Join
Free Admission

Flask

by | Artifact of the Month, Household Goods

Donated by Pauline Lancaster

This yellow earthenware flask with a Rockingham glaze was made by Lyman Fenton & Co., Bennington, Vermont, sometime between 1849-1858. The spine of the “book” boasts the tongue-in-cheek title, Departed Spirits. The letter G is stamped under the title.

According to the donor, it was left behind by a hobo as payment for a night’s stay in a barn.

Artifact of the Month Archive

Earthenware book-shaped flask, circa 1850

Donated by Pauline Lancaster

This yellow earthenware flask with a Rockingham glaze was made by Lyman Fenton & Co., Bennington, Vermont, sometime between 1849-1858. The spine of the “book” boasts the tongue-in-cheek title, Departed Spirits. The letter G is stamped under the title.

According to the donor, it was left behind by a hobo as payment for a night’s stay in a barn.

Artifact of the Month Archive

Class Ring

by | Artifact of the Month, Clothing and Accessories, Education

Donated by Ada Lee Shook

This ring belonged to Frances Slaughter. She was born in Goshen (Washington County) in 1905 to John Lionel (“Lona”) and Ada Bevers Slaughter. The family moved to Springdale in 1914 and from there to Fayetteville in 1921, where Frances graduated from high school in 1922.

Frances kept a diary during her senior year. On Friday, May 19, 1922, she wrote of graduation day:

Frances Slaughter, circa 1922. Carl Smith, photographer/Ada Lee Shook Collection (S-98-85-965)

I got up at 8 A.M. and went to the Ozark [Theater] to practice. I got real mad at Mary Dale Sellers. I pressed my dress, made sandwiches and everything. I went to the Commencement exercises and after that to Thelma’s bunkin [bunking] party. We started to go on a night gown parade but saw a drunk man. We went to sleep about 3 A.M.

In the fall of 1922 Frances Slaughter entered the University of Arkansas. There she met William Carl Smith, whom she married in 1926. The Smiths had one daughter, Ada Lee, born in 1928.

Artifact of the Month Archive

Linen Suit

by | Artifact of the Month, Clothing and Accessories

Donated by Victoria McKinney

This linen outfit with its ruffled collar is a variation of the Little Lord Fauntleroy suit, a popular style of the late 1800s and early 1900s. In the book Little Lord Fauntleroy by Frances Hodgson Burnett (1886), the  main character wore black velvet knee pants and jacket over a lace-collared blouse. The style was popular until about 1920.

Evan Lewis Martin wore this suit as a child. The son of Henry and Bette Hannah Martin of Pea Ridge (Benton County), he died at the age of 12 in 1910. In his obituary, the Rogers (Arkansas) Democrat noted that Evan “loved music and was a fine singer for a child.”

Artifact of the Month Archive
Little Lord Fauntleroy linen suit, circa 1910

Donated by Victoria McKinney

This linen outfit with its ruffled collar is a variation of the Little Lord Fauntleroy suit, a popular style of the late 1800s and early 1900s. In the book Little Lord Fauntleroy by Frances Hodgson Burnett (1886), the  main character wore black velvet knee pants and jacket over a lace-collared blouse. The style was popular until about 1920.

Evan Lewis Martin wore this suit as a child. The son of Henry and Bette Hannah Martin of Pea Ridge (Benton County), he died at the age of 12 in 1910. In his obituary, the Rogers (Arkansas) Democrat noted that Evan “loved music and was a fine singer for a child.”

Artifact of the Month Archive

Orval Faubus’s Hat

by | Artifact of the Month, Clothing and Accessories, Politics and Government

Gov. Orval Faubus (in dark suit) at the Springdale Savings and Loan Association dedication, June 11, 1960. Howard Clark, photographer/Caroline Price Clark Collection (S-2001-82-375)

Donated by James McNally

This circa 1960 hat was made for Gov. Orval Faubus by Harry Rolnick, co-owner and designer of Resistol Hats. Rolnick and E.R. Byer founded Byer-Rolnick Company in Dallas in 1927. Byer-Rolnick specialized in Western and dress hats branded Resistol for “resist all weather.” Resistol hats quickly became famous for their trademarked “Self-Conforming Band” and “Kitten Finish” (a method of processing felt which produced a softer texture than conventionally-made felt).

Artifact of the Month Archive

Gov. Orval Faubus (in dark suit) at the Springdale Savings and Loan Association dedication, June 11, 1960. Howard Clark, photographer/Caroline Price Clark Collection (S-2001-82-375)

Donated by James McNally

This circa 1960 hat was made for Gov. Orval Faubus by Harry Rolnick, co-owner and designer of Resistol Hats. Rolnick and E.R. Byer founded Byer-Rolnick Company in Dallas in 1927. Byer-Rolnick specialized in Western and dress hats branded Resistol for “resist all weather.” Resistol hats quickly became famous for their trademarked “Self-Conforming Band” and “Kitten Finish” (a method of processing felt which produced a softer texture than conventionally-made felt).

Artifact of the Month Archive

Fashion Clock

by | Artifact of the Month, Household Goods

Donated by Zelmer and Norene Teague

Complete with Seth Thomas clockworks, this clock was made by Southern Calendar Clock Company of St. Louis in 1877. The upper dial keeps time; the lower dial is a perpetual calendar—it automatically adjusts for months of different lengths and indicates February 29 in each leap year.

John Sisemore, a farmer and Civil War veteran who lived near the Madison County community of Japton, bought this clock in 1877. According to Sisemore family lore, John was one of three people in Northwest Arkansas that year who purchased this brand of clock. The other buyers were the Johnson family who owned Johnson Mill in Washington County, and an unknown woman in Fayetteville.

John Sisemore’s clock was used by Sisemore family and descendants until 2008, when Zelmer “Teb” and Norene Teague donated it to the Shiloh Museum.

Artifact of the Month Archive

Fashion clock, 1877

Donated by Zelmer and Norene Teague

Complete with Seth Thomas clockworks, this clock was made by Southern Calendar Clock Company of St. Louis in 1877. The upper dial keeps time; the lower dial is a perpetual calendar—it automatically adjusts for months of different lengths and indicates February 29 in each leap year.

John Sisemore, a farmer and Civil War veteran who lived near the Madison County community of Japton, bought this clock in 1877. According to Sisemore family lore, John was one of three people in Northwest Arkansas that year who purchased this brand of clock. The other buyers were the Johnson family who owned Johnson Mill in Washington County, and an unknown woman in Fayetteville.

John Sisemore’s clock was used by Sisemore family and descendants until 2008, when Zelmer “Teb” and Norene Teague donated it to the Shiloh Museum.

Artifact of the Month Archive