What Is Your Legacy?

Note You may want to begin with the “What Do You Collect?” pre-visit activity as an introduction to this lesson.

What is a legacy? A legacy is what you leave behind—what you want to be remembered for.

Lord Iveagh’s legacy was his important collection of masterpieces, given to the people of Great Britain. It was so meaningful to them that a catalogue detailing all of the works of art in the bequest was published in 1928 to make the gift well known.

Have your students think about what they might want to leave behind for future generations. They may want to think about their collections—would it be important to share with the future? Or do they want to be remembered for something else?

Students should write a catalogue of their legacy, like the one produced for Lord Iveagh’s bequest. It might detail all of the objects in their collection or the specific traits that they want to be remembered for and why. The catalogue should be a detailed list, with an introduction about the student, and an explanation of each part of the catalogue. Every object should have a date so that those in the future will know when it was made or collected by the student.

Extension: Connect this to a time capsule project. After the students have written their catalogues, have them format them and print them out for inclusion in a time capsule. Work together as a class to decide what other objects from today should be included. A historic house like Kenwood acts as a sort of time capsule itself—showing furniture and objects from the time when Lord Iveagh gave his bequest, allowing visitors to experience a taste of history.