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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

Printer’s Block

by | Artifact of the Month, Business and Occupations, Technology

Donated by Parker Rushing

This metal-plated printer’s block engraved with a cow  was used by the Prairie Grove Enterprise newspaper, back in the days when the letters and illustrations on a newspaper page were hand-placed—or “typeset”—in preparation for printing.

With the slogan of “A Community Newspaper Dedicated to Building a Better Community,” the Enterprise was first published on November 19, 1936, by George and Ida Wiswell and their son, George Jr. In 1965 Tri-State Publishers of Springdale bought the Enterprise but the commercial printing department and equipment were reacquired by the Wiswells in July of that same year. Boyce Davis, owner of the Lincoln Leader, purchased the Enterprise in June 1967 and sold it back to the Wiswells. The Wiswells continued to operate the Enterprise until 1971 when they sold the business to the Alan Nicholas family of Cleveland, Ohio. The paper has been bought and sold multiple times since 1971; as of 2018, it is owned by Northwest Arkansas Newspapers LLC and published weekly as the Washington County Enterprise-Leader. 

Printer's block

Donated by Parker Rushing

This metal-plated printer’s block engraved with a cow  was used by the Prairie Grove Enterprise newspaper, back in the days when the letters and illustrations on a newspaper page were hand-placed—or “typeset”—in preparation for printing.

With the slogan of “A Community Newspaper Dedicated to Building a Better Community,” the Enterprise was first published on November 19, 1936, by George and Ida Wiswell and their son, George Jr. In 1965 Tri-State Publishers of Springdale bought the Enterprise but the commercial printing department and equipment were reacquired by the Wiswells in July of that same year. Boyce Davis, owner of the Lincoln Leader, purchased the Enterprise in June 1967 and sold it back to the Wiswells. The Wiswells continued to operate the Enterprise until 1971 when they sold the business to the Alan Nicholas family of Cleveland, Ohio. The paper has been bought and sold multiple times since 1971; as of 2018, it is owned by Northwest Arkansas Newspapers LLC and published weekly as the Washington County Enterprise-Leader.

Artifact of the Month Archive

Egg Basket

by | Agriculture, Artifact of the Month, Household Goods

Donated by Billy Dean and Catherine Foster

This basket belonged to Elnora Coralee Webb Fritts (1865-1962). She was born at Durham (Washington County) and lived there always. Elnora and her husband, Lon, had four children: Herman, Lillie, Hattie, and Maggie.

Billy Dean Foster, Elnora’s grandson by her daughter, Maggie, remembers filling this basket with eggs when he was a little boy, and what a heavy load it was when he carried it!

Artifact of the Month Archive
Elnora Fritts's egg basket​

Donated by Billy Dean and Catherine Foster

This basket belonged to Elnora Coralee Webb Fritts (1865-1962). She was born at Durham (Washington County) and lived there always. Elnora and her husband, Lon, had four children: Herman, Lillie, Hattie, and Maggie.

Billy Dean Foster, Elnora’s grandson by her daughter, Maggie, remembers filling this basket with eggs when he was a little boy, and what a heavy load it was when he carried it!

Artifact of the Month Archive