Daily Discovery: Story Detectives!

Post written by Heidi Fuhrman, Discovery Camp Coordinator.

Daily Discovery: Story Detectives!

Did you know you can be a story detective?! Think about someone you love, what stories do they have that can give clues to the past? Use these detective questions to find out more about that story and create a graphic novel or creative project to share what you learned!

Supplies:

  • Pencil & Paper

Optional:

  • Investigation sheet (included in the PDF)
  • Access to phone or laptop
  • Crayons/ colored pencils/ markers
  • Construction paper & blank paper
  • Graphic novel template (included in the PDF)

Instructions:

Real stories from real people give us important clues about the past and you can help discover and investigate those stories by becoming a story detective! Since stories disappear along with their owners, by learning these stories you are becoming a story keeper too!

  1. Think of someone you know that has a story you want to know more about or who has had a different life than yours. . . Maybe a parent, a grandparent, a friend, or a sibling!
    • Level Up: Create a detective team! Choose a story partner. Plan to investigate their story and then have them investigate a story in your life!
  2. Now that you have a person in mind, think about a story that person has that you want to know more about.
    • Here are some ideas:
       What life was like when they were growing up?
       Did they move to this country/city/state from somewhere else? What was the
      place they moved from like?
       Have they seen a really interesting event from the past? (Maybe people
      walking on the moon, the Civil Rights Movement, WWII, or right before
      computers were invented)!
       Do they have an interesting object or picture you’re curious about? What is
      the story behind it?
  3. Next, plan your investigative interview. Think about what questions you can ask them. Using our detective sheet (included at end), write them down. A good story detective is always ready for an interview!
    • Here are some ideas of good detective questions:
       What was it like when you were my age?
       What were your favorite things to eat when you were my age?
       What kind of things did you do for fun?
       How did you travel around your city?
       What is one thing we have now that you didn’t have as a kid?
       What is the most amazing thing you’ve seen in your life?
       What is one thing we have now you never thought would be invented?
       You saw ________. What was that like?
       Where did you live before ________. What did it look like? What was your favorite place there?
       What was it like to live through/before ___________ [event].
  4. With a grown-ups’ help, hold your interview! Call the person on the phone or video call them on a computer. If they live with you, you can interview them in person!
    • Level Up: If you want, you can film or record the interview so you can save it forever! It’s very special to have the story even when the person is gone!
  5. During the interview listen carefully. Sometimes the person will give you clues to other questions! Be sure to write these clues and any other facts down on your detective sheet!
    • During the interview these are good clue questions to ask!
       Why did . . . .?
       Tell me about. . . .?
       Describe __________ . . .
       What did . . .?
       How did . . .?
  6. Remember, a good story detective:
     Always listens . . .you never know when you’re going to get a clue!
     Respects the story teller. Remember, this is their story! You get to be the detective who hears it and keeper who saves it.
     Avoids yes/no questions. You want to know as much of the story as possible!
     Says, “Thank you for sharing your story with me.”
  7. Whew! You aced that interview! Now, finish your detective job! Think about your interview:
     What do you want to know more about?
     What is the most interesting thing you learned?
     How does this change the way you think about the past?

    • Level Up: Interview two people about the same event. What did they say that was the same? What did they say that was different?
  8. Finally, share your investigation with your family and friends!
    Create a graphic novel or picture book about the story you learned more about!

Want to download these directions? Click here for a handy PDF!

Follow along with our Daily Discovery! Click here for all activities that you can do at home.

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The Giant Screen at Home

Post written by Ben Gondrez, Digital Dome Manager.

The Giant Screen at Home

As we all practice social distancing at this time to curb the spread of COVID-19, many parents are now tasked with keeping up their children’s education while away from school. If you are in this situation and are looking for some ways to not only keep your children informed but also entertained Giant Screen Films (GSF) has provided some amazing resources just for you. They are now offering free streaming of three of their films including Mummies: Secrets of the Pharaohs, Dinosaurs Alive!, and Wild Ocean. Along with the films GSF has provided an Educator Guide for each show that includes in-depth background information, hands-on activities, and more! These films will be available for free through June 15, so discover something new today!

Mummies: Secrets of the Pharaohs

Part historic journey and part forensic adventure, Mummies: Secrets of the Pharaohs follows researchers and explorers as they piece together the archaeological and genetic clues of Egyptian mummies. Through ambitious computer graphics and dramatic reconstructions, the film tells the story of one of the greatest finds in modern history: the late 19th century discovery of a cache of forty mummies, including twelve Kings of Egypt, among them the legendary Rameses the Great. Narrated by Christopher Lee.

