Educational Resources

History Trunk Program

Through the Marin History Museum's third grade History Trunk program, students are learning local history through storytelling that is connected to historic photographs and objects. Volunteer docents Jean Raeside and Donna Cameron have joined Museum staff in the classroom and in the Boyd Gate House galleries as young students learn Marin history.

Left: Donna Cameron, classroom and museum docent, works with students in the Boyd Gate House. Right: Classroom docent, Jean Raeside. (November 2008)

The Museum’s third grade team offers two lesson plans that explore history using “characters” from Marin’s historic trains. Bully Boy was an industrial age steam train that pulled passenger and freight cars through West Marin, where dairy farmers created a way of life in the late 1800s. 

Through Bully Boy's story, students learn the history of immigrant families, a farming economy, and transportation while they view photographs of this time period and handle objects directly related to its history.  (See lesson plan below.)

The Jack Rabbit served Marin on its route between Sausalito and Mill Valley. 

The Jack Rabbit, 1901. North Pacific Coast Railroad’s No. 2 handled Mill Valley service and sounded her whistle so regularly that Mill Valley residents and merchants set their clocks by it. (MHM Collection).

The Jack Rabbit’s lesson plan engages students in the story of technology and conservation as the history of the Mountain Railroad comes alive, and the story of Muir Woods is explored. Reproductions of railroad ephemera and photographs from the Museum’s collection link important concepts in third grade social studies, such as environmental protection and leadership.  (See lesson plan below.)

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Lesson Plans
Click on the link below to view the powerpoint lesson plan. If you do not have powerpoint, feel free to download the PDF file.

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Trains in Marin: The 1910 Accident in Ignacio

This new media project was produced and written in partnership with students at Novato High School. Student filmmakers and editors: Jared Jensen (Writer, Director, Editor), Nick Laurant (Director of Photography, Special Effects, Make-up), Anna Blanchard (Line Producer, Writer, First Camera Operator), Arianna Minolli (Writer, Costume Manager), Max Brier (Editor, Second Camera Operator), and Anton Matulic (Editor, Second Camera Operator).
Student actors: Esy Bardon (Butcherboy), Kyle Stampfli (Injured man), Shaylin Hoye (Injured woman), Rafael Ayala (Doctor), and Zac Schuman (Newspaper Reporter). We wish to thank Novato High School’s film and video instructor Dana Tamura for her support and expertise.

Song played during closing credits written and performed by Chris and Lorin Rowan.

Click on links below to view entire project :
Part I
Part II

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History Trunk objects related to trains.

History Trunk objects related to dairy farming.

Bully Boy, No. 8 engine with the North Pacific Coast Railroad, taken in San Anselmo in front of Red Hill, 1890. (Marin History Museum Collection.)

Thank you note from a student following a 3rd grade classroom visit to the Boyd Gate House.