History class in a box?

By Kat Bryant

Grays Harbor News Group

Becky Carossino is looking for a few good mementos.

She’s putting together what she calls “history suitcases” focusing on Grays Harbor veterans, with the hope that local schools might incorporate them into their curriculum.

“An educational box will go into each school, where a teacher can check it out for two weeks at a time,” she said, “and it will have everything in there to do a class on this subject.”

Each suitcase will consist of various artifacts (military patches, medals, hats, handbooks and more); rubber gloves for students to wear while handling the items; and a massive binder compiled by the Aberdeen VFW with information on hundreds of local soldiers who were killed in action.

For the teachers, there will be a guide to the specific contents, a list of local veterans who are willing to schedule a time to speak to the class and a suggested lesson plan for each grade level.

The curriculum she’s working up focuses on one specific local vet, said Carossino, a member of the Friends of the Aberdeen Museum of History. In a middle-school test classroom, she said, the teacher set up stations with some papers and items at each one, so that no station had all of the data required to figure out whom they were studying.

Documents include letters written home by soldiers, letters of commendation for medals, induction letters, travel orders, discharge papers and much more.

“It’s kind of like you’re detectives. You get all these little bits of information, and you have to piece them together and figure out how they all connect,” she said. “It’s set up to get kids to interact with each other.”

Also included will be information from local veterans organizations about scholarships they offer for writing an essay or putting together some sort of project.

Once she’s put together enough boxes, she’ll start meeting with local school officials to get the curriculum approved.

“This is our first test one, so we’ll see how it goes,” said Carossino. “We’re hoping the teachers will tell us this (element) worked, or this didn’t.”

She said she was initially just going to focus on Aberdeen. But as she started to compile information and artifacts, she found that several communities “just sort of ran together,” so now it’s more of a Grays Harbor project.

Carossino has high hopes that the idea will catch on all over the Harbor. She says she’s seen interest from two local teachers so far for her military-themed boxes.

“I would like to have one for every school by November if at all possible,” she said – in time for Veterans Day. “I want eight boxes like this.”

She’d be grateful for some private donations to help make that happen.

People willing to share their family’s artifacts wouldn’t even have to give them up, she noted. Historical documents could be copied for use, and photos could be taken of items that are fragile or have extreme sentimental value. The actual items could then stay with the family, or go to a local museum for proper care.

Even stories and anecdotes written by local veterans from their personal experience would be welcome, she said.

Still, there are a few things she’d like to be able to place physically in the boxes for students to touch.

“I wouldn’t mind getting a uniform, because that would be great for a kid to try it on,” she said. “And for grade schoolers, I’d like to get a full-size American flag so they can learn how to fold it properly.”

She also hopes to be able to include several copies of Ted Reynvaan’s 2009 book “The Boys of Company B” in each of her boxes. “There are a lot of good short stories in there, so the teachers could just pick and choose.”

Museums across the country have similar programs, she said.

“I was looking for something for the Friends to do, because (since the June 2018 fire) we’ve had to start over. This was my suggestion,” she said. “At this point we’re not planning to charge anything. A lot of museums do charge up to $50.”

She chose to focus on military history as her project because it’s important to her and her family. Other volunteers may also compile suitcases for topics such as logging, local women and unions – “different parts of our history that kids don’t know about,” she said.

“We’re just feeling our way and trying to decide what will work best.”