Click Here to Watch in English

Click Here to Watch in Spanish

Click Here to Watch in French

Download Educator Guide

Dinosaurs Alive!

Dinosaurs Alive! is a global adventure of science and discovery – featuring the earliest dinosaurs of the Triassic Period to the monsters of the Cretaceous, “reincarnated” life-sized for the giant screen. Audiences will journey with some of the world’s preeminent paleontologists as they uncover evidence that the descendants of dinosaurs still walk (or fly) among us. Narrated by Michael Douglas.

Click Here to Watch in English

Click Here to Watch in Spanish

Click Here to Watch in French

Download Educator Guide

 

Wild Ocean

Wild Ocean is an award-winning, action-packed adventure exploring the interplay between man and our endangered ocean ecosystem. The film highlights one of nature’s greatest migration spectacles, plunging viewers into an underwater feeding frenzy, an epic struggle for survival where whales, sharks, dolphins, seals, gannets and billions of fish collide with the most voracious sea predator, mankind.

Click Here to Watch in English

Click Here to Watch in Spanish

Click Here to Watch in French

Download Educator Guide

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Daily Discovery: My Museum

Post written by Heidi Fuhrman, Discovery Camps Coordinator.

Daily Discovery: My Museum

Become a curator and create your very own at home museum! Will your museum be a history museum, science museum, art museum, or a little bit of everything? What will you discover and teach to your visitors?

Supplies:

  • Your museum objects
  • Paper & markers (optional)

Instructions:

What is a museum, anyway?

A museum is a place where collections of objects are stored and displayed for people from all over the world to learn from. Many museums focus on one area like science, history, or art. Some museums focus on a single topic like baseball, or cowboys, or modern art. The Fort Collins Museum of Discovery focuses on many different areas—science, history, music, animals—but we have one big topic… discovery!

What kinds of museums have you been to? Which museum is your favorite? Why?

When you visit a museum, you see exhibits. These are created by many different people who work at a museum. They are made so that you can see and learn about some of the many amazing objects and specimens a museum stores and takes care of. But did you know that you’re only seeing a teeny tiny glimpse into a museum? Most museums have thousands to millions of objects that aren’t on display! Curators— people who take care of museum objects—carefully store them so that someday they can be displayed. But they don’t just put the objects on a shelf and leave them. Nope! They use those objects and specimens to learn more about history, art, and science so they can teach people through exhibits! Today your challenge is to become a curator and create your very own at home museum!

Decide what kind of museum you’re going to create. Is it going to be a history museum? A science museum? An art museum? A topical museum (maybe sports or superheroes or legos or a museum about you)? Maybe you’re going to make a museum like FCMoD and it will have a little bit of everything!

Next Steps:

In the linked PDF below, discover how to approach creating your museum depending on the type! From there, follow instructions for how to make your exhibit. Ready, set, go!

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Daily Discovery: Map Making

Post written by Charlotte Conway, Public Programs Coordinator.

Daily Discovery: Map Making

Have you ever looked up your house on Google Maps? It can be pretty cool to see your own neighborhood from a different  perspective! You can also find all sorts of maps and photographs of your town from history through the local Archives and Collections at FCMoD! Check out maps from your own community, and then make a map of your own!

Supplies:

  • Graph paper or paper
  • Colored pencils
  • Pencils
  • Ruler

Instructions:

  1. Maps are a two-dimensional representation that records the natural and build world around them, usually from a “top-down” perspective. There are many different types of maps each with different uses and looks!
  2. Compare and contrast the maps provided from Fort Collins Museum of Discovery’s Archives and Collections. What do the maps have in common? What is different about them? How do the maps differ based on how people might use them? How do the maps make use of colors, symbols, or labels to communicate their meaning?
  3. Now, it’s time to start designing your map! First, select a place you would like to make a map of. It could be your own neighborhood, somewhere from a different city, or even a made-up place!
  4. Next, consider the purpose of your map. What is your map trying to communicate? Will it be a political or road map that focuses on man-made features? Will it be a physical map that shows natural features?
  5.  Now that you have your purpose in mind, plan out the other features of your map that will make it more effective for your users.
    a. Legend – This is a visual explanation of the symbols you use on your map. How will you show the contents of your world on your map? If you use symbols, how will people know what they represent?
    b. Scale – This is the relationship between distance on your map and the same distance you are trying to represent on the ground. How will you translate the scale of world into a map that will fit on the paper? How will people who see your map know how large your world really is?
    c. Labeling – This is how you will write labels so that they clearly identify the right features on your map. How will people know what your map is supposed to be showing? How will they know who made the map and when?
  6. Draw out your map. Get creative with your representation, but remember to keep your purpose in mind so that your map is useful too!
  7. Keep the exploration going! Did you know FCMoD houses artifacts and collections from Northern Colorado, including historic maps? Explore maps from Northern Colorado. Explore your town using the GPS applications on smart phones or Google Maps, and then explore the world! What will you discover?

