Western Heritage Center - Educational Kits

Educational Kits

This program of the Western Heritage Center is generously sponsored by ConocoPhillips. Thank you!

For more information about these kits or to schedule them for your classroom, please contact Joyce Jensen at (406) 256-6809, or joyce@ywhc.org.

History Mystery I: Sacrifice Cliff

This educational resource kit gives students an opportunity to examine historical evidence in the context of an actual historical mystery. Through this exercise, students learn the importance of research, history and the importance of preservation and discover there are many ways to find answers to historical questions.

History Mystery involves the story of a band of Crow Indians who lived in this area in the late 1800s, the devastation of small pox brought to the area by western immigrants, and a sacrifice by warriors to rid the band of the dreaded, devastating disease. While many versions of the story abound, it is generally believed that the brave Crow warriors offered their lives in sacrifice by flinging themselves from a cliff to their deaths. Many questions remain. Which version or versions of the story are correct? How many warriors were involved? When did the sacrifice take place? Did the warriors perish in vain? Is the local landmark known as Sacrifice Cliff accurately named or was another cliff the site of the sacrifice?

The Sacrifice Cliff educational project was funded with a grant from the Bureau of Land Management, Billings Curation Center, in 2007.

History Mystery II: Pryor Mountain Wild Horses

This educational resource kit provides students multiple perspectives of this complex issue. The kit inclues the resources and tools needed to understand the enviornment, behavior, management and history of the Pryor Mountain wild horses and allows students to learn throught their own investigations. Students will 'travel' around the horse range gathering facts about this unique herd of wild horses. The first team to gather enought facts to answer WHO, WHERE, WHEN, WHY and HOW may then write their own interpretive sign and win the game.

The Pryor Mountain Wild Horses educational project was funded with a grant from the Bureau of Land Management, Billings Curation Center, in 2009.

History Mystery III: The Mystery of the Old Homestead

Imagine you and some friends are hiking in the remote badlands of Eastern Montana looking for treasures, when over the hill you spot an old abandoned house. You walk up and see that the small house has been occupied only by mice, packrats and birds over the years. But there, on the dusty table, is a small folder. Inside the folder are photographs, stories, newspaper clippings and other things saved by the person or people who once lived in the house. Using the items you’ve found in the deserted building, you’ll learn about the family or person who lived in the home by playing a game against three other teams, each team with its own family/individual information folder, all teams gleaning clues about who lived in the abandoned homes they encountered and learning about real people who lived in Eastern Montana many years ago. Are you ready?

The Mystery of the Old Homestead educational project was funded with a grant from the Bureau of Land Management, Billings Curation Center, in 2010.

Crow and Northern Cheyenne Traveling Trunks

These trunks were created to help tell the stories of the nomadic tribes who once roamed the Northern Plains. One traveling trunk has information specific to the Northern Cheyenne and another is specific to the Crow.

Each traveling trunk contains a binder with information about the history of the Plains Indians, including how family members spent their days, community and tribal organization, origin stories, tipi design, the importance of the buffalo in daily life, plants, clothing and beadwork.

Each trunk contains interactive materials, including tribal flags, canvas, a buffalo hide and leather, beading materials, moccasins and beaded bags. Several books and videos are included.

Montana’s American Indian Tribal Flags Kit

Much can be learned about a group of people by the flag they choose to represent them and the symbols, colors, and designs they select for their flag. This resource kit is designed to create a better understanding of each of Montana’s American Indian tribes through their flags.

The traveling trunk contains standard and miniature flags of each Montana tribe, the Montana flag, the United States flag, and two mounted posters of the flags of the American Indian tribes of the United States. A copy of Native American Flags, by Donald T. Healy and Peter J. Orenski, describes the pictures, symbols and colors used in each flag. Also included are lesson plans and coloring activities to encourage children to create their own flags.

The Montana Homestead Era, 1909 – 1925 (Homestead Trunk)

This project was funded with a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities and updated January 2008.

Lewis and Clark Expedition (Lewis and Clark Trunks)