Video
Fort Union Trading Post Museum Collection
Transcript
Welcome to Fort Union Trading Post National Historic Site. Fort Union Trading Post is a unit of the National Park System. Historically, it was the 19th century equivalent of a shopping center. Fort Union was the most important fort trading outpost on the upper Missouri from 1828 to 1867. I'm Audrey. And I'm Nikki. We're part of a team that takes care of museum artifacts that preserve our shared history. And I'm Sawyer. I was a clerk here back in 1851. Let's go into the vault and look at our collection. Our history collection includes donated and purchased artifacts. We have examples of clothing, weapons, artwork, documents, trade goods, lots of things from the fort trade. Some of these artifacts are over 108 years old. They're mostly in good condition. Our job is to keep them in good condition. Our archaeology collection has a lot of artifacts dug up by archaeologists. Some of them are whole, but some of them are in fragments. But we house them here in the vaults so that we can keep them in good condition and find out what life was like here at Fort Union. All our artifacts helped fill in the blanks that weren't written down in trader journals or passed down in Indian traditions. This citizen coat is a historic artifact in very good condition. We don't know who originally owned it, but it's probably worn by a high ranking employee such as a clerk or a Bourgeois. This coat was partially machine sewn and partially sewn by hand. The M-shape collar is one clue that dates it to the early 1850s. Do you recognize these orange gold buttons? They're the same buttons that are on the citizen coat. Archaeologists found 56 of these brass covered buttons called orange gold buttons. This specimen is in great condition. You can still see the manufacturer's marking rich gold color stamped on the metal back of the button. It's cold if you're on [INAUDIBLE]. Audrey, this is a really interesting historical piece. That's a beauty. I love that artifact. I think they'll love it, too. Oh, yeah. Let's see what's inside. We have a mirror, a beard comb, and a straight razor. Men shaved and trim their beards with straight razors and soap, just like these. I wonder who actually used this box. [MUSIC PLAYING] Looks like I'm ready for the hop, maybe she'll dance with me now. Now you can see how the artifacts in Fort Union's museum collection are an important part of the fort trade story. We have only given you a glimpse of the museum collection. Contact the curator for more information about viewing the collection or performing research. Have you enjoyed learning about the history of Fort Union through our museum collection? I hope and visit in person and see the real thing. Look for more videos on our collection coming soon. [MUSIC PLAYING]
Description
Archeologists found thousands of artifacts as they excavated the remains of Fort Union! This video reveals some of their discoveries.
Duration
4 minutes, 18 seconds
Credit
NPS / Brittnei Sherrod
Date Created
12/07/2011
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