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Pocket Watch

by | Artifact of the Month

Waltham pocket watchDonated by Opal Jones

This 1897 pocket watch made by the American Waltham Watch Company. When A. L. “Lee” Gregg asked Elizabeth “Betty” Jones to marry him in the late 1890s, she asked for a pocket watch instead of a wedding ring. The couple, both from Springdale, married on November 30, 1897.

Betty Jones Gregg was aunt to Harvey Jones (founder of Springdale-based Jones Truck Lines) and his sister, Opal.

Artifact of the Month Archive
Waltham pocket watch

Donated by Opal Jones

This 1897 pocket watch made by the American Waltham Watch Company. When A. L. “Lee” Gregg asked Elizabeth “Betty” Jones to marry him in the late 1890s, she asked for a pocket watch instead of a wedding ring. The couple, both from Springdale, married on November 30, 1897.

Betty Jones Gregg was aunt to Harvey Jones (founder of Springdale-based Jones Truck Lines) and his sister, Opal.

Artifact of the Month Archive

Red, White, and Blue Dress

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

Red, white, and blue dress, circa 1910Donated by Mary Brashears Mullen

Jessie Stewart (1892-1980) showed her patriotic spirit when she wore this dress to the annual reunion at St. Paul (Madison County). The dress dates to about 1901, so Jessie would have been about  ten years old when she wore it.

Jessie was born in Hazard, Kentucky, to James M. and Margaret Elizabeth Brashears Stewart. In 1895, the family moved to St. Paul where James ran a mercantile. Jessie attended school in St. Paul, then studied music at the University of Arkansas. Following graduation from college, she taught school in Oklahoma and in the Northwest Arkansas communities of Bentonville and Cave Springs. In 1925 she married Thomas Jacob “Jake” Gilstrap, a lumber yard operator she first met in St. Paul. Jake opened his first lumber yard in Combs (Madison County) in 1915 and went on to own lumber yards in Texas, Kansas, and Northwest Arkansas.

When Jake died in 1946, Jessie moved to Bentonville to run the family lumber business there. She became a successful businesswoman, well-known in the retail lumber trade as “Lumber Lou,” whose columns appeared regularly in trade publications for over thirty years.

Artifact of the Month Archive
Red, white, and blue dress, circa 1910

Donated by Mary Brashears Mullen

Jessie Stewart (1892-1980) showed her patriotic spirit when she wore this dress to the annual reunion at St. Paul (Madison County). The dress dates to about 1901, so Jessie would have been about  ten years old when she wore it.

Jessie was born in Hazard, Kentucky, to James M. and Margaret Elizabeth Brashears Stewart. In 1895, the family moved to St. Paul where James ran a mercantile. Jessie attended school in St. Paul, then studied music at the University of Arkansas. Following graduation from college, she taught school in Oklahoma and in the Northwest Arkansas communities of Bentonville and Cave Springs. In 1925 she married Thomas Jacob “Jake” Gilstrap, a lumber yard operator she first met in St. Paul. Jake opened his first lumber yard in Combs (Madison County) in 1915 and went on to own lumber yards in Texas, Kansas, and Northwest Arkansas.

When Jake died in 1946, Jessie moved to Bentonville to run the family lumber business there. She became a successful businesswoman, well-known in the retail lumber trade as “Lumber Lou,” whose columns appeared regularly in trade publications for over thirty years.

Artifact of the Month Archive

Eaton Family

by | People, Photo of the Month

Eaton family at the Boston (Madison County) school and church building, early 1940s. From left: Lillian Bennett Eaton holding Levell, Elbie L.”Hoss” Eaton holding Kenneth, Katherine “Kay” Eaton standing in front.

Otto Bennett Collection (S- 2000-64-380)

Photo of the Month Archive

Eaton family at the Boston (Madison County) school and church building, early 1940s. From left: Lillian Bennett Eaton holding Kenneth, Elbie L.”Hoss” Eaton holding Levell, Katherine “Kay” Eaton standing in front.

Otto Bennett Collection (S- 2000-64-380)

Photo of the Month Archive

Picking Beans

by | Agriculture, Photo of the Month

Picking beans at the McGarrah farm near Siloam Springs (Benton County), July 1, 1955. Standing, from left: Mrs. Bob Anderson, Bob Anderson, Geneva McGarrah Bauer, unidentified, Tom Anderson, Tom Alverson, Tom Alverson (bushel basket on shoulder). Crouched, from left: Pearl McGarrah, Jack Bauer.

Geneva Bauer (the woman looking at the camera) is holding a list of basket weights used to estimate the pounds of beans picked. Workers was paid ten cents per pound of beans. This truckload was headed for Dallas to fresh-market buyers.

Mr. and Mrs. Jack Bauer Collection (S-92-144)

Photo of the Month Archive

PIcking beans at the McGarrah farm near Siloam Springs (Benton County), July 1, 1955. Standing, from left: Mrs. Bob Anderson, Bob Anderson, Geneva McGarrah Bauer, unidentified, Tom Anderson, Tom Alverson, Tom Alverson (bushel basket on shoulder). Crouched, from left: Pearl McGarrah, Jack Bauer.

Geneva Bauer (the woman looking at the camera) is holding a list of basket weights used to estimate the pounds of beans picked. Workers was paid ten cents per pound of beans. This truckload was headed for Dallas to fresh-market buyers.

Mr. and Mrs. Jack Bauer Collection (S-92-144)

Photo of the Month Archive

Ozark Nuthead Dolls

by | Artifact of the Month, Crafts

Ozark nuthead dolls“Hillbilly Wedding,” a hickory nut doll diorama, was made by Ben Smith and his wife, Ethel. The Smiths, who lived in the Fayetteville/Springdale area, made dolls and other souvenir items in the late 1940s which were sold locally and by mail order. The Smiths’ son Lavon helped with the souvenir business while attending the University of Arkansas, where he studied art.

The Shiloh Museum purchased “Hillbilly Wedding” from doll collector Hilda Geuther of Eureka Springs.

Artifact of the Month Archive
Ozark nuthead dolls

“Hillbilly Wedding,” a hickory nut doll diorama, was made by Ben Smith and his wife, Ethel. The Smiths, who lived in the Fayetteville/Springdale area, made dolls and other souvenir items in the late 1940s which were sold locally and by mail order. The Smiths’ son Lavon helped with the souvenir business while attending the University of Arkansas, where he studied art.

The Shiloh Museum purchased “Hillbilly Wedding” from doll collector Hilda Geuther of Eureka Springs.

Artifact of the Month Archive