Want to download these directions? Click here for a handy PDF!

Follow along with our Daily Discovery! Click here for all activities that you can do at home.

Photo Credit: BABYCCINO

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Traveling from your own home!

Post written by Alex Ballou, Marketing Assistant.

Traveling from the comforts of your own home!

Here at FCMoD, we believe in the importance of exploration. And during times like this, we want to provide resources to continue discovery and exploration.

In this blog post, we’ve compiled a list of our recommended virtual tours to travel from the comfort of your home during this time. Learn more below!

  • Have you ever wanted to visit the Great Wall of China? Well, now is your chance to visit this wonder of the world that stretches more than 3000 miles across several provinces through this virtual tour.
  • Take a virtual tour of Arconic Foundation hub in Alcoa, TN and learn about the exciting ways robotics and digital technology impact the skills needed to succeed in Advanced Manufacturing.
  • Visit Manitoba, Canada for the annual polar bear migration. Thanks to Discovery Education we can study the science of polar bears and their Arctic habitat from afar.
  • Staying indoors? No problem! Join us as we explore the great outdoors virtually. Enjoy this virtual tour of Mammoth Hot Springs Trails.
  • Discover Mud Volcano Trail in Yellowstone. Learn about the sights, smells, and sounds you would uncover in this virtual tour.
  • Lastly, on our outdoors journey, stop in at Yellowstone National Park and experience it in 3-D – from beautiful landscape, wildlife, and geysers – explore the park like never before.

Even though the museum is closed, we want to continue to inspire creativity and encourage hands-on learning for all!

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These Artifacts Aren’t Playing Coy with History 

Post written by Linda Moore, Curator of Collections at Fort Collins Museum of Discovery.

These Artifacts Aren’t Playing Coy with History

Though all historic documents and artifacts are open to interpretation, the material nature of authentic artifacts give them a level of trust-worthiness that is unique. A thumbprint pressed into clay by its maker, a bare spot worn into the brim of a tophat that has been politely tipped hundreds of times, or the impossibly narrow width of a wedding shoe from 200 years ago —these are all ways that artifacts can speak to us about the nature of the people whose lives touched them.

Even in the case of people who are well represented in the written record, artifacts can add aspects of humanity to their story. Elizabeth “Libbie” Coy was born in Fort Collins in 1865, the daughter of Mr. and Mrs. John G. Coy, who had arrived here in 1862. She is well-known in our local history as one of the first three people to graduate from what was known then as Colorado Agricultural College —today’s Colorado State University, in 1884. Libbie was, in fact, the first woman to graduate from any institution of higher learning in the state of Colorado. She was intensely engaged in the early civic life of our community, advocating strongly for the women’s suffrage at both the state and national level.

Libbie Coy is represented in the Fort Collins Museum of Discovery’s historic artifact collection by a small, diverse set of objects. The most personal is this cream wool skirt and bodice ensemble which she wore for her wedding to James W. Lawrence on June 19, 1890, after which she was known as Mrs. James Lawrence. This formal outfit echoes Libbie’s diminutive form, as well as the prevailing fashion of her time. The sleeves with full puffs at the top, known as “leg-of-mutton” were the height of fashion in the late 1880s, and a suit which could be worn for other occasions rather than a gown designed to be worn for the wedding day only, was a common choice for brides of her day.

Other objects in the museum’s collection represent the Coy family’s settlement in this area, and the agricultural life they led here. The family brought this pump organ overland by an ox team when they traveled here from the eastern United States in 1873. It attests to the important place that music played in their family life, and is on exhibit in the Music & Sound Lab of FCMoD.

These two rough wood objects reflect the work of Libbie’s father, John G. Coy. The donation record states that he shaped this potato masher by hand, and he may also have made this grain flail, which he used to beat the hulls off of whole grains produced on the family’s farm.

Lastly, we have this framed motto, stitched by Libbie Coy’s own hand. Local historian Evadene Swanson, recalls seeing it displayed on the kitchen wall of the Pioneer Cabin, once it had become a Fort Collins meeting place. Shaped by her hands, do you think this motto reflects Libbie’s spirit as well?

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Daily Discovery: Who’s Your Wonder Woman?

Post written by Heidi Fuhrman, Discovery Camp Coordinator.

Daily Discovery: Who’s Your Wonder Woman?

