Field Trip Locations
Vermont History Museum
The Vermont History Museum is a destination to learn about the history of the Green Mountain State. Located in the Pavilion Building at 109 State Street Montpelier, it showcases the Vermont Historical Society's collections through its exhibits and educational programming. This field trip location is appropriate for grades K-12.
Hours: Tuesday through Saturday, 10:00 AM - 4:00 PM (closed on state and federal holidays)
Museum field trips and Hands-on History programs must be scheduled in advance.
There is a minimum of 10 participants required for Hands-on History programs.
How do I schedule a trip to the Vermont History Museum?
- Complete our Online Reservation form
- Wait to hear back from our staff. Once we receive your reservation request, we will review it and reach out to finalize the date and time of your reservation.
- Receive a confirmation. We will send you a confirmation email with further details about your visit!
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Kate Malmstrom, Program Assistant
- program.assistant@vermonthistory.org
- (802) 479-8519
The Vermont History Museum in Montpelier and its award-winning permanent exhibit, Freedom and Unity, is a great place for students to discover over 400 years of Vermont history.
Students can explore an Abenaki wigwam, send a telegraph message, and immerse themselves in a World War-II era living room. Special exhibits in the National Life Gallery, Calder Gallery and Local History Gallery tell more Vermont stories. See current exhibits here.
Student groups are scheduled for self-guided tours of the museum exhibits. Staff will supply focusing questions, along with clipboards and pencils, to help guide students' exploration of the museum. Recommended time is 45 minutes. Self-guided visits are appropriate for all grades. Admission fees are waived for school groups and homeschool groups who schedule in advance. Please see more information below about booking a self-guided tour.
Educators can select a Hands-On History Program to enhance a school trip to the museum. The Hands-On History Programs use primary sources and artifacts to focus on Vermont history stories. The recommended time for each program is 45 minutes per class.
The program fee is $3.00 per student, no charge for teachers or chaperones.
Grades K-3 Recommendation
- Mystery Artifacts: How Museums Help Share the Past
- young learners will investigate how museums help share the past through a story time and close looking activity with artifacts.
Recommended for All Grades
- You Be the Historian: Investigating an 1880s Vermont Farm Family
- students act as researchers, curators, and archaeologists to discover details about the Wheeler family who lived in Calais in the 1880s.
- Learning from the Past: Town Meeting and the Green Mountain Parkway
- students examine arguments from the 1930s Green Mountain Parkway debate and participate in a mock town meeting discussion and vote.
- Mapping Vermont History
- students investigate a variety of Vermont maps from different time periods to identify the dates of mystery maps and to understand how Vermont has changed over time.
Grades 6 and up Recommendation
- From Italy to Vermont: Exploring Immigration through Primary Sources
- students investigate census records, photographs, maps and other historic documents to learn about immigrants in Vermont in the early 1900s, with a specific focus on Barre and the granite industry.
- The Buffalo Soldiers: Life in the 10th Cavalry
- students examine primary sources related to the 10th cavalry, the first all-Black regiment stationed at Fort Ethan Allen, to learn more about the impact the soldiers had in Vermont.
- “Send me a box”: Letters from Vermont Civil War Soldiers
- students read and analyze letters from Civil War soldiers, specifically focusing on items soldiers requested or received from home.
Click here to download parking map Field Trip Map.pdf
Did you know?
Many student groups combine their visit to the Vermont History Museum with a tour of the nearby Vermont State House.
You can book a State House tour on our online booking site.
Vermont History Center
Located in the beautiful historic Spaulding school building at 60 Washington Street in Barre, the Vermont History Center houses the Howard & Alba Leahy Library, the Icons, Oddities, & Wonders gallery, and the newly opened Research and Exhibition Gallery. This field trip location is appropriate for grades 9-12.
Hours: Tuesday through Friday, 9:00 AM - 4:00 PM (closed on state and federal holidays)
Visits to the Vermont History Museum may include time in the Leahy Library and Research and Exhibition Gallery, visits must be scheduled in advance due to staff availability.
How do I schedule a trip to the Vermont History Center?
- Complete our Online Reservation form
- Wait to hear back from our staff. Once we receive your reservation request, we will review it and reach out to finalize the date and time of your reservation.
- Receive a confirmation. We will send you a confirmation email with further details about your visit!
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Meg Mallory, Outreach Educator
- outreach.educator@vermonthistory.org
- (802)828-1413
The Leahy Library of the Vermont Historical Society is a center for research and discovery of Vermont's rich heritage. The curious researcher will find a variety of resources documenting the history and people of Vermont, including a collection of books and pamphlets dating from the 1770s to the present.
The voices, ideas and commerce of the past are preserved here in unique letters, diaries, ledgers and scrapbooks. Some of Vermont's earliest maps and planning documents are available here. Extensive photograph and broadside collections create a visual record of the state's past. With a special interest in family history, the library has the largest printed genealogical collection in the state.
Is your class conducting research?
Introduce your students to the Leahy Library's unique collection of primary and secondary sources to help them connect more deeply with their studies.
Begin by exploring the Library Catalog
Explore the Research and Exhibition Gallery to learn how a historical society collects and preserves the artifacts in its care.
The Vermont Historical Society (VHS) holds 30,000 items in its object collection, only a small fraction of which are on display. This gallery enables the VHS to showcase hundreds of additional artifacts, documents, and paintings from this extensive collection in an accessible manner so visitors and scholars can explore our state’s rich past.
The gallery’s first installation will focus on themes developed by the American Association of State and Local History (AASLH) for the 250th commemoration of the Declaration of Independence, including such diverse items as patent models, globes, and social movement signs.
VHS will work with scholars and educators to develop educational and research programming to utilize this gallery space to inspire new research in the study of Vermont’s history.
Interested in incorporating collections in your studies?
Introduce your students to the Vermont Historical Society's vast collection of artifacts to help them connect with the past.
Begin by exploring the Museum Catalog
Since its founding in 1838, the Vermont Historical Society has collected tens of thousands of artifacts and manuscript materials. Our mission is to collect the full sweep of Vermont history, representing all parts of the state. For many years, curators focused on famous events and people. In recent decades, staff have focused on a more inclusive collecting vision, one that represents and incorporates the many diverse voices and perspectives that have been part of Vermont’s story.
On view in the Icons, Oddities, & Wonders Gallery is a small selection of the Vermont Historical Society’s collections that reveal or represent some of the best, the worst, and the most wonderful stories about Vermont. As you read the stories, consider: how do artifacts help us understand and learn about Vermont’s past?