| Grade Level:
5-12
Time
Needed:
2 class periods
Goals/Objectives/Student
Outcomes:
Through an
on-site visit or through slides the student will
experience the atmosphere of Montauk as a Victorian
residence and understand William Larrabee's role in Iowa
history.
The student
will:
- identify
William Larrabee as an Iowa governor and progressive
reformer.
- look at the
following aspects of Montauk: buildings and
architecture, material culture, and the natural areas
surrounding the site.
- understand
that while Montauk is a large elegant home, it is
still rather modest, considering Governor Larrabee's
social and economic status.
- identify other
Clermont sites: The Union Sunday School, the Clermont
Museum, and the Larrabee's social and economic status.
- develop an
understanding of what daily life was like on an Iowa
farm in the late 1800s.
Background:
William Larrabee
Born in
Connecticut in 1832, William Larrabee moved to Iowa at the
age of 21. He had little formal education, only completing
the eighth grade. However, he was a lifelong self-learner.
He worked as a teacher before becoming involved in land
speculation.
Eventually, he
held business interests in banking, railroad, and coal
industries. His public service began in 1867. He served 17
years in the Iowa legislature, then two terms as governor,
from 1886 to 1890. Larrabee's progressive ideas put him at
odds with his fellow Republican Party members. Among the
causes he championed were woman suffrage, railroad
regulations, and African-American rights. He held strong
views on education, believing in tax-supported education
for all students, and advocating the use of artifacts in
the classroom. At the time of his death in 1912, he was in
the process of building the Larrabee School, which housed
a museum until 1970.
The Larrabee Family
Anna Matilda
Appelman married William Larrabee in Iowa in 1861, the
same year Abraham Lincoln became president. They raised
seven children: Charles, Julia, Anna, William Jr.,
Augusta, Frederic, and Helen - the youngest and only child
born at Montauk. The Larrabees moved into Montauk in 1874.
Mrs. Larrabee
became very active in the community of Clermont, serving
as the superintendent of the Union Sunday School for 30
years, and completing the Larrabee School following her
husband's death. The Larrabee children were also involved
in a variety of activities suited to their upper-class
social and economic status. The girls engaged in the arts,
one of the few pastimes considered suitable for females at
that time. Anna became an accomplished musician, Augusta
an artist. The boys became involved in the family
businesses and two served in the legislature. Reflecting
their father's concern for education, all of the Larrabee
children stayed in Iowa; two of them, Anna and William
Jr., remained in Clermont. Anna lived at Montauk until her
death in 1965.
With Helen's
three children raised at the mansion following her death,
Montauk was home to three generations of the Larrabee
family.
Montauk
Built in 1874 on
a hill overlooking the Turkey River Valley, Montauk was
named by Mrs. Larrabee for the lighthouse at the eastern
end of Long Island that guided her sea-captain father home
from his whaling voyages. A widow's walk, like those used
by the wives of sea captains to watch for ships, crowns
the roof and gives a dramatic view of the Turkey Valley.
Surrounded by
over 100,000 pine trees that Larrabee planted, the 14-room
mansion is built of brick molded of native clay and kiln
at Clermont. On the 46-acre grounds, where once peacocks
strutted and turkeys roosted in the trees at night, are
flower gardens and statues of Civil War heroes. Montauk
was also a working farm with barns, farm animals, an
orchard, and grain fields.
Montauk reflects
the wealth and lofty status of its occupants. Larrabee
traveled widely and decorated his home with curios and
souvenirs. Visitors today can see Tiffany lamps, Wedgewood
china, statues from Italy, music boxes from Switzerland, a
large collection of paintings, and thousands of books.
Each room has a marble sink, and most of the rooms are
filled with paintings, marble busts, and statues.
Still, Montauk is
modest compared to the homes of other similarly prominent
leaders of Iowa and the nation. This simplicity is a
product of the Larrabees' conservative New England
background.
