Hands-on Haffenreffer: Learning and fun for school kids

A wealth of resources awaits youngsters who travel to the Bristol museum from throughout Southeastern New England

by Mary Jo Curtis

Cathy Bramley’s third-graders did their homework before they took their field trip to Brown’s Haffenreffer Museum of Anthropology in May.

They already knew the natives of the American Plains used sign language to communicate with members of other tribes, that their tipis were easily moved so hunters could follow the buffalo, and that native families used nearly every part of the buffalo in their daily life, from the hide and meat, to the muscle and even the chin hairs.

But they didn’t know about the buffalo “chips.”

With the scarcity of trees and other burning materials on the plains, the natives used dried buffalo manure like charcoal to feed their campfires, program specialist Lyn Udvardy explained to the students from East Providence’s Waddington School.

“It was the job of the Indian children to collect the chips,” she said, drawing loud groans from her audience.

The presentation is one Udvardy and the Haffenreffer staff have given countless times since 1968 to students from elementary schools throughout Rhode Island, Massachusetts, Connecticut and beyond. Set on the Bristol shores of Mount Hope Bay adjacent to King Philip’s Seat, the University’s museum hosts 18,000 visitors each year – including some 7,000 school children who come on class field trips, take classes in Native American crafts and attend summer camp. A wealth of resources awaits the youngsters: This classroom holds more than 10,000 artifacts from the native people of the Americas, Africa, Asia and the Pacific. In addition to the current educational unit on the Indians of the Plains, sessions were offered earlier this year on the native peoples of southeastern New England and the Eskimos of the Arctic.

The field trip program was developed by former curator and administrator Bets Giddings, who believed the children visiting the museum should not be left glassy-eyed from staring at artifacts behind a glass partition, but would learn far more from an interactive, hands-on experience. For the past eight years, Cathy Bramley has brought her class to the museum to supplement their study of cultures and communities.

“This is such a wonderful trip,” she said. “It’s structured well, with the children split up into small groups. They get so much out of it.”

Docents Betty Harrington, Arthur Edgette and Kathy Silvia (that's Silvia at left) – volunteers trained in anthropological perspectives – take over when Udvardy concludes her introduction, dividing the students into three groups to lead them in a series of activities. Harrington likens the children’s own family gatherings to native pow wows, showing them the museum’s ceremonial dancing regalia and a video demonstration of the jingle dance. At her urging, the children hesitantly try the hopping dance steps themselves.

“Now do that for four minutes,” she tells them, prompting giggles.

Edgette gives the students a chance to try on native attire. Placing a headdress on Nicholas Lasignan, he dubs him “Chief Smiling Face.” Soraia Afonso models a dress bedecked with shells gathered from the Mississippi River, and Elizabeth Duarte takes on a papoose. Once the cradle is in place, Edgette directs her to raise her arms.

“Look at that – she can still do housework!” he tells the children.

In the tipi nearby, Silvia demonstrates an array of tools and weapons, then gives each of the children a chance to help her make pemmican, which she likens to a native granola. For this modernized version, the children use a stone to grind a concoction of chipped beef, sunflower seeds, raisins and margarine.

“Man, that pemmican thing is good,” declares one youngster as he leaves the tipi.

Classmates Marissa Cabral disagrees; scowling, she declares, “It tastes like peanut butter.”

Gathering together again, the children try their hands at native bead work before returning home. Nicole Gracia sits crosslegged on the floor, working the needle and thread through the tiny colored beads and fixing them to a leather band.

“I really liked the museum and seeing the cradle and the picture cloth,” she said. “I had a pretty good time.”

The Haffenreffer Museum will offer a summer day camp series for children ages 7-12 July 8-12, 15-19 and 22-26. For more information or to register, call 253-8388 or visit the museum's Web site.