My 'Teaching Social Studies in the Elementary grades' class had a project at the Overholser Mansion. We were to dress up in character and give a 'living history' presentation to 4th graders from the local elementary school. We had to research our era and character and be able to interact and discuss what was going on in that time. If we participated in this project, we didn't have to take the final. So of course, I was in! This is the front of the mansion.

I had never been to the mansion before, it was really neat. They give tours Tues-Sat for $3. The mansion isn't restored, it is preserved. The Overholser family kept everything in tact, and didn't even use the bottom floor after a while so they could preserve it, then it was donated to the state. I had to research Overholser and the other men that were instrumental in getting Oklahoma City up and flourishing, which were Classen, Shartel and Colcord. It was pretty interesting!

Here is a side view, from the carriage house.
Here are some pictures of the inside of the house.

Here is my classmate Lori and myself. Our group was from 1915. She was Mrs. Overholser and I was her daughter's nanny. This is before I got my big floppy hat on! This was in the carriage house, where we got ready.

Here we are in front of the parlor,where our group was stationed. We had Mrs. Classen, Mrs. Shartel, Mrs. Overholser and then me, the nanny. Here we are with the girls from the 1940's group. There were 4 groups, 1915, 1920, 1930 and 1940, in the house. Then there were the maids who were doing a stained glass activity, and then girls dressed up as the daughter and her friend that were in the carriage house teaching the charleston and playing games from the 1900's.

Here are the maids

Here are the cooks from the 1930's, and the girls from the 1940's.

Here are the girls fromteh 1940's upstairs in a bedroom where they were supposed to be stationed. The kids were supposed to be there at 9:30 am, and break up into small groups and visit each group for about 15 mins.

Here are the maids, the girls who were teaching the dance & games, and the 1920's group, flappers!

At 9:45, the kids hadn't shown up yet. The lady who ran the place toldus they didn't get their permission slips and couldn't leave the school. So we were going to them instead, about 3 blocks away. Now we no longer had the house and props to help us act, and we now were going to be in an auditorium in front of 60 kids instead of little groups!

Here we are in the library doing the stained glass activity.

Our group went first, since we were 1915. I have my big floppy hat on now. We talked about the husbands of the women and what they did for oklahoma city, oklahoma history, and what was going on in 1915.

We borrowed one of the girls dressed up as the daughter for a prop. She sat on the stage next to me, since I was the nanny. I got to talk about what she was doing as a 10 year old in 1915.

Then the 1920's group went, then 1930's,and last 1940's. After that we broke them up into 2 groups, half went upstairs to the library to do the stained glass activity with the maids, the rest stayed in the gym and learned the charleston and played some games. Then they switched. It was alot of fun. I'm glad I got to take part in it, I learned a lot and had a great time! It sure beats taking a final!