Waxing historic

The Hanna Elementary (HES) 4th grade class recently presented to the school and community a human wax museum centering on past residents who had lived in either Hanna or Carbon.

Fourth grade teacher Sara Jones said the students researched their spoken material and pictures used on their display boards from several sources. Using the internet they went to ancestry.com; findagrave.com; hannabasinmuseum.com; and the trib.com. They also used such books as

"Carbon: The first Coal Mining Town" by Daniel Kinnamin; "History of Union Pacific Coal Mines:1868-1940

"; "My Mother's Story" by Margaret Karstoft and "They were the flower of the Camp" by Lynne Kuderko.

The resource Jones found the kids using the most was the Kuderko book.

"It is outstanding in its detail and stories," Jones said. "It is an amazing resource for the students."

Jones said the students do the reading and then write their own oral presentations. The historical figures the individual students pick are entirely their own choice.

The museum presentation was held on May 11 in the HES gym at 1 p.m. for students and at 2 p.m. for the community.

Each student was a wax statue that had a red push button on a nearby poster that activated the presentation when pressed. A summary of the historical figure's life was put forth by the students who were dressed in period attire.

"I am Edward Sidney Brooks," Ulrich "Ricky" Seager said. "In 1889, I married my Daisy. I had two sons and two daughters. I was the superintendent of Hanna's mines in 1908 when the terrible mine explosion occurred."

Seager described trying to save lives and Brooks eventually became vice-president of Union Pacific in the 1920's.

The old mining town of Carbon was represented by Lizzie Smith who was played by Emmafae Dulaney.

"I arrived in Carbon in 1879 and, in 1880, I began teaching school in Carbon," Dulaney said. "I was 29 years old when I started and taught until 1887 and was county superintendent for the schools from 1882 until 1886. I was also the main nurse in Carbon in 1882 because my father, who was a doctor, had taught me how to take care of people. In the late 1880s the school board decided that a woman shouldn't be superintendent, so they pretty much pushed me out. After that, I moved to Montana where I died."

All the students thanked whoever was watching once they were done.

Jones said this is HES' fourth time doing the wax museum presentation. It was canceled last year and Jones was happy to bring it back.

She said five years ago is when the first kids attempted the presentation. Jones did it to compliment the local history she taught.

"I had seen wax museums doing this, always famous people like Benjamin Franklin, and I thought it would be interesting to do locals," Jones said. "We do Wyoming history in 4th grade but we localize it to the Hanna Basin area."

Jones said she has seen an evolution.

"Scripts are getting longer and costumes more authentic. The material is getting deeper and this class is super high achieving, so they took it a little further than it has been done in the past," Jones said. "What is starting to be a challenge is finding people we haven't done yet, but we still have a few more years before we will have to recycle."

She said the first step in getting the students interested in their characters is going to the Hanna Basin Museum website and scouting out the different stories available there. She said this year she had four of her students interested in the coal mining aspect of history and that is how they found their characters.

"It is a lot of reading and doing research on the website," Jones said. "The students put in a lot of time and effort."

Jones is proud the students memorize the speech in their presentations.

"They practice and practice," Jones said. "They have been immersed in this project for over two months."

She is glad they do this at the end of the year because the presentations readies her students to go onto 5th grade with all the skills that get developed through doing this exercise.

This is the first year Jones has separated the adults and kids presentations.

"I think, having two go arounds, they are more relaxed by the second one," Jones said. "One thing that impressed me was that these kids came up with their own strategies to calm themselves down for the presentations."

This year was the first time that two students had two historical characters at the same table. Frank Collins, represented by Garrett Widdison, and Richard Wilson role, played by Cade Weatherford, gave a most moving presentation. Collins and Wilson had been best friends growing up in England and came to America together. Their wives were best friends, too, and they were neighbors when they lived in Hanna in 1902.

Together they helped rescue many from the first mining disaster in 1903. Sadly, in the March 28, 1908 explosion at the Number One Mine, both died trying to rescue miners again. They died side-by-side. The men were in their 30s when they were killed.

In real life Widdison and Weatherford are best friends and the story resounded to both of them.

The boys concluded their presentation in unison.

"We both died together in that second blast and just like in life we left this world, together," Widdison and Weatherford said jointly.

The students had many people inspired including Dr. Jim Copeland, superintendent for Carbon County School District No 2.

"It was such an impressive project for these kids and I was just amazed that they could memorize so much and be so accurate when they were giving their presentations," Copeland said. "It also pointed out the rich history of Hanna with its mining legacy and all that goes along with it. To hear these personal stories that lived through this time of history meant a lot to the listener."

HES principal Laura Niswender had not had the opportunity to see the wax museum presentation before this year.

"I heard about this when I was interviewing for principalship and I felt really bad for the kids when it had to be canceled last year," Niwender said. "These guys did amazing and I have to admit they exceeded my expectations and I knew it was going to be good. Kudos to Mrs. Jones and her 4th grade class."

Other characters were presented included a nurse in Hanna that founded the nursing school at the University of Wyoming. Her name was Amelia Leino played by Kaylee Johnson. Charles "Coffee" Johnson, a merchant from Carbon who brought exotic goods to Carbon Country from all over the world, was played by Zachariah Gonzales. Joseph Cox, a individual who helped open mines in Hanna was played by Aiden Scott. Kimberly Reno portrayed Gert Milliken who kept essential historical records of Hanna. Kaylee Johnson gave the story of Jeanne Raite Massey, who was the oldest person in Hanna when the mines closed.

"It is so great the kids are learning about where they live and the heritage of the town," Copeland said. "More people should see this."