A Lantern Tells All: Dunedin’s Main Street, 1913

I hope everyone had a wonderful Fourth of July weekend!  I was visiting my family outside of Pittsburgh, PA, so I did not get a chance to post last week.  But, I’m back now!  One project that I’m trying to begin is publishing a book.  This is one of my major goals while I’m working on finishing my Master’s degree, and working at DHM offers me a great opportunity to try to do that.  So, I’m in the process of proposing a book that would tell the history of Dunedin through artifacts in the museum’s collection.  I’d like to take this opportunity to present an example of what I want to do!

This is the original kerosene lantern hanging in the corner of a recent museum exhibit.

My goal is to take a deep look at 50 artifacts in the museum’s collection and really showcase the stories they hold.  Through doing that, the history of Dunedin will be revealed in a less “historical” manner.  This means that it will have a personal, detailed, and even funny flair!  Everyone likes a good story and I hope to record the stories that our artifacts tell.

One of the first artifacts that came to my mind when I began thinking about this project was a large kerosene lamp.  This lamp is the only one of its kind left in Dunedin, and it used to hang in the oak trees that lined the center of Main Street to provide light for travelers.  My story does not directly tell that of the lamp, but it does reflect what the lamp bore witness to.

This postcard depicts Main Street as what it was prior to 1913. The oak trees separate two sides of the road.

In the early 1900s, only a few hundred people called Dunedin home.  Main Street contained a few stores, a post office, and a pathway down to the water and the very prestigious Victoria Drive.  The street itself was nothing more than sand strewn with straw, a row of oak trees down the center separating the two sides, and deep ruts carved into the soft surface from wagon and early car wheels.  Sidewalks made of boards lined the street allowing people to have a sturdier surface to walk upon.  Sybil Christie, a member of one of Dunedin’s pioneer families, remembered how loud the boards were.  She recalled in an interview from 1970 how people made a “clumping” sound on the boards that could be heard during prayer meetings at church.  She also recalled how she and her childhood friends would lift up loose boards if they found any to look for change that had fallen and rolled through the cracks.

This photo was taken in 1913 shortly after Main Street was bricked.

By 1913, city officials were ready to expand the tiny town of Dunedin.  Pinellas County was formed and with that came the idea to build a road connecting St. Petersburg to Tarpon Springs.  Dunedin officials hopped on board with that plan. The plan required that Main Street be bricked over and the oak trees be removed from it. On the day that the county workers came to begin cutting, local women of the Village Improvement Society sat on their tools and tied themselves to the trees right under the kerosene lanterns in protest. The workers could not carry out their assignment, and the local sheriff arrived to break up the trouble. He convinced the women to return home for the night and to meet with the county workers in the morning to strike an arrangement. The women went home and when they got back in the morning, all of the trees had been cut down; the county workers had gotten up early and beaten them to the site.

Notice the deep ruts in the sand that early families were used to driving on.

The various accounts of this story in the books and interviews found in the museum’s library and archives then outlines how furious the women were, and understandably so!  They were certainly deceived and made fools of, though today, it is a story marked with hilarity, rather than anger and resentment.  All of the interviewees who were able to remember this story offered a bit of a laugh to go along with it.

So many of DHM’s artifacts have great stories, or at the very least bore witness to great stories, and I think it is very important to let people in on what these artifacts have to tell.  I hope to be able to share more stories like this in book form in the future.  As always, let us know if you have any questions or comments, and of course, stop in and visit between 10am and 4pm Tuesdays through Saturdays!

Dunedin’s Citrus History

Citrus has been a part of Dunedin’s history since the 1880s because, well, this is Florida!  Pretty much everyone thinks of Florida when they think of orange groves.  I’m originally from Pennsylvania and the few times I’ve driven through the countryside down here, I’ve had the pleasure of seeing the orange groves with thousands of trees all lined in their fields and bright, beautiful pieces of fruit hanging plentifully from the branches.  And, the smell of the fresh citrus… it’s phenomenal.  Anyway, I thought I’d write about Dunedin’s citrus industry today because it spans the early parts of Dunedin’s history, as well as the World War II years.  Because of that, citrus is represented in both our permanent Dunedin exhibit and our new World War II exhibit, “Pomp and Circumstance: Dunedin, Pinellas County, and World War II.”

