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Passport to
History

Passport to History is an annual educational program for Auburn, New York, fourth-grade students. This city-funded program has taken on many iterations over the years, but the overall goal has never changed: allowing students and their families to discover and explore their local historic and cultural sites for free. Often, programs like Passport to History are the only ways some students are able to physically engage with their local history, and this program helps to create equal access to community resources, stories, and pride of place. If your town’s a mystery, it is time for… Passport to History!


Program Overview

Launched in 2003, the Passport to History program invites fourth-grade students to experience the people, places, and things they are learning about in the classroom. Each spring, participating elementary schools make special, fully funded day trips to select historic and cultural sites, and at the end of the field trip, every student will receive a special swag bag of items from History's Hometown sites! Passport to History sites include: Harriet Tubman Home, Inc., Seward House Museum, Cayuga Museum of History & Art/Case Research Lab, NYS Equal Rights Heritage Center, Seymour Public Library, Harriet Tubman National Historical Park, Willard Memorial Chapel, Schweinfurth Art Center, Memorial City Hall.

Partner

The Auburn Enlarged City School District takes great pride in partnering with the City of Auburn’s Historic and Cultural Sites Commission to implement the Passport to History program for all our fourth-grade students across our five elementary buildings. Every spring, our fourth-grade students have an opportunity to not only visit various historical and cultural sites, but are provided with a precursor lesson before their field trip. Students are also given a passport and can return later with their parents or guardians free of charge. The Passport to History program is what it is today because of a collective community and historic and cultural site effort. We are honored to educate our students on Auburn’s rich and valuable history that we hope they carry throughout their lives.

Passport

Program Benefits

Each student is provided with a small passport booklet that contains pages with contextual questions about each site, and once the pages are complete, the passport book is officially stamped.

At the end of the school year, students are given access to a virtual resource kit with more site activities and answers to the passport questions. Parents and guardians are highly encouraged to help their children complete the passport. (Tip: if the student completes their booklet before the end of the school year, they will receive a special certificate from City Hall.) 

Passport books are not just a keepsake for students—it’s for family members, too. As long as the student enters the site with their passport book, every member of their family will be able to enjoy the sites free of admission until the end of the summer!

Get the virtual guide:

Resource Kit Here

Questions?

Thank you for your interest in the City of Auburn Historic and Cultural Sites Commission’s Passport to History program! Please contact program lead Seward House Museum Outreach Coordinator Kate Grindstaff at outreach@sewardhouse.org for more information and field trip scheduling. Find a complete list of passport program sites and contacts downloadable here.

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© 2023 Auburn NY’s Historic & Cultural Sites Commission

® I LOVE NEW YORK is a registered trademark and service mark of the New York State Department of Economic Development; used with permission.

This website is produced by the City of Auburn’s Historic & Cultural Sites Commission, a group of organizations whose mission is to promote Auburn’s attractions through collaborative marketing, programming, and tourism strategies. The Commission site organizations include Auburn Public Theater, Cayuga Museum of History & Art, Case Research Lab, Harriet Tubman Home, Harriet Tubman National Historical Park, Schweinfurth Art Center, Seward House Museum, Seymour Public Library, Fort Hill Cemetery, and Willard Memorial Chapel. The Commission agencies include Auburn Enlarged City School District, Cayuga County Chamber of Commerce, Cayuga County Historian’s Office, Cayuga County Office of Tourism, and Downtown Auburn Business Improvement District.

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