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Behind the Scenes: Digitizing the Collection

12/30/2018

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For the overwhelming history of museum collections globally (which dates to the 1670s), collections could only be seen and experienced firsthand- by going to the museum, gaining access to the collection, and seeing the item in person. With the creation and increased usage of computers, scanners, and, more recently 3d printers, that is changing quickly. Many museums have begun digitizing their expansive collections for several reasons, including improving record keeping, preservation of the items, and increasing access of the collection to researchers and the general public.  
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​At the Clarke Museum, we’ve been chipping away at digitizing our collections, starting with our photo collection. The process involves scanning images into high resolution TIF files, with the intention that once the photo is scanned, it will never have to be scanned again, which helps to preserve the original image. Instead, the photos can be converted into other formats if necessary, printed, or sent to researchers.  
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We are also working on photographing items in our collections and updating the images to our database, making it quicker and easier to find items in the archives. It’s a long process and, due to staffing restraints, one that is seriously aided by volunteers and interns. To date, we have been able to digitize over 1000 images, but there are thousands more to go in the photo collection, and tens of thousands for other items located around the museum.  
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 While it can be an incredibly tedious process, it’s one that yields some incredible finds and greatly improves our navigation of the museum collections. This process has already opened up our collections to the public unlike ever before, by providing ways to share the collections visually through this blog and through the usage of collection images on our website, advertising materials, and more. We’re looking forward to sharing our collections more as we continue digitizing!

Thank you to our volunteers and interns this year who helped us kick off our digitizing journey, including: 

  • Sasha H
  • Nichole V
  • Aydn M
  • Jess J
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Artifact Spotlight: Decking the Halls-with Spools

12/23/2018

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Decking the halls with boughs of holly is a common phrase to hear this time of year with Christmas just around the corner. While working on our Victorian Christmas exhibit, I came across a box labeled "Spool Tree Ornaments" in the museum storage vault. Inside the box were 30-40 decorated wooden spools wrapped in ribbon, sequins, beads and buttons. 
The box also contained a newspaper clipping from 1969 about the ornaments. Turns out the collection was created by a woman named Mrs. Hill, who brought the ornaments on a gilded manzanita branch to a yearly tea party held by the First Presbyterian Church. One of the spools was from her father's tailor shop in Arcata and one of the spools was decorated with buttons from Mrs. Hill's mothers shoes. You can see photos of many of the ornaments below (click on the images to see them in full screen).
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The decorated spools remind me of a set of ornaments made by my great grandma in Wisconsin that my mom inherited and that we still use on our Christmas trees today- they're styrofoam spheres wrapped in satin with beads, sequins, lace and other decorations, similar to the ones pictured below. They were popular craft projects in the 1970s (in fact, my great-grandmother made so many of them that all of my mom's 4 other siblings also got their own set of ornaments when she passed away).
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Merry Christmas and happy holidays!

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Collections Finds: WWII Posters

