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

5 Things You May Not Know about Stompy the Mastodon

Image
1. He’s not a Woolly Mammoth Stompy is a mastodon, but what’s the difference?   For starters mastodon tusks were less curved than a mammoth's. Mastodon teeth were different from a mammoth’s as well.   Why was that?   Because Mastodons lived in swampy areas and chewed on branches and shrubs.   Mammoths grazed on grasses in open plains. You can see the difference between the two species teeth just behind Stompy in the exhibit!   2. His fur is made of cow tails Stompy is covered in 1,500 cow tails!   The cow tails were washed, bleached, and colored before being adhered to his body.   This was done by the artist to achieve the look of shaggy curly hair which would’ve helped him stay warm at the end of the last Ice Age. Photo taken in 1983 right after the diorama was installed for the new museum.   3. He sheds… so please don’t pet the mastodon   Stompy is now 37 years old!   Over the years he lost some of his hair but who wouldn’t after entertaining the masses for three d
Read more

What's This Thing? Artifact Spotlight

Image
Why is there a ledge on the inside of this cup? It's a mustache guard! Mustaches became trendy in the 19th century, which lead to extensive grooming and mustache care. Men used mustache wax, mustache brushes, mustache combs, and mustache scissors to shape and maintain their preferred style. Some even dyed their mustaches. All of these products did not fare well when mixed with the heat and steam from tea, coffee, or other hot beverages. Mustache wax would melt. Dye would drip. Tea and coffee could stain facial hair. Mustaches would be complete disasters. Mustache guards like this one protected a man's mustache, while allowing him to still enjoy tea time. This earthenware mustache cup was donated in 1937 by Mrs. Sophia Thelen. It is one of several mustache cups in the Neville's collection. The mustache cup was invented in the mid 19th century by English potter Harvey Adams. It soon spread across Europe and over to North America. Mustache cups were originally sold individuall
Read more

Green Bay’s Titanic Ties are Unsinkable

Image
On April 14, 1912 the RMS Titanic hit an iceberg in the North Atlantic. It sank less than three hours later in the early morning of April 15, 1912.  The sinking of the RMS Titanic may feel distant in time and place but Green Bay has deep connections to the disaster. Dr. William E. Minahan, who died on the Titanic, is buried in a crypt in Woodlawn Cemetery, visible from Riverside Drive.   Dr. Minahan was traveling home from Europe with his wife, Lillian, and sister, Daisy, after an extended vacation abroad.   The Minahans had planned on sailing home sooner but a coal strike prevented their intended ship from leaving.   They thought they were lucky having been able to book first class tickets on Titanic, but history would prove otherwise. On the night of the sinking, Dr. Minahan put his wife and sister into a lifeboat telling his wife, “Be brave.   No matter what happens, be brave.”   Those were Dr. Minahan’s final words.   His family received news on April 27, 1912 that Dr. Minahan’
Read more