Who Wants to Be a…

Historian Extraordinaire?

•Teams will be presented with a mystery object.

•The purpose is to answer questions about this object.

•There are often clues to help you.

•Clues are hints in the form of sources.

•Please explain your reasoning and work together!

•Captains will write your team’s answer and reasoning

•Audience: no calling out the answer please, but we do need your help with sound effects.

The Rules

“I’LL TAKE A PERFECT PAIR”

“I’ll CONSULT A CURATOR”

“MAY I PHONE A FRIEND?”

Let’s Play!

Audiences’ cue to make a dramatic noise before the

answer is revealed.

And the Object is…

Wood

Steel

Plastic

Silver

Question 1: From what is this object made?

Object:

Clue not available

Wood

Steel

Plastic

Silver

Question 1: From what is this object made?

Object:

1690s

1890s

1750s

1950s

Question 2: When might this object have been used?

Object:

Consult a Curator

Object:

Clue: “Women had little use for fancy shoes during their early years on the prairie. Shoes were expensive and were saved for special occasions.”

Question 2:Consult A Curator

Question 2: When might this object have been used?

Object:

Clue: Women had little use for fancy shoes during their early years on the prairie. Shoes were expensive and were saved for special occasions.

1690s

1890s

1750s

1950s

Object:

Clue: Women had little use for fancy shoes during their early years on the prairie. Shoes were expensive and were saved for special occasions.

1690s 1750s

1950s

Question 2: When might this object have been used?

1890s

While dressing

While cooking

While eating

While cleaning

Question 3: When was a person most likely to use this object?

Object:

Phone aFriend

Object:

Question 3

Phone A Friend

Mrs. Erret Hicks Canyon City, Oregon (born May 9, 1873)

Written on March 29, 1939

“Clothes were not such a problem. About all we needed was something to keep us warm. I wore cotton stockings or wool ones, high, buttoned shoes, calico dresses, and long, heavy, woolen underwear, topped by several petticoats. I don't see how these young girls get by today with -- Te-he, -- a dress and a slip.”

Source: American Life Histories: Manuscripts from the Federal Writers Project Library of Congress American Memory Project

Question 3: Where was a person most likely to use this object?

Object:

Clue: “Clothes were not such a problem. About all we needed was something to keep us warm. I wore cotton stockings or wool ones, high, buttoned shoes, calico dresses, and long, heavy, woolen underwear, topped by several petticoats. I don't see how these young girls get by today with -- Te-he, -- a dress and a slip.”

While dressing

While cooking

While eating

While cleaning

Question 3: Where was a person most likely to use this object?

Object:

Clue: “Clothes were not such a problem. About all we needed was something to keep us warm. I wore cotton stockings or wool ones, high, buttoned shoes, calico dresses, and long, heavy, woolen underwear, topped by several petticoats. I don't see how these young girls get by today with -- Te-he, -- a dress and a slip.”

While cooking

While eating

While cleaning

While dressing

Cleaning shoes

Fixing dresses

Buttoning shoes

Working leather

Question 4: What is the purpose of this object?

Object:

Perfect Pair

Object:

Source: Montgomery Ward catalog reprint, 1895

Question 4:

Perfect Pair

Clue:

Fixing Dresses

Cleaning Shoes

Working Leather

Buttoning Shoes

Object:

Question 4: What is the purpose of this object?

Clue:

Fixing Dresses

Cleaning Shoes

Working Leather

Buttoning Shoes

Object:

Question 4: What is the purpose of this object?

And the Object is…

Petrified Wood

Steel

Stone

Silver

Question 1: From what is this object made?

Object:

Petrified Wood

Steel

Stone

Silver

Question 1: From what is this object made?

Object:

Entertainment

Practical

Ornamental

All of the Above

Question 2: What value would this object have likely had to its owner?

Object:

Object:

Question 2:Consult A Curator Clue: Damage to an object is

not always a result of age. It can also point to an object’s use.

Question 2: What value would this object have likely had to its owner?

Object:

Entertainment

Practical

Ornamental

All of the Above

Clue: Damage to an object is not always a result of age. It can also point to an object’s use.

Question 2: What value would this object have likely had to its owner?

Object:

Entertainment

Practical

Ornamental

All of the Above

Clue: Damage to an object is not always a result of age. It can also point to an object’s use.

Clean Animals for Cooking

Creating Sparks to Start a Fire

Transporting Fire From an Existing One

Wear as a Bracelet

Question 3: What was the specific purpose of this object?

Object:

Object:

Question 3:

Perfect Pair

Clue:

Creating Sparks to Start a Fire

Clean Animals for Cooking

Wear as a Bracelet

Transporting Fire From an Existing One

Object:

Question 3: What was the specific purpose of this object?

Clue:

Creating Sparks to Start a Fire

Clean Animals for Cooking

Wear as a Bracelet

Transporting Fire From an Existing One

Object:

Question 3: What was the specific purpose of this object?

Traveler

Family

Soldier

All of the Above

Question 4: What type of person might have used this object?

Object:

Object:

Question 4

Phone A Friend

Alice Morse Earle1899

For many years the methods of striking a light were very primitive, just as they were in Europe; many families possessed no adequate means, or very imperfect ones. If by ill fortune the fire in the fireplace became wholly extinguished through carelessness at night, someone, usually a small boy, was sent to the house of the nearest neighbor, bearing a shovel or covered pan, or perhaps a broad strip of green bark, on which to bring back coals for relighting the fire. Nearly all families had some form of a flint and steel,—a method of obtaining fire which has been used from time immemorial…

Source:Home Life in Colonial Days: Illustrated by Photographs by the Author of Real Things, Works and Happenings of Olden Times. New York: MacMillan & Company, 1899. 47-48. (Complete text available online via Google Books)

Question 4: What type of person might have used this object?

Object:

Clue: “For many years the methods of striking a light were very primitive, just as they were in Europe; many families possessed no adequate means, or very imperfect ones. If by ill fortune the fire in the fireplace became wholly extinguished through carelessness at night, someone, usually a small boy, was sent to the house of the nearest neighbor, bearing a shovel or covered pan, or perhaps a broad strip of green bark, on which to bring back coals for relighting the fire. Nearly all families had some form of a flint and steel,—a method of obtaining fire which has been used from time immemorial…”

Traveler

Family

Soldier

All of the Above

Question 4: What type of person might have used this object?

Object:

Clue: “For many years the methods of striking a light were very primitive, just as they were in Europe; many families possessed no adequate means, or very imperfect ones. If by ill fortune the fire in the fireplace became wholly extinguished through carelessness at night, someone, usually a small boy, was sent to the house of the nearest neighbor, bearing a shovel or covered pan, or perhaps a broad strip of green bark, on which to bring back coals for relighting the fire. Nearly all families had some form of a flint and steel,—a method of obtaining fire which has been used from time immemorial…”

Traveler

Family

Soldier

All of the Above