1883 saw the addition of two new residents to Dunedin that would go down in the town’s history as ambassadors of big business and industry.  Lee Bronson (L.B.) Skinner and A.L. Duncan arrived independently in Florida from Wisonsin where they met and decided to invest in land for orange groves in Dunedin.  Both men purchased tracts of ground that were partly in grove at the time.  Duncan’s would become known as Milwaukee Groves.  As the two men began producing oranges and making money, their interests shifted.  Skinner became interested in inventing machinery to help his citrus processing, while Duncan became interested in developing the fruit; he would eventually go on to develop the Duncan grapefruit, which is still produced today.

By the early 1900s, Skinner created machinery that was able to wash, scrub, and sort the fruit that came from his groves.  Other area citrus producers and packers took note of Skinner’s invention and placed orders for the same product.  By 1909, Skinner had founded Skinner Machinery Co.  He also bought out Duncan’s grove and began establishing a small citrus empire for himself.  In 1911, Skinner’s son Bronson (B.C.) became manager of Skinner Machinery Co.

B.C. Skinner took on an important role in the citrus industry in the 1930s that boosted Dunedin onto another level.  He wanted to develop an idea that had been around since 1914: citrus concentrate.  His goal was to produce a product that could be made to simulate fresh orange juice by simply adding water, all the while having the same fresh taste and vitamin C content, which were easy to lose through the concentrate process.  In 1935, B.C. founded Citrus Concentrates, Inc. (CCI) where he spent the next three years experimenting with his product.  By the 1940s, World War II in Europe offered him a new opportunity.  As German U-Boats were blocking trade routes in the United Kingdom, citizens were suffering from a shortage of the vitamin C that fresh citrus from the Mediterranean provided.  The government caught wind of B.C.’s product, built him a $1.1 million concentrate plant in Dunedin and from there, he produced his concentrate.  By the end of 1944, CCI produced and shipped over 28 million cans of concentrate and earned $4 million.

Tragedy struck the Dunedin citrus industry after World War II.  On the night of August 27, 1945, the main CCI plant and offices went up in flames causing over $3 million in damages.  Shortly before the fire, though, B.C. had created another new product.  He began producing a frozen citrus concentrate that he branded under a label called Sun-Filled.  B.C. rebuilt his plant, which was then bought out by Snow Crop Industries in 1948, which would focus on that frozen concentrate.  In 1954, Minute Maid bought out Snow Crop, and later on Coca-Cola bought Minute Maid.  Today, B.C. Skinner’s land is occupied by a Coca-Cola distribution center that ships worldwide.

The museum has many, many pieces of Dunedin’s citrus history in its collections and you can see some of these pieces on display in our different exhibits.  Come in and check them out and, of course, if you have any questions or comments, please let us know!

These are some examples of canned products and juicing tools.

These are examples of labels that were placed on orange crates in the early days. They are available for sale in our gift shop!

Summer is Here – Bathing Suit History

I thought I would take a break from writing about our World War II exhibit today and revisit another exhibit that we still have up, “Pomp and Circumstance: Dunedin’s Boating History.”  This exhibit will be up until September and it explores Dunedin’s waterfront history from Victoria Drive in the 1890s to the Dunedin Boat Club.  One of my favorite artifacts that we have on display is a bathing suit from the 1890s.  This is not a typical bathing suit that we would think of today.  It’s completely made of wool, for starters.  So, I thought I would build on this particular suit and put together a short history of bathing suits!

Bathing suits have gone through a lot of changes since their debut in the mid-1700s. At that time, “bathing costumes” were heavy and they ensured that none of the body was able to be seen in or out of the water. In fact, women typically wore “bathing gowns,” which were long dresses made of fabrics that would not become transparent when wet. The gowns even had weights sewn into the hems so that they would not rise up in the water. Men wore form-fitting suits (usually made of wool) with long sleeves, similar to long underwear.

In the mid to late 1800s, women began wearing two-piece suits, though these were far from what we know today! Their suits included a gown that went from the shoulders to the knees and included a set of trousers which extended to the ankles. The 1920s saw a new and “offensive” style of suit, which was designed and marketed by Annette Kellerman from Australia. The suit was form-fitting, only included one piece, and left the arms exposed. It eventually grew to be very popular and by the end of World War II, bikinis made their appearance in the market.

