Folkpatterns: A Place-Based Youth Cultural Heritage Education Program

Abstract

In 1978, the Michigan State University Museum and Michigan 4-H Youth Development teamed together to develop Folk-patterns, a program to engage youth across the state of Michigan in cultural heritage educational activities. With support from National Endowment for the Humanities grants, 4-H education and museum-based humanities specialists, along with youth advisors and community-based volunteer leaders, planned and implemented an array of programs, publications, and events that have engaged thousands of youth and their adult leaders in investigations of personal, family, and community histories and folk traditions. The program has been replicated in total and in part by other states, and many of the elements have been adopted for use in other youth educational settings including public schools. Nearly thirty years later, this partnership between 4-H and the Michigan State University Museum is still going, many of the elements have been institutionalized, and new directions are constantly being explored. This essay will examine the history of the project, describe some of its program components, and comment on how this educational program has benefited both the MSU Museum and Michigan 4-H.