(birds chirping) - [Josie] History is... - It's so cool.

(upbeat music) - [Josie] History is... - Remembrances of the past.

- Learning about how people used to live.

(laughter) For me, history is everything in the past.

- Pretty cool.

- [Josie] History is... (hammer banging) - How we can learn for our future.

- [Josie] History is cool.

You can learn it, live it, and preserve it.

We'll show you how to do that all in your own town.

It's easy.

Just get your hands on history.

Production support for "Hands on History" was provided by the University of Montana, where the discovery continues, and by viewers like you, who are friends of Montana PBS.

Thank you.

Hi, and welcome to history camp.

I'm Josie.

- And I'm Lauren, and we're here in Virginia City to learn some way cool ways to learn about history.

- [Josie] But you don't have to be in Virginia City.

You can get your hands on history in your own town.

- So let's get started and meet everyone at camp.

- [Josie] The Montana Historical Society selected 10 Montana middle school students to participate in history camp.

There's Laura, Ashlee, Sam, Kyle, and Catherine.

There's also Jaylene, Kaitlyn, Carly, Justin and Codie.

Jim Schultz and Peg Hartman are the teachers running the camp.

What are we waiting for?

Here's the first activity.

You're walking around the streets of your hometown, minding your own business.

You're not even paying attention to all the buildings around you.

But you should because those buildings can teach you a lot about the history of your town.

(horses clopping) - [Lauren] We started by learning basic We studied three development phases in building.

- [Josie] The Camp Phase featured primitive cabins built with logs.

- [Lauren] The Settlement Phase included milled lumber.

You can see the boards on this building.

- [Josie] And the Town Phase had more permanent structures built with stone or brick.

Within each phase, you can see different architectural A popular feature in Virginia City was the false front, a cheap, easy way to change the appearance of a building.

Notice the boards used here.

That would make this a false front built during the Settlement Phase.

- [Lauren] Let's put this information to use.

We're going on an architecture scavenger hunt in Virginia City.

- [Child] The point's right up there.

- [Child] I think it's Settlement Phase.

- Way up there.

- Yeah.

- [Lauren] The goal is to find certain types of buildings and certain styles of architecture.

- [Josie] We followed Ashlee and Kaitlyn and Sam and Justin to see who could find their buildings first.

- [Child] It's right here.

Post office.

- Good one.

(gasps) (indistinct chatter) - What I thought what was really fun is we went around the town and found the buildings all by ourselves 'cause we really got to notice what different styles were all by ourself.

Nobody was telling us.

- What architectural features and details are pictured here?

- Well, it was kind of different for me 'cause I didn't know what any of these structures were called.

So it was really cool learning about everything.

I had no idea what everything was called.

Now I know.

- Definitely.

- [Josie] Ashlee and Caitlin held the early lead, but Sam and Justin quickly gained ground.

- It's gotta be it.

- French doors.

- That was pretty fun.

And they learned a lot.

And it also jolt in my memory like what I've learned but forgotten.

Like about columns.

I learned a bunch of stuff like, which my dad talks about.

So now I can understand him.

- I don't think it's a courthouse.

- [Lauren] Everybody searched in the scavenger hunt.

- That was fun.

I really didn't know about all the different styles of houses.

I hadn't thought about how the Greek influenced us.

- There's the lamp and there's storage.

- Oh, cool.

Okay.

I thought it was pretty cool 'cause you never know what those things were called or their purpose.

You knew why they did that.

They made those buildings, they made the false fronts and they made the buildings the way they did.

- And they've got the eaves on them too.

It's pretty cool.

- [Josie] Eventually Sam and Justin finished first.

- I love that creative scavenging.

- [Lauren] But don't worry, Ashlee and Caitlin got the best consolation prize.

Caitlin lives in Butte.

That's a great place to learn history and architecture.

- We have a lot of history in Butte, like a ton of it.

So, yeah, we have a lot of cool buildings too, so.

I probably would do that in Butte.

- [Josie] Sam lives in Phillipsburg, another town with a rich history.

- I'm probably gonna go through the town just checking everything out just to see what everything is.

And then I can tell all my friends, "I'm smarter than you.

I know all this stuff."

(laughs) - [Lauren] Remember you can do this in your hometown.

Here's a fun project.

First walk around your town.

Second, see if you can find the three building phases we studied.

The settlement in town phases should be pretty easy, but you might have to search for a building from the camp phase.

Third, when you find a building from a certain phase, ask the owner or someone in town for an interesting fact about the building.

We had fun and you will too.

Plus, it's a great way to learn about the history of your town.

