Learning Through Discovery
History comes alive through exploration, curiosity, and shared experiences. From field trips and homeschool programs to teacher resources and inclusive learning opportunities, HSWV connects learners of all ages to the stories that shaped Western Virginia.
Learning Beyond the Classroom
The Historical Society of Western Virginia believes history should be accessible, engaging, and relevant for everyone.
Through educational programs, interactive experiences, community partnerships, and hands-on learning opportunities, we help students, educators, families, and lifelong learners connect with the people, places, and events that shaped our region.
Whether you're planning a field trip, teaching local history, exploring as a homeschool family, or looking for accessible community programming, HSWV offers opportunities to discover history in meaningful ways.
Programs for Every Learner
Our educational offerings are designed to inspire curiosity, encourage critical thinking, and create connections between the past and the present. Place connected learning is known to boost civic engagement through identity and belonging, students who understand their community's history invest in it.
Museum Field Trips
A museum visit is an opportunity to slow down, look closely, ask questions, and explore the stories behind the objects and images that connect us to the past.
At the Roanoke History Museum and O. Winston Link Museum, students work with museum educators to investigate photographs, artifacts, and historical resources through engaging conversations and guided exploration. Rather than a one-size-fits-all tour, each experience is developed with your group’s interests, grade level, and learning goals in mind.
Whether your students are exploring photography, local history, Indigenous communities, or Appalachian life, we’ll help create an experience that encourages curiosity and meaningful connections to the past.
Interested in bringing your class to the museum? Contact us at education@vahistorymuseum.org
These field trips are perfect for:
- Public K-12 Schools
- Homeschool Groups
- Community Youth Groups
- Afterschool Programs
Field Trip Experiences May Include:
Photography & Visual Storytelling
How can a photograph tell us about a moment in time? Students explore photography as both art and historical evidence through observation, discussion, and interpretation.
Communities & Change
How do communities grow, adapt, and remember? Students investigate the forces that shaped Roanoke and the surrounding region.
Industry & Innovation
How did transportation, technology, and industry transform everyday life? Students explore the systems and ideas that helped build our communities.
Stories of Place & People
Whose stories are preserved? Whose stories are missing? Students explore how history is collected, interpreted, and shared.
Homeschool Days
History is full of stories waiting to be uncovered. During Homeschool Days at the Roanoke History Museum, students and families gather to explore the past through hands-on activities, creative projects, and thoughtful conversations.
From Appalachian traditions and local stories to science, art, and everyday life, each program invites learners to investigate how people have understood, shaped, and connected with the world around them.
Homeschool Days are designed as an engaging learning experience for students and caregivers—part museum exploration, part workshop, and part community gathering.
Join us each month for a new adventure in history, creativity, and discovery.
Every Homeschool Day starts with a new topic, but no two programs are exactly alike. Activities and discussions are adapted to the learners who attend, creating an experience that can engage a range of ages and interests.
-sm.jpg)
Traveling Educational Trunks
Bring the museum to your classroom, homeschool group, or community organization with the Roanoke History Museum's Traveling Educational Trunks.
Each trunk is filled with artifacts and reproductions, hands-on activities, literacy lessons, and supporting materials that encourage students to explore the past through inquiry, observation, and discovery. Designed to support Virginia Standards of Learning, our trunks provide flexible, ready-to-use resources that help learners make meaningful connections to history.
Available topics include Colonial Life, Native American Life, Revolutionary War, Civil War Soldier, Ancient Mali, Ancient Greece, Africa, Pioneer Life, and Now & Then.
Rental Information
As part of our commitment to supporting local educators, Traveling Educational Trunks are available free of charge to Roanoke City Public Schools teachers. Trunks are also available to other school divisions, homeschool groups, and community organizations for $75 per trunk for a one-week rental, with delivery included within our service area.
For reservations or questions, contact us at education@vahistorymuseum.org
Trunk Facilitation
Traveling Educational Trunks can be paired with an in-class presentation led by a museum educator. Students engage directly with historical objects and ideas while exploring the people, places, and events that shaped our world.
Facilitation Fees: $45 for the first hour and $35 for each additional hour.
Facilitated programs are tailored to the grade level and designed to support classroom instruction while encouraging curiosity, critical thinking, and meaningful connections to the past.
