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 Our Blog: Fort Bend County’s Local History Museum

Texas Timeline Game

12/9/2020

15 Comments

 
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*Click here for a printable version of the Texas Timeline Cards
​By ALLISON HARRELL
​Texian Time Machine & Outreach Coordinator
​

Do you think you have mastered Texas history by now?  Do you know the names, dates, and faces that have made our state what it is?  Test out your knowledge with this fun timeline game.  There are two events per year – one in Texas, and one somewhere else in the world! This game can be played by one to four players.

Directions
  1. Cut apart all of the cards and the dates in the two print outs
    1. If you would like to color all of the cards, it might be a good idea to color them before you cut them out – either way it is up to you
  2. Lay out the years in a line on a flat surface (like a table) with plenty of room around each of the years
  3. Equally divide the cards amongst all the people that are playing
  4. Have each player play all of the cards in their hands (there is no need to take turns, everyone can go at one time)
    1. Each year will have two events – something that happened in Texas, and some other event (could be a publication, artwork, strange law, or world event)
    2. Each person should place their cards at a different point around the year, so that their score can be tabulated at the end
      1. If there are two players, the players pick a side of the years (right or left)
      2. If there are four players, each player picks a corner of the year (top right, top left, bottom left, and bottom right)
    3. Because everyone is being scored individually, there can be more than one card for each of those categories around each year (because one of them might be wrong)
  5. Once all of the cards have been played, use the following chart and check all the cards
    1. Any player that gets a card right gets a point
    2. Whoever has the most points wins
Answer Chart:
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15 Comments

The Allowance Game

8/17/2020

4 Comments

 
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By ALLISON HARRELL
Texian Time Machine & Outreach Coordinator

Take a tour of Richmond -- and learn a little bit about money management -- with this quick little game that's easy to set up and play with your family! (And, as a bonus, you might even learn something new about the history of Richmond!)

CLICK HERE to download the game PDF.
4 Comments

Mini Richmond Coloring Book

8/3/2020

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By ALLISON HARRELL
Texian Time Machine & Outreach Coordinator

So...we found out that yesterday was National Coloring Book Day! To celebrate (even though we're a day late), we have made a small coloring book of different historic structures in Richmond. To assemble this tiny booklet, just download the PDF, fold along the dotted line and cut along the solid line. After that, you should be able to fold it together to make a coloring booklet that is perfect for coloring on-the-go!

Download the PDF here: 080320-mini-richmond-coloring-book.pdf
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The Roaring '20s: Mad Lib

7/8/2020

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By ALLISON HARRELL
​Texian Time Machine & Outreach Coordinator

Slang terms from the 1920s are simply hotsy-totsy! Today you can try your hand at filling in a Mad Lib inspired by the slang of the 1920s! What sort of fun combinations will you come up with?
Click Here to Download the PDF
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2 Comments

Gone to Texas: Pack Your Wagon!

7/7/2020

1 Comment

 
By ALLISON HARRELL
Texian Time Machine & Outreach Coordinator
One of the super exciting things happening at the Museum these days is the "History Rising" campaign. This campaign was started to renovate the Museum and completely update the exhibits, which were last updated in the 1980s. Today, we thought it would be fun to give you a preview of one of the new hands-on activities that will be in the new gallery!

Imagine you are a pioneer and you want to pack your belongings to start a new life in Texas. What items would you take with you?

DOWNLOAD THE ACTIVITY PDF HERE.

Space is limited in your wagon, so you'll have to decide: Do you need medicine or coffee? A shovel or a plow? A stove or a washtub?

These cubes and wagon are based on the new activity (but they're not exactly the same!) so you will have to come and see it in person when everything is done!

​Learn more about History Rising and how you can get involved here.