Because the house
was lived in continuously for nearly one hundred years,
the furnishings and appliances reflect changes in
technology and style over time. Newer furnishings mix with
older ones: in the kitchen, for example, a 1900 wood stove
stands near a 1950s dishwasher. The Larrabee family was
progressive it its use of technology. The house was built
with central heat, a recent innovation at that time. Other
new conveniences were added as soon as they were available
- the telephone in 1900, and electricity in 1910.
Vocabulary
land
speculation:
to buy or sell land in expectation of profiting from
market fluctuations.
library:
room in a house comparable to today's home office or
study.
Montauk:
the name of the house comes from the Montauk Point
Lighthouse in New York, reflecting the Larrabees' New
England roots.
progressive:
a person who actively favors or strives for progress
toward better conditions, as in society or government.
prohibition:
to limit or forbid the manufacture and consumption of
alcoholic beverages. This was a popular cause in the late
19th and early 20th centuries.
sitting room:
comparable to today's living room.
suffrage:
the right to vote. When Larrabee was first in public
office many groups, including women, African Americans,
and American Indians were denied the right to vote.
Victorian:
a highly ornamented, massive style of architecture, decor,
and furnishings popular during the reign (1830-1900) of
England's Queen Victoria; or, relating to or
displaying the standards or ideals of morality regarding
as characteristic of this time.
Procedures:
First talk about
Montauk as a museums with collections. Explain that a
collection is a group of items assembled in a logical
order and gathered because they have some kind of
significance. Museums have collections that are studied
and exhibited to the public. The collections are used to
interpret the past, present, and sometimes the future.
Explain that
museums use both two dimensional and three-dimensional
materials (called artifacts) to interpret history. An
artifact can tell us much about the people, the time, and
the region from which it came. It reveals what materials
is it made from, when and where it was made, and how it
was used. Sometimes its color and style tell us about
popular trends. All of this helps us determine its
relative value within the "material culture."
Discussion
Questions
A historic site -
such as Montauk - is one type of museum that focuses on a
specific place, person, or event. What places in your town
or county would you make into historic sites? Make a list
of these places and the persons, places, or events they
represent.
Discuss what you
expect to see in a house owned by a former Iowa governor.
Include these
activities when you visit Montauk or view slides:
- Montauk has a
parklike setting, common to Victorian houses. Look at
the outdoor statuary of Civil War heroes.
- Identify the
outbuildings. There you will find the well house, the
laundry room, the ice house, the shop, and the farm
buildings.
- Take a drive
through Clermont or look at slides. Visit the 1858
Union Sunday School, which houses the Kimball pipe
organ that William Larrabee donated in 1896. See the
Larrabee School, constructed entirely of stone, brick,
and marble. Larrabee built it in 1912 to further his
progressive views of education.
- Stop in front
of the Clermont Museum, which now contains the
collection that Larrabee acquired for use in the
Larrabee School. He believed that children should have
the opportunity to learn "hands-on" from
artifacts as well as textbooks.
Assessment
of Outcomes:
Discuss the
following questions with your students after
"touring" Montauk. After each question we give
some suggested answers. Have your students expand on these
answers.
William Larrabee
supported woman suffrage (giving women the right to vote).
Imagine you are living in 1880s. Women cannot vote n any
elections. Debate the issue of giving women voting rights.
How might it change elections? How might it change women?
Montauk was lived
in for almost one hundred years - from the 1870s to 1960s.
Consequently, the home reflects various eras of
technology. What changes in technology did you see on your
visit? (Consider: electric lights, dishwasher, telephone.)
Houses change
regularly to fit the needs and tastes of their owners. If
you were living in Montauk, what changes would you make to
suit you and your family? Consider, for example, making
the music room into a TV room.)
William Larrabee
was considered progressive in his ideas. Some of the
political issues he dealt with were public education,
prohibition (outlawing alcoholic beverages), women
suffrage, railroad rates, civil rights, and union rights.
What issues do today's governor and legislature deal with?
How are they similar and different from the issues
Larrabee faced? (Consider: gambling, which is similar to
prohibition issue.)
Extensions
and Adaptations:
Here are
suggested themes for student research. Their results might
be presented in both written and oral reports.