(birds chirping) - [Josie] In 1863, folks came here to find a pot of gold.

The Gold Rush established a place called Virginia City.

We got to learn all about it at History Camp.

We found out how expensive it was to run a mining camp.

The hard work, the ups... - Holy cow, that's a $30 nugget right there.

- [Josie] The downs... - [Adult] That's nothing but tailings.

- [Josie] When Ashlee hit the mother lode, she learned about the temptations in a gold boom town.

- Now tell you what, come on over here.

Look at, you got a poke full of gold dust and nuggets and I think it's high time that you invest this in a poker game.

- No!

- Just come on over, it's an honest game.

- [Lauren] Ashlee avoided Honest Jim and it helped her make a profit in the game.

Later we went to an actual mining site and discussed the impact it had on the land.

(harmonica plays happy tune) - [Josie] The year after the Gold Rush started, the Montana Post printed the first newspaper in Montana.

We got hands-on experience when we made our own wanted posters.

First, we did the artwork.

(harmonica continues happily) Then John Ellingson supplied the history and the help.

- [John] They had a hard time making... Well, we're ready to print on the printing press.

And this was almost the same way that Gutenberg used when he had a printing press in the very first ones in the, oh, about the 1500s.

Get ink all over your hands and clothes and... (happy tune continues) - [Lauren] Just ask Kaitlin, this was really hard.

- [Child] I didn't realize how much work you had to put in just to get one sheet of paper.

Doing the "Wanted" thing took long enough to just do one copy of it.

- [Adult] Alright, did everybody get their pictures?

- [Josie] The gold boom helped keep local businesses hot.

They're the ones who really made money.

We started cranking on our own project.

The goal: take a piece of mild steel and make it into a screwdriver.

Blacksmith, John Scott, helped us through the process.

- And then you're gonna grab a piece and start.

You go, that's perfect.

(metal banging) ...two... and good, stop.

- And you learned how hard it actually was because you read it in a book, you think it's pretty easy just to pick up a piece of metal and start pounding it.

But if you're actually doing it, it's like hard.

(hammer hammers) - [Josie] But it was worth it.

We all finished with a useful tool.

(birds chirping) For our next activity, we needed one important tool: Our imagination.

- I mean, I've had this wish for so long to be able to go back in time and see what it was really like.

Like see all that stuff.

Or going back in time and feel like that person, be that person.

- [Lauren] That's basically what we're doing here.

We got permission to walk around the Virginia City Cemetery.

The purpose was to find an interesting grave site and write a creative story about that person.

We started by making a grave rubbing, to get a sense of that person's tombstone.

Different people chose different graves for different reasons.

- Alice's, aged 14 months.

I think I'll do this 'cause it's kind of sad how she was so young when she died.

Well, I think it was really interesting 'cause each person had a unique story.

No one's was like the person next to them and probably some of those people we could relate to that we did the same type of thing.

And some people we probably don't even know who they are or we've never heard of them.

- I decided to pick this one because I respect people in the military that devoted their lives to freedom.

I also picked it because it was, I really liked the cast iron it was made out of.

- That kid was eight years old.

I was thinking it's kind of creepy, but if you look at it in a different way that these people have lives and now they're gone.

But people still remember 'em and everything.

It's not really creepy.

I mean when you walk in a cemetery, it's usually for something sad.

And then when you kind of walk around and you're looking at gravestones and you're just wondering why those people are there, what they did and if they were heroes or they were just average people.

I don't know why it did, it just did.

- I picked this one because it's wooden and it's kind of interesting that way 'cause you don't see many wooden gravestones.

Their family probably didn't have very much money, enough money to get a stone.

And so they had, all they could afford was a wooden gravestone.

(birds chirp) Little Mary was still fast asleep when I woke up.

I left a note telling where I was so she wouldn't be scared.

I was going a place I had been avoiding for many years.

I turned left... As I neared the graveyard door I heard little footsteps behind me and saw my daughter Mary following me.

"I want to see it too, Mommy."

She said softly.

When we were nearing the grave, I saw something I had hoped would not happen.

His wooden tombstone had broken in half and it would have to be replaced.

My heart was broken and I just wanted to die of heartbreak and I did.

(birds sing) - At first it was kind of hard because you didn't know anything.

You had to start just right off the top of your head.

And so it was kind of tough getting an idea.

But once you got an idea then it just flowed.

March 25th, 1894.

Today I rode with John to town.

Even though today is Sunday, he had to work.

Mary Jane and Martha Smith, who are good friends of mine, are leaving tomorrow.

I have the worst news.

