Notes From The Curator – 12/05/07

Andrew Drysdale

· What has happened to The Furnace is the result of my spending to much time alone with the computer. I originally planned to issue The Furnace in its old four-page format once or twice a year, with The Furnace Extra being produced with relative speed in between. Grant and report writing made that impractical, so the Extra became the primary newsletter. I have, though, for some time, wanted more content without reverting to the old format (which costs a lot more). I have also wanted it to be folksy, thoughtful, and fun. Some years ago I was going through some old (1990s) newspapers that had been stored in the upstairs kitchen for starting fires. Inexplicably, an original 18^th Century booklet had been mixed in with these papers (my three years here have been full of surprises like this; parts of dead Indians in cigar boxes, etc.) After recovering from the thought of the disaster that nearly took place, I began to read the rescued little volume, The Worcester Magazine, printed in Massachusetts in 1787. I liked the quaint format, and began looking at other 18^th and early 19^th Century newspapers and magazines for some inspiration. What I learned was that most had a lot of content packed into as little surface area as possible, most, for no good reason I can determine, had two names, and many had almanac-like combinations of news, advice, humor, seasonal weather commentary and so forth. As a consequence of this influence, The Furnace (“new ftyle”) is the latest version.

· Sharon Metroke, our long-time volunteer tour guide and good friend, planned on a typical day at Shippen on October 14. The ladies were upstairs, and I had the cider press out and ready to go, with two big boxes of apples from Mackey’s. Around 1:30 or so, a man stopped by with some historical documents he wanted me to look over, so I took him up to the office. I returned sometime later to find the smell of apples heavy in the air. Some visitors had arrived in my absence, and Sharon decided that this was as good a time as any to learn to make cider. Not only did she present a successful demonstration, she enlisted the help of musician Steve Miller, who was playing his hammer dulcimer outside. They ran probably twenty pounds of apples through the hand-cranked grinder and pressed I’m-not-sure just how much cider. Cider making, we’ve decided, is now Sharon’s specialty, and we are considering turning her loose on a hand-cranked ice cream freezer next summer.

· I was marveling the other day that I was able to track down a local blacksmith named Axford who lived in the late 19^th Century and find all that I needed to know in ten minutes through our Ancestry.com account. Exactly ten years ago I was appealing to the museum board for which I then worked to spend the money to connect my staff, particularly a curator of education, to the “internet” which was an entity I didn’t completely understand. As it turns out, they didn’t either, one gentleman suggesting that it sounded like some sort of penalty in basketball. One board member simply waved his hands saying dreamily “it is so vast…” but couldn’t explain what that meant…It is incredible, it is exciting, but studying the sky on a star-filled night, it remains a humble thing…

· The Commission’s longtime secretary, Carol Sipple, of Mountain Lake, will be retiring in December. In her twenty-year career, Carol has witnessed much, and has participated in virtually every phase of Commission activities. She will be greatly missed. Carol, for my part, the place won’t be the same without you. Many thanks for your help and friendship over the years, without which, many accomplishments would not have been possible. -AD