NAHANT — It’s not every day that children get to become time travelers, but that’s exactly what elementary students will be doing at the public library.
Back in 1897, the Florence Johnson Herbarium was created by a Nahant schoolteacher and her students. The students did so well that they won an award at the Massachusetts Horticultural show that same year.
The collection of pressed plants was able to be digitized thanks to a two-year federal grant overseen by the Massachusetts Board of Library Commissioners and the library has been able to offer various public events.
Now in the present day, students at Johnson Elementary School have collected and mounted pressed plants using the same techniques and materials that were used in 1897 by those past Nahant students.
Nahant Public Library Director Sharon Hawkes said that it was interesting to see students use the techniques from 124 years ago.
“Even the younger children got to handle these types of materials and figure out what it was like to take linen tape that had been cut into strips, to be careful handling the materials. You know even pressed plants, even fresh ones, tend to be pretty fragile. More than that … to think about arranging the materials, the plant materials on the page in a way that was pleasing to the eye, (and) artistic.”
Through the process students also got to see the images from 1897 that are now poster size and just observe the beauty of the arrangements. After students viewed the 124-year-old images Hawkes said they were able to draw some inspiration and were enthusiastic about the project.
While all fifth and sixth grade students were able to have their specimens photographed, 10 lucky students had those photos blown up to the size of a poster and are now on exhibit throughout the summer.
Hawkes explained that the project was a hands-on way for students to learn about history, especially seeing that some of the students were the same age as the students in Florence Johnson’s class. Hawkes said that they adopted the approach they have seen involved at the elementary school of “using your own backyard.”
“We adopted that approach to have children learn a little bit about history and a little bit about art. Specifically by looking at children, some of them their own age, who did something similar 124 years before.”
The exhibit with both the modern and historic versions of the pressed plants can be seen at the Nahant Public Library on Tuesday through Friday from 10 a.m.-6 p.m. through August.
