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Beaded Pincushion

by | Artifact of the Month, Crafts, Holidays

Donated by Matha Ann (Mrs. Alfred) Lussky and Katherine Lussky Adam

This pincushion belonged to Alma Lussky of Fayetteville. She was the sister of Dr. Alfred Lussky, head of the German Department at the University of Arkansas for many years.The Lusskys were originally from Illinois by way of New York.

In the late 1800s and early 1900s members of the Mohawk, Tuscarora, and Mohegan tribes in upstate New York made pincushions like this and sold them as souvenirs to tourists visiting Niagara Falls and Saratoga.
Artifact of the Month Archive

“Barn Raising” Quilt

by | Artifact of the Month, Textiles

Donated by Matha Ann (Mrs. Alfred) Lussky and Katherine Lussky Adam

This circa 1915 quilt is a Log Cabin variation called “Barn Raising.” It was made by Anna Catherine Beyer Lussky of Buffalo, New York. The quilt came to Northwest Arkansas with Anna’s son, Alfred Edwin, who was a professor and chair of the German department at the University of Arkansas for many years.

To make the quilt, Anna Lussky used pieces of her silk wedding dress along with silk neckties that belonged to her six sons (Alfred, Herbert, Arthur, Walter, Ernest, and George).

Artifact of the Month Archive

Flour Bin

by | Artifact of the Month, Household Goods

Donated by John Robinson

This flour bin came from the Dave and Nina Cowan homeplace southeast of Greenland (Washington County). The ad is a page from the 1927 Sears catalog, showing a family proudly admiring their new kitchen cabinet complete with a flour bin much like the one owned by the Cowans. The ad describes an “easy-filling flour bin. Capacity, 50 pounds. Patented style lowering rods bring bin down to convenient level for filling. Has handy patent sifter.”

Artifact of the Month Archive

Chess Pieces

by | Artifact of the Month, Sports and Recreation

Guy Howard (seen here playing chess) made these chess pieces sometime in the mid-1900s in the workshop he had behind his home on Price Street in Springdale. The knight (horse-head) pieces were carved by Howard’s friend, Ralph C. Miller. The crowns on the king and queens are made of old bottle caps that have been filled with glue, set with beads or rhinestones, and painted.

William Guy Howard (1876-1965) moved to Northwest Arkansas from Nebraska as a young boy. He had a lifetime of public service in Springdale as city attorney during World War I, mayor during World War II, and municipal judge in the 1950s. To many local folks, Howard was known simply as “the Judge.” He was also a collector of prehistoric and Native American artifacts, which he displayed floor-to-ceiling in his home. In 1966 the Springdale City Council voted to purchase Howard’s massive collection of some 10,000 prehistoric and historic artifacts and 260 books and pamphlets on anthropology and archeology. This was the founding collection of the Shiloh Museum.

Artifact of the Month Archive