The Hathaway Ranch Museum
is located on 11901 Florence Ave Santa Fe Springs, CA.

A brief history about the Hathway's...Jesse Hathaway and Lola McCarric married in 1902 and moved to Santa Fe Springs where they formed a family. They farmed for a while until 20 years later the oil boom erupted all over the city of Santa Fe springs. By 1929 the Hathaway's started an independent oil company. In 1933, a ranch was built, where it is now the Hathaway Ranch Museum. This house was owned by one of their sons, Dick Hathaway. Dick Hathaway was a collector at the time. He kept a lot of his parent's domestic items such as clothes, appliances, and toys.

Evidence of the Past...Taking students to this museum gives us the opportunity to show them evidence of how things change over time. The museum has appliances such as telephones, radio's, iron's that only worked when placed on a stove, a 1930's stove, and many other interesting appliances that were from that era. Inside the house, there are a lot of different clothing articles that were used in the 20's and 30's. There were also army uniform's and bullet shell's that were collected. Outside on the field, there are a lot of wagons, and cars from the 20's and 30's. In addition, because of their family owned oil company, they kept a lot of oil related items.

Learning Experience... Technology has changed a lot over time, and with this fieldtrip it would be a great opportunity to have the students compare the past and the present while at the Museum and then once in the classroom. Asking questions while on the tour, would be a great opportunity to have them share what similarities and differences they see.
As a teacher, pointing out certain aspects that are missed by students should be mentioned as well. For instance, the similarities and differences in iron's and wedding dresses.

Prepare!!!...The Hathaway Ranch Museum is free for all, but they do accept donations. With a full classroom, it would be appropriate to donate for their time.

Calling in advance is needed to check if they can provide more than one tour guide. Having only one tour guide for a whole class would be difficult because the students will more likely lose interest fast. It is easier to have students divided into several groups in order to keep them in order. Dividing students will require parent volunteer's to come along and keep an eye on a group. Space is very limited in the museum, for that reason different groups are needed.

The teacher should also call and check if there are any bilingual tour guides. If none are available, it would be wise to keep the Ell students that may need translation with a parent or teacher that is bilingual.

Lastly, before starting the tour, it would be wise to remind these students to stay in their group and not touch anything. Students should be reminded of the consequences that will arise if directions are not followed.

Health and Safety Issues...

An area of the Hathaway Ranch Museum is outdoors. Outside they have the 1930's wagons, outhouse(restrooms), tractors and many other attractions.

Students need to come prepared with things that will avoid sunburn. Sunscreen is highly recommended. Hats and sunglasses are welcomed as well.

Resources...
This link has information and videos on the 1920's. Students will get to view the fashion and certain items used in that era as well.
http://www.thepeoplehistory.com/1920s.html

The Hathaway's have their own websites as well. These links provide a lot of information regarding their family history and their life after.
http://www.hathaworld.com/ and http://www.hathaworld.com/hrm/index.html

Debriefing and Lesson Planning...
Once in the classroom, students should pair share about what they like and dislike from this Ranch Museum.
If working with lower grade level students, they can draw their favorite item from the Ranch Museum. Having the students draw the differences and/or similarities between a 1920-30's item to a 2009 item will be a great learning experience. Once all students finish their drawing, presenting their drawings would be a great idea as well.
Upper grade level students can use a double bubble map to compare and contrast the characteristics of a certain item found in the museum and found in a store today.Using a graphic organizer will aid them in gathering their thoughts and producing a detailed paper.

My personal opinion...
When I first arrived to this Museum, I was really disappointed. It seemed as if no one has visited this place in a while. Many of the rooms had lots of spiderwebs and at first it seemed as if this visit was going to be a waste of time.

The man that greeted us was very excited to have visitors, he was dressed in a white t-shirt and dirty jeans.However, this man was willing to give us a tour and was so excited that he told us we had just stepped into a "time machine." I was not sure if to be scared or excited.

Once we started the tour, I was entertained with the stories he was telling us. I was amazed and curious to know the years of all the different appliances and clothing articles we found.

Once the tour was over, I already had certain people in mind of who to bring to this Ranch Musuem. I was glad that I decided to bring my 13-year old sister along because otherwise she would not have seen these artifacts. I was pleased to hear that she enjoyed every minute of it as well.

The tour guide let us know that the city just recently took over the museum, and will dedicate their time and money to it.

As a teacher, I would definitely bring my students here. It would give them a good idea on how technology and appliances have changed over time.