While the government wasn’t interested in his “nutty putty” creation, someone else was. Peter Hodgson, a businessman, saw the putty and instantly knew it could be a hit. He re-named the creation “Silly Putty” and marketed it as a toy in 1950. Since his putty was debuting near Easter time, he decided to use colorful plastic eggs as his packaging. Silly Putty would go on to be one of the most popular toys of the 20th century. In 1968, Apollo astronauts even took Silly Putty with them into orbit and used it to secure their tools in zero gravity. From an accident to a hit -- today more than 300 million eggs of Silly Putty have been sold since 1950.
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What is Archaeology?Archaeology, though a part of anthropology, has its own interesting and complex purpose: to learn about cultures from the past by discovering the material remains they left behind. Those remains are called artifacts and are studied later to give us clues about the culture that used them. To uncover these remains, archaeologists must perform very thorough excavations. They must be very careful while excavating so that they do not miss or damage any artifacts that may be hidden in the dig site. To aid in this, archaeologists often work in very small areas that they have sectioned out into grids or quadrants. When an artifact is discovered, the archaeologist uses the locations of their grid to map the artifact. This helps them remember where the artifact was located in relation to the excavation site and other artifacts.  Members of the Fort Bend Archeological Society excavate artifacts using a grid in December 2019. Chocolate Chip Cookie Excavation ActivityDo you think you have what it takes to be an archaeologist? Try your hand at a mock excavation by collecting and recording “artifacts” from a cookie with the activity below. Make sure to record everything before snacking!
Materials:
Instructions: Note: For the purpose of this activity, the cookie is your "site" and the chocolate chips are your "artifacts."
Calling all artists! Today, staff member Allison has an Easter-themed coloring sheet for you. How many eggs can you find? (Do you recognize the viewpoint? It's from the perspective of someone standing on the Moore Home's front porch looking out!) Click here or on the photo below to download a PDF of the coloring sheet. Once you're done coloring, take a photo and post it on social media so we can feature your masterpieces! (Be sure to tag us on Facebook or Instagram @fortbendmuseum so we can see it!) Wishing you all a very peaceful Good Friday.  By ALLISON HARRELL Texian Time Machine & Outreach Coordinator  We've got one final version of the Timeline history game for you today! The instructions are the same as before:
By ALLISON HARRELL Texian Time Machine & Outreach Coordinator When Anglo settlers first came to Texas, one of their first orders of business was to obtain a land grant. A land grant is a legal document that details who owns the land, where the land is located and who gave or sold the land. The first land grants were not issued in our part of Texas until 1824, which meant that settlers had been living in Texas for a few years before Stephen F. Austin managed to successfully negotiate the details of land grants. People will always fight over land -- and Austin learned this truth very quickly. Everyone wants the best land with the most resources, and they also want to be very sure that they are getting the exact amount of land they were promised. Surveying the Land
The Surveying Team
Detailed & DangerousEvery detail of every survey had to be recorded: the location where they started, the trees that they encountered along the way, the number of chain lengths that they went, the direction that they were going, etc. The journal of the all the details was signed by the surveyor, so if anyone had an issue with how their land was surveyed or if they found a mistake – they knew who to go to with their issues. This put a lot of pressure on the surveyors to get everything right. Since the survey teams were going out into the unexplored and undefined wild, it was also dangerous work. Sometimes they encountered Native people groups like the Karankawa and the Tonkawa, who were not pleased to have these foreigners trespassing on their traditional hunting grounds. Other times, the dangers were more standard: wolves, poison ivy, mosquitoes and bears, to name a few. Now It's Your Turn!Materials:
Did you find the area of your yard? Take a photo and tag us on Instagram @fortbendmuseum!
He was contracted to supply buffalo meat to the Kansas Pacific Railroad and reportedly killed 4,282 buffalo in 18 months. However, the nickname "Buffalo Bill" was hotly contested by William Comstock, who also claimed the nickname. To decide who could use the name, they held a shootout: whoever could kill the most buffalo in eight hours could use the name. Comstock killed 48 buffalo, but was outmatched by Cody's 68 buffalo. William gained international fame as an adult from his traveling Wild West show. His show was a huge draw across the United States and Europe. Big names like Annie Oakley, Frank Butler (Annie's equally-talented sharpshooting husband), Sitting Bull and Calamity Jane all toured with the group at various times. The show was more showmanship and fiction than fact, and many of the myths of the "Wild West" were perpetuated with shows such as this one. "Buffalo Bill" died on January 10, 1917 and was buried in Golden, Colorado overlooking the Great Plains. The Buffalo GameClick here to download a simple buffalo collection game based on one that William Cody himself created. The point of this game is to get at least ten buffalo heads and then make it back to the start square. All you need to play the game are game tokens and a dice. Use the dice for movement and follow the directions on the game board. For Native Americans, buffalo were a primary food source, and they would use the entire animal to the best of their ability. One buffalo can provide 1,000 pounds of meat. The internal organs could be used as containers, or cooking pots; the bones could be used ceremonially; and the tails were used as fly swatters. When the railroads were being built, the buffalo were deemed a pest, and hunted to near extinction. This hunting lead to many clashes between the Native Americans and the buffalo hunters, because the buffalo hunters were threatening the Native Americans' way of life.  By ALLISON HARRELL Texian Time Machine and Outreach Coordinator  We've got a new version of last week's history game for you today! The instructions are the same as last week:
The first manufactured paper doll was "Little Fanny" and was produced in London in 1810. Two years later, the first American manufactured paper doll was "The History and Adventures of Little Henry." In November 1859, Godey’s Lady’s Book was the first-known magazine to print a paper doll in black and white, followed by a page of costumes for children to color. The 1900s saw an explosion of paper dolls in many ladies' and children's magazines. Lettie Lane, painted by Sheila Young, made her entrance in Ladies’ Home Journal in October 1908 and ran until July 1915. The 1930s through the 1950s can perhaps claim the title “the Golden Age of Paper Dolls,” as their popularity during those years has never been equaled.
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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.
AuthorFort Bend Museum Staff Archives
December 2020
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