Throughout time, swimmers have gone from being completely covered to being barely covered at all. Bathing suits have transformed from heavy garments meant to hide the body into light, comfortable pieces that remind us of relaxing in the sun. It is amazing that such a simple piece of clothing has come so far!

Make sure to come to the museum to see “Pomp and Circumstance: Dunedin’s Boating History” while it’s still up.  We have a lesson on bathing suits in our interactive corner, as well, that allows you to experiment with dressing figures in bathing suits from different times.  And, if you have any questions or comments, please let us know!

“Food Is Our First Line of Defense” – Victory Gardens

Happy Friday, everyone!  It has been a very busy week for me and I’m just finally getting caught up enough to write up this blog post now.  I cannot believe we’re almost into the second week of June already.  Time is flying by!  But, that means we’re going to be planning and putting together our upcoming summer events.  For example, on July 11, Dunedin Historical Museum is putting on the annual Orange Festival here in town.  It’s an all day event that will include tons of food, music, and our first pin-up contest.  The theme is the 1940s, so it should be fun!  Check out our Facebook for more info.

So, in keeping with the World War II/1940s theme, I thought I would talk about Victory gardens today.  Building the Victory garden that’s displayed in the exhibit was one of the things I had the most fun with.  I cut the boards to build the garden box, laid down plastic to cover the floor, ordered and picked up the rubber mulch, installed some hay bales, planted sprouts, and ordered faux vegetables that were shipped from China.  It all came together fantastically and it one of my favorite parts of the whole gallery!

So, what is a Victory garden? Victory gardens were fruit, vegetable, and herb gardens planted on the home front during World War II. They were a big part of everyday life and had two purposes.  First, they were used alongside ration stamps to take pressure off of the public food supply.  That way, enough food from manufacturers, stores, and businesses could be sent overseas to feed the troops.  Second, the gardens were a morale booster for citizens at home.  By growing them, people felt like they were “doing their part” to support the war effort, plus they got to enjoy what they worked to grow!  In Dunedin, private and community gardens were very popular.  Some of the best crops to plant included onions, corn, cucumbers, cabbage, and squash.

There were lots of propaganda posters put out in the 1940s to encourage people to plant Victory gardens, such as these:

One of the most interesting posters that we have displayed in the exhibit is an announcement from Baltimore, MD on February 18, 1943.  It notifies Baltimore and Ohio Railroad Co. employees that the task of planting Victory gardens is an important one and the railroad company will offer up parcels of land so that employees may plant them.  This notice was found among the belongings of the Malone family, a prominent family that lived on Dunedin’s Victoria Drive.

So, once again, please stop in and see our newest exhibit, “Victorious: Dunedin, Pinellas County, and World War II.”  Come see the Victory garden for yourself and really take in what the surroundings were like during World War II!

A Taste of What We’re Installing

We’ve begun installing the World War II exhibit this week!  I, for one, am very excited.  Finally, all of the planning, sketching, buying, researching, writing, list making, heavy lifting, cleaning, fabricating, placing, searching, and organizing are going to come together to create a fantastic exhibit.  Since we’re knee-deep in work right now, I thought I would share some of the interesting things I discovered over the last few weeks while researching the World War II years on the Dunedin home front.

First, citizens of Dunedin experienced the military first-hand.  Around 305 men and women enlisted to fight for the United States, but on the home front, Donald Roebling created a military tank called the “Alligator” that was produced and tested right in Dunedin.  Marines were housed in barracks, and when they were not in training, they enjoyed the Dunedin Servicemen’s Lounge, the company of Junior Hostesses who visited to play games and dance with them, and a variety of other community events organized for their entertainment.

The barracks that were built for the Marines

The “Alligator” tank developed by Donald Roebling

“Alligator” tanks being tested out in the field

Marines enjoying some down time

Second, after Pearl Harbor was attacked in 1941, the Office of Civil Defense was formed in the US to help civilians plan defense strategies in their hometowns. By 1942, plans were finalized in Dunedin to build a watchtower onto the roof of Library Hall. Civil Defense volunteers in Dunedin manned the tower to monitor the skies for enemy aircraft. That way, they could warn citizens of an air raid attack, if necessary. The volunteers also had a responsibility to watch the coastline for signs of enemy submarines. While an air raid would have been unlikely, Dunedin was a major site for concentrate production and used as a tank training ground, so it may have easily been targeted by an enemy submarine.

