walking tour of several significant sites near the New Haven Green using an interactive map.
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Shining Light on Truth: New Haven, Yale, & Slavery
(On view through March 1, 2025)
Bring your students on a free field trip to the exhibition Shining Light on Truth: New Haven, Yale, & Slavery to learn about the vital histories of enslaved and free Black communities in our city. Exploring themes such as Black resistance and community building, students will interpret the exhibition design, learn about local sites, and discuss the 1831 Black College proposal. Classes will experience the interactive reading room and display of photographs of early Black students at Yale, many of whom have ties to New Haven history beyond their time on campus.
Organized by the Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library and Yale University Library, the exhibition was curated by Michael J. Morand with Charles E. Warner, Jr., and designed by David Jon Walker.
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William Lanson and the Building of New Haven (Grades K–12)
Bring art, maps, and walking tours together to teach place-based learning.
Discuss William Lanson’s life as an engineer, entrepreneur, and leader in New Haven’s early 19th century Black community through inquiry-based discussions around Ricardo Gutiérrez’s painting of William Lanson (2022) and the statue by Dana King (2021) on the Farmington Canal Greenway, commissioned by the Amistad Committee. Students will discover Lanson’s invaluable contributions to the building of Long Wharf and the Farmington Canal, and his early advocacy for voting rights. They will also discuss how to honor important historical figures in New Haven.
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The Quinnipiac: The People and the Land (Grades K–3)
Through hands-on activities and storytelling, students will learn about the Quinnipiac people who lived in the New Haven region before the Puritans. Through reproduction artifacts and maps, students will make their own connections about Quinnipiac life and the natural environment.
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NEW! Moving Through New Haven! (Grades K–5)
STEAM and Social Studies Focus
From ships to steamboats, and horses and carriages to trolleys and trains, discover how New Haven residents moved around and how new technologies changed the city. Comparing the past to the present, students will view paintings, photographs, maps, artifacts, and the portrait of William Lanson to create their own visual timelines to explore New Haven’s evolution.
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New Haven Highlights: Past/Present (Grades K–12)
Participate in a highlights tour focused on community and the changing city. Students will explore one-of-a-kind objects from New Haven, including oystering tools, paintings of the Green, and objects made in New Haven’s industries. Objects can range from 19th century volunteer firefighters equipment, to a 1890s ballot box for voting to Frank Pepe’s pizza dough mixer.
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Revolutionary New Haven / Early New Haven History (Grades 3–8)
How did New Haven residents in the Revolutionary era experience the war and fight for liberty and justice? Students will view paintings, explore artifacts from a soldier’s haversack, read accounts by New Haven residents, and learn about the advocacy of Black New Haveners who petitioned for the abolition of slavery in Connecticut in 1788.
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Explore New Haven Green (Grades 3–8)
Students will explore the history of the New Haven Green through maps, artifacts, and art! This program provides students with an opportunity to understand the “heart” of the city of New Haven. The program includes a tour around the Green that introduces students to themes of architecture, commerce, and a changing landscape.
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Migration, Labor, and Industry (Grades 4–8)
Through artifacts and documents, students will learn about migration and immigration of various groups to New Haven. Students will also make connections between migration and New Haven’s history of commerce, labor, its emergence as a major industrial city, and its continually evolving neighborhoods.
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Primary Source Workshop (Grades 6–12)
Classes participating in CT History Day can combine an exhibition tour with an activity focused on interpreting primary sources and thesis writing.
