From the left standing in the back: Heidi Ryan, at 3rd grade teacher at Marvin Elementary School, (Weston Res.); LMMM Trustee Mimi Findlay (New Canaan); LMMM Docent Margaret Lopat (Darien); third grade class at Marvin Elementary standing in the Mansion's Library.
On July 20, 2011, the Lockwood-Mathews Mansion Museum will bring to a close the Spring-Summer Education Program which has brought to the museum hundreds of students and a steady growth of school tours through a collaboration with the Norwalk Public School System.
Dr. Susan Marks, Superintendent of Schools, and Joan Glass, Director of Social Studies, are committed to helping further the Mansion’s mission of engaging students and stimulating their natural curiosity, while fostering an understanding and appreciation of Civil War history and Victorian era art and architecture.
Sponsored in part by the Xerox Foundation, the Education Program makes a connection between Lockwood-Mathews’ owners, Mr. and Mrs. LeGrand Lockwood and Mr. and Mrs. Charles D. Mathews, the City of Norwalk, and the Mansion’s unique place in American history. This National Historic Landmark is viewed worldwide as an American architectural treasure, predating by 20 years the Vanderbilt homes in New York and Newport and other examples of architecture’s Gilded Age.
Students learn about mid to late 19th century technology and discover that the Mansion’s infrastructure was ahead of its time. Built during the Civil War and still inhabited during the Great Depression, the tour is a unique learning opportunity for students as there is no comparable mansion museum in our state. Indeed, there is no institution that is better able to bring to life these significant events in American history.
Students also learn that the Lockwood-Mathews Mansion was built with indoor plumbing, gas lighting and a central heating system that burned one ton of coal a day; even President Abraham Lincoln’s White House could not compare with these technological advances.
LMMM docent Margaret Lopat from Darien, CT, a volunteer who has been instrumental in helping the Mansion launch its 2011Education Program, was a teacher in Norwalk for thirty-four years. Ms. Lopat taught Special Education K-12 during the course of her career. The Education Program invites all school students throughout Connecticut to tour the Mansion but in order to achieve this expansive goal, LMMM is hoping to recruit, in the near future, additional volunteer educators to fulfill its mission of reaching out to students and schools across the state that have yet to visit this National Historic Landmark. For those who are interested in pursuing this volunteer opportunity please contact Joy Romeo, LMMM Volunteer Coordinator at 203-838-9799 ext. 14 or jromeo@lockwoodmathewsmansion.com
The Education Program’s Preparatory Study provides an instructional guide to teachers that allows students to learn about the Mansion and its history before coming to the museum for a docent-led tour. Teachers work in the classroom preparing the students for their visit. With the insight and perspective gained in the preparatory study, students are better able to appreciate and understand the significance of this National Historic Landmark and its historic and artistic significance.
Upon request, a docent goes to the school wearing a period costume and presents a lesson designed to integrate the Mansion’s role in American history with Norwalk’s Board of Education curriculum in the grades designated by the Superintendent.
Students utilize a T-chart to access prior knowledge and identify information that they would like to have answered. A variety of hands-on activities introduces students to different aspects of life during the Victorian era while a brief lesson outlines the Lockwood-Mathews Mansion’s role in the history of Norwalk as well as the history of the Mansion and the families who lived there.
