Student History Fair Fills Ravalli County Museum

Where do you find Ernest Schackleton, Alan Turing, Marie Curie, George Washington, Noah and Laura Ingalls Wilder in the same room with the Black Plague? (see photo below) The annual Homeschool History Fair at the Ravalli County Museum in Hamilton, that's where. Thursday, April 11, for a couple of hours, young homeschooled students dressed up as historical figures and stood in front of their informational panels, and "became" those people. The homemade costumes captured the time periods - from Sherlock Holmes' deerstalker hat at the Sir Arthur Conan Doyle booth to white powdered wig of George Washington and from Cleopatra to C.S.Lewis.

Almost 30 youngsters from throughout the Bitterroot Valley had presentations in what has become a popular annual "living history" display at Hamilton's museum. Each student does their research, constructs their information display and, or course, dresses in the proper style of the time period. And there were unexpected figures such as Wang Zhenyi and Sophie Kurys. Never heard of them? Look it up - these kids did.