Category: Curator’s Collection Corner

Is there ice cream in there? I want some ice cream….Alas there is no ice cream in my freezer only artifacts. This freezer can be a useful tool to help with the preservation of some of the artifacts that come to the museum. Mold and insects can eat away and destroy some artifacts if they are allowed to infest a collection. Paper and textile items are at particular risk. Such items can be frozen to help treat against such dangers. Freezing an item will kill insects and active mold. (It will not kill inactive mold but as long as the item is not exposed to high humidity the mold should remain inactive and not spread) Currently I am in the process of freezing some paper material from the Emporium Lumber Company. These items had been stored in an area that wasn’t climate controlled and that could have been exposed to insects. Prior to being placed into the freezer they are wrapped in freezer paper to keep out moisture. These items then frozen as a precaution before they are moved into the main storage area.

To Help celebrate Smokey Bear’s 75th birthday this post highlights a new donation for two posters featuring everyone’s favorite Forest Fire preventing bear. These two posters, donated by the Brownawell Family, are 84 inches tall, making them by far the largest in our collection. These posters are so large they come in two pieces, known as 2-sheet posters.

The first poster (LM2019.14.1A-B) is from 1956.

The second poster is from 1963.

Before electric power tools there were human powered tools. This late 19th century wood working tool was foot operated using pedals. They would have been an improvement over hand tools and used by carpenters working in and around Pennsylvania’s Lumber towns.

This bicycle like Wood Former/ Shaper was made by the W.F. & John Barnes Company  and was used for molding edges and scroll work. This particular machine was given to William Chastain while he was a carpenter’s apprentice to his Uncle, Theodore Grabe, in Coudersport in the 1890’s. Mr. Chastain was born in Roulette, PA in 1875. In addition to working as a carpenter’s apprentice, he worked in local logging camps, often as a teamster, using his father’s horses. He moved with his family to Rochester, NY in 1909, where he spent the next 50 years working as a carpenter.