I spent the after noon at the Monona County Historical Society Museum. It was their Christmas Open House, in Onawa, Iowa, and they're open tomorrow and next weekend, too. Otherwise they're mainly closed in the winter.
Click on any of these pictures and they get larger. I didn't do that because I'm a computer genius. It does it on it's own. I have no idea why, but I'm glad. Definitely click on the Rules for Teachers and read them. Pretty strict. Where was the UNION???
Possibly the most interesting thing in the Monona County Museum, to me, was a Hair Wreath I got this info about Hair Wreaths from HERE. I just couldn't hardly stare at it long enough. It's amazing, intricate, true artwork, done with human hair.
From 1850 to 1875, one of the most popular forms of fancywork was the hair wreath.
Appealing to the tendency among Victorian women to incorporate the importance of friends and family into their work, hair served as a tangible remembrance of someone. Often, close companions exchanged hair as tokens of friendship. Hair was also sometimes taken after a person’s death as a means of honor and remembrance. For a woman whose local supply fell short, hair swatches could even be purchased from catalogs and stores. Hair wreaths were constructed almost entirely of human hair, which was manipulated to resemble a variety of flowers, floral sprigs, and leaves. The flowers placed together in a horseshoe-shaped wreath represent a common Victorian symbol for good luck displayed with the open ends up so as to "hold the luck inside."
Appealing to the tendency among Victorian women to incorporate the importance of friends and family into their work, hair served as a tangible remembrance of someone. Often, close companions exchanged hair as tokens of friendship. Hair was also sometimes taken after a person’s death as a means of honor and remembrance. For a woman whose local supply fell short, hair swatches could even be purchased from catalogs and stores. Hair wreaths were constructed almost entirely of human hair, which was manipulated to resemble a variety of flowers, floral sprigs, and leaves. The flowers placed together in a horseshoe-shaped wreath represent a common Victorian symbol for good luck displayed with the open ends up so as to "hold the luck inside."
Here's what I went in to look at---a doctor's bag. A doctor's bag figures prominently in my work in progress, which won't be out for a while so I won't bother to talk about it, except to say, I need to know exactly what a 1880 doctor bag looked like and what would be in it.
I loved this. I think you can tell I'm a writer because I found the stuff WRITTEN DOWN almost more interesting than the STUFF. I just love words. :) This is a recipe for soap.
And this??? A list of rules for the behavior and duties of teachers. Yikes.
Onawa, Iowa is the home of the Eskimo Pie...and you thought it was Juneau, didn't you. No way.
It's a really interesting exhibit and lots to read so I'm happy.
Did you know Russell Stover got involved?
He made the chocolate coating work.
This is a beautiful display of an old table and an angel, with the pretty greenery hanging for Christmas.
It was the annual Christmas open house today, (Saturday)
and they had hot cider and cookies and music. A nice day.
A saddle dated 1880 so my hero would have one JUST LIKE IT. Except without the tree beside it, probably.
And here is a replica of the keelboat Lewis and Clark pulled up the Missouri River.
Click on it and look close.
It was SMALL.
And they dragged that thing against the current from St. Louis??
Of course the Missouri wasn't so deep and fast moving as it is now so maybe it was easy, huh?
Wanna bet???
2 comments:
Looks like a fun day! That was so interesting about the hair wreaths. I've never heard of that.
Hi, Lynette. It was WEIRD. I'm not kidding that I just stared and stared forever.
The intricacy of the stitches was fantastic. I'd heard of... oh a brooch mad of human hair, but never artwork like this.
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