Last Big Push

The movers came back yesterday, to finish moving the big items: they ran out of time on their last visit. Also, one artifact needed at least FOUR people to get it up the stairs and onto the truck. One of my favorites—a working model of a grain mill that used to stand on the waterfront in La Crosse, made by William Scorch,a  retired mill worker.

Volunteer Scott McCollum, with help from Bob Mullen, had re-inforced the frame with plywood to keep it from twisting, or racking, on its journey up the stairs: that’s why it looks kind of like a plywood crate in these pictures.  

Two guys on bottom, two at the top. Not fun for anyone. 

They made it! And best of all, no one was hurt, not even the artifact.

I was helpfully wringing my hands while it made its journey up the stairs and onto the truck. And taking pictures. 

Hard at Work

Collections interns and volunteers have been hard at work for several weeks now, moving artifacts of all sorts from our old storage area in the public library building to the new LCHS home at 145 West Ave. Shelves have been emptied, broken down, transported and set back up—that’s been a huge amount of work, and most of it has been done by volunteers George Italiano, Bob Mullen, Bob Robinson, Kevin Vach and Scot McCollum.

Volunteers Scot McCollum, George Italiano and Bob Mullen in the garage at West Ave where large artifacts will be stored.

Volunteer and Board Member Lynn Harlan carries textiles into the new location to be hung up.

Not all of the shelving is old however: we have 3 rows of new shelves for objects and items in banker boxes, plus a wonderful new aisle of “Roll-lock” shelves for textiles. These include lots of space for hanging costume and have roll-down steel doors: dust and light, both agents of deterioration for textiles, are kept completely out.

Intern and UW-L student Callie O'Connor in the hanging costume storage. 

We are in the countdown now, moving everything we possibly can in anticipation of the professional movers who come in a week to move the really large stuff.

Tomorrow I will take some pictures at the old site and show some of the treasures we found when trunks and other large items were pulled off high shelves this afternoon.

Storage in the new basement collections area.

Spring Cleaning....in the Fall, Dollhouse Style.

As Peggy said....we are moving house, literally!  While we were moving boxes the other day, I finally got to see the dollhouse.  (I've been waiting for this since the beginning of summer).  Peggy said that I could have the privilege of cleaning it up and fixing it, so that it can be displayed at West Ave.  

Thanks to Kevin Vach and Bob Mullen, the dollhouse is safely moved to West Ave!

Peggy has already posted some pictures of volunteers moving the dollhouse, so now I'm going to slowly show you the inside as I get it ready to display.  Just like a regular house, this dollhouse took a long time to make, almost 1440 hours! This dollhouse is due for a nice spring cleaning!  The dollhouse was unpacked room by room on Monday and now I am slowly going through those boxes and cleaning the furniture.  I started with the kitchen.

The furniture was a bit dusty, but there are so many handmade details in this dollhouse, it's amazing!  The kitchen accessories are already to go! Step one, done!  On to the next room!

The Stuff We Find...

Such as 8 ears of bi-color sweet corn, knit from wool, by the Star Knitting company of La Crosse, in 1921. Best of all, it apparently won a prize at the Annual Grain Show! I hope someone is inspired to research the Wisconsin Agricultural Experiment Association and see what old news items you can find about their 1921 grain show. Something this "experimental" surely made the news--and it took a blue ribbon.

Moving House

LCHS volunteers Kevin Vach and Bob Mullen

transporting a doll house to its new home

LCHS is moving house…and moving houses. This is the biggest of a collection of doll houses we own. Intern Amy Seelow has fallen in love with this one, so you will be hearing more about it.

We want to put it on display for Christmas, on the main floor at 145 West Ave, in the public area. But right now it is sitting in the garage waiting for the electric lift to get repaired, so it can safely go up that way, rather than be carried up a staircase with multiple turns.

Moving artifacts is all about keeping them, and the people handling them, safe from harm. Most damage to museum collections come when they are being handled by people.

And what is it with doll houses, anyway? Why do people love miniatures so much? 

Move In Progress!

