The Fairfield Museum and History Center is one of the town's community treasures, and Christine Jewell is a part of a team dedicated to presenting a diverse array of exhibits and programs that serve all members of the region.
Half of Jewells job focuses on getting area schools to see and use the museum as a resource and not just for history. They can use it as a springboard for teaching other subjects, as well as skills such as critical thinking, she says. Jewell has worked with teachers at Fairfields Unquowa School and New Beginnings in Bridgeport to help develop their history curriculum, and with administration and teachers from the Fairfield Public Schools to ensure that students learn about local history and connect with the past. Recently, New Beginnings students helped stage an exhibit, Our Nations Generations: The New Beginnings Family, which features the quilts of American artist Faith Ringgold.
The other part of Jewells job is creating programs for the community. Among these are a lecture series for adults, and one for younger children based on the American Girl doll series. We used that to learn about history, crafts and cooking, says Jewell. Through one of the dolls they learned about the Depression and its similarities to today.
As a seaside town Fairfield has a long maritime history, and in planning for an upcoming exhibit, Jewell and the museum curator discovered a nautical map from the 1800s buried in the archives. It was really neat coming across something that had kind of been filed and forgotten so long, she says.
While not buried that deep, Jewell hopes the museum is something more people discover.
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