Exhibition Docent Handbook - Museum on Main Street

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FENCE CRISISBy the mid-1800s, Americans had nearlyobliterated their forests, and a fence crisisgripped the country. Westward expansionover a woodless prairie also required newfencing alternatives. A solution to thesecrises came in the form of wire fences.Like post-and-rail fence building, wirefenceconstruction included digging holesand installing posts. But mountingand stretching the fence fabric tightlybetween the posts was newto the process. Afterinstallation, the woodfrom the old fenceswas often used forfirewood.THINK ABOUT ITAsk your visitors tolook at the cut-outof Abraham Lincolnand consider why hisimage as a rail splitterwas so effectiveduring his political life.Encourage them to thinkabout the impact ofLincoln’s Homestead Actof 1862, which gave160 acres of land tofamilies who remainedon the land for five years.
Rail pile near Circleville, Ohio, 1950; Library of CongressLET’S TALK• Why do you think the image of Lincoln as a railsplitter was beneficial to his political campaignsand career?• What effect do you think excessive rail splittinghad on the landscape?• What materials do you think homesteaders on theplains used to build their fences? What naturalresources were available to them?• Take a look at the woven-wire fencing on the exhibit.Do you think it would protect the woman in theadvertisement from the rampaging bison? What doyou think were some of the benefits of woven-wirefencing? What about drawbacks? What do you thinkfarmers did with the wood from their old fences?J.L.G. Ferris, 1909; © F.A. Schneider
Page 1 and 2: docent handbookMuseum</stro
Page 3 and 4: Welcome to BETWEEN FENCES and thank
Page 5 and 6: THINK ABOUT ITHave your visitors en
Page 7 and 8: Chicken & Egg Public Projects, Inc.
Page 9 and 10: THINK ABOUT ITEncourage your visito
Page 11 and 12: • Match the sliding front-yard fe
Page 13: LET’S TALK• Does The Leedom Far
Page 17 and 18: THINK ABOUT ITAsk your visitors to
Page 19 and 20: THINK ABOUT ITEncourage your visito
Page 21 and 22: LET’S TALK• In 1860, only seven
Page 23 and 24: • Do you think livestock should h
Page 25 and 26: LET’S TALK• What do you think
Page 27 and 28: Spite fence, Lanesboro, Minnesota,
Page 29 and 30: THINK ABOUT ITAs they explore both
Page 31 and 32: Postcard of the border between Sono
Page 33 and 34: Photographs from Farm and Fence <st
Page 35: As representatives of the museum, d

Exhibition Docent Handbook - Museum on Main Street

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