12/18/2018

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For the last few weeks, I’ve been working with two volunteers on a big project: moving our downstairs archive space upstairs to make room for more exhibits on the main floor of the museum. The process lately has involved moving large, flat file cases out of the archive room to a staging area while we prepare their upstairs home and, due to the size of some of the flat file cases, that’s meant we’ve had to take everything out of the drawers, move the drawer, then replace the items once the drawer has been moved. While it takes a while to move things this way, it gives us a chance to get a really good look at some of the things in the collection that we may not otherwise see. This week, those things were a number of WWII Posters produced by the Office of War Information (OWI).
​I had seen some of these posters before in the collection and outside of it. Of course the most well known include the Uncle Sam “I want You” pointing signs and Rosie the Riveter “We Can Do It” poster. They’ve transcended WWII era America to become something quickly recognizable (and oftentimes spoofed) however, many of the posters that were produced at the time and appear in the museum collections were rather alarming, with slogans like “a careless word, a needless loss” featuring an unconscious sailor on a beach.  
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​It turns out, thousands of these posters were made, promoting the sales of war bonds, conserving resources, growing “victory gardens”, improving nutrition, and the promotion of working in war-related industries. They were overseen by the Office of War Information (OWI) Domestic Operations Branch, whose goal was to distribute the posters in every American town and swap them out every two weeks with new posters supporting the war through efforts like rationing, purchasing War Bonds and carpooling at home. The OWI teamed up with Boy Scouts, taxicab agencies, railroads, and the National Retail Association to distribute and update the posters country-wide through the duration of the war. The artists who drew these posters were unpaid and numbered 8,000, and they produced 30,500 images that were turned into posters and comics, becoming one of the faces of the United States during WWII. Artists were instructed to create posters that fit into one of the following themes:  
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​1. The Nature of the Enemy - general or detailed descriptions of this enemy, such as, he hates religion, persecutes labor, kills Jews and other minorities, smashes home life, debases women, etc.
2. The Nature of our Allies - the United Nations theme, our close ties with Britain, Russia, and China, Mexicans and Americans fighting side by side on Bataan and on the battlefronts.
3. The Need to Work - the countless ways in which Americans must work if we are to win the war, in factories, on ships, in mines, in fields, etc.
4. The Need to Fight - the need for fearless waging of war on land, sea, and skies, with bullets, bombs, bare hands, if we are to win.
5. The Need to Sacrifice - Americans are willing to give up all luxuries, devote all spare time to the war effort, etc., to help win the war.
6. The Americans - we are fighting for the four freedoms, the principles of the Atlantic Charter, Democracy, and no discrimination against races and religions, etc.
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​The posters used a variety of symbols and slogans promoting patriotism and support for the war effort, and many were happy individuals supporting the war effort, however some drew on incredibly racist stereotypes or dark subjects. Some of these posters made specific references to negative outcomes, like ships sinking, from people “talking”.
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The phrase “loose lips sink ships” comes from these posters, which were meant to warn of the dangers of military personnel discussing war plans in the open. There was a major fear of spies in the US during WWII, or individuals who may sell secrets they overheard to the Axis powers, which had the very real possibility of causing an attack and fatalities on the side of the Allies. These particular posters were typically hung places where military personnel frequented, but did appear in civilian areas as well.
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When the WWII period is viewed through these images, a polished, united picture of the population of WWII America arises, which leads to interesting questions on what kind of America people in that period were fighting for in the decision to engage in WWII, and how that image compared to the outcomes reached by the time the war came to an end.  
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Local Ladies History: Laura Perrott Mahan

12/16/2018

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I discovered my local history hero while working as an interpreter at Humboldt Redwoods State Park in 2017 after finding a green plaque surrounded by stumps in an otherwise unlogged old growth forest.
Laura Perrott Mahan was born in Loleta CA on November 29, 1867 at Singley Hill on the family farm. She was an organizer and an action taker that, alongside other local women, galvanized early local support for saving the Redwoods.
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Plaque on Mahan Loop Trail in Humboldt Redwoods State Park. Notice the adjacent stump of an old growth redwood. Photo from Wikimedia Commons
In 1923, Save the Redwoods League (SRL) was slowly purchasing land adjacent to the “Redwood Highway” to protect it from logging. Conservation efforts within the California Federation of Women’s Clubs, as promoted by President Clara Bradley Burdette, were catching on throughout the state. Laura, a member of the Eureka Women’s Club and participant in the California Federation knew that bringing their yearly conference to Eureka may be just what was needed to protect a marvelous, threatened grove right alongside the Eel and the mouth of Bull Creek. Laura led the charge to bring the Federation yearly meeting to the Eureka Inn in 1923, and won the bid. Part of the conference included taking the participants on a trip to the Eel River, where Eureka club women announced their plans to save the very grove they were standing in. A dollar from each member in the state would raise enough to be matched by the state and save the grove. The campaign worked, $45,000 was raised, the grove was saved, and Julia Morgan was chosen to design the Hearthstone monument commemorating the women’s work, located within the new grove, widely known nowadays as Women’s Fed.
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Laura Perrott Mahan, courtesy of the Humboldt County Historical Society
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Photo in Humboldt Redwoods State Park by Katie Buesch
Only a year later, SRL was working with legislators in Sacramento to save a grove across the Eel River from Dyerville. The League made an agreement with Pacific Lumber to temporarily pause logging on the land until a deal was made. Laura caught word that logging had resumed in the Dyerville forest, and she and her husband raced to the woods. Pacific Lumber Company had started cutting trees through the forest to put in a railroad spur in order to access the Bull Creek forest. Laura, being a wealthy white woman who was relatively well known, stood in front of the logging equipment and stopped the loggers in their tracks while her husband took the news back to Eureka, filing a formal injunction against further logging in the area. The community rallied against the logging, and the grove was eventually saved and named after the founders of SRL. On the site of Laura’s protest, about a half mile into the woods from the Founder’s Grove plaque, there is a plaque commemorating the event alongside a few redwood stumps of the trees that fell before Laura’s arrived.
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The Women's Federation Hearthstone, designed by Julia Morgan of Hearst Castle and Asilomar fame. Photo by Katie Buesch
When I visit Founder’s Grove and Women’s Fed, I think of Laura and thank her for her work, and for the work of the women, many now lost to history, who stood with her to save the redwoods.  ​​​
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Artifact Spotlight: New Finds

