After School and Collaborative Programs

Saturday Academy

Cultural After School Adventures: Young Curators

Exhibition Laboratory

Teaching American History Grant Partnerships

School Partnerships

Saturday Academy

BHS in partnership with The Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History, presents Saturday Academy for students in grades 6-12. Saturday Academy is a free, six-week program for students interested in American History, and best of all, there isn't any homework or testing! Spring 2012 registration has opened and ends February 1st. Questions?  Please contact the Saturday Academy Coordinator at  saturdayacademy@brooklynhistory.org or 718.222.4111 ext. 228.  For a brochure and downloadable application, please click here.

Cultural After School Adventures:

Young Curators

BHS’s “Young Curators” program turns 4th and 5th grade students into curators and historians. BHS has worked on in collaboration with eight schools on thirteen projects. The projects have culminated in professionally designed, historian-vetted, and printed exhibit panels that can be displayed prominently in schools for continued learning. Typically funded by Cultural After School Adventures (CASA) grants from New York City Council Members, BHS applies for funding in partnership with primary schools starting in spring. For more information call 718.222.4111 ext. 241.

Exhibition Laboratory

Exhibition Laboratory, or Ex Lab, as it is known by its participants, is an after-school program in which students from Cobble Hill High School of American Studies, Brooklyn Technical High School, The Packer Collegiate Institute and Saint Ann’s School learn the process of curating an exhibit from start to finish. With the help of Brooklyn Historical Society staff, students mine the collection for art and artifacts, conducted extensive background research, write the explanatory text which will illuminate this history, and chose specific graphic design elements to complete the look and feel of their exhibit entitled. In spring 2011, Ex Lab students worked with renowned historians to create our newest exhibit, Inventing Brooklyn: People, Places, Progress. 

Teaching American History Grant Partnerships

Between 2001 and 2011, BHS has been involved in over twenty Teaching American History (TAH) grants in partnership with the NYC Department of Education, local universities and cultural organizations such as Brooklyn Museum, City Lore, The Gotham Center for NYC History, Henry Street Settlement, Historic House Trust, Museum of the City of New York, The New-York Historical Society, The Old Stone House and Weeksville Heritage Center to develop and implement staff development programs for teachers. Funded though the U.S. Department of Education, BHS works with TAH teacher cohorts in all five boroughs. BHS provides primary source research materials, teaching expertise and worked in a mentoring capacity with teachers. Together, classroom teachers and our staff developed strategies for integrating these materials, as well as the resources of other NYC museums and cultural centers into the classroom. Though the Federal Government has curtailed funding of new TAH grants, BHS is available to host single days of existing grants. Additionally, exemplary professional development workshops created for TAH grants may be enacted with alternative funding sources.

School Partnerships

Multiple-visit school partnerships bring history to life, helping students and/or teachers develop critical thinking skills and become life-long learners. Participants immerse themselves in a study of the past through guided discussion, group activities, and experiential learning. Previous partnerships have involved oral history interviews, the history of a school or neighborhood, and “young curators” programs. 

To discuss how your school can partner with BHS, or find out more about professional development, please call our Director of Education at 718.222.4111 ext. 222.