In Life-Size Lincoln Logs, A Lesson

Last week, school children from around Oregon were here packing (pretend) wagons for a journey across the Western frontier, chatting with settlers at their homestead in the year 1880, crosscut sawing, working with raw wool and leather, rug hooking and even building with life-size "Lincoln logs."

The Frontier Days festival that drew nearly 900 children here goes to the heart of what the Museum does: creating learning experiences that prompt people to discover their connection to the past. This lets them see their role in the present from a new perspective, and gain insight into their responsibility to the future. And, everyone was having so much fun, they weren't immediately aware of all that they gained.

The level of learning and discussion was at an all-time high. Second-graders' eyes widened when they realized they would have had to wash one of their two pairs of jeans on a washboard on the Oregon Trail. One boy exclaimed that his Lincoln-log cabin would be great if he just had an axe. Another boy jumped up and down when he saw a photograph of the Native American drawing "She Who Watches." He was thrilled to tell his class that his father had taken him to see the real thing and he knew all about it. He shared his experience and learned more as he walked through the Spirit of the West exhibit.

It was all part of a lifelong learning experience that will live on in the hearts and minds of each child who visits here. That is how the Museum makes a difference.