|
NEWSLETTER AURORA COLONY HISTORICAL SOCIETY
DECEMBER, 2002 / JANUARY, 2003 |
CHRISTMAS TEA, HOME TOUR SET FOR DECEMBER 15TH
|
|
|
'TWAS THE NIGHT BEFORE CHRISTMAS, and all through the house folks were snoozing in decorated rooms a lot like this one. See it for real on the ACHS Christmas Home Tour, December 15. Five homes in Aurora will be featured on the tour this year, with proceeds benefiting the Children's Quilt Camp and preservation of artifacts at the Museum. All tours begin at the Museum. Phone 503-678-5754 for information and reservations. |
Five historic Aurora homes, decorated in holiday finery, will be open for the Colony Tea and Home Tour, Sunday, December 15, 2002 from 1:00 pm to 5:00 pm. Reservations are now available at the Old Aurora Colony Museum, 503-678-5754.
Homes on the tour range in age from late 19th-Century through the Craftsman era that lasted into the 1920s.
The Tea & Tour will begin at the Museum with an old-fashioned tea, including tea sandwiches and desserts, in the Old Aurora Colony Museum’s 19th century setting.
Participants will be given a walking tour list of homes, which may be visited in any order during the afternoon.
Tea will be served at four different times throughout the afternoon: 1:00, 2:15, 3:30 and 4:45, with 20 people at each seating.
The entire museum complex will be open and freshly decorated, for visitors who want to linger.
The cost for the Colony Tea and Home Tour is $25.00, with proceeds benefiting the Children’s Quilt Camp and the preservation of museum artifacts.
Tickets for the Home Tour only are $15 at the Museum, and will include light refreshments served at fireside in the Steinbach cabin.
CHANGING TIMES CHALLENGE RESOURCES, VOLUNTEERS & CASH NEEDED
Dear Friends of the Aurora Colony Historical Society,
Traditionally our wonderful group of volunteers was the mainstay of the historical society and all our events, educational programs, maintenance projects, etc, etc. The Sausage Supper (sadly gone by), the Strawberry Social, Aurora Colony Days, the Quilt Show, and the school program at the Stauffer-Will Farm all were staffed with love and devotion by volunteers.
Over the years we have been blessed with generous donations of Aurora Colony artifacts. These bits of Colony and family history are priceless. Furniture and wood working tools, quilts and spinning wheels, books and pictures...each gift has a tie to a unique way of life that we are committed to preserving. Who do we have to do it?
Yes, times are changing, and new lifestyles are demonstrated to us by the increasing difficulty we have in finding volunteers. If we cannot staff the front desk with volunteers, do we need a paid staff person? Should the director take time from trying to obtain a grant to clean the kitchen?
We have great potential at our fingertips. We have marvelous artifacts; we have a museum and a unique history that can attract visitors from all over; we have events that educate and entertain. But, we need funds, and we desperately need more volunteers.
While we have recently initiated a grant writing program which we hope will allow us to grow, this will take time to bear fruit. We need your help as volunteers. There is a spot for everyone. If you like to talk, come give tours (it’s fun and easy and we’ll train you); if you like detail work, come help with preserving artifacts and setting up exhibits; if you like to quilt, come work with the quilters; if you’re handy with tools, come help with minor repairs; or any of the fifty other things that need doing. If you can’t volunteer, please make this a donation year. A few more dollars in the operating budget would be a blessing and you could help!
This is your museum and your historical society...we need you!
Sincerely,
Ellen McCloskey
QUILT SHOW HOSTS 1,100; RAFFLE QUILT FETCHES $2,800
 |
| ABOVE, QUILT SHOW ORGANIZERS (L-R) Nancy Fobert, Char Wirfs and Ann Heisler paused for a moment at the 30th Annual Quilt Show. The Quilt show takes over the entire Museum complex for four days in October, showcasing the art of quilters from Aurora Colony days through the present. Planning for the event takes a full year, so work has already begun on next year's event and we are looking for volunteers. BELOW, Sharon Rindt of Gresham won the "Baskets Galore" raffle quilt. |
|
|
The 30th Annual Quilt Show, entitled "Baskets Galore," attracted almost 1100 visitors during its 5-day run last October.