12/9/2018

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We’ve been working away reorganizing our storage to make way for a new exhibit space on the main floor of the museum and through all the reorganization, we’ve come across more than a few interesting items in the collection! From seed artwork to “health lamps’ this post has got your weekly dose of "WOW!"

Sun-Kraft Wireless Cold-Quartz Ultraviolet Ray Health Lamp

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This lamp was created to improve user’s health by exposing them to ultraviolet (UV) light. The therapy was marketed to treat all assortment of ailments from skin problems to ring worm, the common cold to arthritis. The full list of ailments that were thought to be treated with the lamp is listed below.
 The lamp was used by plugging it into an outlet, turning a knob at the base until the lamp warmed up, then positioning the lamp 1-6 inches away from the area being treated. The light bulb contains mercury, which was vaporized during the lamp’s operation to generate ultraviolet light, and a reflector which directed and concentrated the light to the treatment area. The lamp is contained in a carrying case, which also included goggles, the instruction manual, and an advertisement for skin crème to accompany the lamp.
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The lamp in use

Charge of misbranding by Sun-Kraft - list of ailments treated with the lamp:

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Treatment time varied based on distance from the lamp and what ailment was being treated. Muscular ailments like arthritis required longer treatments of 6 minutes daily and treatments of respiratory illness encouraged the user to direct the lamp away from the face and inhale ozone, declared as a “germicidal agent” produced from the operation of the lamp for 6-12 minutes. According to the users manual that came with the lamp, it was recommended that babies and children use the lamp to help “enrich their system with Vitamin D and thereby build strong resistance to diseases and infections.” The first few treatments with the lamp caused skin peeling, which would eventually decline when the skin became used to the ultraviolet rays and could be reduced by using the company’s skin crème, which was advertised in the users manual. 
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Advertisement for the Sun-Kraft lamp
This sunlamp was a 1940’s invention that lasted only a short period, from 1940 until the Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act declared it to be a false and misleading device in 1945. (See here for other things that were discontinued for misleading or false information- some of them are pretty wild). Ultraviolet and Violet Light tools were popular around this time period, and we did find a second one during the move, pictured below, produced by the Violet Ray Corp:

Seed Artwork

We have a few particularly large frames in the collection, housed in our Art Room, but when we found one in what will become our new archive space, we had to take a bit of a closer look. It was an oblong wreath with dozens of flowers, leaves, and other greenery. However, after a few minutes we realized that the frame didn't house just any fake flowers: the flowers themselves were made of a variety of seeds and nuts, including corn kernels, peanuts, walnuts, pine cones, pumpkin seeds, acorns, and more. Unfortunately, we don't have any information on who made it, when, or why. Based on the frame and materials used, it can be assumed that it was a Victorian piece, as we have a few other works similar to this one, but with different materials - including human hair. This wreath is currently on display as part of our Victorian Christmas exhibit, which will be on display until the end of December.
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New Exhibit! Victorian Christmas

