Miami Stories

Porter at FEC Railway station in downtown Miami, Fla., 1957.
Charles Trainor, photographer. Miami News Collection, HistoryMiami, 1995-277-9470.

A little over a year ago I moved to Miami. I moved for an opportunity to work at HistoryMiami, and quickly settled into life as a South Floridian. One of the first questions people ask me when I comment on my recent relocation is why I moved to Miami. I then proceed to tell my story, and the discussion turns to my life here in Miami.

This last year I was in search of a museum education job somewhere in the nation. So I applied to museums around the nation that were hiring. HistoryMiami was one of the museums at which I interviewed. In February of 2010 I received a call from the Education Manager here at HistoryMiami informing me that I had a job as an educator if I wanted it. It was just a part-time position, but it was in the field I wanted to work in.

I have always been what I call a wondering spirit, not staying in one city for too long. I thought the move to Miami would be a great adventure, so I told the museum I would take the job. At the end of February I packed up my car, left Alabama and headed south. On March first I started here at HistoryMiami and have been here ever since. My gamble has paid off, for now I am the School Programs Manager at the museum.

Every family has a story about coming to Miami. Now you have read my story, what is yours? It may be you are a recent arrival, like me, or a generations-long resident, but there is still a story.

Here at HistoryMiami we have teamed up with the Miami Herald to collect Miami Stories. To read these stories go to http://www.miamiherald.com/miamihistory/

If you are interested in telling your story, please share it with us. Contact HistoryMiami at education@historymiami.org or call Sarah at 305-375-1492.

-- Sarah Coles, School Programs Manager

Out with the Old, in with the New!

The Education Department at HistoryMiami has had the pleasure of working in the community for decades. We service a wide array of students, from ages 4 through the collegiate level. Our programs engage students in as many subject areas as we can, while sticking to our mission to educate people about South Florida history. This summer, we will officially scrap most of the programs we have and roll out a new, sophisticated, inter-disciplinary and highly interactive series of programs.

The menu for our programs once looked like an “all you can eat buffet,” and has slowly been whittled down to an a la carte list of options. The curriculum team has lately been looking at our galleries through new lenses. This reassessment, coupled with input from teachers we surveyed for the last two years, enabled the team to come up with seven new programs. We are thrilled to introduce just a few to you.

Our new Architecture: We Built this City program takes students through different techniques and tools used for the last 10,000 years in South Florida. The tour also hits the streets of downtown Miami for a first-hand look at the Art Deco and Mediterranean Revival styles for which our city is world renowned.

Technological progress presents new possibilities and problems. Did the Tequesta people have technology 10,000 years ago? Of course they did! The Technology through Time program encourages students to look creatively at tools from the Miami Circle tools from the Miami Circle archaeological site, and hypothesize how the dredges, famously put to work in the Everglades, drained our wetlands and make space for people.

Lastly, we have all come to Make Miami Home, and our new program with the same name looks at the different people who have done this over time. Were you born in South Florida? How about your grandparents? Chances are your family came here from somewhere else for one reason or another. People migrate for a variety of different reasons, and we will connect students to their family stories.

The curriculum team will spend the summer perfecting titles for the programs, inventing and crafting different hands-on projects and writing scripts for our Educators to use. Teachers may begin booking these new programs in September 2010.

-- Jenna Vaisman, School Programs Manager

Education’s Busiest Spring

What does it mean to educate? There are many answers to this question, and new ones are thought of every day. To the education staff at the museum, it is always on our minds as we brace for our busy season, and look into revaluating our programs.

One thing is for sure; we are not at a loss for our student population! The Historical Museum might have its busiest spring ever. In addition to our normal school bookings, we are now a part of the Cultural Passports Program that will bring thousands of 4th graders to visit us. The 4th grade curriculum requires the local history must be taught, so what better place than the Historical Museum!

We are also still booking our Historic Visits Program, a unique opportunity offered to public school students. This program allows for students to explore certain historic sites like the Barnacle, Matheson Hammock, Virginia Key Beach and various other sites. They learn about the importance of Historic Preservation, and how South Florida fits in the bigger picture with our historic sites. They document the sites with cameras that we provide, and together with pictures, video, sketches and information that they took from our educators, the students create a book about their experiences.