Although financial reporting is not complete, it appears the event will turn out solidly lucrative.
The Raffle Quilt, won by Sharon Rindt of Gresham, brought in about $2800.
The un-juried show featured nearly 200 quilts, ranging from brand-new to items from the Museum's collection of Aurora Colony bed covers. Featured quilter at the event was applique expert Joy Nichols. The Aurora Colony Handspinners Guild provided spinning and crafts demonstrations, and music was provided Saturday and Sunday afternoons by the Oregon Old-Time Fiddlers.
Next year's Quilt Show theme will be "Americana," and the show is scheduled for October 8-12, 2003. Planning is already getting underway, and the Quilt Show Committee is eagerly seeking volunteers for the 2003 event.
THE MOTHER COLONY: BETHEL TAILOR SHOP REFURBISHED FOR GERMAN HERITAGE FESTIVAL
(This article was forwarded by Robert Steinbach, Kansas City, Missouri, a descendant of the Bethel Colony. It first appeared in the Shelby County Herald, August 23, 2002).
Three teenage workers have been busy for weeks, in a race to clean up, fix up and paint up the 155-year-old German Colony tailor ship at Bethel. Their goal has been to have it ready to house the upcoming Missouri German Heritage Exhibition, which is being held this weekend during the 23rd Annual World Sheep and Crafts Festival.
The project included a variety of tasks, such as painting, carpenter work, general maintenance, mowing and trimming, as well as some clerical work.
|
MASTER TAILOR, Nicholas Will, left, and his wife Catherine Ziegler Will, raised nine children in the first-floor rooms of Bethel's Tailor Shop, where they lived from 1847 until their deaths in 1900 and 1902, respectively. |
German Heritage Exhibition
The Missouri German Heritage Exhibition will take place in Bethel on Saturday, August 31, 10AM-7PM. Exhibits will be housed in the tailor shop museum, as well as at other community sites. The Exhibition will feature German related books, maps, musical instruments, tools and artifacts.
Geneaologist Bob Behnen will offer free consultations, presenting steps toward researching German family heritage.
A German Classical Musicians Knowledge Contest for teenagers ages 12-18 inclusive, will be held at 7PM, with plaques and cash prizes awarded.
The event will also feature German style country cured lamb ham and other foods, as well as entertainment. Other Missouri communities, including Wein, Concordia, Hermann and Cole Camp have been invited to participate, along with the Missouri Division of Tourism.
Tailor Shop History
The old Bethel Colony tailor shop was erected by German colonists around 1846 to serve the dual purpose of housing a family and providing a place for the tailors to work as well as to store their tools and supplies of cloth.
Heavy-duty men's clothing was required for workers engaged in all aspects of farming, carpentry, bricklaying, stone-cutting, wood cutting, tanning and other heavy labor, as well as light manufacturing, such as wagon making and blacksmithing. This clothing had to be produced at Bethel, since the nearest towns with access to this type of merchandise were Hannibal, Mo., or Quincy, Ill., 60 miles distant. Among Bethel's wide variety of craftsmen here were 12 men trained in the tailoring of men's clothing. They were responsible for the production of all the men's suits, coats, work pants, shirts and jackets needed by the Colony’s membership.
These early colonists had no modern way of producing clothing, and in fact because of their isolated location, were required to produce their own cloth. Colony sheep provided the wood, and flax was raised for linen. Combining wool with linen produced a material called linsey-woolsey. This material was used primarily for shirts.
The tailoring operation took place on the second floor of the house, and supplies of cloth were stored on the third floor. A large central hall allowed for free access to the upstairs workrooms. Colonists requesting clothing came in randomly and their old clothing was checked over to confirm the need for replacement. Measurements were taken and the tailors then cut the material using scissors with 18-inch blades. The items were stitched together with needle and thread. The seams were pressed out and the clothing ironed with 8-pound irons, which had been heated in the upstairs fireplaces. The housewives made clothing for the women and children in their homes.