The watch tower added to Library Hall

Third, in July 1942, the official “Restriction for Control of Shore Lighting” was extended to include the Gulf Coast of Florida by the US Navy. Blackouts and dim-outs were implemented in waterfront communities throughout the US to keep enemy aircraft or submarines from gathering information about city layouts, defensive weaponry, or military protection in place. To comply with the measures, Dunedin city officials immediately shut off all of the street lights and created a list of rules for citizens to follow, which was published in the Dunedin Times. Illuminated signs, any kind of outdoors lighting (i.e. porch lights or lights at sports venues), and bonfires were prohibited. Homes directly along the waterfront had to put blackout shades in their windows, and cars were only allowed to drive with parking lights on. These rules were in effect from thirty minutes prior to sunset to thirty minutes prior to sunrise the next morning. As a result of the darkness, bicycles use was discontinued after nightfall and speed limits were decreased to 20 mph.

Dim-out rules posted in the Dunedin Times

This is all just a taste of what we discuss in our upcoming exhibit, “Victorious: Dunedin, Pinellas County, and World War II,” so make sure you come by to see it when it opens Memorial Day weekend!  I’m so excited about the progress we’re making and I know that the exhibit is going to be great.  Thanks for reading and if you any questions, suggestions, or comments let us know.  And, of course, stop in to see us!

Designing an Exhibit: A lot of Work, A lot of Reward

Hello again!  I’ve been working really hard lately at getting everything ready so that we can start installing our new World War II exhibit on Monday, May 11.  The exhibit is called “Victorious: Dunedin, Pinellas County, and World War II.”  Instead of picking something from the collection and telling you about it, this week I thought I’d discuss what goes into putting an exhibit together so that you can get a behind-the-scenes taste of what we do on the exhibit front here at the Dunedin Historical Museum!

 Making an exhibit starts with a lot of lists.  For our World War II exhibit, the first thing we did was print out a floor plan of the gallery space so that we could list the different corners and spaces and what would go in each space.  We ended up listing eleven spaces for this exhibit: Introduction, Marine Locker, Timeline, Marine Life and the Alligator Tank, Porch Party/1940s Fashion, Victory Garden, Home Front, Community Curated Area, Victory!, Returning Home, and Interactive Area.

After listing the spaces and what we wanted in them, I made another list.  This time, I searched our collections database for any item related to any of the above categories.  I used search terms like “World War II,” “Marines,” “Alligator,” Soldier,” etc.  Once I had a list of every item in our collection fitting the categories, I placed them in their respective categories on the list.  Then, I went through collections, got them out of their storage wrappings, and organized them into boxes labeled with the categories.

After collections materials were sorted out, I made yet another list!  This time, I expanded on the sections even more to say what materials we needed to order to complete the decor and/or fabrication.  For example, when we make our Victory Garden, we’re installing rubber mulch, hay bales, gardening tools, and vegetable sprouts.  So, I have to figure out how to make those things and where to get the supplies.  I also listed what interpretation labels we needed to write to make our story clear to viewers.  For example, we need to have a panel telling viewers what exactly a Victory Garden was and how it applied to Dunedin.  Then, I began ordering items and writing text.

All of the collections items in their category boxes – I promise that this is organized!

One of the biggest projects I’ve been working on along with everything is the timeline.  I wanted to convey the magnitude of this world event, so my idea was to cover an entire wall with a map and use that as a backdrop for the timeline panels.  Luckily, I have a background in Graphic Design, so I was able to design interesting panels that discuss each year of the war and its significant events using a visual technique.  The timeline took a lot of planning, design, and research, but I think it will look great!  Here is a sketch I did in the planning phase of the exhibit design.  It’s gotten changed a lot, but you can see my process.  After the sketch, I worked on making the panels.  Below is a sneak peak of one!

     

So, the next step is installation!  We have materials arriving over the next few days.  We take down and put away our current exhibit this weekend, and then first thing Tuesday, we’ll be fabricating, hanging, foam boarding, printing, etc.  It’s a lot of work, but the end result makes everything worth it!  I hope that you enjoyed this brief taste of what we’re working on and that you’ll stop in to see “Victorious: Dunedin, Pinellas County, and World War II” when it opens to the public May 23!

One last side note:  We are so thankful to have our very own military museum in Dunedin (NASLEMM) and the director Bill Douglas has been so helpful with fact checking all of our typed information and with loaning us some interesting items to display.  Please stop and support NASLEMM and all of Bill’s hard work if you get the opportunity!

