Join
Free Admission

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

Shuttle

by | Artifact of the Month, Crafts, Household Goods, Textiles

Donated by Annabel Searcy

In the 1800s, before store-bought fabric became the norm, many a pioneer home had a loom where the woman of the house made the family fabrics. Shuttles like this handmade one carried yarns across warp threads, creating fabric.

Backwards “S” on the shuttle.

The shuttle most likely belonged to Temperance Caroline Searcy. (A backward “S” is punch-marked on the top of it.) Temperance, her husband Alfred H. Searcy, and their children came from Georgia to Arkansas in 1859, settling in the Friendship community east of Springdale where they farmed and raised hogs and sheep.

Temperance Searcy’s grandson, Lockwood, inherited his grandmother’s textile tools and other family heirlooms in the 1940s. Lockwood’s wife, Annabel Applegate Searcy, donated many of these pioneer era artifacts to the Shiloh Museum in 1968, the year the museum opened to the public.

Temperance Searcy’s grandson, Lockwood, inherited his grandmother’s textile tools and other family heirlooms in the 1940s. Lockwood’s wife, Annabel Applegate Searcy, donated many of these pioneer era artifacts to the Shiloh Museum in 1968, the year the museum opened to the public.

Artifact of the Month Archive