Free classroom presentations (slide/PowerPoint). Topics include:
1) The story of America as exemplified by the eight generations of the Boal family who have shaped America and the community.
“The generations of the Boal family who have occupied the estate evoke an understanding of time and of many of the themes that dominate the study of American history.”
-- Federal Institute for Museum Services, Museum Assessment Program
The story of the Boal family is the story of America as seen through one family, from the pioneer days of the immigrant David Boal who was a Captain in the Revolutionary War, through his son David, founder and namesake of Boalsburg, and his son George, one of the founders of public education in Centre County and first president of the Centre County Agricultural Society in 1852 when they petitioned the state to locate the Farmer's High School here -- today known as Penn State University.
The fifth generation, Colonel Theodore Davis Boal, founder of the adjacent 28th Division Shrine, home of the Pennsylvania Military Museum, took part in the international adventures typical of Americans in the early 1900's, marrying European aristocracy, and adding a ballroom and chapel to change the family farm to the family estate.
The sixth generation, Ambassador Pierre Boal, served all over the world. His daughter, Mimi, married the Governor of Maryland, Blair Lee, descendant of the distinguished Virginia family whose members include Richard Henry Lee, signer of the Declaration Independence, and the Civil War General Robert E. Lee.
Museum CEO Christopher Lee is the seventh generation. He has served as an elected municipal official and a voting member of the Federally-designated Centre County Metropolitan Planning Organization which allocates all Federal money for transportation in Centre County. He also is a co-founder in 1973 and former president of the Boalsburg Village Conservancy, a group dedicated to preservation in Boalsburg and Harris Township.
Students connect with their identity as Americans by learning about the story of the Boals and the community they live in. The family never moved and the original furnishings, artwork, tools and weapons, including stage coaches and wagons are on display.
2) Christopher Columbus: Discoverer or Invader? How Americans have looked at Columbus through the centuries.
“Boalsburg boasts one of the most important Columbus artifacts in North America… Boalsburg’s memorials are bound to make visitors reflect on what it means to be an American.”
-- The Pittsburgh Post Gazette
A nationally recognized expert on Christopher Columbus, Museum CEO Christopher Lee speaks on who Columbus was and who he is still becoming.
Columbus died in 1506, but he has been very busy since then. IN 1792, three hundred years after his first voyage, he served the colonials as a non-English founding father. In 1828, Washington Irving wrote the Life and Voyages of Columbus, enshrining many of the myths taught in elementary schools today.
In 1892, with the Irish Catholic immigration, Columbus became a Catholic, and soon after he became an Italian, as both groups used Columbus' religion and national origins to justify their place in their new home of America against Nativist opposition.
Then in 1992, Columbus morphed into either a symbol of the centuries-old Hispanic heritage in America not yet recognized by the mainstream culture, or he became an invading exploiter and decimator of native cultures.
Through it all, Columbus remains the man who opened the door from the Old World to the New World, one of the most important events of the last one thousand years.
3) Learning and Community Service
“Your Boal Mansion tour changed my life. It showed me that you can be smart and still be OK. It inspired me not to be a slacker.”
--Tenth Grader, State College High School
Often the presentation, which is highly interactive, branches into questions such as how we learn and what is the nature of community service. Many students are interested to discover they can participate in the Museum's summer docent program at the Boal Mansion Museum which teaches them history, art, public speaking and community service.
For more information or to schedule an on-site tour or in-school presentation , contact Christopher Lee, CEO, the Boal Mansion Museum at (814) 466-6210, PO Box 116 Boalsburg PA 16827 or email [email protected].
“The generations of the Boal family who have occupied the estate evoke an understanding of time and of many of the themes that dominate the study of American history.”
-- Federal Institute for Museum Services, Museum Assessment Program
The story of the Boal family is the story of America as seen through one family, from the pioneer days of the immigrant David Boal who was a Captain in the Revolutionary War, through his son David, founder and namesake of Boalsburg, and his son George, one of the founders of public education in Centre County and first president of the Centre County Agricultural Society in 1852 when they petitioned the state to locate the Farmer's High School here -- today known as Penn State University.
The fifth generation, Colonel Theodore Davis Boal, founder of the adjacent 28th Division Shrine, home of the Pennsylvania Military Museum, took part in the international adventures typical of Americans in the early 1900's, marrying European aristocracy, and adding a ballroom and chapel to change the family farm to the family estate.
The sixth generation, Ambassador Pierre Boal, served all over the world. His daughter, Mimi, married the Governor of Maryland, Blair Lee, descendant of the distinguished Virginia family whose members include Richard Henry Lee, signer of the Declaration Independence, and the Civil War General Robert E. Lee.
Museum CEO Christopher Lee is the seventh generation. He has served as an elected municipal official and a voting member of the Federally-designated Centre County Metropolitan Planning Organization which allocates all Federal money for transportation in Centre County. He also is a co-founder in 1973 and former president of the Boalsburg Village Conservancy, a group dedicated to preservation in Boalsburg and Harris Township.
Students connect with their identity as Americans by learning about the story of the Boals and the community they live in. The family never moved and the original furnishings, artwork, tools and weapons, including stage coaches and wagons are on display.
2) Christopher Columbus: Discoverer or Invader? How Americans have looked at Columbus through the centuries.
“Boalsburg boasts one of the most important Columbus artifacts in North America… Boalsburg’s memorials are bound to make visitors reflect on what it means to be an American.”
-- The Pittsburgh Post Gazette
A nationally recognized expert on Christopher Columbus, Museum CEO Christopher Lee speaks on who Columbus was and who he is still becoming.
Columbus died in 1506, but he has been very busy since then. IN 1792, three hundred years after his first voyage, he served the colonials as a non-English founding father. In 1828, Washington Irving wrote the Life and Voyages of Columbus, enshrining many of the myths taught in elementary schools today.
In 1892, with the Irish Catholic immigration, Columbus became a Catholic, and soon after he became an Italian, as both groups used Columbus' religion and national origins to justify their place in their new home of America against Nativist opposition.
Then in 1992, Columbus morphed into either a symbol of the centuries-old Hispanic heritage in America not yet recognized by the mainstream culture, or he became an invading exploiter and decimator of native cultures.
Through it all, Columbus remains the man who opened the door from the Old World to the New World, one of the most important events of the last one thousand years.
3) Learning and Community Service
“Your Boal Mansion tour changed my life. It showed me that you can be smart and still be OK. It inspired me not to be a slacker.”
--Tenth Grader, State College High School
Often the presentation, which is highly interactive, branches into questions such as how we learn and what is the nature of community service. Many students are interested to discover they can participate in the Museum's summer docent program at the Boal Mansion Museum which teaches them history, art, public speaking and community service.
For more information or to schedule an on-site tour or in-school presentation , contact Christopher Lee, CEO, the Boal Mansion Museum at (814) 466-6210, PO Box 116 Boalsburg PA 16827 or email [email protected].
