Category: Artifact Corner

Hi Everyone and welcome back to another artifact corner. Today we will be looking at a bottle from Fannie Delord Webb Hall’s apothecary. Fannie treated the sick and poor of Plattsburgh and the surrounding community free of charge from the back room in our museum, and this is one of a myriad of treatments she offered. This particular bottle is made by Winchester’s and was marketed as a cure for consumption. Let’s learn a bit more about Winchester’s and about consumption and Victorian Medicine.

This concoction was made by Winchester and Company Chemists, located at 263 William Street, New York, NY. The company moved around quite a bit through the mid to late Victorian period, but was always stationed somewhere in New York City. Like many medicinal companies in the United States in the 19th Century, they were able to manufacture and sell basically anything in a bottle with little to no regulation by the federal government. Congress passed The Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act in 1938, which requires that new drugs show safety before a company can start selling them. Prior to that, the only regulations put on medicines were on imported drugs. So, if you were an unscrupulous business person, you could put practically anything non lethal in a bottle, slap a label on it, and sell it as a cure all. This particular bottle of Hypophosphites of lime and soda was sold as a treatment for consumption or tuberculosis. It claims that just a few teaspoons a week will prevent you from contracting TB, and that if you already have TB, a few teaspoons a day will treat it for you. Of course this claim was untrue. Taking a few teaspoons of what amounts to a salt mixture is not going to cure consumption, but that didn’t stop thousands of merchants from selling their potions.

Now you might ask yourself, why on earth would someone buy and consume an unproven drug? The answer is a bit complicated. Victorian medicine was improving upon the centuries prior, but to our modern understanding, was still quite antiquated. The people relying on this medicine were ill, and looking for something to ease their suffering and therefore willing to give just about anything a shot. Consumption or Tuberculosis was an ever present part of Victorian life. By the dawn of the 19th Century, consumption as the ancient Greeks called it, had killed one in seven of all the people that have ever lived. It was known as the Great White Plague, due to how pale the victims of TB became. Doctor’s initially thought it was hereditary, due to how often the disease was passed from parents to their children. But, consumption is actually a highly transmissible bacteria infection that attacked the lungs. The symptoms of consumption are quite brutal. The patient will have high fevers, bloody coughs, extreme exhaustion, and severe weight-loss. Consumption was a wasting disease, so often you could tell if someone was ill by their gaunt appearance. It ravaged people of all ages, socio-economic standing, religion, and race. Being diagnosed with TB in the 19th Century was basically a death sentence, as none of the treatments being offered could cure the patient of the disease. It wasn’t until 1904, when Doctor Edward Livingston Trudeau formed the National Association for the Study and Prevention of Tuberculosis, which would later become the American Lung Association, that the American public began working together to eradicate TB. In 1950, Dr. Edith Lincoln observed that isoniazid, the primary medication against TB, prevented the development of serious complications in children. Later Public Health Service trials underscored isoniazid’s important ability to prevent the spread of infection when given to household members of tuberculosis patients. Thankfully, these efforts to prevent and treat TB in the US have worked. In 2019 there were 526 deaths from TB in the United States. In 2020 there were 1.5 million deaths from TB around the world, and is the second leading infectious disease in the world, second only to COVID-19. Consumption or TB is still a very dangerous and deadly disease if not properly treated. So, you can see why people were so afraid of it, and willing to try any means of treatment.

This bottle is in great condition. We still have the original paper label, the original cork stopper, and some of the contents of the medicine, although, I would not recommend partaking of any Victorian medicines! There is some fading and foxing on the label, but that’s a normal condition with age and use. This bottle offers us a unique glimpse into mid-19th Century, and we are so lucky to have it in our collections. Thanks so much for stopping by.

Music: Acoustic Breeze by Benjamin Tissot, www.bensound.com

Hi Everyone and welcome back to another artifact corner. Today we will be looking at these two beautiful cameos. Cameos were a favorite of Fannie Delord Webb Hall, and we have dozens in our collections. The first cameo is not set in anything, meaning it’s not something that can be worn. It may have been set jewelry at some point, but was removed from the setting. The second cameo is one of a set of earrings. It is set in gold, and has leaves and vines surrounding the cameo. The earring is also for pierced ears, which helps us to date it as Mid 1800’s. Both cameos are in great condition. Let’s learn a bit more about the history of cameos.

