- Looks shiny, a little bit.

- Looks shiny.

I just want to learn more about that book because that's so cool.

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.

Here in The Vault, we usually explore Colorado history.

But for this special episode, we're commemorating America's 250th anniversary.

It's kind of a small dress, don't you think?

Very small.

Yeah.

In partnership with Ken Burns's "American Revolution," we're challenging two contestants to see if they can draw the connections between these pieces related to the Revolutionary War.

Welcome to The Vault.

Today we're playing with Josh Ingram, an MSU Denver student, and David Rones, also an MSU Denver student.

I understand you're both history majors.

Any particular areas of expertise you're bringing to the game today?

Colorado history, Denver history Jewish history.

I mean, I'm Russian history for the most part, but I've read about this period enough that maybe I can get a sense of what's going on.

All right.

Well, of course, the American Revolution was a global conflict, so Russian history might play a role.

Let's check out and see 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 in The Vault, I am going to give you one hint about one of the items if you need it.

Once you've had a chance to look them over carefully, you will have 90 seconds to make your connections on the game board.

Sound good?

- Yeah.

- Sounds like a plan.

All right, let's take a look.

Let's start with this one.

It says, "President of the United States."

"To all ... these present greeting."

So I think it's during the Washington administration.

Is that right?

It's the 19th year of the independence of the United States.

And the White House wasn't around yet, so ... Let's keep going.

Well, you know about this one.

Yeah, yeah, it's the Hebrew congregation, Newport, Rhode Island.

They wrote a letter to Washington, and he wrote back saying that, "Relax, everything's going to be all right.

You're all going to be treated equally.

We're not going to allow discrimination."

- They're like, "Okay."

- Interesting.

We have a spoon.

Yes.

Really a nice spoon.

It says it's Revere.

Well, he was a silversmith, so.

That would make sense.

This might actually be directly from him.

It looks like we have a coin.

1782.

Yeah, there's some words.

I can't quite make it out.

"Mind your ..." Something?

We have a dress here too, it looks like.

A nice floral design.

It's kind of a small dress, don't you think?

Very small.

- Yeah.

- Teenager, maybe?

I don't know.

I'm guessing that's a tablecloth.

Looks shiny.

It looks shiny.

Yeah, that's very important.

It is.

This is, like, a powder ... Yeah, I think it's what they use for rifles.

Oh, it has a fish design, too.

- Maybe the guy was a fisherman.

- Maybe.

And then we have a musket here.

Obviously.

It says, "Manual Royale," and it looks like it has the initials of the user.

Yeah.

And then there's a bag right there.

I'm assuming that's to hold the actual musket balls.

Here, let me help you out with this.

This might reveal a little more.

Oh, wow.

I mean, it's round looking.

It doesn't look like it's all that deep.

It looks like ball shaped in there.

Pretty good idea of it.

This item on the other hand, that one right there is really interesting to me.

This probably looks like some type of tea kettle or something like that.

That's what I was assuming, but I just liked the design because of how far the bar comes out.

You know, you see them today and they're on top or you don't see it like this.

I've never seen it like this at least.

And from one angle, looks like I can pick it up and use it as like a speaker or something.

There we go.

Okay.

Well, are there any that you would like a hint on?

Honestly, I think we have a decent idea of everything, but — I hope so.

Bold men going it without a hint All right.

Josh, David feeling confident?

Feeling on the same wavelength here?

- Yes.

- Yes, sir.

All right, well, we're going to put 90 seconds on the clock, and I need you to organize these into three sets and tell me what the common theme connecting them is.

Alright, on your mark, get set.

Go.

Alright, make your stuff first so we can categorize.

Let's put military down first because we know that's one of them.

And then I'll start moving some stuff over I think these are military.

- Do you agree?

- Yes.

And then what's the other category?

I would say something about the domestic sphere.

- Let's put that down then - Alright.

I think you're right on that.

And I was thinking this one ... this one, and this one.

- Right?

- Mm-hmm.

Okay.

And here we are left with four.

Well, two of them have some relation to Washington, and then ... - 30 seconds.

- I don't know what - the deal there is.

- Maybe international or national ... government, maybe?

Just like government.

Oh yeah.

Government.

Because we have the coin.

That's something they would do.

Alright.

This ... This ... - Alright, 10 seconds.

- This.

And I'm actually gonna take the tablecloth out.

- Yeah.

- There we go.

Okay.

Time's up.

Pencils down.

Alright, guys, well done.

Right on time.

Tell me about your first category.

Well, we did military first because it was pretty obvious that we had a musket on the table.

So we immediately thought, well, even though everybody owned a musket back then, it was a predominant weapon for the time.

We also saw that little funnel that would help with loading the weapons, the satchel for musket balls.

It's what we were assuming.

Or maybe they put powder in there that kind of just led us to go, maybe this is just military items in general.

Okay.

David, category number two.

What are you thinking?

