Reason for being:
Started in 2000 as a way to present in-depth social studies in one classroom in one school, The Historian in Residence Program has grown to reach many classrooms in nine different schools in Seattle. Today the objective is still to bring in-depth social studies to students but also to elicit empathy about people from different times and places, to set a moral compass using lessons from the past, to emphasize critical thinking and to encourage multiple modes of expression.

History of The Historian in Residence:
Mary Anne Christy, the teacher and originator of the program, was raised in Denver, CO, where she first discovered a love of history with her mother, who was very active in Historic Preservation there.  That early love of history eventually led her to major in History at Yale.  After college, and an 8-year career in magazine publishing, she moved into the world of education.

Starting as a classroom volunteer in her children's school in 1997, she then created an after-school Math Club which ran for three years.  In 2000 she initiated a brand new program to bring enriched social studies units to the public schools, funded by PTAs or by parent donations.