William Larrabee
kept up a lifelong correspondence with several noted
people of his time. These included William Jennings Bryan,
William Howard Taft, Theodore Roosevelt, and James Harlan.
Choose one of these people to learn more about. What was
his childhood like? How did he become a public figure?
Were his ideas similar to Larrabee's?
Pair up with a
friend and pretend to be Larrabee and one of his
correspondents.
Exchange letters
about your views.
The 1904
Louisiana Purchase Expo in St. Louis was a very popular
event. Larrabee was the president of the Iowa Commission
to the Expo. Find out more about the Expo (also known as
the 1904 World's Fair). When did it take place? What kinds
of competitions and exhibits were held? How did Iowa
participate? (Start by gathering information at the public
library, which may provide leads to further information.)
Much of what we
know about the Larrabee family comes from family history.
Your family has a history, too. Talk to your parents and
other family history. Find out when your family moved to
Iowa. Who came first? Where did they live? What
occupations did they hold? What kinds of family stories do
you tell? Be sure to write all this down, even if you and
your mom and dad were the first family members to come to
Iowa. Someday someone else in your family will want to
know this bit of history.
At Montauk you
saw some of the clothes the Larrabee daughters wore when
they were young adults. Fashion has changed a lot since
then. Find out more about the changes in clothing and
accessories between the 1870s and today. What styles were
popular 75, 50 and 25 years ago? How do these styles
compare with today's? Which ones would you like to wear?
Doing
History
These activities
may be used to further explore ideas presented by your
visit. You may want to adjust the activities to the
student's interests and abilities.
The Clermont
Museum contains the artifacts that were in the museum at
the Larrabee School. You can make your own museum, either
at home or in the classroom. Decide on a topic for your
museum (this is your museum's "mission").
Identify artifacts that will illustrate this topic. Do
some research on the artifacts and make labels for them.
You can exhibit your museum in the classroom.
Draw something
you remember form your visit. What made you remember it?
Write a page about your picture and paste it on the back.
Imagine you are
in music room at Montauk. What music would have been
popular when the Larrabee children were young? What music
was popular when the Larrabee grandchildren lived there?
See if you can find sheet music or recordings of popular
music from back then and play them in class. Do you like
the music? Do you prefer this music, or today's?
Keeping a
scrapbook was a popular pastime for children and adults
during the Larrabee's time. Scrapbooks can contain just
about anything you want to remember. Some people make
scrapbooks about their families, their hobbies, or
newspaper articles of interest. Make your own scrapbook.
What will you put in it? Share it with your classmates.
The Larrabees'
raised their own children in the 1860s to 1800s, then
raised some grandchildren at Montauk after 1900. How do
you think ideas about child-rearing changed from one
generation to the next? See if you can find out about
these changes at your public library. Write and perform a
short play comparing how children were raised then with
how they are raised today.
Resources
These materials,
available at Montauk or the Iowa History Resource Center
at the Historical Building in Des Moines, will help you
find out more about Montauk, the Larrabee family, and
Clermont:
Books and
articles 4TH-8TH Grade
- "Doing
Local History." The Goldfinch, Vol. 14, No. 2.,
Winter 1992.
- "Government
in Iowa." The Goldfinch, Spring 1976.
- "Homes in
History." The Goldfinch, Vol. 15, No. 1., Fall
1993.]
Books and
Articles: 9th grade-Adult
- Christian,
Rebecca. "Montauk: Baronial Splendor at
Clermont," Iowan 32 (Winter 1983): 11-16, 52-53.
- Knight,
JoEllen. "Historic Tour of Clermont." Iowan
18 (Fall 1969): 32-35,49.
- Shaffer, James
L. "Historic Montauk." Iowan 16 (Winter
1967-68): 10-19,53.
- "Teaching
with Historic Places: Where did History Happen?"
Cultural Resources Management (CRM) Vol. 16, No. 2,
1993.
- Workman, J.
Brooke, "Governor William Larrabee and Railroad
Reform." Iowa Journal of History 57 (1959):
231-66.
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