Well, when I went to pick John up, I walked into his shop, I yelled out his name.

There was no answer.

I frantically ran around.

Then I found him lying there, just lying there.

I screamed and then I heard his last words: "I love you."

But before I close, I will write something to Johnny.

"I love you and I miss you.

Until we meet again.

Remember me always.

Love your sweetest Rose, forever and always."

(birds chirp) - [Josie] The stories aren't true, but your imagination takes you back in time.

You think about life back then.

This activity is something you can do in any town.

Jaylene went back to her school and shared some of her experiences.

- We had to write a story about this person's life and we had no idea what their life was about.

We just had to make up our own story.

- [Lauren] Jaylene made a scrapbook about history camp.

She filled it with great pictures.

She took what she learned back to her hometown.

- [Josie] You can learn about your town's history with this activity.

Ask permission to go into a local cemetery.

Second, find a grave site that interests you.

Maybe it's the shape or the name or the person's age.

Next, make a grave rubbing.

It will keep the person fresh in your mind when you're writing later.

Finally, start writing.

Maybe the story is about a person's job or their last day alive.

Use your imagination.

Think about what life was like back then and make history come alive.

- [Lauren] Back at History Camp we got some great opportunities to get close to history.

- To do all in my power.

- To do all in my power.

- [Josie] Our teacher, Peg Hartman, gave us an 1860s style lesson.

- [Group] Confounding, astounding, dizzying, and deafening the ear with a sound.

- Very nicely done.

You may be seated.

- [Lauren] School was much more formal and strict back then.

- Incon-sistency... You say it.

- [Group] Inconsistency.

- [Teacher] Correct.

- [Lauren] We all agreed there was one way to improve this school.

- They need bigger desks.

Your knees hit the top and you can't get out of them.

- The desks were small, very small, but it was fun.

- [Teacher] The second stanza... - [Child] They learn so much stuff that's different than from today like Latin.

- [Josie] I hate to admit it, but I think I like today's schools better.

(upbeat marching band music) - [Josie] Earlier at camp, Dave Walter from the Montana Historical Society told us the Harrison Bank robbery story.

It's about a botched bank robbery and the trial that followed.

We recreated the trial by doing research and working with a real attorney.

We also had a former state Supreme Court judge preside over the trial in the Virginia City courtroom.

- Was Mr. Barnes a part of the planning and the robbery?

- He was the lookout and the getaway driver.

- [Josie] After all the witnesses testified, the judge delivered a verdict.

Look at him, you can tell he's guilty.

- After considering the evidence and the testimony of the witnesses and the demeanor of the defendant when I find that the defendant is guilty.

- [Josie] See, I told you he was guilty.

♪ Cheers to the Muffins ♪ ♪ The mighty Meadow Muffins ♪ - Whoa!

♪ We'll win this baseball game ♪ - Yay!

- Good afternoon and welcome to the Field of Dreams, a baseball game between the Meadow Muffins and the Road Apples.

- Striker to the plate!

- [Lauren] We experienced 1862 baseball.

Some of the rules were different but the customs of the game were really unique.

Like after you scored a run... - [Player] Yay!

- You may ring the tally bell!

- [Lauren] ...Asking permission to ring the bell.

(rings bell) - [Adult] Road Apples... 13.

- [Josie] I'd like to see players do that today.

It was a close game, but in the end the Road Apples held on to win.

♪ Oh Road Apples, temptations we will see ♪ (string snaps) - All right- - That was cool!

- [Josie] Our final activity helped preserve history.

- [Adult] In historic preservation work, we're not interested in changing the way a building looks.

We're interested in keeping it the same, the way the original builders and designers intended.

- [Josie] We're working on two projects.

In Virginia City, we're doing masonry work on the back of an old building.

In Nevada City, we're putting shingles on this outhouse.

- How many of you have pounded nails before, used hammers?

Everybody used a hammer?

Good.

- [Lauren] John Talley from Montana Fish Wildlife and Parks supervised our work.

Little did he know he was talking to... the gang who couldn't hammer straight.

- You just gotta concentrate.

(girl pounds hammer) - [Adult] Okay.

(laughs) - (laughs) I have poor hand-eye coordination.

That was really fun, but then I hit my thumb.

It really hurts.

(chuckles) - It just takes a lot of practice basically.

- I'm not good at woodworking.

I never have been.

You could put that on TV.

- I can honestly say I would never look, I'll never look at a roof the same way again.

(harmonica plays the blues) - They're doing great.

They're picking it right up.

I'm ready to put 'em to work.

- [Josie] Eventually, we got the hang of it.

