Game 5 | "A Frontier Vibe"
Episode 5 | 11m 43sVideo has Closed Captions
Bernie & George work together to uncover hidden connections between real historical artifacts.
The Vault: A History Game Show is a fast-paced, collaborative series where two contestants work together to uncover hidden connections between real historical artifacts. Faced with ten objects—including one decoy—they must group them into three themed sets before time runs out. As answers are revealed, each object unlocks a surprising story from Colorado’s past.
Problems playing video? | Closed Captioning Feedback
Problems playing video? | Closed Captioning Feedback
The Vault: A History Game Show is a local public television program presented by RMPBS
Game 5 | "A Frontier Vibe"
Episode 5 | 11m 43sVideo has Closed Captions
The Vault: A History Game Show is a fast-paced, collaborative series where two contestants work together to uncover hidden connections between real historical artifacts. Faced with ten objects—including one decoy—they must group them into three themed sets before time runs out. As answers are revealed, each object unlocks a surprising story from Colorado’s past.
Problems playing video? | Closed Captioning Feedback
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Learn Moreabout PBS online sponsorshipThere's like, some old furnace looking thing.
It looks like an oven.
This looks like something that used to be in aunt's apartment in Brooklyn, actually.
We're at the History Colorado Center, where I'm going deep into our archival vault, selecting ten artifacts from History Colorado's collection of more than 15 million items.
- Barbie Dream House, an old one.
- Yep.
Your sister would like this.
Today, we're challenging two contestants to see if they can draw the connections between these pieces of Colorado history.
Welcome to The Vault.
Today we are playing with Bernie Harrigan and George Harrigan.
Any relation?
I'm the father.
Okay.
Okay.
Okay.
On the family wavelength.
So, do you think the father son connection is going to give you an edge today?
- Maybe.
- I hope so.
If I passed anything onto him.
- Less confidence over here.
- Yeah.
- Well, let's check out what we have in the vault today.
In front of you are ten artifacts, and I want you to find the connections between them.
The artifacts on the table can be arranged into three sets, with the three items in each set all connected by a common theme.
One of the items in front of you is a decoy that doesn't belong with any set.
So choose carefully.
You can start by inspecting each item and because we are nice here at The Vault, I will give you a hint on any single item that you would like to know more about.
Okay.
Once you've had a chance to look them over, you will have 90 seconds at our game board to group them into the sets and tell us what those themes are.
Sound good?
- Yeah.
Sounds good.
- All right, well then go ahead and have a look.
- Alright.
- So.
- This is like, kind of a... this looks like some tribal like horn, maybe.
- Yeah.
Could be something from, you know, the frontier or... an animal.
- Yeah.
It looks like it's from, like, a bison, maybe.
- Okay.
And then.
Constitution.
- The Colorado Constitution it looks like.
- Alright well, I know it's 150 years this year, that Colorado became a state, so that could be something there.
- This looks like... - Ummm... - Oh, it's a book of, like, mug shots it looks like.
- Uhh, they're more like portraits.
They don't look like they were prisoners or anything.
- Well, here it says arrested.
- Ah, could be mug shots.
- Yeah, it's mug shots.
And then, this is like some sort of document.
I can't really read what it says.
- 1876.
August 1st.
Okay.
- Maybe that could be some sort of like formal letter.
- And again, that 150 years.
- Yeah.
- So that's from the centennial maybe.
- Right here it looks like it's a Barbie Dream House, an old one.
- Yeah, your sister will like this.
- It's still in the box.
- Maybe it's like a vintage original.
- Yeah.
- Okay.
What does it say on top?
Teenage Fashion Model.
All right.
- Then, there's like some sort of a toy here.
- Yeah, there's three colors: red, white and... - There's some string maybe to pull it along.
- Right.
They almost look like cannons.
- Maybe.
- Could be some kind of weapon.
Alright.
A diorama.
- Yeah, it looks like some, like frontier related.
- Right.
- It looks like it's made out of maybe clay.
- Okay.
An old revolver.
- Yeah.
- Pretty cut and dry.
Yeah, it's a revolver.
- And there's, like, some old furnace looking thing.
It looks like an oven.
- This looks like something that used to be in my aunt's apartment in Brooklyn, actually.
Back in the 70s.
All right.
- And then that looks like a really old, like American flag that they would give out at a parade.
- Yeah.
- The stars are a little weird though.
- Well, I wonder how many... I bet how many stars were how many states there were at the time.
- Maybe.
- So it could be a clue to 1876.
- Great job guys.
Would you like a hint about anything?
- This object here with the three colors on the wheels.
- Sure, okay.
So... A child could run a long time and those may never catch it.
But the adults will definitely hear it.
- So maybe it makes noise and they run with it pulling them.
Pulling it with them because it would never catch them if they're running and pulling it.
- Right.
Gotcha.
Okay, so it's always at their heels.
- Some old toy.
- Okay.
- You guys ready?
- Ready.
- On the same wavelength?
- Think so.
- Yeah.
- Alright, then let's put 90 seconds on the clock.
Ready... go!
- Alright, well.
- I think that the horn, and the gun and this diorama thing could be frontier related items.
Maybe.
- I think they could too.
What was that one?
- That's like a mug shot.
