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Museum Access: American Writers Museum

27 minutes, 55 seconds
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Plaque on the side of the American Writers Museum with text that reads, “one hundred eighty, American Writers Museum.”

"Museum Access: American Writers Museum" explores how the American Writers Museum in Chicago brings 400 years of U.S. literary history to life through immersive exhibits, interactive writing activities, and historic typewriters. The program highlights American literature, literacy, composition, vocabulary, and the creative writing process, while connecting writers’ words to culture, identity, and history. Featured topics include the development of an American voice, genres of writing, children’s literature, Frederick Douglass, Chicago writers, and the evolution of the typewriter and QWERTY keyboard during the Industrial Revolution. The video also examines how authors develop routines, rhythm, dialogue, and word choice, making it highly relevant to English language arts, writing instruction, literature study, and U.S. history curricula. Part of the "Museum Access" series.

Media Details

Runtime: 27 minutes, 55 seconds

Inside a museum with white walls and pillars. Several different types of aircraft hang from the ceiling on display, including a large passenger jet with an old United Airlines logo on the side.
Museum Access
Season 1 / Ep 1
28 minutes 44 seconds
Grade Level: 7 - 12
Street view of the entrance of a large, ornate stone building with 4 Roman-style pillars and wide stairways leading up to it. Several banners advertising different museum displays hang on the building or between pillars.
Museum Access
Season 1 / Ep 2
25 minutes 3 seconds
Grade Level: 7 - 12
Angled street view of the entrance of the Metropolitan Museum of Art at night. A lit-up water fountain is in front of the ornate Roman-style columns and archways, which are also lit up.
Museum Access
Season 1 / Ep 3
28 minutes 4 seconds
Grade Level: 7 - 12
Window into a large fish aquarium at the John G. Shedd Aquarium. Several different types of fish swim by, including 2 that are shiny silver, tall, and thin, and have squared-off foreheads.
Museum Access
Season 1 / Ep 4
25 minutes 15 seconds
Grade Level: 7 - 12
Street view of the entrance of the Adler Planetarium, a domed building made of darker stone with a wide staircase leading up to it. It is surrounded by a building of a triangular shape made of glass.
Museum Access
Season 1 / Ep 5
28 minutes 44 seconds
Grade Level: 7 - 12
Aerial view of the Met Cloisters, a square building with a red roof, a large courtyard in the middle, and a tall tower in 1 corner. The building is surrounded by green trees and is near a body of water.
Museum Access
Season 1 / Ep 6
28 minutes 9 seconds
Grade Level: 7 - 12
Old film projector made of dark metal sits on a table in a dimly lit warehouse room next to cardboard boxes and other artifacts in the background.
Museum Access
Season 1 / Ep 7
25 minutes
Grade Level: 7 - 12
Closeup of the face and shoulders of one of the Terracotta Warriors. Parts of other Terra Cotta Warriors and one of the horses are visible in the background.
Museum Access
Season 1 / Ep 8
25 minutes 8 seconds
Grade Level: 7 - 12
Sign with gold lettering on a green background that reads, "New York Botanical Garden," hangs on a low fence surrounded by blooming red and orange flowers on a sunny day.
Museum Access
Season 1 / Ep 9
25 minutes 10 seconds
Grade Level: 7 - 12
Several aged pieces of paper with indiscernible handwriting and drawings of machine prototypes, including a gas balloon, a compound bow, and some sort of rake.
Museum Access
Season 1 / Ep 10
25 minutes 16 seconds
Grade Level: 7 - 12
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