living history
Past made tangible
Living history is a form of historical education or entertainment where people reenact past eras, wearing period clothing and demonstrating traditional crafts, customs, or battles.
Museums and heritage sites use living history to make the past tangible: The living history farm shows how settlers worked the land.
Participants aim for authenticity, staying in character and avoiding modern anachronisms.
Oral language mediators
- docentsTrained museum interpreters
- demonstrationsPublic displays of opinion
- authenticityQuality of being genuine
- periodPunctuation ending sentences
costumed · first-person · third-person · hands-on · village · tavern · hearth · artisan
Distinct historical period
- epochDistinct historical period
- centuryHundred-year span
- timelineOrdered display of events
- periodPunctuation ending sentences
antiquity · medieval · colonial · Victorian · pioneer · ancient · prehistoric · historical
People who recreate past events
- costumesClothes for assuming roles
- battlefieldsSites of military engagement
- encampmentTemporary military or refugee settlement
- drillHole-boring device
musket · cannon · tents · period dress · uniforms · regiments · Civil War · Revolutionary War
Long-established customs passed down
- ancestryFamily line of descent
- lineageDescent from progenitors
- preservationMaintaining something's condition
- conservationPreventing waste or loss
artifacts · memorabilia · historic sites · museums · archives · cultural memory · legacy · folklife
Derived from direct involvement
- curriculumEducational program's content plan
- studentsThose receiving instruction
- teachersThose who instruct students
- pedagogyArt of instruction
interactive · primary sources · field trip · workshop · hands-on learning · engagement · inquiry · outreach
interpreters
Oral language mediators
- docentsTrained museum interpreters
- demonstrationsPublic displays of opinion
- authenticityQuality of being genuine
period · costumed · first-person · third-person · hands-on · village · tavern · hearth · artisan · craftsmanship
era
Distinct historical period
period · antiquity · medieval · colonial · Victorian · pioneer · ancient · prehistoric · historical · bygone
reenactors
People who recreate past events
- costumesClothes for assuming roles
- battlefieldsSites of military engagement
- encampmentTemporary military or refugee settlement
drill · musket · cannon · tents · period dress · uniforms · regiments · Civil War · Revolutionary War · medieval
traditions
Long-established customs passed down
- ancestryFamily line of descent
- lineageDescent from progenitors
- preservationMaintaining something's condition
conservation · artifacts · memorabilia · historic sites · museums · archives · cultural memory · legacy · folklife · customs
experiential
Derived from direct involvement
- curriculumEducational program's content plan
- studentsThose receiving instruction
- teachersThose who instruct students
pedagogy · interactive · primary sources · field trip · workshop · hands-on learning · engagement · inquiry · outreach · programming
- cultural heritagefolklore, traditions, customs, folk music revival, museum collections
- heritagecultural traditions, museum, national heritage, archive, monument
- heritage park.historic buildings, visitor center, monuments, plaques, old schoolhouse
- historical depictionsdioramas, murals, reenactments, paintings, sculptures
- history educationhistorian, textbook, primary source, secondary source, lesson plans
- Colonial WilliamsburgColonial Williamsburg, Capitol Building, period costumes, blacksmith, apothecary
living historydocumentary
Factual film about reality
museum displays · dioramas · diorama · museum case · academic history
living historyfuture
Time still to come
present · futurism · current events · futurology · forward-looking
history, living, liver, liveliness, livelihood, livable, relive, nonliving, outliving