- The mug shots.
Yeah.
I wonder if that has something to do with the gun.
- Maybe.
- I like these three.
- Okay.
But how does this relate to that?
- Good point.
All right, let's go with your your first thought.
First thought.
Best thought.
What are we calling these?
- Frontier items?
- All right.
Let's call these frontier items.
[SUSPENSEFUL MUSIC] I think that the this Constitution, this maybe letter and this record of the mug shots could also be in the same category, but I'm not sure.
- I kind of like the flag to go with the Constitution.
- 30 seconds.
- All right, let's go with those three.
- Yeah.
What should we call that?
- Ummm, the Foundation of Colorado?
- Okay.
[SUSPENSEFUL MUSIC] I don't even know how to spell Colorado!
Okay.
- And then the last thing... - Alright 10 seconds!
- Alright, toys.
- I think these three are household items.
- I think they're children's toys from the old days.
[MUSIC] - Alright, pencils down!
- Alright!
- You guys just made it.
- Phew!
- Yeah.
- How you feeling?
- Pretty good.
- Okay.
Alright well, why don't you walk me through your first set here George.
- So we kind of saw, like, this gun and the bison horn looking thing, as well as the diorama of, like, the frontier.
So we kind of connected those things together as, like, giving off a frontier vibe almost.
- Okay, and Bernie, how about ta me through your second set.
- Well I thought they tied into the recent celebration of America.
The flag, I thought might be represented, the flag at the time of the centennial.
And then these documents, the Constitution and the document in the middle, I thought tied in together with that foundation of Colorado.
- Okay.
George, how about this third set here?
- So the small furnace looked like something that a kid would play with in, like a cooking set as well as, like, this thing that looks like a toy that maybe somebody would drag around outside.
And then the Barbie house is obviously a toy, but it looks like obviously an older one, something that would have been a toy back, like, in Colorado's history.
- Okay.
And that leaves what is our decoy Bernie?
- That leaves the book that we decided was a book of mug shots.
- Okay, would you like to see how you did.
- We would.
- Alright, let's reveal the right answers.
[Drumroll] - Ahhh, close.
- Very close.
You guys did great Yeah.
That first set... your instincts were good but they really revolve around a specific story.
The story of Alfred Packer, sometimes called the Colorado Cannibal.
In 1874, Alfred Packer led a group of five prospectors into the San Juan Mountains in southern Colorado.
About two months later, he emerged from harsh winter conditions all by himself and looking surprisingly healthy.
He confessed to having eaten his companions to stay alive, but he claimed that he did it only after they died, or that he killed one of them in self-defense.
His story shifted over the years, but what we have here, that revolver, is the alleged murder weapon.
The book of mug shots there, that is his mug shot on the right hand page.
That is how police in the 1800s were keeping track of criminals.
That's actually a book of all murderers.
The horn there, if you read the label on it, you will see that it is a pincushion created at the Cañon City Prison by Colorado's maneater, referring to Alfred Packer.
It was purchased and eventually ended up in a sort of traveling museum, sort of freak show.
The second set spot on about Colorado statehood.
You have the Constitution from 1876.
That piece of paper over there is actually the order signed by Ulysses S. Grant, President at the time, directing the Secretary of State to admit Colorado as a state in the Union.
And then the 38 star flag.
Colorado was the 38th star.
I like to think that we are that top right star because we are cut above everybody else.
You did a great job identifying the toys.
You have a dog pull toy from the 1920s.
Kids would pull that behind them.
The dogs would go up and down.
You have a toy stove from the 30s.
It looked like stoves at the time.
There is a long history of kids wanting to mimic what adults are doing.
And then Barbie's Dream House, 1962.
And Midge there from 1963.
Classic toy.
Invented by Ruth Handler, who grew up right here in Denver.
The decoy that means was the diorama.
That is a diorama that was created around around the centennial of Colorado to celebrate that milestone.
Shows an imagined early scene from Colorado history.
- So how do you feel?
- Pretty good.
We did... did better than I expected.
- Better than you expected.
- Two out of three.
- Two out of three, pretty good.
You only missed the one.
- And eight out of nine.
Right.
- Yeah, anything up here sort of capture your imagination or surprise you a little bit?
- Well, the stove gave me, like I said, nostalgia for my aunt's apartment.
And I used to be one of the kids that like to play with those kind of things.
So definitely pretended cooking on that back in the day.
- Awesome.
- I was surprised about the dogs because I actually didn't realize they were dogs at first, but now that I look at them, I see like the ears and eyes.
- Yeah you see those floppy ears.
- Yeah.
- You used to have a toy like that too.
- Yes, these are endless fun to toddlers.
- Yes.
Colorado's history is full of surprising connections, and as we turn 150 this year, it's more important than ever that museums like ours are preserving and protecting artifacts like these.
That way, we can continue making connections for the next 150 years.
Thank you guys for being here.
Well done.
And thank you all for joining us here in The Vault.
I hope to see you again soon.
All right.
Should we?
Come on over here.
Yeah.
You guys breezed right [Music] To learn more about these objects and some other cool artifacts, vist rmpbs.org/thevault.
Or go visit your local history museum!
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The Vault: A History Game Show is a local public television program presented by RMPBS