Traveling Trunks from Fort Larned Historic Site
By Allison, Janie
November 26, 2011
On Tuesday, November 22, 2011, Dr. David Clapsaddle shared with the 3rd, 4th, and 5th graders a program from his Traveling Trunks series. Traveling Trunks, geared for elementary students, bring short historical fiction stories to life with real objects.
Dr. Clapsaddle, a volunteer with and sponsored by Fort Larned National Historic Site, has created eight separate programs, each with a trunk of 19th vintage artifacts accompanied by a story related to the artifacts contained in the trunk. Each story relates to the Santa Fe Trail. Dr. Clapsaddle’s presentation includes a reading of the story, a display of the artifacts, and a question/answer period.
The story Dr. Clapsaddle shared with our students was entitled “A Long Way to Santa Fe” which tells the story of Robert Earl, a ten-year-old lad who accompanies his father’s wagon train from Missouri to Santa Fe in 1850. En route, Robert experiences the slow, monotonous travel of the trade caravan interspersed at times with exciting moments of adventure.
The students were enthralled with the story. The artifacts from the trunk included an 1850’s boys shirt and trousers, some buffalo hair, a hoof from an oxen, horehound candy, and pictures taken from the Santa Fe Trail. The students were allowed to touch and pass around the artifacts. They were given the chance to ask questions as Dr. Clapsaddle read the story. The questions asked by the students led to some great discussion about travel in the 1850’s.