We put cedar shingles on this outhouse using galvanized nails so they won't rust.

It's a job we are proud of.

- Shingling the outhouse was kind of cool 'cause that's something I can come back and show my kids.

Show 'em what I did.

Kind of just point out, "Hey, that was mine.

I helped doing that."

- I want to be able to come back here when I'm older and look at what I've done.

Like how I helped re-shingle a roof and stuff.

I think that's really cool to be able to come back and look at it.

- Ready?

1, 2, 3.

(snaps photo) Kyle's the only one who smiled.

Geez.

Come on guys.

- You guys can smile!

- Nope!

(laughter) - [Josie] In Virginia City we tackled another tough job.

This mason rework was harder than it looked.

We are re-pointing the stone work or reinforcing the original mortar.

After we mixed the mortar, we applied it to the tough-to-reach places.

- [Child] I think that it was harder than I expected it to be.

I thought like putting the cement mix into the walls would've been a lot easier.

It was actually really hard to fit tools into the little holes.

- I wasn't good at that.

All this like it was the cementy stuff kept falling out and they had a lot.

I think I did more of the ground than I did the holes.

- [Boy] But the wall was neat because I don't think a lot of us realized how much time it takes to do one of those.

- [Lauren] But we all realized this was important work.

These pieces of history won't make it without our help.

Some old buildings deteriorate and eventually have to be torn down.

- Yeah, but that wouldn't be history.

It'd be history that we tore down.

A lot of people I think would be pretty upset 'cause these are historic buildings and we have very few historic buildings around anymore because of everybody tearing them down.

And a lot of people think it's not, like we don't care if it's torn down or anything, but we do.

- I hated history before and now I really wanna save it because it's something really special.

- I'm really mad that some of the people took down all these buildings because I don't get to see everything.

- Because something new doesn't have a history, it doesn't have a past life that you can learn and if it's old it has like different lives.

Like a blacksmith could have lived there or a dress shop could have been there and it's interesting to learn about that.

- [Josie] Codie learned a lot and he got a chance to share it.

He went back to Townsend and gave a presentation to the local Rotary Club.

- This kind of hands-on history is a lot of fun.

- [Josie] He gave a slide show and talked about the historic preservation projects - And this is when we shingled the outhouse.

(crowd applauds) - [Lauren] Maybe there will be an opportunity for Codie to help preserve a building in Townsend.

(upbeat music) You can get involved in a historic preservation project in your town.

First, it's not something you want to do by yourself.

These are big projects and you need professional help like John Talley gave us.

Second, try contacting your city or county preservation officer to see if they need volunteers.

If they don't need help, check your nearest state park or historic site.

Finally, volunteer.

Let them know you want to help preserve history.

It's fun and you'll be proud of what you did.

(kids laugh) - [Josie] We got our hands on history and it made a difference.

- You don't even realize you're learning.

I mean you're just having fun.

- It's that you're interacting probably, more hands on.

You actually do something other than listen to someone talk.

- We participated in history so we know exactly how it works and we'll just always remember it.

- [Lauren] The teachers running the camp taught us a valuable lesson: A great place to start learning history is in your hometown.

- You've gotta start with what's happening in your own backyard because a textbook, as great as it may be as far as a resource, it's dead until you make it alive, until you make it applicable.

- That's the most important thing about learning any kind of history is, "Why does it matter?

Why do I wanna learn this?

What's it all about?

Why do I care?"

And when they get to see it, touch it, really get to know the personalities of and the heroic actions that they took and the materials that they used and the implements that they used and see the places and go inside the buildings, see the materials, touch them, then it's all real to them.

And then they're not just some dead people, but their own ancestors, their own family members, their own human family.

- [Josie] Most people might not know it, but students our age do care about history.

- So yeah, I think history is a really important thing.

And like you get to learn about your ancestors and stuff and that's part of history.

- I think history is important because we only have one history and if we don't preserve it now people in the future won't know anything about themselves.

They won't know who they are or anything.

- [Lauren] Well that's our show.

Thanks for watching.

- [Josie] Hey, it's a Western... You knew it would have to end this way.

- [Lauren] I know.

Just keep walking.

- [Josie] Lauren, I can hardly see.

- [Lauren] Just keep walking, Josie.

- [Josie] If you are interested in attending the Montana Historical Society's History Camp for Kids, fill out an application online.

Just go to our website.

- [Lauren] Production Support for hands-on history was provided by the University of Montana, where the discovery continues and by viewers like you who are friends of Montana PBS.

Thank you.

(upbeat banjo music)