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Timeline Game: The 1800s Challenge

6/11/2020

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By ALLISON HARRELL
Texian Time Machine & Outreach Coordinator
Do you feel like you know more things than your family? Do you like lording obscure knowledge over others? Prove it! This game is a new twist on our popular Timeline games posted earlier this spring. This game can be played by one to four players – if you have more players, we suggest working together in teams.
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Directions

  1. Download the game cards here. Color the cards and then cut them out; also cut out the dates included in the three print-outs. Note: set aside the six bonus/extra cards if this is your first time to play.
  2. Lay out the years in a line on a flat surface (like a table or a floor) with plenty of room around each of the years.
  3. Equally divide the cards among all the players.
  4. Have each player play all of the cards in their hands, guessing card goes under which year. (There's no need to take turns -- just have each person place his/her card at a different point around the year, so the score can be tabulated at the end). Each year will have three things:
    1. Something that was published
    2. Something that was new (invented/created/manufactured/installed)
    3. An event that happened
Variation:
  • If you have added in the bonus/extra cards, six years of the years will have with four cards on them
Scoring:
  1. Once all of the cards have been played, download the answer sheet here and check for all the right answers.
  2. Everyone is scored individually. You get a point for every card you played that is under the correct year.
  3. Whoever has the most points wins!
  4. Note: Since everyone is being scored individually, there can be more than one card for each of those categories around each year (because one of them might be wrong).
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Maybe She's Born with It; Maybe it's Porcelain

6/8/2020

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By CYNTHIA TOTH
Museum Intern

Fasten your seatbelts and get ready for a wild (or relatively calm) ride: Dresden figurines are here!

In 206 B.C.E, China created the world’s first porcelain. This new and beautiful form of ceramic was a hot trading item for hundreds of years -- and an expensive commodity at that. China and Japan both mastered the technique long before Europe, and the race to catch up with their trade was a long and hard one.

In 1709 C.E., Augustus the Strong placed alchemist Johann Friedrich Bottger under house arrest. (It was rumored that Bottger could turn clay into gold.) In his quest to figure out how to turn clay into gold, Bottger accidentally discovered how to make pure porcelain. Augustus the Strong immediately established a royal porcelain factory in Meissen, Germany -- one of the greatest pottery achievements in Europe -- and the Dresden figurine obsession began.
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Figure 1- Collection Piece from the Fort Bend Museum

'Staffordshire Figures'

Slowly but surely, the new porcelain made its way through Europe, finally landing in England in the mid-1700s. Since porcelain was considered the "gold of ceramics," it was a trinket only the wealthy could afford. England is credited with making options for the lower classes. Called "Staffordshire Figures," the figurines were created out of a cheaper stoneware and painted by factory workers. Though not as high-quality as Dresden porcelain, women from all classes could collect and enjoy the knick-knacks.
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Florence and Inez discover this porcelain figurine from the Fort Bend Museum's collection.

Favorite Themes

Simple scenes such as animals, young couples and mothers with children were the most popular. Nostalgia for "days gone by" was high and the idea of a pure and simple life brought joy to many people. Later, as immigrants came to America to build new lives, they brought their figurines with them -- and the craze began sweeping the United States, lasting well into the 19th century.

Does your family have any cherished porcelain figurines?

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Chuck-a-Luck!

5/29/2020

5 Comments

 
By ALLISON HARRELL
Texian Time Machine & Outreach Coordinator

​Chuck-a-Luck is a game that began in English pubs and made its way to America around 1800.  The game has had a number of names through the years, including Birdcage, Sweat and Sweat Rag. (Watch this great video from the Alamo for an explanation on those last two names!)

How to Play

You'll Need:
  • 3 Dice
  • Dice Cup (any plastic cup that isn’t see-through will work)
  • Number Page (one per person)
    • DOWNLOAD THE NUMBER PAGE HERE
  • Candy (Skittles work really well)
    • Give each person, including the dealer, a stash of candy to use for "bets" during the game.
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Directions:

The game has two roles:
1. Dealer – He/She is responsible for rolling the dice and paying out/collecting bets
2. Players – They are responsible just for betting

The game is very simple.
  1. The Dealer will place the dice in the dice cup, swirl it about and then flip it over onto the table with the dice hidden inside.
  2. Every player places a bet on their number page, trying to guess what numbers they think the dice will show. Bets can be placed on any number on the number page and you can bet as many candies as you have available. It's okay if everyone bets on the same number.
  3. After all bets have been placed, the dice are revealed. If any player has bet on a number that the dice are showing, they get a payout for their bet (if you bet one candy, you get one candy). If you bet on a number and more than one dice shows that number – you get twice or triple your bet back. (so if you bet two candies, and that number shows up twice – you get four candies from the dealer; if you bet two candies and that number shows up three times, you get six candies from the dealer). Any candy bet onto a number that isn’t shown is taken by the dealer.
  4. Variation: You can also play where a new player becomes the dealer at the start of every turn. This makes it more likely for everyone to recoup some of their candy.
The game is over when everyone is out of candy. Have fun!
5 Comments

