Eva Oberholtzer was excited to be making $65 a month in her new job as a laundress in the Manor House at Stan Hywet.
After her husband died, the Swiss immigrant needed to find work.
That rate of pay might not sound like a lot in 2016, but in 1920, it seemed like a fortune, and she felt lucky to have it.
The character, portrayed by Jane Delcamp, told fifth-grade students from Akron’s Windemere elementary school the story of how she came to be employed at the home of F.A. and Gertrude Seiberling, founders of the Goodyear Tire and Rubber Co.
The living history lesson presented Thursday is part of a place-based education program that recently earned Stan Hywet an Award of Merit from the American Association for State and Local History.
The historical estate also received a $25,000 grant from the Institute of Museum and Library Services for the Meet the Staff program, which it offers with Akron Public Schools.
On Thursday, 36 students heard about life for the estate’s domestic staff, many foreign-born, from Mrs. Oberholtzer and Miss Piatt, a ladies maid portrayed by Allyn Marzulla.
The students prepared for the visit by learning about the house and its staff through classroom lessons and workbooks.
Delcamp sprinkled lessons into her talk, such as counting the steps from the drying yard to the laundry room and giving the dimensions of the pool. Students got to pick up and try out clothespins, learning how to slip them onto a clothesline so the clothes did not fall on the floor.
In an upper hallway, they got to check out the tubes that went with the house’s central vacuum system. The ribbed black tubes were very heavy, so it was a man’s job to do the vacuuming, said Toivo Motter, the estate’s director of education. It became “women’s work” with the invention of the upright.
Educators try to have plenty of hands-on reproduction artifacts such as the clothespins and vacuum tubes so kids can touch them, Motter said.
“Right now I’m really loving the Seiberling house,” said Gideon McSwiggen, 10, a student in Windemere teacher Christina McMullen’s classroom. He thought the tour was “great” and couldn’t name his favorite part because he liked it all.
Students also liked youngest son Franklin Seiberling’s room, being shown by Miss Piatt, aka Marzulla. Franklin liked to tinker with his toys.
“I want to be a scientist,” said Chase Scott, 10. “I heard that Franklin made stuff and I want to do that stuff, too. [I want to] make X-ray goggles where you can see through walls and make toys ... where you can wind them up. And I also want to make cars.”
The youngsters saw the room of Mrs. Cooper, the head housekeeper, and marveled at the machine called a typewriter sitting on a desk in the corner. She would have used it to type up menus, lists and correspondence to family back home, Marzulla said.
The costumed characters are volunteers with troupe History First Hand, who portray staff and guests of the Seiberling family. They can only answer questions that relate to their lives in 1920.
Student groups are accompanied by volunteers who serve as the “caboose” for the group. They follow with iPads to help with any 21st-century questions students might have. They also show photos of real people from that era and tell a little bit about what their lives might have been like.
Troupe members get to name their characters and make up a backstory. Delcamp said Eva Oberholtzer was a real person, although not a laundress at Stan Hywet. She was Delcamp’s grandmother and really was from Switzerland.
After the tour, the students use copies of historical documents to develop a character of their own. Three are immigrants from Italy, Poland and Germany, and three are from Pennsylvania, Kentucky and Alabama. They give a presentation on their character, and when they get back to school, write a letter “home” to their new family.
The grants will help cover the salary of education coordinator Lenna Black, equipment, supplies and wireless access for the science program for live data, Motter said.
Many students from the Akron Public Schools are English as Second Language students, Black said. They’ll point to their countries on the map and tell about their experiences.
Creating a character “helps them make that real world connection,” Black said, and answers the question of “why in the world does this matter today?”
Monica L. Thomas can be reached at 330-996-3827 or mthomas@thebeaconjournal.com. Follow her on Twitter @MLThomasABJ and https://www.facebook.com/MLThomasABJ.