As always, we are aspire to gain more docents who are looking for a unique volunteer opportunity. Our summer camp, Family Fun days and internships bring in many volunteers of all ages and backgrounds. I am proud to say that we are slowly but steadily growing out volunteer base and are looking forward to continue expanding our docent program.

As we push toward the end of the school year, we are looking forward to providing top notch programming to our public, private and home school visitors, and being involved with as many programs like Cultural Passports as we can. Our students are our largest population of visitors, and we strive to make sure that they leave our museum with a wonderful experience!

-- Gina Neureuther, Education and Docent Programs Coordinator

The Educational Empire of Historia

In the fall of 2008, my dear friend M worked at the Miami Art Museum. The education team across the plaza at MAM is smaller than ours is, and during an afternoon of comic conversation at MAM, they formed an empire.

Well, M suggested that we form an empire as well, and that we have "cultural exchanges," such as private tours of new exhibitions for each other and the sharing of programming details for our family events.

Our education department quickly rose to this comic challenge and came up with, not only an empire, but titles for ourselves, a coat of arms and a flag! I designed the flag and coat of arms at home one night, and “my subjects” approved them.

The Educational Empire of Historia is made up of:

• Empress of Historia – who is in charge of the department;
• Grand Duchess of George – who is in charge of Dr. George’s tours;
• Duke of Craftonia - who is in charge of all family programs and creative projects;
• Baroness of Academia - who is in charge of booking school programs;
• Duchessa de Curricula - who is in charge of all curriculum;
• Grand Duke of Eds - who is in charge of the museum educators;
• Lady Retailia – who is in charge of the gift shop.

At MAM they have flag and motto. They also have royal titles, but I am not free to release those.

I love museum folk and our culture!!

-- Cecilia Dubon Slesnick, VP Education a.k.a. Empress of Historia

Summer with the Teachers

Time literally flies when you are having fun. It’s hard to believe that what felt like an endless 11 week summer … is nearly over! We have had our last week of camp, our last week of working on our teaching collection inventory, and our last week of curriculum re-writes for fall programs.

The summer is over … and we got the first taste of that when our new school program brochures were delivered last week. It was hard to believe when I saw the 2009-2010 written on the front cover!

So where did our summer go?

In Summer Camp we went around the world, from Mariachis to Junkanoo bands. Unlike any other museum in our community, we ran camp for the full 11 week Miami-Dade Public School summer season.

A small team of museum educators scoured over our teaching collection, took a critical inventory and started entering everything into a database.

We overhauled our school programs through the lenses of “Understanding by Design,” a planning and teaching method which allows the educator to think big and narrow down in layers. So yes, we’ve been buzzing on the mezzanine level, a.k.a. Education … and tweeting on Twitter about it all summer long.

-- Cecelia D. Slesnick, Vice President, Education

Slow Boat to Stiltsville

Saturday morning was a perfect day to take a boat ride. A group of people gathered on the dock at Bayside waiting to embark on Dr. George’s boat tour. On this tour they would see not only Key Biscayne and the Cape Florida Lighthouse, but also the community of houses set on stilts in the middle of the beautiful waters of Biscayne Bay that came to be known as Stiltsville. With the breathtaking views and the beautiful weather, Dr. George did not disappoint.

Stiltsville’s first structure was built in the early 1930s. The current community is comprised of seven homes. In its heyday, there were up to 25 structures present in the bay’s waters. Begun as a hangout for local fishermen, it has transformed into a well-known part of Miami’s skyline.

This tour was a great opportunity to sit back, relax and learn about a hidden gem of South Florida’s history!

Views from the Stiltsville, Cape Florida Lighthouse and Key Biscayne Boat Tour

This view: Stiltsville, ca. 1980. Miami News Collection, Historical Museum of Southern Florida, 1989-011-15650.

-- Molli Songco, Assistant Curator of Exhibits