LCHS board member Terry Visger removes dollhouse furnishings so they won't get damaged

After weeks of preparation, the move is in full swing. New shelving is installed at 145 West Ave, and yesterday volunteers and interns moved artifacts out of the old basement and into the new one. Exhausting day! There is an elevator at one end, but the new location has no elevator: everything is carried downstairs by people-power. Everyone’s muscles got a good work out; one entire section of shelving got emptied; and today volunteers are coming back to transport and re-set up the old shelving.

Empty Shelves! 

Then…we move more stuff, of course. Then more shelving, more stuff…until we’ve moved everything we can. At that point I call in the pros to move the really big stuff.

Did I mention volunteers? And interns? The people that are making this plan a reality? If you are an LCHS member you owe a big debt of thanks to George Italiano, Marty Schwem, Bob Robertson, Bob Mullen, Amy Seelow and her boyfriend KEVIN, Callie O’Connor, Terri Visger, Dakota Elliot, Sarah Stepanik and Jon Rimmert.

Shelves waiting to be emptied

Hot Off the Press!

While going through the paintings and portraits of the historical society today, I came across a newspaper from the New York Herald that was dated April 15, 1865. (The day that Abraham Lincoln passed away after a fatal gunshot)  I was super excited  to see this newspaper and I ran to show it to Peggy.  

I began researching it and found that there are multiple replications and editions of this newspaper that were printed over the years.  So I began looking for information to see if this newspaper was the real deal or not.

I began with the  Library of Congress to see what I could find.  The assassination newspaper editions vary based on number of pages, content and the time that they were printed.  Here's the link from the Library of Congress about the multiple editions that were originally printed of the paper:  http://www.loc.gov/rr/news/circulars/nyherald.txt.  

So far, so good.  This paper has many of the qualities mentioned in the list.  I kept looking to see what else I could find.  I then found a credible blog with specific information about the newspapers: http://blog.rarenewspapers.com/?p=284.  In here, it said that newspapers that have a picture of Abraham Lincoln on the front page are definitely replicas.  I was sad to read this, but this newspaper is still quite old and is still an important artifact, just because it is not an original does not mean it has no value.  

This replica is at least over a century old and has multiple pages.  It is in fragile condition, but the frame and the glass are keeping the newspaper together and it can still be read (I read as much of it as I could!!!).  Reproductions began being printed a few years after Lincoln's death and continued being printed in the same fashion until 1908.  Replicas are still printed today, but they are not on the same material!

If anyone else wants to read the paper I found a link to some of the basic text at: http://law2.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/ftrials/lincolnconspiracy/lincolnnews.html.

For those of you that want a bit more information, here is a link to a brief biography of Lincoln: http://www.biography.com/people/abraham-lincoln-9382540#synopsis.

I hope this was as exciting for you to read as it was for me to find today!

Cemetery Experience

This past weekend I had the awesome opportunity to be a part of the Fifteenth annual Silent City Tours program that the Historical Society puts together at Oak Grove Cemetery.  Many volunteers and reenactors came together to show the contribution and the men that La Crosse sent to fight in the Civil War.

Here's a little clip that was on the news with an interview from George:

http://www.news8000.com/news/history-comes-to-life-at-oak-grove-cemetery/28059962

There was one special little visitor that was at the cemetery throughout the day with us.  I was a bit surprised to see him, but it added extra excitement to the day!  

Overall, it was a fun experience educating the public and I can't wait to do it again!

Newbie Excitement

Hi!  I'm Amy Seelow and I am an archaeology major at UW-L.  I am excited to be interning this fall with the Historical Society.  I've loved history for as long as I can remember and I always like to learn something new!

As you all know, we are on the move, and I'm the lucky one that gets to do a lot of the packing!  I find it exciting, because I am getting to see all of the artifacts that are in the collection in a short amount of time.  

My favorite area of the collections to pack so far was all of the medical supplies.  There were so many bottles that still contained their original contents and labels.  Some of this stuff seemed a bit hazardous, but it was all still perfectly sealed and harmless.  Things have changed a lot since then, but it's fascinating to see some of the cure-all medications from back in the day.

Now onto another packing adventure!