Keeping the Holidays Alive

Each year the museum puts together holiday displays from our collection of figurines that once decorated the windows at H.C. Prange Co. in downtown Green Bay. Dolls of Christmas Past are displayed in vignettes on our stage and Snow Babies play outside our gift shop.  One thing you may have noticed in recent years is that the museum decided not to have our dolls move.  After extensive review of the dolls’ conditions the decision as made to not plug them in for a variety of reasons. 

As with all our exhibits, when they are completed we inventory and do condition reports before returning the artifacts back to storage. After Holiday Memories in 2016, we did an extensive condition report of the artifacts. In looking closely we discovered evidence of stress. Piles of rust at the feet of some of the figures are a clue that something was happening internally that we cannot see on the outside.

Rust is caused by corrosion, a natural process where metal is gradually destroyed. Running the dolls causes the metal rods to move resulting in the rust falling from the rods inside the figurines. This leaves the piles you see in the picture above. Running the dolls constantly, even for a two month exhibit, causes strain on the internal mechanics. Piles of rust weren’t the only things we found while performing our condition reports. We also found issues with the clothing and brown marks on the surface of some of the figurines. Both of these things can happen over time.

The brown marks on this doll are not freckles. Dolls like this were made using a hard plastic. This Plastic breaks down over time and can begin to “sweat” leaving brown marks on the surface of the figurine. The marks are caused by an oily liquid oozing out of the doll. The ooze can also leave a tacky slime behind.

This picture shows one of the issues we found with the felt and textiles of our figurines’ clothing. Over time the fabric has deteriorated, ripped, faded, or become stained.


Since 2017, we have decreased the stress put on our dolls to help ensure that we can display them well into the future.

 

James Peth

Research Technician

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

From the Education Department: National Jewel Day

Image
Today is National Jewel Day, and among our collection at the Neville Public Museum, we have this lovely amethyst gemstone courtesy of Robert Berndt.  While always having a purple appearance, the color of amethyst stones can greatly differ. It can vary from a pale lavender to a vivid reddish violet. With such contrasting colors and being such a plentiful gemstone, amethyst’s value depends on its hue. The more vibrant the stone appears indicates a higher price that it can sell for.  Even though its worth is based on its appearance now, that was not always the case. Ancient Greeks and Romans associated amethyst with warding off drunkenness since both societies believed that the stone was discovered by their god of wine. Ancient Egyptians centered amethyst even more than the other two cultures, though; they created amethyst amulets to bring them closer to the divine and to protect them against harm. They also carved jewelry out of amethyst. Even though the designs were originally ...
Read more

From the Education Department: National Lace Day

Image
February 3 rd is National Lace Day, and here at the Neville Public Museum, we have a lot to celebrate. Lace was first developed in Europe during the 1500s, and two methods of lace making formed simultaneously: needle lace (using a single needle and thread) and bobbin lace (intertwining many threads). Initially, it was made of linen before transitioning to silk and metallic gold threads. In the 1800s, though, lace makers turned to cotton, which is what is currently used. During the 16 th century, lace would often be named after the region it was made in. Even though lace was made all throughout Europe, Italy, France, and Flanders (modern-day Belgium) established themselves as the leading centers for lace making. The finest lace was created by three specialists: an artist who created the designs, the pattern maker who put the designs onto parchment, and the lace maker who made the lace itself. All the effort that went into creating the lace was the reason it was seen as the most treasu...
Read more

From the Education Department: National Fragrance Day

Image
Perfumes and fragrances have been culturally significant for millennia to get us where we are today: celebrating national fragrance day. The first record of perfume dates back to the second millennium BC in Mesopotamia when it was invented by a chemist named Tapputi. In Ancient Egypt, perfume was a staple used to flash one’s wealth as it could only be accessed by the wealthy. Because of its significance, the Egyptians had a god of perfume, Nefertem. He was often depicted with water lilies, which were commonly used in perfume. Queens held perfume dear, not only using it to create a pleasant aroma, but they would also be entombed with a bottle. While Egypt and many other ancient nations saw perfume as a symbol of wealth, the Ancient Chinese would incorporate it into their daily lives, scenting their ink, stationary, homes, and places of worship.   They also would use it for disinfection and purity, believing that it could rid a room of disease although it was primarily used simply fo...
Read more