For Educators: Mansion and Museum Lessons

The George Eastman Museum serves students and educators through programs that provide creative approaches to the curriculum. Whether on-site or online, our resources help students to explore a range of subjects, including photography, history, technology, and language arts.

EDUCATOR FIELD TRIP GUIDE  

Educational Resources for Current Exhibitions

Erica Baum: the bite in the ribbon—a paper show
    November 22, 2025 – June 7, 2026, Project Galleries

Contemporary artist Erica Baum manipulates existing printed materials, including mass-market books, clothing patterns, popular magazines, and how-to books related to fashion and craft. Baum photographs these changed paper materials to create enlarged prints for display. This exhibition presents work from four of her series—Dog Ear, Blanks, Patterns, and Fabrications.

You might use this work to address topics such as:

English Language Arts Standards, poetry writing, found poetry, reading, writing, language acquisition, motor skills (folding paper), or art techniques of collage and folding. 

Selections from the Collection
    June 14, 2025 – June 14, 2026, Collection Gallery

Educational Resources for Recent Exhibitions

Life with Photographs: 75 Years of the Eastman Museum
    October 5, 2025 – August 31, 2025, Main Galleries
Zig Jackson: The Journey of Rising Buffalo
    May 10, 2025  – November 9, 2025, Project Galleries 
Seeing & Being Seen: LGBTQ+ Visions of Rochester
    May 17, 2025 – October 26, 2025, Gallery Obscura, 
Liz Deschenes: Frames Per Second (Silent)
    January 18, 2025 – August 17, 2025, Potter Peristyle

In Gallery Experiences: Analyzing A Photograph

Templates to analyze a photograph

• New York Times Critiquing a Photograph
• Analyze A Photograph: National Archives
• Primary Source Analysis Tool: Library of Congress

Interactive Cards (Cards to prompt ideas in the galleries)

The following Consider Cards provide information, prompts, and interaction, when used in the exhibitions. Please review each card to see which ones would be most beneficial for your students’ experience. 

• Exploring Perspective Taking Through Photography
• Using A Viewfinder 
• NY Times Critiquing a Photograph 
• I Spy – An imaginative game! 
• Nudity in Art 
• Understanding Object Labels
• Understanding Gender

George Eastman's Historic Mansion

Explore the museum from school or home with our virtual tours. Through the links below, you can access the historic mansion, see select behind-the-scenes areas, and tour the gardens in full bloom. There are also pre-visit experiences to introduce Mr. Eastman and his contributions to photography. 

• Historic mansion virtual tour
• Learning from Primary Resources: Early Photography
• Learning about George Eastman as an Inventor
• July 12, 1854 - Happy Birthday Mr. Eastman!
• Halloween Friendly Ghost Activity 
• Photographic Process Glossary
• Post Visit Experience: Learning at Eastman Museum
• Storytime at GEM - "It's a Snap! George Eastman's First Photograph" by Monica Kulling, read by Nate Smith, former communications manager, George Eastman Museum