Before Fingerprints: Bertillon Cards

5/27/2020

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By ALLISON HARRELL
Texian Time Machine & Outreach Coordinator

We featured the Blue Ridge murder-along activity a few weeks ago that detailed the first case solved by fingerprints in Fort Bend County. But what was used to identify people before fingerprints were commonplace?
​
Alphonse Bertillon was a French police officer who wanted a better way to identify criminals. Soon after the rise of photography, he standardized the use of the mugshot. He also popularized a series of measurements (called "anthropometry") that could be taken to identify an individual. These measurements could include height, length of arms, trunk, cheek width, right ear length and others.

Several police forces all over the world used his system of identification for years until problems with the system couldn’t be ignored. In 1903, Kansas police found that a person they had just arrested had the exact same measurements as another person who was already in jail. This type of mistake led many police departments to search for a better way to identify and differentiate people.
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Example: The Bertillon Measurements of Charles Clark, who was arrested for burglary in 1908.

Bertillon Card Activity

Materials
  • Measuring Tape (If you don’t have a measuring tape, you can use a piece of string or yarn and a yard stick or tape measure. Make sure that you don't stretch the yarn when using it to measure!)
  • Pencil
  • Bertillon card  (DOWNLOAD HERE) 
Instructions
  • Using the attached worksheet and a measuring tape, fill out the Bertillon card. If you have any questions about what each measurement is, refer to the diagram on the other half of the page 
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Prairie Rescue Card Game

5/22/2020

2 Comments

 
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By ALLISON HARRELL
Texian Time Machine & Outreach Coordinator

SCENE:
You are a pioneer who has been living in Texas for a year, and a few new settlers have been staying with you for the past few days. This morning when you got back from taking care of the chickens, you found a note: “We have gone out to explore a little, and will be back by lunch time.” When no one returns by nightfall, you start to get worried. The Texas prairie is confusing at the best of times, and these people have only been in Texas for three days! You have to go into the prairie and find them. You set out early the next morning with a plan and food rations to last a few days. Explore the prairie and find all of your friends!
 
MATERIALS:
  • One standard deck of cards
  • 1-4 people
 
GOAL: Find all the Aces! (The Ace cards are your friends who are lost in the prairie.)
​
DIRECTIONS:
  • Take out all of the Kings, Queens and Jacks from the deck of cards and set aside (Jokers and instruction cards should also be removed).
  • Shuffle the deck well
  • Lay out the cards into an 8x5 grid on the floor face down.​
  • Each player should start out on one side of the grid
    • You can use the Royal cards (King, Queen, and Jack) as player tokens – they can be placed on the players chosen side of the grid (North, South, East, or West)
  • Each player picks a location on the grid on their chosen side to start walking into the prairie.  You can only move in cardinal directions (no diagonals)
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The Ace cards are the people that you are looking for in the prairie. Your goal is to find all of the Aces before you run out of moves!
  • Each turn, each player can flip over and move one card "distance" in a continuous line from where they started.
    • Any time an Ace is found, the card is taken out of the grid and kept with the Royal card being used as a player token. The Aces are the missing settlers.
    • Players can only travel one card distance a turn, so if the card is flipped over, it is still a turn to get across it.
    • Two players can be on the same card at the same time – if that card happens to be an Ace and both people are on it on the same turn, use one of the spare royals to give the second person the ace, too. They get credit for “finding” that person as well!
  • After every player has moved 10 cards spaces, the game is over. A day of searching the prairie has passed and it is time to go home and recoup.
  • If fewer than four players are playing, and there are more than 10 undiscovered cards left, day two can begin.  Make sure to keep out any Aces that have been found.
    • Reshuffle all of the cards and make a new grid of cards (it will vary in size, based on the number of cards available, so just try to make it a square, or rectangle).
    • Start the game just like the first round – each player picks a side and start moving into the grid, one card at a time.
    • Once all of the Aces have been found, the game is over despite however many cards might remain.
  • The winner is the person with the most rescued Aces!
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    Funding has been provided to the Fort Bend History Association from Humanities Texas and the National Endowment for the Humanities as part of the 2020 Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security (CARES) Act of 2020.
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