Student Interns Pursue Love of History

Although they study history in school, two students can't get enough of it.

Charlotte Coulson, a ninth-grader at , and Abigail Plath-Morgan, an eighth-grader at , spend some of their free time digging into the past.

The girls are among five students currently participating in the internship program of the Millbrook Society, which has its office and museum in Hatboro. The society's mission is to promote historical preservation, education and re-enactments, with an emphasis on local history in Bucks and Montgomery counties. Students in eighth- through 12th-grades, as well as college, are eligible to become interns.

"I like figuring out what happened in the past. There's lots of interesting stuff that happened," said Charlotte, who is particularly intrigued by the American Revolution and the Civil War.

Abigail's principal interest is women's fashions, both European and Japanese, from the late 18th century to the mid 19th century.

"How they dressed relates to how they lived," she said. "I try to see how things changed. Why they changed is interesting as well."

The internship program encourages students to study everyday life in the past, rather than the overview of nation-building, political movements and wars stressed in school courses, according to Jeannette Forget (pronounced For-zhay), the assistant director of intern services.

"There's so much you have to learn in school. They don't have time to tell how ordinary, everyday people survived," said Forget, a volunteer who works as a bank teller. She joined the program three years ago.

Forget and Christina Lessard, the internship director, advise the students, who meet for two hours each Wednesday evening in Hatboro Baptist Church. The adults jointly teach a class called "The Mysteries of History."

Each intern decides which topic to pursue and how much time to devote to it. Students who put in at least 500 hours (which can be spread over as many as five years) qualify for a $500 college book scholarship. There is no minimum hourly requirement and students may join the program at any time.

"The idea is to get them into history, not to make it seem like drudgery," said David Shannon, the society's vice president and Hatboro historian. "Basically, the program is pretty much driven by them. We leave the young people alone to do their own program."

Shannon estimates 200 students have participated since the internship program began in 1985, a year after the society was founded. Many came from the , while others were Centennial and Central Bucks students as well as home-schooled students. The five current interns are all girls, who tend to outnumber boys in the program, according to Forget.

Besides doing research, interns may go on field trips to places such as Old City Philadelphia and Gettysburg. They join in the society's re-enactments, including the annual colonial Christmas party. They have assisted with archaeological digs and restoration at the Moland House, the Warwick Township farmhouse that served as General Washington's headquarters in August 1777.

Charlotte, who moved to Hatboro three years ago from North Carolina, said she enjoys visting historic sites with her family. She has been to Valley Forge National Historical Park and has watched the annual Christmas Day re-enactment of Washington and his troops crossing the Delaware River.

For her internship, she is concentrating on colonial history. "I want to make sure what I'm learning in school is correct," she said.

Abigail, who lives in Horsham, said the internship will help her learn and understand more than if she just looked up information on the Internet.

"I'm interested in design," she said. "I adore drawing dresses. My friends say I should be a designer."

Forget said the society, which has its own reference collection, is like a "support system" for the young people. "Should you have questions, someone is here to answer them," she said.

Shannon said some previous interns have become teachers, police officers, nurses and even an archaeologist.

"Sometimes they go into history, sometimes they don't," he said.

The internship program also benefits the Millbrook Society, Shannon added. "Our long-term goal is for them to take the place of older members."

Any student interested in the internship program may contact the Millbrook Society at millbrook@voicenet.com 215-957-1877. Prospective interns may come to one of the weekly meetings, held from 7:30 p.m. to 9:30 p.m. Wednesdays in the , 32 N. York Road.