Jack Be Nimble, Jack Be Quick...

 These days when you need a candle stick you just head down to your local department store, or if your lucky...dollar store, and buy one. Back then it wasn't quite so easy. This here is a candle stick mold....yes....you made your own candlesticks. Imagine pouring hot wax into this monster and waiting several hours for them to cool...

Time to Excersise!!!

 

 

Back then they had all sorts of bizarre ways of exercising.

Just check out some of the, at the time, "modern" exercise equipment.

 

 

 

 

These however, Indian Clubs, were quite useful in building muscle.

 

 

"Indian clubs or meels are a type of excersise equipment used for developing strength. They comprise bowling-pin shaped wooden clubs of varying sizes and weights, which are swung in certain patterns as part of an exercise program. They can range from a few pounds each, up to special clubs that can weigh as much as 50 pounds. They were used in carefully choreographed routines where the clubs were swung in unison by a group of exercisers, led by an instructor in the front, similar to modern aerobics classes. The routines varied according to the group's ability and the weight of the clubs used." -Wikipedia

 

 <Curious what one of these sessions would have looked like??>

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JkFtaw9LB6I

Our "Rule" of Thumb

 

Tucked away was this retractable ruler.

Donated by: Rose and Bartley Skinner

 

You can only imagine the patience teachers had to have, not only with their children, but with

winding this thing up time and time again after measuring something for educational purposes.

As times change, so do people's patience levels so we of course

adapted to a more convenient ruler that requires less work to use. :)

 

 

 

These little lamps

 

 

Here we have two very old Carbide Lamps. What is a carbide lamp you may ask?

We'll let Wikipedia explain it for you.

 

"Carbide lamps, or acetylene gas lamps, are simple lamps that produce and burn acetylene (C₂H₂) which is created by the reaction of calcium carbide (CaC₂) with water.

Acetylene gas lamps were used to illuminate buildings, as lighthouse beacons, and as headlights on motor-cars and bicycles. Portable acetylene gas lamps, worn on the hat or carried by hand, were widely used in mining in the early twentieth century. They are still employed by cavers, hunters, and cataphiles" - Wikipedia

Also if your curious what a cataphile is?
(People who Illegally explore underground catacombs in the Paris sewers) Pretty exciting right?

 

For all you fancy sewing folk

Pins, pins and pins. For anyone who sews you know how dangerous it can be if you don't have a proper pin cushion. Ever stepped on one of those? Ouch!

Here we have quite a find from our inventory. A ornate carved cow horn with a green velveteen pin cushion built into the top. A huge comparison to our little tomato pin cushions today huh?

They're not corn cobs

Any idea what this might be?

Back then they didn't have Ipods, MP3 players or CD's. Thus the invention of the Player Piano charmed many households as they could have music in their own homes.

"The rise of the player piano grew with the rise of the mass-produced piano for the home in the late 19th and early 20th century. Sales peaked in 1924, then declined as the improvement in phonograph recordings due to electrical recording methods developed in the mid-1920s. The advent of electrical amplification in home music reproduction via radio in the same period helped cause their eventual decline in popularity, and the stock market crash of 1929 virtually wiped out production." - Wikipedia

One of these Piano Rolls here are entitled  "Little Maggie May" it is a traditional liverpool folk song about a prostitute who robs a homeward bound sailor.
Curious what the lyrics to one of these songs were? The Original tune is lost in time but here is an idea for you....https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1HL-7fANKCU

"Litttle Maggie May"

Over yonder stands little Maggie
With a dram glass in her hand
she's a drinkin-away her troubles
and a-courtin a nother man

Oh how could I ever stand it
Just to see those two blue eyes
They're shinging in the moonlight
Like two diamonds in the sky

Pretty flowers were made for blooming
Pretty stars were made to shine
Pretty girls were made for loving
Little Maggie was made for mine

Sometimes I have a nickel
Sometimes I have a dime
Sometimes I have ten dollars
Just to pay little Maggie's fine

Lay down your last ol' dollar
Lay down your gold watch and chain
Little Maggie's gonna dance for daddy
Listen to this old banjo ring

Oh the last time I saw little Maggie
She was sitting on the banks of the sea
With her forty four around her
And a banjo on her knee

I'm going down to the station
With my suitcase in my hand
I'm going to leave this country
I'm going to some far and distant land

Go 'way, Go 'way little Maggie
Go and do the best you can
I'll get me another woman
You can get you another man

Scrap Bookin'

Today many women, love scrap booking! The reason for this? A way to present your family's pictures in an aesthetically pleasing way. Who wouldn't be into that right? Because of our modern technology when it comes to taking and printing pictures, it comes at great ease to compile family pictures, sometimes alot of pictures!

Did you know that Scrap booking was a big thing back in the 1900's as well, but not quite like you would think. Because taking family photos was a special occasion it was not common to have a stack, or box, or even file cabinet full like we do today. Still it was a fun hobby for the women of the day to cut out catalog and magazine pictures to make their scrapbooks. Here are a few pictures taken from Mrs. Eva Jenkin's (P.W Jenkins wife) Scrapbook.

Population of Wyoming

Have you ever wondered what the population of Wyoming was in 1910?

Here we'll show you. :)
(taken from another of P.W Jenkins Journals)

P.W Jenkins

One of our large collections in our archives is that of Perry Wilson Jenkins.
In his article John W. Shields tells of the life of Mr. Jenkins. Here are a few excerpts from it. For the whole article visit http://www.crwua.org/documents/about-us/oral-histories/Perry-Jenkins.pdf

"Perry Wilson Jenkins – known almost universally as “P.W.” to his many friends and colleagues –
earned the honorary title “Father of Sublette County” by introducing and championing the
legislative bill that designated Sublette County as one of Wyoming’s twenty-three counties. This
title also arose from the fact that he filed numerous water right applications and performed the
surveys for a considerable number of irrigation ditches in Sublette County."

"P.W. Jenkins was a most fascinating individual. His journey to being a prominent figure in
natural resource politics and policy in Wyoming is, itself, a fascinating story that is recounted  here. P.W. was, in the classic sense, a 20th Century “renaissance man”4
 who had many, many
occupations, avocations and interests throughout his long and interesting life. Jenkins was
himself a contributor to the “Annals of Wyoming” publication and served on the Wyoming State
Historical Advisory Board.5
 In recognition of his many contributions to his fellow Wyomingites
through service in many capacities – as measured at the national, regional, statewide, county and
local levels, Jenkins was awarded an honorary doctorate degree by the University of Wyoming in
1955.6
 Jenkins’ journey to that extraordinary recognition was a most interesting one."

Below is a picture of Jenkins journals that he kept for a number of years, In his 1911 journal, Sat. Jan. 7, we see where he wrote about "starting a petition for a new county."
Before this petition we were part of Fremont County, and it took too long to make any state decisions, having our own county gave us more local control. How thankful we are to him that because of this Pinedale, Big Piney and Marbleton can be part of their own county.