The cameo is usually a gem, having two different colored layers, with the figures carved in one layer so that they are raised on a background of the other. The first cameos were made about 3,000 BCE. Cameos have been found in Egypt, Summeria, Greece, and Rome. The subject of most of the cameos from this period are mythological and are often referencing their gods and goddesses. This is a roman cameo from around the 1st century BCE, and depicts a nymph riding a centaur. This is carved from sardonyx, a common stone used for carving cameos. Sardonyx is a type of agate whose banding is straight and runs parallel, making it perfect for carving cameos. Other materials that were popular at the time for carving cameos were carnelian shell, which is a lovely peachy color, Mother of pearl, which makes a bluish grey cameo, and a variety of colors of agate. Some cameos were carved of glass, which was considered the cheap version of this popular trend, and therefore made cameos affordable for anyone who wanted them.

Cameos fell out of favor after the fall of the Roman empire, and throughout the Middle Ages, but became incredibly popular again in the Renaissance period. During the Renaissance, Pope Paul II was an avid cameo collector. His passion for cameos may have led to his death, at least that was a rumor that was bandied about at the time. His excessive display of carved gems and stones on his fingers kept his hands so cold that he caught a chill that caused his death. This is in fact not true, he died of a heart attack in July of 1471. But, his affection for cameos must have been a very well known fact for that rumor to survive to this day. Queen Elizabeth I was also a big fan of cameos, and many of the women in her court wore them to curry favor with her and as symbols of wealth. Cameos remained popular in the 17th and 18th Centuries, but the era that is most well known for cameo collection is the Victorian period. Queen Victoria was an avid cameo collector, as was Napoleon Bonaparte. Napoleon actually founded a Parisian apprentice school to foster the talents of young cameo carvers. And, just like today, people wanted to copy the celebrities of their day, and so cameo collecting became very widespread. Cameos are still popular in modern jewelry, and certain celebrities continue to don these stunning works of art. Cate Blanchett often rocks this fashion trend.

Fannie Delord Webb Hall was very much a modern Victorian woman. She was fascinated by medicine, travel, and cameos. After she and her husband were married they spent over a year traveling through Europe on their honeymoon. Many of the cameos we have in our collections are likely from this period. Most of them depict figures, but we do have some that depict scenes and buildings, another common theme of cameos at the time. These two cameos are in beautiful condition, and would still be considered fashionable today. We are so lucky to have these beautiful pieces in our collections. Thanks so much for stopping by.

Music: Acoustic Breeze by Benjamin Tissot, www.bensound.com

Hi Everyone and welcome back to another artifact corner. Today we will be looking at this beautiful late Victorian coffee grinder. This piece is made of cast iron, and has a substantial weight to it. Perfect for setting on a table top and grinding coffee beans. This piece is also decorated with red black and gold paint. This piece was made by the Swift Mill Lane Brothers based in Poughkeepsie, NY. In 1845, Beriah Swift built a factory in Millbrook, New York to manufacture his own patented coffee mill, partnering with his cousins William and John Lane under the name Swift and Lane in 1855. The firm became the Lane Brothers in 1866. It is a very easy to use machine, simply slide the top to the side, pour in your beans, and turn the wheel. The ground coffee drops into the little tin container below, and viola, you have coffee. Let’s learn a bit more about the history of coffee.

Coffee originated in Ethiopia, and was first exported out to surrounding areas in the 15th Century by Somali merchants. Sufi monasteries in Yemen employed the beverage as an aid to concentration during prayers. By the 16th Century coffee had made it’s way through the Middle East, India, Northern Africa, Europe and South East Asia. The word coffee entered the English language in 1582 via the Dutch word, koffie, spelled k-o-f-f-ie. This comes from the Ottoman Turkish word Kahve, spelled k-a-h-v-e. Coffee’s popularity continued to flourish anywhere it was introduced.