We all know a real-life wonder woman! They support us, help us, show us what it means to be a leader, innovator, teacher, scientist, artist, mother and more! Who’s the wonder woman in your life? What’s their superpower?

Supplies:

  • Your Wonder Woman coloring sheet (included in PDF)
  • Crayons, markers, colored pencils!

Instructions:

  1. Think about a woman in your life you think is a superhero! Maybe it’s a mom, a grandma, a sister, friend, teacher…it could be someone you’ve never met, but they inspire you! Talk with your friends or kids about their wonder women.
  2. Think about what superpower that person has! Are they kind? Strong? Brave, smart, compassionate…? Do they create, listen, invent, solve problems, use their voice for good, run fast? Maybe they helped you find your superpower! Share the superpowers of your wonder woman with the people you’re doing this activity with! Add their superpowers to the sheet.
  3.  Color your wonder woman!
  4.  Share your drawing with the wonder woman you chose! Give it to them, send them a picture, or stick it in the mail. Share it with us (@focomod)! We’d love to celebrate all the incredible women in our community!
  5. Go learn about some real-life wonder women! Check out some books from your library or search for some incredible women online! We’re all stronger #BecauseOfHerStory!

Want to download these directions? Click here for a handy PDF!

Follow along with our Daily Discovery! Click here for all activities that you can do at home.

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Creating Family Archives, Part One

Post written by Jenny Hannifin, Archive Assistant.

Creating Family Archives, Part One

Primary sources – letters, emails, photos, scrapbooks, programs, pamphlets, dance cards, etc. – reveal wonders, and preserving and organizing them is a forever-gift. When you decide to create personal archives, you are committing to a rewarding and valuable task.

But how do you get started?

Margot Note recently published a book called Creating Family Archives: A Step‐by‐Step Guide for Saving Your Memories for Future Generations published by the Society of American Archivists. You can find details about the book here. Margot Note is an archives and records management consultant in New York, and a professor in the graduate Women’s History program at Sarah Lawrence College.

In this blog I will summarize some guiding concepts from Margot’s book to help you get you started.

What are your goals?

Personal archives can capture many things. Are you interested in storytelling and preserving memories? Are you hoping to create an instrument of legitimacy (like genealogical evidence), or to document someone’s specific legacy? Do you want to highlight the roots of your self-identification and cultural values? Is it an institution you want to document, perhaps one you were intimately involved in?

The more you conceptualize the final product, the easier it will be to devise the steps required to get there. Each of the goals listed above would have a different approach to saving, processing, and preserving materials.

What do you save?

There are three archival principles that can guide you in deciding what to save: that the item is original, reflects daily life/lives, and is of enduring value.

Original means there is just one copy of it, and it doesn’t exist anywhere else.

Reflecting daily life/lives means that it initially began life as a record of some sort and wasn’t created with the public in mind (like published materials).

Enduring value is probably the hardest to determine. In short, it means “value as evidence,” or “a source for historical research;” something that has value AFTER the creator has finished with it. Note says “For organizations, for example, only about 5 percent of records created in the course of business have enduring (archival) value. The same may be said of the records that you and your family create in the course of your lives. Among the receipts, invoices, notes, and selfies you take or receive during your lifetime, only a sliver is worth saving forever.” (Note, p37)

All items that you save, and that reflect these values, are format independent. In other words, a 50-year-old newspaper clipping may be less important to save than an email from last month, depending on your goals. Things don’t have to be “old” to be of enduring value – archival records can be born-digital, in the present.

Create a plan

Once you know what you want to do, and (roughly) what you want to save, you need to create a plan. Start by surveying what you have gathered. Can you divide the project up into different parts, so it is less overwhelming? How many folders or boxes do you need? Would it be easiest to create and store your project digitally?

MPLP (more product, less process) is an archival guiding principle whereby you take care of the most important things first, without feeling like you must get it all done at once. For example, start by stabilizing and re-housing fragile items, storing items by groups in separate boxes, and creating brief inventories. Later you can dive deeper with descriptions, etc. – but in the meantime, you’ve made a start.

Note suggests creating a month by month plan to stay organized. Here’s an example (Note, p6):

  • August: Survey the collection; buy archival supplies
  • September: Organize and process the collection; rehouse slides in archival enclosures;
    create a guide
  • October: Select images for scanning; digitize images
  • November: Interview Person A and Person B; transcribe the best selections of the interview
  • December: Create memory book with photographs and interview quotes; give the books to Person A, Person B, and other relatives

Moving forward

I hope this has been useful! In a future blog we will discuss best practices in handling materials, storing materials, and related topics.

To learn more right now about materials most subject to damage, go here. To learn more about where to buy archival materials (like acid-free folders and plastic sheets), go here.