Beginning to Celebrate the End of WWII: The Collection Process for Our Exhibits

Ever wonder where a museum gets all of the objects it displays?  The truth is that a lot of the objects just get dropped off.  Sometimes, donors may come and drop off items that were important to their families; others may drop off boxes of items found from cleaning out an attic.  Whatever the case, though, we have to look carefully at the donated objects to see if we are able to keep and preserve them.  Here at Dunedin Historical Museum, we have very limited space, so unfortunately, we cannot keep everything we receive.

For this reason, we have a Collections Committee in place that meets quarterly to review donated items and conclude whether or not to keep them for our collection.  To be considered for inclusion (or accession, as we call it), the object has to meet our mission: to enrich community pride by sharing Dunedin’s legacy and heritage, to collect and preserve the historical artifacts and documents of Dunedin, and to foster quality inter-generational learning with historical exhibits.

Part of my job is to assess all of the incoming items.  To illustrate what exactly I do, I’ll give you an example.  A few weeks ago, a gentleman came into the museum and dropped off a military jacket that he had purchased at an estate sale.  He knew that it was a U.S. Army dress jacket from the WWII era, but he had no other information.  So, I opened up the garment bag it came in and began examining.

This is the military jacket that was brought in from an estate sale.

Initially, after I put on protective gloves and carefully set the jacket onto acid-free tissue paper, I looked at the lapel pins, and using the internet to locate information about those pins, I included the following in my report:

These are the lapel pins that I looked at first.

The upper right lapel holds a U.S. arm-of-service pin, which all enlisted men received, while the lower right and left lapels hold a Distinctive Unit insignia pin, which was optional to wear.  On this jacket, the pins are those of an Infantry unit.  The branch-of-service pin would appear on the upper left lapel, however this is missing from the jacket – there is a visible imprint where the pin rested.

From there, I moved onto the bars and medals placed on the jacket.  Luckily, there are multiple military websites that allowed me to search through all awarded bars and medals, so I just matched the patterns from what I saw in person.  My report included the following (abridged) information:

These are the bars and badges pinned to the jacket.

Above the left breast pocket, the bars and medals are pinned.  The bar contains three ribbons which signify active service during World War II.  The red ribbon is a Bronze Star service ribbon.  It was presented to any serviceman after 6 December 1941 who distinguished himself by heroic or meritorious achievement or service (a) while engaged in an action against an enemy of the United States; (b) while engaged in military operations involving conflict with an opposing foreign force; or (c) while serving with friendly foreign forces engaged in an armed conflict against an opposing armed force in which the United States is not a belligerent party.

The yellow ribbon is an American Defense service ribbon and was intended to recognize those military service members who had served on active duty between September 8, 1939 and December 7, 1941.

The green and brown ribbon is a European-African-Middle Eastern (EAME) Campaign service ribbon, and was awarded to personnel for service within the European-African-Middle Eastern Theater between December 7, 1941 and November 8, 1945.

Below the bar, a Combat Infantryman’s Badge (CIB) is pinned.  The CIB was awarded to any enlisted soldier who was classified as an Infantryman and who saw combat.

Below the CIB is a skill badge.  In this case, the jacket contains a silver badge that indicates Marksmanship.  The wreath around the cross indicates an expert status, the cross indicates that the soldier was a marksman, and the target in the center indicates that the soldier was a sharpshooter.  The hanging bar is a qualification bar and indicates that the soldier was qualified as a rifleman.  Overall, the award signifies that the owner of this jacket was a marksman, and at that, an expert sharpshooter with a rifle.

This is my report as it looked when I was working on it.

After researching the bars and badges, I had a clear idea that the jacket was, in fact, from WWII.  From there, I simply looked up the types of uniforms available during WWII, which gave me the final pieces of information I was looking for:

This jacket is part of a Class “A” military uniform from the World War II era and is an olive-drab wool four-button tunic.  Two front pockets and two side pockets each are closed with a single button.  The lapels on the shoulders are held down with buttons, as well.  All of the buttons are gold in color and are embossed with the United States seal (known as the GI Army Eagle).  The buttons are plastic, which is unique to the uniform of the time period; brass for buttons had been discontinued because of the war/economic efforts in place.

