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School Programs

History comes alive for students with our interactive school programs placed at different stops within the exhibitions at the Maryland Center for History and Culture. Students gain essential social studies skills by engaging with the MCHC collections through primary source inquiry and activities.

Students dress up for a Colonial Maryland program onsite at the MCHC.

School Tours

Life Then and Now (Grades k-2)

Learn what life was like in Maryland long ago. Students are introduced to how jobs, homes, agriculture, and transportation have changed throughout the state’s history.

Cost: $3 per student
Maximum students: 60
Length: 1.5 hours (use of lunchroom available upon request)


Colonial Maryland (Grades 3-5)

Explore the evolution of the colonial economy from Maryland’s founding to independence. Students learn about colonists, their motives for migration, the reliance on indentured and enslaved individuals in plantation agriculture, and the quest for independence.

Cost: $5 per student/$3 per student for Title 1 Schools
Maximum students: 60
Length: 2.5 hours (includes lunch break)


Civil Rights in Maryland (Grades 5-12)

Encounter the stories and voices from the African American Civil Rights Movement as it manifested in Maryland. Students encounter oral histories and other primary sources to learn about local 20th- and 21st-century civil rights activism.

Cost: $3 per student
Maximum students: 45
Length: 1.5 hours (use of lunchroom available upon request)

Add-On Programs

Enhance your students’ onsite experience and get hands-on with history. Programs are an additional 30-60 minutes depending on the number of students.


QUILL AND INK LETTER WRITING (GRADES PRE-K-12)

Students explore the skill of writing a letter with a quill and ink. Cost: $2 per student


Candle Dipping (Grades 3–12)

Using beeswax, students make their own hand-dipped candles to take home. Cost: $2 per student


Student Primary Source Research (Grades 5–12)

Students interact with primary sources from the MCHC collection while learning more about how to use primary source research.

  • Slavery and the Underground Railroad
  • Civil War Perspectives
  • Growth at the Turn of the Century
  • The Civil Rights Movement in Maryland
  • History Day Preparation


Please Note

Field trips to the museum are offered on Wednesdays and Fridays.

A minimum of 10 students is required to book a school program.

We are able to put a hold on dates over the phone or by email, but program request forms must be submitted within three weeks of the hold to finalize your program date, or the date will be re-opened for other groups. Changes may still be made after submitting a request form.

MCHC provides many grants to help make our programs accessible. Please visit our Grant Funding page to learn more.


Have a Question?

Please call 410-685-3750, ext. 334, or e-mail dwood@mdhistory.org or read our Field Trip Guidelines.


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