STORIES FROM YOUR MUSEUM

2008-2009

Each month during the 2008-2009 season, artifacts and their stories selected from the vast collection of the Pioneer Museum have been highlighted for presentation at camp meetings. These artifacts have been chosen from the book Artifacts from the Pioneer Memorial Museum, which contains color photos of the artifacts and further information. We encourage each camp to present this information each month. We will again present one page for each month. The months and numbers of the pages are listed below.

Artifacts from the Pioneer Memorial Museum
 

SEPTEMBER 2008
Salt Lake Theatre (Page 3, Artifacts from the Pioneer Memorial Museum)

1. The wire holder was used to pass tumblers of water through the audience.
2. The small metal ticket was a Salt Lake Theatre season pass.

OCTOBER 2008
Civil War Newspaper (Page 8, Artifacts from the Pioneer Memorial Museum)

Due to shortage of paper at this time, the July 1863 edition of the Confederate newspaper The Daily Citizen was printed on wallpaper from houses torn down in Vicksburg, Mississippi.

NOVEMBER 2008
Fire Fighting (Page 14, Artifacts from the Pioneer Memorial Museum)

1. Highlight the fireman's hat and fire bucket. Typical of nineteenth-century uniforms, this fireman's hat is made of black and red painted aluminum and leather.
2. Fighting a fire was a community effort. Often fire buckets were painted so they could be returned to the proper owner after the fire fighting.

DECEMBER 2008
Pony Express (Page 12, Artifacts from the Pioneer Memorial Museum)

Tell about the picture of the binoculars, telescope, kerosene lantern, and the water jug.

JANUARY 2009
Native Americans (Page 19, Artifacts from the Pioneer Memorial Museum)

1. Ruth Clarissa Cornia, pioneer of 1850, traded flour to the local native Americans for this undecorated tanned deer hide. She did the embroidery herself.
2. This beaded pouch, or medicine bag, is from the Blackfoot tribe.

FEBRUARY 2009
Music (Page 24, Artifacts from the Pioneer Memorial Museum)

The painted dulcimer on legs was made by Don Carlos Shurtz, pioneer of 1850, in 1861 when he was 25 years old. The boards were taken from a red cedar tree in Kanarrahville.

MARCH 2009
Furniture (Page 28, Artifacts from the Pioneer Memorial Museum)

Hall trees such as this were used in Victorian foyers for receptacles for umbrellas, hats, and calling cards. This black mahogany hall tree was hand carved by Ralph Ramsay and William Bell for Brigham Young in 1859.

APRIL 2008
Travel and Souvenirs (Page 35, Artifacts from the Pioneer Memorial Museum)

1. This nautical compass belonged to Captain David L. Davis who used it on his catamaran, the Cambria, while navigating the Great Salt Lake.
2. The souvenir box was bought in Jerusalem by George A. Smith in 1872.

MAY 2009
Early Mormon History (Page 40, Artifacts from the Pioneer Memorial Museum)

This pioneer handcart was used by Archer Walter and his family who crossed the plains in 1856. Archer was a joiner and carpenter by trade, and he built many of the Mormon handcarts. His job also required making coffins for those who died on the way.