World War II exhibit flyer

So, from looking at a jacket and doing a little research, I was able to uncover information about what the soldier did while serving in the Army during WWII.  We do not know who the soldier was, unfortunately, but we have a visual record of his contribution to WWII, the United States, and the world.  I presented this jacket with my report to the Collections Committee and it was accepted into the collection.  It will be featured in our upcoming exhibit, “Victorious: Dunedin, Pinellas County, and World War II,” set to open May 23, 2015.

Since my only task for the next few weeks is to work on the WWII exhibit, expect a similarly-themed post next week!  I hope you enjoyed reading about our accession process and if you have any questions, feel free to ask.  Of course, you’re always welcome to stop in and see us, as well!

“Banking” on a Fresh Start: Museum Life Through an Intern’s Eyes

Hi there!  My name is Heather, I’m the intern at Dunedin Historical Museum, and I’m taking over this blog!  Let me tell you a little bit about myself and what I’ll be doing here… I studied Art History and Graphic Design at Clarion University of Pennsylvania, then I went on to study Anthropology at the University of Pittsburgh.  While at Pitt, I worked for a year at the Carnegie Museum of Natural History where I preserved collections materials and modernized their accession numbers.  After that, I moved down to sunny Florida and after a lot of searching, I landed in beautiful Dunedin.  Now, I’m working on my Master’s degree in Public History and interning at the museum, where I do a little bit of everything, never stop learning, and love what I do!

On the blog, I’ll look at objects in our collection and tell you a little bit about them so that you can learn what we do at the museum, from research to preservation and collections management to exhibit design to planning events and involving the community.

We finished working on our “100 Years of Banking in Dunedin” exhibit not too long ago, and I worked on that quite a bit, so let me start there.  The first bank in Dunedin, Bank of Dunedin, opened in 1913.  In 2013, members of the community opened a time capsule that was sealed in the bank in the 1963.  So, it was basically an event that celebrated the 100-year history and the 50-year time capsule rolled into one.  We created the exhibit to showcase the bank’s history and display the materials that came out of the time capsule to help tell its story.

At right: Original building which housed Bank of Dunedin as it looked in 1913

Part of our “Banking” exhibit. In this corner, we have the items that were removed from the time capsule in 2013

Items that came out of the time capsule in 2013

One of my favorite items on display in the exhibit is a stamp collection that came out of the time capsule.  On the back of each set of stamps the following is written: “A.H. Grant, Executive Vice President, Bank of Dunedin, February 22, 1949.”  Most of the stamps, themselves, don’t have dates on them, but they have denominations from $0.01 to $1.00.  Only one stamp is dated and that one was printed in celebration of the Florida Centennial (1845-1945).  Portraits of the U.S. presidents and other prominent historical figures appear on the stamps.

Stamp collection hanging in the “Banking” exhibit

From here, we need to learn more.  Part of working at a museum is discovering what information an object holds beyond its face value.  Luckily, there are a lot of great tools to help (especially online!).  Through a simple Google search, I was able to find that the first five rows of stamps are all part of the 1938 Presidential Series.  The monetary denomination mirrors the order of the presidents, as well.  For example, George Washington appears on the $0.01 stamp, John Adams on the $0.02, etc.  The Presidential Issue, as this collection came to be called (known as the “Prexies” by collectors), was thought up by President Roosevelt in 1933 with intention to honor all of the deceased past presidents.  A competition was held to determine the design of the stamps and was won by Elaine Rawlinson of New York.  When the collection was printed in 1938, it was the largest definitive series yet issued by the U. S. Post Office, having a total of 32 stamps.

1938 Presidential Issue stamps

The remaining three stamps in the bottom row are not a part of the 1938 series, though further research yielded more information.  The “Everglades National Park” stamp on the left was part of the 1947 Commemorative Series.  The middle “Moina Michael” stamp was part of 1948 Commemorative Series.  Finally, the “Florida Centennial” stamp on the right was part of the 1945 Commemorative Series.

1938 Presidential Issue stamps, along with 1947, 1948, and 1945 Commemorative Issue stamps

Looking at objects and digging through history are two amazing things I get to do at the museum.  In the next post, I’ll be discussing what I’ve been working on to prepare for our next, WWII-themed exhibit that opens at the end of May, and I will pull an object from our collection to show and discuss, as well.

Thanks for reading and please respond with any questions or suggestions you may have… and, of course, stop in and see us!