Autry National Center

Teachers and School Groups

The Education Department at the Autry provides a number of unique and engaging programs for students as well as teachers!

Tuesday through Friday from 10:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. the Museum of the American West becomes a series of classrooms as museum teachers and docents take students on tours and provide lessons on Western history.  Topics include Native American culture, Gold Rush history, and Westward Expansion.  Students also get a broad overview of the museum and its exceptional collection of historical artifacts and Western art (from nineteenth-century landscape paintings to movie and TV Westerns).

Several times a year, the Autry provides training opportunities for classroom teachers, including an in-service, salary point class, and an Educators’ Open House.  This gives teachers a chance to learn about the museum and schedule their students' field trips for the following academic year.

Also, the Autry provides several hands-on, outreach kits, which help bring to life the stories of individual Westerners. Each kit profiles a community through the eyes of an actual person. Their stories, traditions, challenges, and opportunities come to life through carefully chosen resource materials and lesson plans, encouraging students to investigate their own family and community histories.

For high school teachers and students, we are working on a program geared to meet the LAUSD service learning requirement. Please contact the This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it for further information.