The Colony's master tailor, Nicholas Will, occupied the first floor with his family while guiding the work of his fellow tailors during the thirty-odd years of the organization’s existence. Nicholas Will married Christina Ziegler on Nov. 4, 1847, and it is believed the couple moved into the newly constructed building at that time. They raised nine children there, using one of the large downstairs rooms as a combination kitchen, living room and bedroom for the parents and babies. The other first-floor room across the hall undoubtedly served as bedroom for the older children. The elderly Mr. Will died in the home, sitting in his rocking chair in front of the fire, with his cat on his lap, on October 15, 1900. Mrs. Will continued to live there until her death two years later.
The tailor shop complex is located on the northeast corner of Second Street at Highway 15 (Main Street) in Bethel. The main building is post and beam construction, three stories on a limestone foundation, with a half-basement of brick and limestone. It was originally sided with clapboard with a slit white oak shingle roof. There were 18 small-paned windows on the first two floors. Smaller third floor windows were located either side of the two brick chimneys at the north and south ends of the house. The front and back doors open into a seven-foot wide central hallway with access to the two downstairs rooms as well as the stairway. The woodwork is walnut, the floor oak. Fireplaces on the first floor are approximately four feet wide by three feet tall, with half-size fireplaces sharing the chimney on the second floor. Some minor remodeling has taken place over the years, but the original structure is basically intact. Adjacent to the main building to the northeast is a utility building with a large brick fireplace. East of that are a small brick smokehouse and an outhouse. The original Colony barn directly east of the house is currently being dismantled, due to deterioration.
The Historic Bethel German Colony, Inc., is the present owner of the property. The main building houses the organization’s museum, featuring the walnut pulpit and altar railing from the Colony church, as well as artifacts from the daily lives of the Colonists. Also on display is a private collection owned by Lucille and the late Merrill Bower of Bethel, which includes Colony furnishing, utensils, artwork, clothing, and photographs. k
ACHS VOLUNTEER SOCIAL, ANNUAL MEETING SLATED FOR
DECEMBER 3, 2002
ACHS' annual Volunteer Recognition Dinner and Annual Meeting will be held Tuesday, December 3, at 5PM in Christ Lutheran Church, Aurora.
It is the way the Aurora Colony Historical Society’s Board of Directors and staff honor the volunteers who make the Museum an exceptional place.
Potluck dishes are being solicited, and delectable deserts have been promised.
Volunteers are asked to RSVP the Museum. Transportation to and from home for volunteers can be arranged in advance.
AUCTION PLANNING MEETING SCHEDULED FOR NOVEMBER 25
Plans for the 2003 Auction Dinner are underway, and volunteers are needed in a variety of areas. An organizational meeting is planned for November 25, 2002 at 10AM in the Museum for the May 10, 2003 event.
The auction is the biggest fundraising event on Aurora Colony Historical Society’s calendar, and accounts for about 30% of the society’s income.
Auction planners barely get a breather from one year’s event before they need to get started on the auction for next year.
Help is needed in the following areas: procurement, advertising and promotion, setup & decoration, registration and checkout, ticket selling, and inventory and display.
Call the Museum at 503-678-5754 for information, to volunteer, or to donate items or services for next year’s auction.
TWO-YEAR KEIL CEMETERY RESTORATION NEARS COMPLETION
|
|
|
|
|
TOP: The Keil Cemetery as it appeared in January, 2000. BELOW, as it appeared on November 17, 2002. The restoration of the stones is nearly complete, and ACHS is getting price quotes for a period-appropriate iron fence. Restoration work was given a big boost by donations from Peggy Trei and Wally Southard in 2000 and 2001. A dedication will be planned in Spring of 2003. |
|
BOARD SEEKS VOLUNTEERS FOR STANDING COMMITTEES
The ACHS board is seeking volunteers for all of its standing committees for 2003.
All of the planning and management at Aurora Colony Historical Society is done by committees overseen by the Board of Directors.
The Collections, Program, Property and Special Event committees all currently have vacancies.
Call the Museum, 503-678-5754, for more information. |
|
|
