When an artifact can evoke memories, feelings, and experiences beyond its physicality, it is truly something special. Sometimes the most mundane items can transport us to a different time and place and help us to reimagine a whole new world.
Just the other day, we found this small calendar from 1912 while working in the museum. The calendar was meant to be pinned to a wall and features a photo of a very elegant looking – and unfortunately unidentified – Edwardian era lady. Artifacts like this can often be used to tell a bigger story.
Flipping through it, the first page that stuck out was for the month of April 1912. Imagine that someone may have been looking at that very page well over a century ago, thinking about the tragic loss of over 1500 lives when the Titanic sank in the early hours of the morning of April 15, 1912.
The year 1912 also brought the first prosecution for drunk driving. A government inspector responsible for inspecting the Lippincott Distillery had been speeding along Ruff Creek Road near the Bethlehem Baptist Church and hit a team of horses owned by James Phillips.
The first official farmers market in Waynesburg was also established in 1912 on the newly paved Church Street. Farmers from all over the county came into town, lining their wagons along Church Street and selling produce. Initially the market was to be open on Mondays, Thursdays and Saturdays, but only two wagons showed up on that first Monday, so the schedule was changed to Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays.
Fur trapping was still a large industry in the county in 1912. In June of that year, Marion Garber shipped about $7000 dollars’ worth of furs to the eastern market, including approximately 2200 skunk pelts. Over $20,000 dollars’ worth of fur pelts were exported out of the county that year.
Everyone has items like our recently found calendar. What items do you have in your home that can take you back to a different time, or bring to life stories told to you by your parents and grandparents?
The Greene County Historical Society archives many items like this that directly relate to specific events. They all have one thing in common – they tell a story that weaves together the greater chronicle of our collective narrative.
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