The history of Elgin can now be learned in English and in Spanish thanks to new Spanish-language tours being offered at the Elgin History Museum.
Two hour-long tours — one at 11 a.m. and the other at 1 p.m. — are held every on the third Saturday of every month. The goal is to remove the language and cultural barriers that might prevent people from coming to the museum and learning about Elgin’s history, officials said.
“When someone speaks in a heavier accent like me (in a museum setting), they feel like, ‘Hey, he’s someone like me,'” said Armando Trejo, one of the Spanish-speaking tour guides.
Museum Director Elizabeth Marston said they don’t have demographic data on visitors, but they do know many of the schools that bring students to the museum for field trips have high Latino enrollment. Many of those students have never been there before, making it likely their parents haven’t visited either, she said.
“A lot of times at local museums, a family’s first visitor is the kid,” Marston said. “It can become a tradition, but it takes time to make it a tradition.”
Museum board member Tina Viglucci suggested the tour idea last year and enlisted three people to join her in leading them: Trejo, an archivist at Elgin Community College; School District U-46 teacher Betty Martinez; and Maggie Sifuentes, a recruiter with the Girl Scouts of Northern Illinois. All of them are fluent in Spanish, with families from Puerto Rico, Mexico and Colombia, Viglucci said.
Training was provided so they could learn about the displays, how to conduct a guided tour and other skills needed, officials said.
Trejo’s first tour was with a family who had moved to Elgin just a couple of years earlier. Not only did Trejo share information with the family about himself and the city, the family shared with him, he said.
“If you do it in their own language, they develop more trust, feel more comfortable,” he said.
“The family I had was so surprised about what we were talking about,” Trejo said. “They were impressed with all the maps, recognizing streets.”
One of the first tours Viglucci led included a couple who had lived in Elgin for decades and a family whose child had already visited with their school. The child was excited to bring their parents, she said.
Latinos are part of Elgin’s history, Viglucci said. Some residents had friends or family members who worked at the Elgin National Watch Co., the Woodruff and Edwards foundry and the dairy industry, important parts of the city’s past, she said.
“We all want to know how we are a part of history,” she said.
The museum has only a few panels documenting Latinos migration and contributions to the city, Marston said. She wants to change that and hopes to create an exhibit “within the next couple of years, but we do need funding,” she said.
She’d also like to make a documentary similar to “Project 2-3-1: Two Boxcars, Three Blocks, One City,” which looked at Elgin’s black community. The 2015 film and exhibit were made possible through a partnership between the museum, documentary director Phil Broxham, and local donors.
“We want to be more welcoming for Spanish speakers,” she said. “It’s the future of our city, our country. We want to make sure everybody knows our doors are open.”
Museum admission is $3 for adults, $1 for students, and free for children 5 and younger and Elgin History Museum members. It’s located at 360 Park St. and open from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Wednesday through Saturday.
raguerrero@tribpub.com
