Education Programs
The educational arm of the Perinton Historical Society (PHS) currently consists of four key programs; Fairport school fourth graders, scouts program, local history presentations, and historic tours.
Fourth Grade Program
For almost 30 years the PHS has extended an invitation to all Fairport Public School classes to participate in our Fourth Grade Program. The tour is two hours long and consists of a scavenger hunt and role-playing exercises in the Museum.
The students begin on the first floor and are given a list of artifacts to find and questions to answer about certain objects in the room. In the Fairport and Perinton History wing they look for pictures and products of various industries and businesses in the area, Native American artifacts found in the town, inventions patented in Fairport, local laws, and images from urban renewal.
In the Domestic and Social Life wing they are asked questions about schools in Fairport, various household items found in the museum including a wooden washing machine, waffle iron and curling iron. The lesson concludes with a demonstration of a vintage grafonola record player.
Downstairs the students are greeted by Jean Keplinger, Town of Perinton Historian, who is dresses as Minerva DeLand, wife of Daniel DeLand founder of the DeLand Chemical Works in Fairport in the 1850's.
Each student is given a role and script about a famous person from Perinton and Fairport's past and acts out a scene with fellow students.
Scout Program
The Fairport Museum is ideally set up for scout troops. In some scout manuals scouts can earn a history badge by visiting an historical society or museum. Scoutmasters are also required to talk with scouts about how people lived in the past.
As part of the PHS Scout Program our curator will take the children on a brief 15 to 20 minute tour of our Social and Domestic Life wing and talk about how people lived in the late 19th and early 20th century. There are samples on how people used to do their laundry, can food products, their leisure activities, and he talks about how children used to walk to one room school houses.
The tour concludes with the parents taking their child to the history wing. There the scout can see some of the buildings that once stood in the village, find their house on a vintage map, and if the parent graduated from the Fairport School system, find his or her picture in our yearbook collection.
The scouts will also receive a postcard of the museum and a walking tour booklet to remember their trip.
History Presentations
The Society sponsors lectures and presentations featuring stimulating local and regional speakers. These programs are monthly during the year starting in September and running through March or April. They usual take place on the second Tuesday of the month.
Historic Tours
The Society has organized and sponsored over thirty house tours. Each one consists of six to eight properties including homes, barns, churches and commercial properties.
Once held in the fall, the tours are now held in April each year and are included with Society membership. Tickets are also available for non-members.
The last three years, the tours have focused on areas of the Village that are within walking distance of each other. They involved South Main and East Church in ‘06, West Ave in 07 and the Faircroft Subdivision in ’08. The latest tour was held in the Hamlet of Egypt.
For further information and appointments for the Fourth Grade Program, please call Jean Keplinger at 585-223-0770. This program is free and is given as a public service to the community.
For information and appointments about the Scout Program, please call the Museum and leave a message. This program is free and open to any scout troop.
Past years tours can be found at Historic Tours. For dates and times for upcoming Lectures and Historic Tours please see Events.
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