The Samuel Ferdinand Hornor family of Lake Village (Chicot County), Arkansas, made their Christmas tree sparkle in the 1920s with this festive set of lights. Note the patriotic dirigible (airship) ornament next to Santa Claus.
The lights were passed down to Hornor’s grandson, Curtis Hornor of Springdale, who donated them to the Shiloh Museum in 1997.
Donated by Harps Food Stores General Office
Check writers, sometimes called check protectors, were designed to print checks which could not be tampered with or altered in some way. This manually-operated “Ribbon Writer” check writer, which dates to 1966, was used by Springdale’s Harps Food Stores.
In 1930, Harvard and Floy Harp opened Harp’s Cash Grocery on corner of Emma Avenue and Water Street in downtown Springdale. The Harps succeeded even through the depths of the Great Depression, and expanded to a larger store in 1941.The Harps’ son Don joined the business in 1953. In 1956 the Harps opened Springdale’s first supermarket, Harp’s IGA at the corner of Sunset and Highway 71. They became a small chain when they opened Harps North in 1964. Two more sons, Reland and Gerald, and other members of the Harp family joined the business as the company expanded. Today, Harps has more than 85 stores in Arkansas, Kansas, Missouri, and Oklahoma.
In 1898, Professor Josiah Shinn, president of Springdale College, (located at the site of the present-day Springdale Public Schools administration building), organized Springdale’s first chautauqua, a summer event that featured educational entertainment. Originating in Chautauqua, New York, chautauquas enjoyed great popularity across the United States in the late 1800s and early 1900s.
Springdale’s third chautauqua ran from June 24 to July 4, 1900, offering thirty-three lectures and cultural programs over the course of eleven days. On Thursday, June 28, a debate was held featuring three students from Springdale College: L. T. (Lewis) Farrar, Thad Berry, and Guy Phillips.
The medal was discovered among items donated to the Shiloh Museum as part of the Mary Braun estate in 2014, 114 years after Thad Berry’s triumphant debate.
Springdale News, June 29, 1900
Donated by Kenneth Wickham
Born near Cassville, Missouri, Roy Harris (1893–1977) started carving in 1959 at the age of 65. He specialized in farm-related miniatures and exhibited at the War Eagle Craft Fair (Benton County) for several years.
In 1964 Harris and his wife moved to Frost’s High Sky Inn, an old tourist court east of Springdale. Due to failing eyesight he stopped whittling around 1970.
The donor of this carving burned the words “Arkansas War Eagle” and “1966” (not visible in the photo) on the piece.
Donated by Pam Redfern
During World War II, Private First Class (PFC) William C. “Bill” Lewis of Vale (Washington County) sent this souvenir pillow sham to Mrs. Ora Smith, a family friend and neighbor.
PFC Lewis trained at Camp Hood, Texas, and served with the 609th Tank Destroyer Battalion in the European theater. Camp Hood, now Fort Hood, was the training center for all tank destroyer forces. The 609th entered action on September 27th, 1944, at Moutiers, France, and remained in the theater through the end of the war. The logo in the center of the sham is the emblem for the United States tank destroyer forces.
Vale was located south of Fayetteville. Today the area is within the Fayetteville city limits, south of Baum Stadium near the intersection of Cato Springs Road and Razorback Road. The Vale post office was established August 27, 1901, and remained in operation until 1951. From 1887 until 1911, children in the Vale community attended a rural school named Dowell’s Chapel.