We welcome
Girl Scouts
of Eastern
Massachusetts
I
EXPLORED
HISTORY AT THE
COMMONWEALTH
MUSEUM
Massachusetts
History
EXPLORE THE
EVOLUTION OF RIGHTS
IN MASSACHUSETTS
WITH THE
Commonwealth Museum
220 Morrissey Blvd.
Boston, MA 02125
Telephone: 617-727-9268
Email: [email protected]
Facebook: @thecommonwealthmuseum
Twitter: @MassMuseum
Website: commonwealthmuseum.org
A DIVISION OF WILLIAM FRANCIS GALVIN,
SECRETARY OF THE COMMONWEALTH OF MASSACHUSETTS
Welcome to the
Commonwealth Museum!
In order to earn the Girl Scouts Commonwealth Museum Patch, it is necessary to
complete the activities below. This packet is split up into three activity sections:
Discover, Play, and Connect.
The Discover section requires the girls to learn more about their community and its
past, while the Play section delves deeper into different time periods in American
History. Finally, the Connect requirements allow the girls to relate more closely to the
people and time periods featured in the Commonwealth Museum.
Discover: As you walk through the exhibits and learn about key moments and
people in Massachusetts history, use the packet to collect information. Answer as
many questions in the scavenger hunt as you can.
Play: Delve deeper into our galleries and complete the following cross-word puzzle.
Connect: Choose any one of the topics on the Connect page and, using the internet
and your local library, learn more about it! Create a poster to be shared with your
troop, families, and community. You can even send a picture of your poster to the
Commonwealth Museum at [email protected]!
SECTION 1: CONNECT
Puritan Gallery
1. What is the name of the old wooden ship that the Puritans
used to sail to Massachusetts in 1629?
2. Massachusetts is a Native American word. Find what it
means in English on the wall.
3. Who Am I? I was a Puritan and a governor of the
Massachusetts Bay Colony. (Hint: I’m wearing a pretty
funny looking collar).
4. Use the touch table to find a Puritan document canceling
a winter holiday. Which holiday was it? (Hint: Look in the
“Culture” folder).
5. In 1676 a war broke out between the Native Americans
and the Colonists. What war was this?
6. Play the Salem Witch Trial game.
Were you guilty or innocent?
Revolutionary
Gallery
1.Who am I? I’m a patriot who created committees of
correspondence to organize the colonies before the
Revolutionary War.
2.Who am I? I’m a patriot and metal smith. I created the
engraving of the Boston Massacre on the wall and had a
famous midnight ride.
3.Who am I? I was the commander of the Continental Army
and first President of the United States.
4.Committees of Correspondence. I was the first man to
sign the Declaration of Independence and President of the
Continental Congress. I was also a very wealthy merchant.
What is my name?
5.Play the Patriot or Tory game. Were you a Patriot or a Tory?
Constitution
Gallery
1.Who am I? I’m the main author of the Massachusetts
Constitution. I wrote it in 1780. I was also the 2nd
president of the United States.
2.The Massachusetts Constitution established three
branches of government for the state. They are the same
ones established by the Federal Constitution. What are
they?
3.I was a slave who sued for my freedom under the new
Massachusetts Constitution. What is my name? (Hint,
there are two, either one will count)
4.Play the Know Your Rights Game. “I’m really good at
baseball, but they won’t let me play on the boy’s team.
Were my rights violated?”
5.The first 10 amendments to the United States Constitution
are printed on what famous document?
Immigration/
Labor Gallery
1.Who am I? I’m an abolitionist from Massachusetts.
I started the newspaper The Liberator to spread the
message of ending slavery.
2.Who am I? I fought for education reform in the 19th
century, believing that children should be educated rather
than being made to work in factories.
3.What is the name of the first factory town in
Massachusetts? What was being produced in those
factories?.
4.In the 1800’s many people immigrated to Massachusetts.
Name three countries that these people came from.
5.What was the name of the anti-immigration political party
that formed around the time of the Industrial Revolution?
SECTION 2: PLAY
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
Across
Down
2. What amendment gives freedom of religion,
speech, and press? (2 words)
1. What document contains the first ten
amendments to the US Constitution? (3 words)
4. Who Am I? I was born in Maryland and ran away
to Massachusetts and fought to end slavery.
(2 words)
3. Five colonists were killed in front of the old state
house, which became known as what event?
(2 words)
10.Who Am I? I am a woman banished from
Massachusetts for my different religious beliefs.
(2 words)
5. What costly war forced the British to tax the
American colonists? (3 words)
11.What did Native Americans refer to corn, squash,
and beans, which they grew together?
12.Ireland’s Great ___________ caused people
in Ireland to starve, so many left and came to
America
(Answers on back cover)
6. What city did Governor Winthrop call the
“City Upon a Hill”?
7. Which rights state that you are legally allowed
to remain silent if arrested and are entitled to a
lawyer? (2 words)
8. As work load in the _________ increased, and
working conditions decreased, many workers
became unhappy and protested.
9. Who Am I? We ransacked the governor’s house
and threw tea into Boston Harbor. (3 words)
SECTION 3: DISCOVER
Choose one of the two topics below and
make a poster
Our museum includes a lot of different
people you might not have learned about
before. Pick one of them and research
their life. Where and when were they
born? What challenges did they face?
How did they overcome them? How did
they help make our world a better place?
After learning more about them, make a
poster, pamphlet, skit or other creative
project about them so other people can
learn about them too. Make sure to a
send a picture of your project to the
Commonwealth Museum!
Here’s a list of people in the
Commonwealth Museum you might want
to do your project on:
William Apess
Mum Bett
Sarah Bagley
Horace Mann
Frederick Douglass
Quock Walker
Down
1. Bill of Rights
3. Boston Massacre
5. French and Indian
6.Boston
7. Miranda Rights
8.Factories
9. Sons of Liberty
Our galleries focus on four different time
periods: the Puritan era, Revolutionary
era, Constitutional era, and the 1800s.
Pick a time period and put yourself into
it. What would you have worn? Eaten?
Would you have gone to school? What
would your house have looked like? What
type of issues would you have been
dealing with during that time period? After
learning more about the time period, make
a poster, pamphlet, skit or other creative
project about them so other people can
learn about it too.
Make sure to send
a picture of your
project to the
Commonwealth
Museum!
Crossword Puzzle Answer Key
Lucy Stone
Phillis Wheatley
Prince Hall
Samuel Sewell
Mary Dyer
Metacom
TIME
Across
2. First Amendment
4. Frederick Douglass
10.Anne Hutchinson
11.Three Sisters
12.Famine
PEOPLE