Baltimore Museum of Industry

For our first field trip of the new year, our students had a very fun and educational experience at the Baltimore Museum of Industry. Our school sent about 22 students and 6 staff members to the museum. Upon arrival, we were met with a very excited staff of tour guides. The students were split into two groups where they were shown 4 different exhibits. The first was an example of a blacksmith’s workshop. They were told about the requirements of being a blacksmith in the 1700-1800’s, as well as, the reason blacksmithing fell out of favor.

The next exhibit was to the garment factory. The students looked at a model of the factory and were also able to see a tour guide use a vintage sewing machine. After, the students saw an exhibit of the printing process. They were able to take home samples of the printed pieces from the press. The last exhibit was about the history of Baltimore’s canning business. This led into a hands-on activity where students were challenged with creating canned oysters. Students had the opportunity to work in the 1800’s to create cans, steam oysters, make a wage. While all this was not real it gave the students a fun, memorable experience of Baltimore history. At the end of the day, each student was able to take home a can that they created.