Assistance League of Eugene organizes and gives tours at the Lane County Historical Museum to Lane County students, grades K-5. Oregon Heritage began in 1988 and has served over twenty thousand children and adults to date. This program currently reaches over 750 individuals annually.
Oregon State curriculum teaches 4th and 5th grade students about the Oregon Trail and early settlement in Lane County, Oregon. As students learn about Oregon history, they also develop an understanding of the forces that have shaped the present and will affect the future of Lane County.
The Oregon Heritage Interactive Presentations offered by Assistance League trained volunteers offer students the chance to practice farm chores that their forbears would have done. When the students first arrive, they are invited to Pack the Wagon with the necessities they would need on a 4-6 month journey overland. Then the children are given a brief walking tour of the Lane County Historical Museum. The third part of the tour is Life as a Pioneer Child, in which they get to try their hands at writing on school slates, churning butter, carding wool, gathering wood and hunting.
Those wishing to schedule an Oregon Heritage tour must do so through the Lane County Historical Museum at www.lanecountyhistoricalsociety.org.