History came alive Thursday at the Freeborn County Historical Museum, Library and Historical Village during what was the 12th annual Discover History Days.

It was the second of three days included in the program, during which Albert Lea High School 11th-graders researched different historical topics and then dressed up in appropriate period clothing to teach those topics to area fifth-graders.

Pat Mulso, the museum’s executive director, said more than 400 fifth-graders from Albert Lea Area Schools, St. Theodore Catholic School, Hollandale Christian School, Glenville-Emmons School and Alden-Conger School will have participated in the program after its last day next week.

The 11th-grade students, from Jim Haney and Kurt Barickman’s classes, teach 15 sessions including at the school, log cabin, general store and church and about other topics such as craftsman, meeting places, agriculture, dairy, transportation, communication, medical, kitchens, immigration, music and entertainment, and occupations, Mulso said.

Each fifth-grade group goes through five of the 15 sessions, three before lunch and two afterward.

The day begins with someone dressed up as Col. Albert Lea explaining how the city was laid out. During lunch the students have the opportunity to also shop in the museum store.

The Discover History project started in 1998 as a cooperative effort with the school district. It started with only one fifth-grade class.

In addition to teaching kids history, Mulso said the program gives the museum great exposure, and students bring their parents back to see all the exhibits.

What’s exciting now, she said, is that many of the 11th-graders came through as fifth-graders, and the program is coming full circle.

In addition to the juniors teaching the fifth-graders, there are also mentors who help make the day possible.

“It’s a good way to bring the community, the school and the museum together,” Mulso said.

Haney said the 11th-graders visit St. John’s Lutheran Home and interview some of the residents about their memories of the past. They also review old documents.

“To understand history you have to taste, touch, feel and smell,” Haney said.

The juniors implement many hands-on activities to make their presentations even eventful for the fifth-graders.

For example, on Thursday juniors Phil Schultz and Morgan Stadheim explained the history of barber shops, talking about where the stripes came from on a barber pole.

They showed popular hairstyles of the past and showed the students much of the equipment that was used when people came in for haircuts or shaves.

Halfway through the presentation, a man acting as a barber shop customer, even came in requesting a shave.

Schultz and Stadheim lathered him up and showed the eager fifth-graders what it would be like to shave with a straight razor.

Then they gave the children some shaving cream and plastic knives and let them take turns shaving each other.

“It’s been really fun,” Hollandale Christian School teacher Stephanie McCarthy said. “The high school’s done a really good job of explaining the different ways of living.”

Across the village, student Mitch Webb explained the many tools a woodworker would use in his shop and then gave the students several opportunities to try them out.

Another group played a game in the general store, asking them to identify prices of today versus prices of the past.

Another group got to write with a quill pen and got a taste of what school would have been like in the past.

The younger students got to churn butter, pet cows, give sermons and make table legs.

Mulso said visitors from the state historical society were present at the Discover History Days event on Wednesday.