Lesson Plan:
What Hollywood Got Wrong
Content Area: Social Studies
Grade: 4th-8th
Tech Needs: Whiteboard or Projector, laptop
Estimated Time: 50 min.
Essential Question: How can archaeology tell a more realistic account of boomtown saloons?
Objectives:
(1) To understand that Hollywood representations are not always historically correct
(2) To learn about the people often not represented in film or television depictions of saloons of the 19th century
(3) Understanding the historical context of the founding of Winnipeg Junction, Minnesota
(4) To assess how archaeology can help interpret the past
(5) To learn about the role saloons played in the boomtowns of the 19th century
(6) To understand how archaeology can help commemorate historic sites and make them available to the public
Materials:
White paper
Construction paper
Pencil
Shoeboxes
Glue sticks
Popsicle sticks
Markers
Tape
Learning Context:
Archaeology students from Minnesota State University Moorhead (MSUM) excavated a site in Winnipeg Junction, Minnesota, in the summer of 2022. Today, Winnipeg Junction is a ghost town, but at the time, it was a boomtown along the Northern Pacific Railway.
Winnipeg Junction had an estimated 250 people at the height of the population. The trains were built on the site of an ancient glacial lake, Lake Agassiz, which led to deteriorating tracks and a steep grade, so the railway was rerouted one mile north in 1908. Residents moved away shortly afterward and left Winnipeg Junction, a ghost town.
The MSUM students excavated the trash midden shared by Ole Gol's saloon and Theodore “Teddy” Johnson's restaurant. Bottles, ceramics, and faunal remains tell the stories of the patrons of the saloon and restaurant. Some bottles contain engravings indicating their use and origin. Some artifacts were produced far away and transported by train. Others were produced in nearby cities, such as Fargo, North Dakota. North Dakota banned alcohol towards the end of the 19th century, while Minnesota banned prostitution simultaneously. People would cross the Red River of the North which separated Moorhead to Fargo to buy both legally. Documents tell us that the Ole Gol Saloon held a liquor license from 1901 to 1908. It was named after its owner and barkeep, Ole Gol, an immigrant from Norway. His brother-in-law, a Swedish immigrant Theodore Johnson, worked with him as a barkeep and operated an adjacent restaurant.
The Ole Gol Saloon is an example of a real nineteenth-century saloon. It would have served townspeople, railway workers, and people passing through on the train. Artifacts can indicate how the saloon operated and the activities that went on there.
Hollywood would have us believe that all boomtown saloons were violent places of ill-repute. The reality is that saloons, just like modern bars, are places where people act on their vices and have fights. However, that is not their identity. They serve as a place to escape and socialize outside of work.
Lesson Sequence:
1. Present the learning context and these Google Slides to provide students with contextual information.
2. Ask students about the following definitions: boomtown, saloon, junction, and material culture. Record their responses on the board.
3. Watch this movie clip, which depicts Hollywood saloons.
4. Answer the following questions as part of a class discussion:
a. What did you notice from the clip?
b. Who was represented in the clip?
c. What were the material objects you noticed?
d. In what way can oral history, archival documents, and archaeological evidence provide a more comprehensive picture of boomtown saloons?
5. Students will view and discuss these Saloon Photographs of 19th-century saloons. Observations for class discussion may include:
a. Playing cards and gambling were popular activities.
b. Saloon bartenders were often the owners.
c. Seating in a saloon was never at the bar, but around tables
d. Women rarely entered the saloons.
e. The saloons were much more rugged and less ornate than in the movies.
f. Most people in the saloons were there to socialize and not fight.
6. Make a Ven diagram comparing what Hollywood got correct versus incorrect.
7. Share Ven diagrams with others in the class.
8. Using a shoebox, create a diorama depicting a realistic nineteenth-century boomtown saloon.
Diorama examples are below.
9. Have each student display their diorama on their desk. Then, have students walk around the room to view each other’s dioramas.
10. Leave post-it notes with questions and compliments beside each other's dioramas.
Extensions/Adaptations
1. Use the I See, I Think, I Wonder graphic organizer and have students who finish early go back and write an “I see..., I think..., I wonder” sentence for each of the Saloon Photographs.
2. A more complex extension would be to write a paragraph about their “I see..., I think..., I wonder” observations in a summary paragraph.
References Cited
Beahrs, Andrew. Twai’s Feast: Searching for America’s Lost Foods in the footsteps of Samuel Clemens. New York, New York: Penguin Books, 2011.
Dixon, Kelly J. Boomtown saloons: Archaeology and history in Virginia City. Reno, Nevada: University of Nevada Press, 2006.
“Minnesota Historical Society Homepage: Minnesota Historical Society.” Minnesota Historical Society homepage | Minnesota Historical Society, January 24, 2022. https://www.mnhs.org/.
Diorama Examples:
Photo Credit: Scott Adamson
