The Mission Inn Foundation is developing a new website project, “Hands on History,” that integrates the object-based learning implemented through the Family Voices educational program and the history and content of the Mission Inn collections. The primary audience for the interactive website is grades 3-12. The museum has extensive experience in providing educational services to all aforementioned grades through its Family Voices and other educational programs. The website will feature learning modules based on artifacts from the Mission Inn collections. Each module will trace the history of the object(s), relate it to the history of the site, list appropriate bibliographic information and provide links to related resources. For example, the “California Mission” module will feature examples of the Henry Chapman Ford Mission Paintings, a short biography of the artist, explain the usefulness of the paintings to historians and archeologists, and provide links to other California Mission sites. Lesson plans matched to the California Education Framework will be available for access by teachers and home schools. The project uses the California State Archives website as a model (see learncalifornia.org). The educational component of the Hands on History website will be pilot tested and evaluated at an elementary, middle and high school in the Riverside area prior to use throughout the county student population and by the general public.

Enter Hands on History Lesson Plans

"Family Voices" is a Mission Inn Foundation and Museum Community Heritage Initiative. The project is an educational outreach program designed to promote students' abilities to learn history and improve and develop their oral and written skills. Each year, approximately 150 high school students from five Riverside area high schools participate in the project. Numerous workshops take place in each classroom and students are given the opportunity to work one on one with the project team artists, author Gayle Brandeis, and singer/storyteller Karen Wilson. Over the four-month project period, students are audio taped, professionally video taped and featured on the Mission Inn Museum's web site. The project parallels California State Standards, specifically pertaining to Reading and Language Arts.      Enter Family Voices

"First Sundays" is project of the Downtown Riverside Museum Consortium. It is an ongoing colllaborative arts program, providing free family art projects on the first Sunday of the month. The Mission Inn Museum, in collaboration with Riverside Arts Council, Riverside Arts Museum, Riverside Central Library, and Riverside Metropolitan Museum, offer free workshops, performances, and special events designed for families with children of all ages. Mission Inn Museum programming reflects the collections, artists and history of the Mission Inn.

The Mission Inn is thriving and so are the Mission Inn Museum’s docent tours! If you’ve ever wanted to get involved in local history by relating your knowledge to others, or if you are just interested in the many facets of the Mission Inn, now is the time for you to become a volunteer Mission Inn Museum Docent! Docent trainees undergo a lengthy, yet fascinating training course beginning in September and running through April. Lecture/discussion topics include: the history of the Mission Inn, Riverside, Southern California; the art, artifacts and architecture of the Mission Inn; and background information which will assist you in describing Riverside’s National Historical Landmark Mission Inn to the thousands who visit it every year.

The docent training class will meet one evening a week from, 7-9 p.m. in the Mission Inn, beginning every September. Following the training course, docents are asked to lead or assist one tour per week or four tours per month for two years. Proceeds from the tours provide much of the funding for the non-profit Mission Inn Foundation & Museum’s operation, including care of the collection and outreach programs to the community. Do you speak Spanish or French? We need trainees fluent in a second language, as well as those who speak English or know American Sign Language. Most of all, we are looking for volunteers who are interested in local history and would like to share it with our guests. Mission Inn Museum Docents come from numerous communities throughout the Inland Empire. If you are interested in joining the ranks of the Mission Inn Docents, or if you would like more information on volunteering with the museum, please call the Mission Inn Museum, 951-788-9556.

Exhibit Related Publications

A wide range of specialty topics is covered by Mission Inn Foundation. Based on the many exhibits at the Mission Inn Foundation, subjects include a brief history of Frank Miller and the Miller family, the architectural influences of Frank Miller, a concise history and documentation of the St. Francis Chapel’s Rayes Altar, and the philosophy of the Arts & Crafts Movement, reflected in the Mission Revival architecture and historic furnishings of the Mission Inn.

Educational Program Publications

The Mission Inn Foundation also features publications that highlight its educational programming. The “Family Voices” project has received funding support from the National Endowment for the Arts, and features the work of students, grades 3-12, as they investigate their family histories by selecting an “artifact” that represents their family stories. Publications are available for each of the past 8 years of the award-winning Family Voices project. Another publication documents “The Generation Project.” Funded by The James Irvine Foundation and the CA Council for the Humanities, it is a photographic and oral history exploration of cultural identity and adaptation by students at La Sierra High School.

History Publications by Our Volunteers and Area Historians

The Mission Inn Foundation is honored to be affiliated with its cadre of over 150 docent and museum volunteers of many talents and abilities. Several of our volunteers have published historic materials related to the history of the Mission Inn and the region. Visit our Museum Store online or onsite to view the wide range of subjects and listings by authors Joan Hall, Maurice Hodgen, Steve Lech, and Walter Parks.

The Museum Store also features the works of other area historians, including Robert Fitch, Esther Klotz, Laura Klure, and Tom Patterson. We also feature the publications by our neighbor not-for-profit organization, The Friends of the Mission Inn.