One of the challenges of working at a historical society is coming across objects that do not have clear provenance or purpose. This week’s Object Spotlight focuses on a gunny sack that is difficult to completely decipher. The reusable bag is made of tightly woven cotton or hemp fibers. Printed on one side of the sack is “A. F. Schiebe.” Schiebe is a common name in Plymouth history. The likeliest original owner of the sack would be Albert Frank Schiebe…
The Plymouth Historical Society has been working on a collections inventory for the past 8 weeks. So far, we have inventoried about 525 objects, or about 1/3 of the objects we planned to inventory during this phase of the project. Now that we’ve reached this milestone, we’ve decided to make our work public. One of the reasons for completing this inventory is to be able to share our collections online. For the first time ever, users are able to see…
In the past three weeks, the Plymouth Historical Society has completed an inventory of 47 historic photographs, including 4 images mounted in specialized hinged cases trimmed in gold and lined with velvet. Set in their jewel box-like cases, the photographs seem extra precious. Although hundreds of thousands of photographs like these exist in museum collections all over the world, the word “precious” still applies. These are among the oldest photographs ever produced. A daguerreotype like this was most likely made…