• 16th Infantry Regiment, Fort Jay, New York City, 1938.

    Governors Island

    National Monument New York

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Traveling Trunks

Packed with lesson plans, primary source documents, recreation artifacts, movies, and more, the Traveling Trunk is a ready-made and easy way to make New York City and U.S. history tangible to students.

Contents of the 4th Grade Traveling Trunk, including beaver pelt samples, a puzzle of Manhattan 400 years ago, clam shells, tea bricks, flags, and more.

NPS photo

Let our Traveling Trunks bring history to your classroom, for free!

Packed with lesson plans, primary source documents, recreation artifacts, movies, and more, our Traveling Trunks are a ready-made and easy way to make New York City and U.S. history tangible to students. Designed to align closely with New York City Public School curriculum, each trunk also includes a teacher's guide, with comprehensive instructions for each interactive lesson and activity. Created to facilitate a place-based learning experience, and show history through the lens of local events on Governors Island, lessons with the trunk are best concluded with a visit to Governors Island and the historic structures of the National Monument.

We offer two different Traveling Trunks: one geared to 4th grade students and the other to middle school students. Read below for specific information about each trunk.

The Traveling Trunks are available for periods of a maximum 2 weeks. There is no fee to borrow a trunk, besides return postage and any necessary repairs or replacements.

If you are interested in using the Traveling Trunk, or would like more information, please call our office at 212-825-3045, or email Park Ranger Kevin Credo at kevin_credo@nps.gov.

The 4th Grade Traveling Trunk takes the class on a journey through history, as they unravel the mystery of why Governors Island and New York City are national treasures. This trunk includes contains materials for lessons on the following subjects:

• The natural resources of New York and how the Lenape used them

• Dutch colonization of Manhattan and early trade

• New York as a prosperous British colony

• The Battle of Brooklyn

• Defending a new nation: Governors Island after the Revolution

 
Contents of the middle school Traveling Trunk, including beaver pelt samples, musket balls, a fish net, a fife, clam shells, and other educational materials.

Contents of the middle school Traveling Trunk, including beaver pelt samples, musket balls, a fish net, a fife, clam shells, and other educational materials.

NPS photo

The middle school Traveling Trunk contains materials for lessons on the following subjects:

• Early New York history and trade between the Dutch and Lenape

• The Battle of Brooklyn

• The War of 1812

• The Civil War and draft riots of New York City

• An independent research opportunity

• African American military experience during World War I

• World War II seen through Governors Island oral histories

Did You Know?

Author Janet Lambert and books she wrote while living on Governors Island.

Janet Lambert (1893-1973) was a military wife for over 30 years, and an actress and author of 54 books of young adult fiction for girls in the 1940s and 50s. She wrote about the lives and the coming of age choices between career or family by daughters of U.S. Army families during World War II and the Korean War-era. She wrote many of her books while living on Governors Island.