Coffee was first introduced to the Americas in 1720. Gabriel de Clieu brought a few small coffee seedlings to Martinique in the Caribbean. The little seedlings flourished and in just 50 years the handful of coffee plants had grown to around 18,700 healthy plants. On December 16, 1773, a group of American colonists gathered at Griffin’s Wharf in Boston to protest what they saw as “taxation without representation.” The colonist dumped 342 chests of tea, imported by the British East India Company into the harbor. This first act of defiance was widely publicized throughout the colonies, and drinking tea was considered unpatriotic. But, people still wanted a caffeinated beverage in the mornings, and so, coffee became the drink du jour for Americans. Coffee continued to be popular throughout the 1800’s. During the American Civil War, each Union soldiers were allotted 36 pounds of coffee per year in their rations. In 1864, Pittsburgh-born brothers John and Charles Arbuckle began selling pre-roasted coffee by the pound, getting rich by selling it to cowboys in the West. James Folger, who sold coffee to gold miners in California, also saw great success. Several other big name coffee brands, including Maxwell House and Hills Brothers, quickly followed suit. The love of coffee continued into the 20th Century as well. In America we consume about 400 million cups of coffee per day, making us the leading coffee consumer in the world.

This coffee grinder is in fantastic condition. Most of the paint is in tact, and the the gears still move freely. The coffee tin even still has ground coffee in it. The Delord Hall family was heavily involved in the Temperance movement, and therefore, no alcohol was served in their house. But, coffee was plentiful! If you’re a coffee lover, let us know what your favorite coffee is! And as always, thanks so much for stopping by!

Music: Acoustic Breeze by Benjamin Tissot, www.bensound.com

Hi everyone, and welcome back to another artifact corner. Today we will be looking at these beautiful ice skates from the early Victorian era. These skates are a combination of wood, brass and steel. The base is made of wood, the heel cap and the hardware surrounding the blade is made of brass, and the blade of the skate itself is made of steel. There are also five steel spikes sticking up from the base of the skate. These were meant to be worn with your existing boots, which would have had a heavy leather sole. The small steel spikes would help you keep the skate in place. These also would have had leather straps tied around them, to keep your shoes from slipping. The steel runners are flat, so there have been no edges cut into them. For a modern skater trying these out today, I’m sure they would be very difficult to use. Let’s learn a bit more about ice skating, and winter in the north country.

Ice skating dates back about 4,000 years to Finland as a way to save energy for long winter travels across ice. Ice skating spread in popularity through Northern European countries, mostly as a way to speed up travel and less as a leisure activity. That was not the case in China. During the Song Dynasty, which lasted from 960 to 1279, the royal family enjoyed ice skating as a sport and entertainment. In Europe, in the 13th & 14th Centuries the Dutch added edges to their skates, which allowed them more control on the ice. By the 17th & 18th Centuries in the colder European countries, ice skating was still used as a means of travel, but was also becoming more or a leisure activity for people. In England, when the river Thames froze over, it was very common to see dozens of people out skating and enjoying themselves. In Edinburgh Scotland, they organized their first formal skating club in the early 1740’s. Ice skating spread to America with the influx of northern Europeans, but was mostly a sport enjoyed by men. That is until the women’s fitness movement during the Victorian era, when ladies wanted more outdoor pursuits.

We have a lovely example of this from an article in the Plattsburgh Republican dated, January 21, 1860. It reads as follows:
“Skating is a great institution in these cold regions of the North, which are frozen up nearly half the year. The Lap’lander, the Norwegian, the Swede and the Russian make skating a national business. The Russian ladies all skate and the great Empress Catherine was a first rate skater. The ladies of Boston, and Albany, and New York are great skaters, and by another winter we shall have some first rate skaters here. Let us out upon the ice! Make the skates ring and the ice fly – only be careful and don’t bump our heads!”

Winters in Plattsburgh often meant a couple of months where Lake Champlain was frozen over, and recreational activities could be indulged on the ice. Ice skating became an incredibly popular winter activity for both men and women!

Our ice skates are in fantastic condition. There are a few scrapes on the wood, and there is some light rust on the steel of the skate, but that is to be expected. These skates are between 150 to 200 years old, so small signs of wear and some surface rust are minor to their overall condition. These are beautiful examples of early Victorian sports equipment, and give us a glimpse into winter recreation in the North Country. Thanks so much for stopping by!

