Rules of PBS’ ‘Frontier House’

* The families agreed to live as closely to the pioneer lifestyle of the 1880s as possible. This included wearing period clothing and preparing foods typical of the era and region using period equipment.

* To maintain authenticity, outside communications were limited to those consistent with the 1880s, meaning the postal service and telegrams, and the occasional visit to the general store set up as part of the experiment. Pleasure travel at the time was rare, as transport was a complex and timely affair, but the families did have some visitors. No extra supplies or accommodations were provided for visitors. The families themselves were not supposed to travel beyond their collective homesteads.

* Each family was given a budget at the start of the project. Each was also supplied provisions of wheat flour, coarsely cut oats, cornmeal, dried beans, hard cheese, smoked bacon, lard, sugar, molasses and honey.

* Camera crews visited the homesteads, on average, three days a week for four or five hours at a time. Also, each family was given a video diary camera, which they used to record their feelings about frontier life when production crews weren’t present.

* The families had the option to quit the project at any time.

* Each household was supplied with a sealed emergency box. The contents were emergency medical supplies, emergency communication radio, fire extinguisher, bear repellent and emergency lighting.

* The families were not paid to participate, though each received a monthly stipend toward the mortgages back home. Producers would say only that the amount was based on the national mortgage average.

--Sources: the PBS Web site, “Frontier House” executive producer Beth Hoppe and participant Gordon Clune.