There is so much to know in this area that we will offer later this year a workshop called Caring for Your Family Treasures. So stay tuned for dates and details on our website calendar!

 

 

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A Mountain of Memories: Processing an Archival Collection at Fort Collins Museum of Discovery

Post written by Lauryn Bolz, Archive Intern Fall 2019.

A Mountain of Memories: Processing an Archival Collection at Fort Collins Museum of Discovery

“To unite the energy, interest, and knowledge of the students, explorers and lovers of the mountains of Colorado; Collect and disseminate information regarding the Rocky Mountains on behalf of science, literature, art, and recreation; Stimulate public interest in our mountain area; Encourage the preservation of forests, flowers, fauna, and natural scenery; and Render readily accessible the alpine attractions of this region.”

The Colorado Mountain Club’s mission statement, written in 1912, has stood as an important pillar of the organization’s 100+ year existence. Its holistic approach to preservation, respect, and exploration of Colorado’s wild lands attracted a diverse cast of characters that are not only interwoven into the history of the club, but also in Fort Collins and Colorado State University.

cmc_large_052: Snowshoeing near Bunce School Road in Allenspark, Colorado

This project was my first experience with archiving, and though I was ecstatic to have been given the opportunity to work at Fort Collins Museum of Discovery, the task appeared very daunting to me. One of the things that struck me was the vast amount of creative freedom given to archivists, despite the very methodical nature of the work. When Lesley Struc, the Archive’s curator and my internship advisor, gave me the “Okay, go!” on my project, I found myself overwhelmed at how there could seemingly be infinite equations that all lead to the same result: a clean, organized set of documents.

Scanning my three boxes of material, I remembered my mother meticulously scanning my grandmother’s old slides into the computer when I was a child, so that is where I decided to start. And wow, did my mom make that look easy.

Blog01: Sleeved slides from the Colorado Mountain Club Records

While some of these slides were organized snugly into appropriately sized boxes, with printed descriptions to match, some were thrown haphazardly into half-disintegrated brown paper bags from the 1960s, bound together with sticky old rubber bands. Though some of these methods were difficult to organize, I couldn’t help but find it fun to get to know each of the photographers vicariously through their styles of handwriting and sorting. Alan Kilminster, who studied at CSU and later took a position there as a biomedical photographer, meticulously laid out each trail the Club took, taking more time to describe ‘neighborhoods’ of rocks than the people photographed around them. Chet Watts was a bit more relaxed, photographing his friends in funny poses as they made their way through Colorado’s dazzling mountain settings. Frank Goeder was a professor of physics at CSU with difficult-to-decipher handwriting, which he used to describe the colors of rocks in his beautiful black and white photography.

Being a transfer student, and still relatively new to Colorado, it has sometimes been difficult to find an avenue to connect to the new culture and free-spirited mindset of my new home. Through exploring this collection, I’ve found that these connections are all around us, through art, literature, science, and our instinctual drawing into the wild lands.

cmc_large_013: Hikers taking a rest

Through conducting this project, I felt extremely connected to my new home in Fort Collins through getting to know the photographers of the CMC and seeing the Rocky Mountains through their eyes. I hope this collection helps other future explorers of the vast, diverse landscapes of Colorado, and prompts them to feel the same respect and inspiration shown by the original members of the CMC.

I would especially like to thank the beautiful, intelligent, and endlessly entertaining ladies of FCMoD’s Archive. Lesley Struc and Jenny Hannifin, along with the cast of volunteers, that made my first experience with archiving fun, educational, and profound in many aspects in my life as I continue to pursue a career in museum work. Seeing new researchers come in every day, met with the wonderment of the archive and the passion of the workers there, has invigorated my interests in public history and Fort Collins’ unique past.

Cmc_large_051: Climbing Mount Audobon

View the finding aid for the Colorado Mountain Club Records on the Fort Collins History Connection here.

 

Local history lives here. Visit the Archive & Collections at FCMoD – open Tuesday through Saturday from 10:00 am to 12:00 pm, and 1:00 pm to 5:00 pm – and like us on Facebook to see more historical images and artifacts. Archival images are available for research, purchase, and more through the online Fort Collins History Connection website.

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The Holidays in Fort Collins

Post written by Alex Ballou, Marketing Assistant.

The Holidays in Fort Collins

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Local history lives here. Visit the Archive & Collections at FCMoD – open Tuesday through Saturday from 10:00 am to 12:00 pm, and 1:00 pm to 5:00 pm – and like us on Facebook to see more historical images and artifacts. Archival images are available for research, purchase, and more through the online Fort Collins History Connection website.

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