Adventures in the Archives:
Virtual & In-Person Experiences for Middle & High School Students
The Rosenbach is pleased to offer a menu of carefully-crafted virtual and in-person experiences for middle and high school students. These hands-on programs will give students the chance to page through rare editions and pore over personal letters and participate in discussions that reveal the ways that an author’s life experience shapes their writing.
Adventures in the Archives programs have been developed with AP and honors English curriculum in mind. However, each of the following experiences can easily be tailored to fit the needs of your group. In addition to high school English students, we welcome book clubs and homeschool groups.
Lit Lives: The Story Behind the Story
This introductory program gives students the opportunity to explore the lives of a wide variety of authors. Your experience can include any of the following: Joseph Conrad, Charles Dickens, Emily Dickinson, Nathaniel Hawthorne, Zora Neale Hurston, Langston Hughes, James Joyce, Herman Melville, Toni Morrison, Edgar Allan Poe, William Shakespeare, and Oscar Wilde.
The Literary Circle: Bonds and Breaks Among Writers
This experience helps students to discover the ways in which authors draw upon or respond to the works of earlier writers, tracing the evolution of themes and styles across generations. By exploring the Rosenbach’s extraordinary collection of primary resource material, we will explore the ways that authors within a specific movement (e.g., Romanticism, Modernism) share characteristics and respond to similar social and cultural concerns.
Oscar Wilde: Creativity and Controversy
During this experience, we will explore personal letters, photographs and rare first editions to learn how Oscar Wilde navigated a world in which his character was both celebrated and attacked. We will compare his life with those of contemporary influencers and celebrities whose careers often rise as quickly as they fall in the court of public opinion.
Shakespeare: Power and Prejudice
We’ll take a focused look at 17th, 18th, 19th & 20th century editions of King Lear, Merchant of Venice, Othello, The Taming of the Shrew, The Tempest, and Romeo and Juliet to discover the ways that they adapt to shifts in society. We will also learn that, while the plays do change over time, there are threads that endure. Shakespeare’s work has remained relevant throughout the centuries because he shows us a human struggle which resonates with us no matter what era we inhabit.
Cost
Onsite Experiences- $15 per student
(no charge for teachers and chaperones)
Virtual Experiences-$150 flat fee
(limit of 100 students per presentation)
Register for Adventures in the Archives
Please complete this form to choose an experience and our educators will be in touch within three business days. Together, we will curate a visit that meets the unique needs of your students.
To arrange a visit for a group of college students, please contact our Director of Education
Programs for Elementary and High School Educators 
The Rosenbach’s educator programs help teachers to incorporate primary source material into their curriculum to both support and extend learning. Programs always include practical takeaways so educators can simply “plug and play” when they return to the classroom.
In-Person Program: Teaching American History in Turbulent Political Times: A Workshop for Elementary and High School Teachers
Saturday, February 8, 10:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m., $75, Five Hours of PA Act 48 credit available
Teaching history will likely be a challenge in the wake of an election which revealed deep divides in our country. Primary source material can be an essential tool at times like these. In this in-person workshop, we’ll take a close look at letters in the Rosenbach’s collection which reveal how leaders like Abraham Lincoln, James Madison, and Franklin D. Roosevelt managed similar turbulence and division. Together, we’ll brainstorm ways to incorporate this material into your curriculum so that you can give your students a fact-based and unbiased view of American history.
This program is presented in collaboration with the Philadelphia Area Consortium of Special Collections Libraries Inc. (PACSCL)
In Service Workshops
We can arrange an in-service workshop based on any of the above teacher or adventures in the archives programs or a topic of your choosing. In-service workshops can be held at the Rosenbach or at your school. We charge a flat fee of $250. PA Act 48 credit is available. Please email Emilie Parker at [email protected] for more information.