The “Realest” Artifacts in Our Museum Collection

Estimated reading time: 6 minutes

Please welcome guest author Anne G’Fellers-Mason. Mason is Executive Director of the Heritage Alliance of Northeast Tennessee and Southwest Virginia. The Heritage Alliance is based out of Jonesborough, Tennessee, and is dedicated to the preservation of the architectural, historical, and cultural heritage of our region and to providing educational experiences related to history and heritage for a wide range of audiences.

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      A large part of my work at the Heritage Alliance is making history accessible to people. Too many individuals view history as this foreign land full of events that happened long ago and are seemingly detached from the modern era, but nothing could be further from the truth. The study of the past is a study of the present and an insight into the future.

Artifacts are a great way to make this connection and that’s why so many of our museums are full of them. But simply setting an artifact on a shelf to gather dust or shoving it in a case is not enough. It is our job as historians to interpret the artifact. The best museum exhibits are the ones that tell a story, that help our visitors connect to the past in a meaningful way.

      In November/December we usually put together a display of holiday items for the Chester Inn State Historic Site and Museum. We include our multitude of holiday postcards from the turn of the 20^th century, advertisements from local stores, and letters written to Santa Claus in 1905 by Martha Baxter. These items are easily recognizable, and even though they are over 100 years old, people can identify with them.

These items are especially useful in discussing ongoing traditions with children. In her letter, a young Martha asked Santa for, “. . .a doll 17 inches high and dark hair. A toy automobile and a horn or two and a little book with pictures in it and tissue paper over it to draw on – a rubber ball, a little doll cradle six inches long and a whistle – some good games, and some books – a ring. Two packages of chewing gum and some candy. Please bring me a Christmas tree.” A very precise list. Martha knew what she wanted.

     Of course, in Martha’s day most things were ordered out of the Sears and Roebuck catalog. Today, we order online. Some of her presents might have been made by family members, too. Three of my favorite items in our collection are handmade toys. Well, two of them are handmade. I have my suspicions about the third, but they are all precious to me and I am always excited to see them on display.

They were all donated to the museum in 1982 by Mrs. Beatrice Brown Webb. They don’t have a lot of information with them, unfortunately, but their appearance alone tells a story of love. I don’t know if the two Teddy Bears and the horse belonged to Beatrice or not. She donated several items to our museum and many of those items came from her family. Some of them belonged to C.A. Brown and Ethel Humphreys Brown. Did Ethel make any of these toys? Was she the one who played with them? We can only wonder.

      The two Teddy Bears are dated 1912 and 1907. (I’m not sure which is which.) They are quite different bears. One has molded straw for arms and legs, and you can see its joints where it’s come apart. Its fur is worn in patches, but it still has the hint of a smile. The smaller bear is dressed in what could be considered farmer or “peasant” attire. It has tape on its paws.

The horse also has a lot of tape on it, and I wonder if it was made by the same person. Maybe the horse and the small bear go together? The horse was supposedly made later, in 1944. One of its eyes is hanging down, but its other attachments continue to hold fast. The horse has a handmade saddle with all of these saddle bags and what looks like a sheath for a sword. It is specific in its design. Was it based on certain type of horse? Is this horse going on an expedition? To me, I feel like this horse is always ready to climb Mount Everest.

      Whenever I look at these toys, my mind is filled with a thousand possible stories and memories that could be associated with them. It’s so obvious that they were played with and loved and that someone tried to repair them when they broke. I can see the child playing with them. I can see the child crying when they tore. Maybe the child played doctor and tried to mend them? I could write books about these toys. I love watching visitors, too, when they come to the museum, see these toys, and start to talk about their own childhood memories. That is the best part of being a historian.

These three toys from our collection also remind me of The Velveteen Rabbit by Margery Williams Bianco. At one point, the Velveteen Rabbit asks one of the other toys how you become “real.” The other toy replies, “It takes a long time. That’s why it doesn’t happen often to people who break easily, or have sharp edges, or who have to be carefully kept. Generally, by the time you are Real, most of your hair has been loved off, and your eyes drop out and you get loose in the joints and very shabby.” I would say these two bears and this horse have become real. They were certainly real to their owner(s) years ago and they are real to us today.

More articles on children’s stuffed toys:

Heritage Farm Museum Adds New Doll Exhibit(Opens in a new browser tab)

They did have little dolls for the girls(Opens in a new browser tab)