Music: Acoustic Breeze by Benjamin Tissot, www.bensound.com

Hi Everyone, and welcome back to another artifact corner. Today we will be looking at three portraits by the same artist. All of these portraits were painted sometime in 1818, and are of Henry Delord, Betsey Delord, and their daughter Frances Henrietta. All of these paintings were done by the artist Abraham G. D. Tuthill, an early American portrait painter. Let’s learn a bit more about Abraham Tuthill.

Abraham Tuthill was born in 1776 in Oysterponds, NY. Oysterponds has been renamed since the 18th Century, and is today called Orient, NY. It’s the very tip of one of the peninsulas off Long Island. Not much is known about his childhood, except that his family were well connected. It was clear that he showed an aptitude for painting, and that with some instruction, he could become a very good painter. As a young man he came to the attention of Sylvester Dering of Shelter Island who recommended him to a relative, William Broome, of New York. Broome was an artist himself, and a mover and shaker in New York Cities arts scene. He knew that if Abraham was to succeed as an artist he needed formal training in Europe. Broome reached out to some of his wealthier friends, seeking funding to send Abraham to study art abroad. Among the patrons that funded his studies were Alexander Hamilton, Aaron Burr, and George Clinton. I’m sure Hamilton and Burr’s names are familiar to you, but George Clinton was a huge name in late 18th Century America. He fought in the Revolutionary War, was a delegate to the Continental Congress, Governor of NY, and Vice President of the United States. Thanks to these men and others, Tuthill set sail for England in 1800 to study under the American born painter Benjamin West.

West was a very famous British-American painter who caught the attention of King George III. He was appointed historical painter to the court and surveyor of the King’s pictures. He was also instrumental in the creation of the Royal Academy of the Arts in London, and served as its second president. Many history fans will know this work, one of his most famous, depicting the death of General Wolfe. He also painted the death of General Nelson and the Treaty of Paris. If you have not seen his works, we highly recommend checking them out. Abraham’s talents developed under West’s tutelage, but he never attained the level of artistry that West had achieved. Tuthill remained in England until 1808, and upon his return, he began painting all over New York. He traveled out west to Utica, Northern New York, and Vermont. He also worked in New York City, where he had a small studio. Tuthill ended up settling in Montpelier, VT, and that’s where he passed away in 1843. His works are in many museums and historical societies collections around New York.

After these portraits were painted, Henry Delord sent them to France, so that his sister, Julie could see his family. He had not seen his family in France for almost 20 years, and wanted them to know he had done well for himself in upstate New York. Henry had hoped to return to France himself, but passed away before he was able to. His daughter, Frances Henrietta eventually made it to the ancestral home in Nismes France, and was able to send these three portraits back to Plattsburgh. We are so lucky to have these portraits in our collections. The painting of Henry is the only likeness we have of him, and so is invaluable for our museum! The portraits are all in excellent condition, and we are so lucky to have them in our collections. Thanks so much for stopping by!

Music: Acoustic Breeze by Benjamin Tissot, www.bensound.com

Hi Everyone, and welcome back to another artifact corner. Happy 2022! We will be starting out the new year with this beautiful pocket watch. This is a swing out case pocket watch, and the case is made of sterling silver. This clock was made by the American Waltham Watch Company, based in Waltham, Massachusetts. When doing the research for this video, I found that in our accession materials, it was labeled that this clock had “no opening in back or front.” This meant that they were not able to see the serial number, or any of the other information on the watch. It seems like this case stumped our previous collections crew, and to be perfectly honest, it did for us as well. Thankfully, there are wonderful videos online to explain how to open all sorts of pocket watches. In order to access the inner workings of this clock you need to carefully unscrew the glass, and then gently pull up on the stem. This should release the movement section of the watch, and it swings out, hence the name. Let’s learn a bit more about the American Waltham Watch Company.

The company was founded by David Davis, Aaron Dennison, and Edward Howard, in 1850 in Roxbury, Massachusetts. Their goal was to make affordable quality pocket watches for the masses. Production began for them in 1851, but the first watches from the company did not hit the market until 1853. In the same year, the company was renamed, “The Boston Watch Company.” Over the next seven years the company went through a number of owners and name changes. In 1860 it became the “American Watch Company”. In 1861, the American Civil War began. The business came to an almost stand still, and the company looked poised for bankruptcy. The company downsized, and operated at bare bones levels, and managed to keep going through the war. According to the biography by Carl Sandburg, Abraham Lincoln owned and carried a Waltham “Wm. Ellery” watch. The company continued to make watches and later clocks until 1957, when they ceased production altogether. It is still possible to purchase modern quartz watches that bear the Waltham name, but these watches are unrelated to the “genuine” American Waltham Watch Company. In fact, a 1961 ruling by the Federal Trade Commission prohibited any inference that a relationship to the original Waltham Watch Company exists.