So we looked at the domestic sphere.

These objects seem to all fit in that.

So we got the dress over there.

Usually you're not going to see too many women on the battlefield during the early part of the American republic.

Probably going to see that in the house more often.

Then, we have this tea kettle looking thing.

And I suppose you could have that on the battlefield, but you're definitely going to have it in the house.

And then we have this spoon over here.

And this doesn't make for a very good weapon.

You're probably gonna see it in the kitchen a little bit more.

You're probably not gonna be throwing it at someone.

But yeah, I mean, these things all fit in the domestic sphere.

All right.

And Josh, tell me about category number three.

Category number three.

We decided to do government.

We were also thinking, what was the other — - Civic.

- Civic.

That was the other thing that we thought of, too.

We saw the coin was 1782 or 87.

We couldn't really quite make it out.

But David even pointed out the book that actually has stuff from ... The Newport synagogue.

I mean, that's the type of thing that they probably would have read aloud for the entire community in the synagogue, because they're getting an address from a president who's friendly to them.

That's a huge deal.

That's a huge deal.

So we also started getting a clue when we saw an address from the president that could have been put up on a board.

That kind of just led us to go, these are probably government or civic items for the most part.

Okay.

And yeah, tell me about what you thought the decoy was.

Well, we thought the decoy was the tablecloth.

I guess it could be in the domestic sphere.

Personally, I think it looks a bit newer than the other objects.

It's shiny.

I don't know how that works.

And history is just — It could be there, could not be there.

It's not really that strong of a candidate.

Alright.

Should we see how you did?

- Sure.

- Yeah.

Okay.

You were so close.

Oh, wow.

We actually got extremely close.

Oh, but the the dress was the — Huh.

That's right.

So our first set — soldiers equipment.

You were right on with that one.

You correctly identified the musket.

That is actually a French made musket.

One of the more than 100,000 muskets that the French supplied to the Continental Army in the early years of the Revolutionary War.

Really helping the American soldiers meet the British troops on equal terms on the battlefield.

You were right.

That's a powderhorn to keep your gunpowder dry in all weather.

And that is indeed a cartridge box.

Or it was called a belly box.

People would wear it on a strap in front of them so they could open up that pouch, pull out a little packet.

It was actually a paper packet with the gunpowder and the musket ball together.

Troops were trained to be able to fire these rifles about three times a minute, so they had to be able to move very quickly.

The second set was really about the colonists breaking with England.

The tablecloth, that is linen spun from flax.

That's what gives it a shine.

A difficult material to work with, precious, but something that Americans could make here in the colonies.

That was a coffee pot, actually, not a tea kettle.

Coffee being the favorite drink of patriots, especially after the Boston Tea Party and other tea parties throughout the colonies.

The spoon was made by Paul Revere, famous silversmith in Massachusetts, showing that Americans could supply their own goods.

We didn't need to import finer goods from England.

And then finally, pretty close with the notion of government.

We were thinking, these are pieces from the new nation after the war was over.

You have the coin over there.

It's called a Fugio cent.

This is the first currency that the new government circulated.

- Oh, wow.

- It's a design from Ben Franklin on the front.

It says, "Mind your business."

And on the back it says, "We are One."

The date there was 1787.

I know it was a little hard to read.

But, of course, you knew George Washington's letter to the Hebrew congregation at Newport.

Famously, he says that the United States gives no sanction to bigotry.

All it asks us for the people living here to be good citizens.

And then finally, the proclamation there — That is a proclamation — If you look at the signature, it's actually signed by George Washington when he was president — - Yeah.

- Woah, that's so cool.

calling Captain McRee back to service during the Whiskey Rebellion.

McRee had been a soldier in the Continental Army, retired, was living his life, but the president, as the commander in chief of the army, called out forces to put down the rebellion and enforce American tax laws.

And then, of course, our decoy was that spectacular dress.

It belonged to a woman named Mehitable Hopkins.

She was the relative of someone who signed the Declaration of Independence.

She wore that at balls, including to dance with George Washington, the first dance at one of the balls in the era right around the closing of the Revolution.

Wow.

I was wondering if that was a coffee pot.

Yeah, anything here that surprised you or that made you want to learn more about it?

It was surprising to see that the tablecloth was not the dud.

I mean, I was like — There are no duds here.

I was surprised about Washington's signature actually being there.

I'm very interested to learn more about what the process was for calling soldiers back to the military, because it's like, that seems like a lot of work to like, how many people would he work with?

Also, I just want to learn more about that book because that's so cool.

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.

Thanks for joining us in The Vault.

We hope to see you next time.

Alright, thanks, guys.

- Thanks for having us.

- Yeah.

Thank you.

Yeah.

Come over here and check this out.

Funding for this program was provided in part by a community engagement grant from the American Revolution Project.

To learn more about these objects and some other cool artifacts, visit rmpbs.org/thevault Or go visit your local history museum.