Children State-wide Make Peace Cranes for Portsmouth Peace Treaty Exhibit at Children's Museum

Portsmouth, NH (May 20, 2005) -- Children across the state joined the effort to make thousands of paper "peace cranes" for display in "PEACE! A Pictorial History of the Treaty of Portsmouth" at the Children's Museum of Portsmouth (www.childrens-museum.org).  The exhibit is part of the city's observation of the Portsmouth Peace Treaty 100th Anniversary.

The idea is an outgrowth of Northeast Cultural Coop's creation of a school curriculum that helps teachers present the history of the Portsmouth Peace Treaty to New Hampshire schoolchildren.  In Japan, cranes symbolize luck. Creating peace cranes, made from folded paper in the Japanese tradition of origami, stems from "Sadako's Paper Cranes," the story of a little girl in Hiroshima, and has now grown to an international initiative. Teachers around the state are invited to help their students make strings of paper cranes, and there's still time for individual children and children's teams, clubs and scout troops to contribute their cranes, as well. All of the cranes will be displayed in the Children's Museum "PEACE!" exhibit July 1st through September 5th, and then sent on to the International Peace Park in Hiroshima, Japan.               

Children are encouraged to use colorful paper -- either the origami paper available at most craft and art supply shops, or gift-wrapping paper cut into 6" x 6" squares. Groups of cranes should be strung together, 100 in a group, putting the string through the small hole at the bottom of the crane's body and up through the point at the top of the crane's back, so they nestle together vertically.  The finished cranes, with the names and ages of their creators (and a photo of the children, if desired) should be mailed by June 15th to:

PEACE CRANE EXHIBIT

Children's Museum of Portsmouth

Portsmouth NH 03801

"The cranes will be displayed at the Museum and will be seen by hundreds of tourists from around the world," said Blanche Milligan, creator of the project and Portsmouth Peace Treaty school curriculum, and Executive Director of the Northeast Cultural Coop. "They will show visitors and residents Portsmouth's commitment to peace, 100 years  after we hosted the Peace Conference for the Russians and Japanese."    

For more information, including an animated paper crane folding demonstration, visit the Northeast Cultural Coop website: www.NortheastCulturalCoop.org. ###