GHF Storytelling Series to Explore What Life for a 19th-Century Child in Galveston Would Have Been Like

A Child’s Life: Part of GHF’s Storytelling Series, to Take Place on Saturday, August 4, 2007, 10 a.m. to noon, Samuel May Williams House, 3601 Avenue P

The expansive grounds of the restored 1839 home of Galveston’s co-founder, Samuel May Williams, will be the site for the third installment of GHF’s new storytelling series: A Child’s Life. Participants are invited to bring a blanket and a picnic for enjoying on the grounds while storytellers explore what life for a 19th-century child in Galveston would have been like.

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The lives of pioneer, slave, and Victorian children at school, work and play will be the themes that will be explored.

Catherine Lewis of the West Bay Common School Children’s Museum will speak about school life in early Texas. Presenting as a schoolmarm, she will bring Texas history to life with an award winning program that includes a slate lesson, a spelling bee, and a pen and ink lesson.

Erma Phillips, a professor of English and developmental reading at Galveston College, will dramatize, from an adult perspective, what the memories of her character’s life as a young slave girl on a busy plantation was like.

Aliana Poe, of Houston, is a long-time interpreter of Victorian and pioneer life for area cultural institutions. She will bring her collection of Victorian children’s toys to the Williams House and demonstrate how they would have been played with by 19-century children. Participants will have the opportunity to play with some of the toys.

The storytelling series is $3 for adults, $2 for children, free for children six and younger. Call 409-765-7834 for more information. Children must be accompanied by a guardian at all times.