12/1/2018

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The Victorian period (1837-1901) was a time that greatly changed how holidays were celebrated in the United States, oftentimes taking them from being relatively small affairs linked to particular ethnic groups to large, grand celebrations and demonstrations of wealth, prestige and the importance of family. Christmas is a perfect example of this holiday up-scaling within the upper classes of Victorian society. From the Christmas trees to gift giving and holiday games, the upper class Victorians-who were imitated by lower classes- left a deep and long-lasting footprint on the traditions that are celebrated today.
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One of the most enduring symbols of Christmas is the Christmas tree. The history of the Christmas tree goes back over a thousand years and their earliest origins are widely debated. Prior to the Victorian period, Christmas trees were a German tradition that consisted of a few variant traditions including bringing small, trees indoors that would be hung from the ceiling of the home, decorated with edible ornaments, or stationed in an open public space to be danced around and burned. 
The tradition of bringing Christmas trees into the home made it to Great Britain at the beginning of the Victorian period when King Albert, Queen Victoria’s German husband, introduced the tradition to Buckingham Palace in 1841. These early Victorian trees were originally decorated with edible ornaments and lit with candles, featuring a baby Jesus, angel, or star on top. A popular drawing of the Queen and Prince around their Christmas tree was republished in the US in 1850 (pictured above), triggering an uptick in the tradition of decorating trees in the United States.  
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Tree decoration preferences began to include glass ornaments around the latter half of the 19th century as mass production of glass décor became more prevalent. A notable tree décor tradition rooted in the Victorian period that has experienced a recent resurgence in popularity is the tradition of the Christmas Pickle, which is largely attributed to an old German tradition where the first person to find the pickle in the tree would be the first person to open presents on Christmas morning. While it is not a tradition in Germany today and some claim never was a German tradition to begin with, the attribution could be linked to the earlier traditions of hanging edible ornaments in the holiday trees, which was originally a German tradition. An alternate story linking pickles to Christmas is a surprisingly macabre story of two young Spanish boys were were murdered by an inn keeper, stuffed in a pickle barrel, and revived by St. Nicholas, who is also known as Santa Claus. The earliest glass Christmas Pickles in the United States were part of a shipment of glass ornaments from Germany and were sold by Woolworth’s Department store in 1880. Some say that the pickle story came from a shopkeeper who was trying to sell more pickle ornaments.
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Modern day electric candles in a Christmas Tree
 As the tradition of decorating Christmas trees came into vogue, so did the tradition of lighting the trees with candles to bring out the sparkle of the glass ornaments. With the placing of candles on drying trees, there was a rapid increase in home fires leading to proposals led by insurance companies to ban the practice. A safer alternative was to use electric lights, which were in their infancy for production, meaning they were incredibly expensive. Early electric lights to illuminate a single tree could cost upwards of $2000 in today’s money, pricing them out of reach for the large majority of Americans.  
Christmas cards also came into being in the Victorian period and, with the aid of mass production, became incredibly popular and elaborate with reflective foils or fabric trim. In some places, cards would be hung from the trees as part of the décor. The cards festively illustrated the Victorian emphasis on the importance of family, winter motifs, the rise of mass-produced gift-giving, and subjects like Krampus, a half-man, half-goat demon who punishes naughty children as a counterbalance to Santa Claus. As Christmas cards started becoming more popular, producers experimented with a number of topics to find what consumer wanted and how to visually define the increasingly popular holiday- with some strange results, including cards displaying thieving clowns, torch-carrying birds, dancing frogs, and flowers with children’s faces.
Parlor games, a year-round past time, took a sometimes dramatic turn around Christmas and New Years, with a crowd favorite being Snapdragon. Snapdragon was played by filling a shallow bowl with rum, scattering some raisins in the alcohol, and lighting the whole thing on fire. The goal of the game was to pick the raisins out by hand and eat them while they were still on fire. Other less hazardous games included charades, the sculptor (where one person poses the others into difficult poses and shapes and everyone has to hold the poses without laughing, falling over, or otherwise breaking their pose), and name the nursery rhyme. Caroling or wassailing was also a pastime around Christmastime, with carolers being invited into the home to drink from the wassail bowl (a bowl of hot mulled cider). Traditions around kissing under mistletoe were also  popular at this time.
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A group playing Snapdragon
This Christmas while your family is searching for the Christmas Pickle, decorating the tree, or sharing Christmas cards, take a moment to tip your hat to the Victorian traditions that still appear today- and be thankful that it’s fallen out for fashion for friends to send you a Krampus card. They’re rather scary.

Pass the Wassail!

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    ​Posts created by Katie Buesch, Interim Director-Curator unless otherwise noted.

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