Resources For
Educators
HSWV supports educators with tools and resources that help bring local history into the classroom.
Available resources include:
- Lesson Plans
- Curriculum Guides
- Primary Source Materials
- Digital Collections
- Classroom Activities
- Professional Development Opportunities
Our goal is to make Western Virginia's history accessible, engaging, and relevant for learners at every grade level.
Lifelong Learning
After Hours Makers Series
History comes alive through creativity in the Historical Society’s After Hours Makers Series. Designed for adults looking to learn new skills in a relaxed, social setting, these evening workshops explore traditional crafts, historic techniques, and hands-on projects inspired by the region's rich cultural heritage. From Appalachian folk arts and seasonal crafts, each session offers a fun opportunity to create, connect, and experience history in a new way.
The After Hours Maker Series happens quarterly on Friday evenings from 5:30-7:30 at the Historical Society. Admission comes with a drink ticket and refreshments.
Collections Unpacked
Every object has a story. Go behind the scenes and discover the stories hidden within the Historical Society of Western Virginia's collections. Collections Unpacked offers an up-close look at fascinating artifacts, photographs, documents, and objects nor normally on exhibition. Learn what it takes to care for these objects, and how to be advocates for your community’s history. Led by Executive Director & Curator, Ashley Webb, each program reveals the history, significance, and unexpected connections behind the items that make up the rich tapestry of our region.
Typically held quarterly on a Thursday evening from 5:30-6:30, each Collections Unpacked event is a specifically themed hour long program. Meant to be an intimate behind-the-scenes look, space is limited and first come, first serve. Admission is $10 for non-members and $5 for members. Program is held at the Historical Society at 101 Shenandoah Ave NE, Roanoke VA 24016.
The Kegley Lecture Series
Named in honor of George Kegley and the Kegley family's longstanding contributions to preserving regional history, the Kegley Lecture Series brings historians, authors, researchers, and subject experts together to explore the people, places, and events that have shaped southwestern Virginia. Whether examining local history through fresh perspectives or highlighting new research, these engaging presentations invite lifelong learners to deepen their understanding of our shared past. Held the fourth Tuesday of January, February, March, April May, and September at Christ Lutheran Episcopal Church, 2011 Brandon Ave SW, Roanoke VA, 24015. Admission for each lecture is $5 per person and free for museum members.
Previous lectures are uploaded to the Historical Society’s YouTube page below.
Internships
The Roanoke History Museum welcomes inquiries and applications for museum collections and museum education internships. Internships run on a semester cycle for fall, spring, and summer. These internships are primarily designed for undergraduate and graduate-level college and university students. A minimum commitment of 8–12 hours per week is expected for interns, running the length of the semester.
Collections interns will receive hands-on object based collections management, to include but not limited to accessioning and cataloguing objects, inventory, object photography, object labeling and packing, research, and exhibition installation. Education interns will receive experience working on and running museum-related programs, leading field trips, creating lesson plans, creating inclusive programming, and working directly with the museum’s educator.
While our internship opportunities are currently unpaid, students will receive credits through their college or university. They are a great chance to gain experience in a museum setting – perfect for those pursuing a collections or education based career.
Explore Roanoke's History From Anywhere
Make Your Child's Visit Memorable.
The Historical Society of Western Virginia cares for a growing collection of photographs, documents, artifacts, textiles, maps, and archival materials that preserve the history of our region. These collections provide a window into everyday life, major historical events, and the people who shaped Western Virginia.
Photographs & Negatives
Over 10,000 photographs and negatives visually capture the people, places, and activities of the Greater Roanoke region, celebrating moments captured in time.
Letters & Correspondence
Highlighting public documents from early Roanoke's founding to the treasured letters between family and friends, the museum's collection spans from the 1720s to today.
Artifacts & Ephemera
Three-dimensional artifacts such as fashion, furniture, and everyday household objects tell Roanoke’s visual story - from the decorative pieces people created to the material Roanoke businesses used as marketing, the museum’s collection highlights the broad spectrum of early American decorative art to modern business ephemera.
Collections that tell our story
As the keeper of Roanoke's stories, the preservation of these collections enhance our community's rich cultural heritage.
Tell us about your Trip
Let us know what brings you here