In doing the research for this video, it highlighted something that museums need to contend with all of the time when evaluating their collections. Not every person can know every thing about every type of object. We here at KDHM have thousands of artifacts in our collections, and we have a few people who work directly with these pieces. For those of you who do not know me, my name is Samantha, and I am the museum director for KDHM. This allows me close access to artifacts, and I am quite good at dealing with metals, jewelry, clothing and textiles, and some fine art pieces. Does that make me an expert on Edwardian watches? Not at all. But, with careful research and using trusted sources, anyone can learn a great deal about an object. We’ll be discussing more about how deal with our collections in upcoming videos this year.

This beautiful, and still functioning watch was made in 1923. We now know this thanks to the serial number on the watch’s movement. The case and the stem have some wear on them, which is very common with item that are worn and handled many times a day. Overall this piece is in very good condition, and we are so lucky to have it in our collections. All of us at KDHM wish you a happy and healthy New Year! And as always, thanks so much for stopping by.

Music: Acoustic Breeze by Benjamin Tissot, www.bensound.com

Hi Everyone, and welcome back to another artifact corner. Today we will be looking at this adorable children’s toy. This toy is made from paper mache, with a whimsical scene of kid’s toys along the side of the piece. It is red overall, with a metal crank, topped with a red painted wooden knob. When you crank the handle, the box plays a song. Now, try as we might, none of us could figure out the small tune it plays. It has a paper tag attached to it, which states that this was a gift for a little girl named Ellen. This piece is early 20th Century in date, and was likely a Christmas present. Let’s learn a bit more about music boxes, and mechanical music making pieces.

So, how does a music box work? Musical boxes are mechanical musical instruments that produce sound when tuned prongs are plucked by a revolving cylinder. The deeper the teeth or tuned prongs are cut into the comb, the lower the pitch that is produced. The more shallow the teeth, the higher the pitch. The first mechanical musical instrument was invented by a pair of brothers in what is today Baghdad, Iraq, in the 9th Century. They invented a hydropowered organ which payed interchangeable cylinders. In the 13th Century in Flanders a bell ringer invented a cylinder with cams attached that would then move to ring different bells at different times. In 1665, a clockmaker in London designed a clock that would strike a series bell every quarter hour, again using a cylinder. He also made it so that the cylinders could be changed, so it would play a different tune.

The real heyday of mechanical musical boxes comes in the 18th Century. In the 1760’s watch makers in London began to create watches with a pinned drum playing popular tunes on several small bells arranged in a stack. This meant that you could literally carry a tune in your pocket. This might seem like a small and even rudimentary thing to us today, given that we carry a device in our pockets that allows us to play any song in the world. But, imagine how magical it must have been for someone 260 years ago to hear music coming from their watch?! In 1796 Antoine Favre-Salomon, a clockmaker from Geneva replaces the stack of bells by a comb with multiple pre-tuned metallic notes in order to reduce space. This combined with a horizontally placed pinned barrel produces more varied and complex sounds. Music boxes continue to grow in popularity straight through the 19th Century, until 1877 when Thomas Edison invents the phonograph. This invention allowed people to hear their favorite singers actual voices, or their favorite musicians as if they were in the same room. Edison’s amazing invention spelled doom for the music box. By the 1920’s & 1930’s most music box manufacturers had either gone out of business or scaled down their production dramatically as demand had dwindled.

Our little toy was created at the end of the craze for music boxes. Manufacturers stopped creating high priced items for adults, and decided to make far less complicated items for children. This piece is in lovely condition, with very little wear, which is rare for a children’s toy! Most of the time they were heavily used, and therefore in poor condition, and often discarded. It is a wonderful glimpse into the early 20th Century, and we are so lucky to have it in our collections. Thanks so much for stopping by!

Music: Acoustic Breeze by Benjamin Tissot, www.bensound.com