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MHSCOLLECTIONS Every Object

MARCIA G. ANDERSON WITH Tells a Story COLLECTIONS AND SITES STAFF

I picture you seated in a comfortable chair at home, reading. As you settle in, take a moment to reflect on the value of objects in your everyday life and in the telling of history. Look around and note the things that hold stories for you, that connect to your past and play a part in your life. Often, it is an object’s story—not its intrinsic value—that pushes you to display it or keep it always close. Objects link us to the past in a way that no other medium can. People may give away file drawers full of business or personal records, books, photographs, and other printed or written material mainly because the infor- mation can be duplicated or saved in a number of formats. But when asked to consider letting go of a chair used by their great-grandparents, it’s another story. That chair is a tangible object, and its owner can share an intimate experience with previous own- ers or users by sitting in it or simply resting a hand on the back rail. The Minnesota Historical Society’s founders, con- cerned about preserving the history that they were making in the midnineteenth century, began collect- ing objects as soon as the institution was founded in 1849. At its annual meeting two years later, its presi- dent, Governor Alexander Ramsey, shared the vision: A Historical Society in a land of yesterday! Such an announcement would indeed naturally excite at the first glance incredulity and wonder in the general mind. Well might it be exclaimed, “the country which has no past, can have no history”; with force could it be asked, “where are your records?” and if we even had them, it would not be surprising if it were still demanded, “what those records could pos- sibly record?—what negotiations?—what legisla- tion?—what progress in art or intellect could they possibly exhibit? Canst thou gather figs from thorns, or grapes from thistles?”1 Buckskin coat with quill embroidery, once owned by Those early acquisitions reflect their collectors’ Governor Alexander Ramsey and donors’ ideas of what was important in Minne-

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sota’s history and culture at the time Another story included here and most are no longer relevant to and, as a result, relate stories of indi- shows what three-dimensional ob- Minnesota history or to the kinds of viduals from the majority culture— jects can offer when other informa- stories that museums preserve and primarily men. Later generations of tion is lacking. The quilt squares share or that historians will investi- curators have widened their view of that friends gave to Hamilton and gate today and in the future. Even what’s collectable, what’s valuable, Sarah Jane Clark(e) when they left so, some of these acquisitions do and what represents the broadest Pennsylvania in 1852 for their new reflect what types of things excited experiences of Minnesota’s popula- home near Shakopee are the only people, informed political and per- tion. Newspaper accounts from the record we have, at present, of these sonal decisions, or provided a place territorial period, photographs, cen- settlers. If they had been in a battle, in the world context for those who sus records, and personal letters and we’d have dates, illustrations, or, were charting new territory for journals give us some insight. None- perhaps, newspaper accounts. Be- themselves and their families. theless, many of the participants in cause these simple pieces of hand- this volatile period of Minnesota’s sewn and signed fabric were pre- On the other hand, much of what history—itinerants moving through served, we can ask why the Clarks early Minnesota Historical Society the territory, small business owners traded the life of a merchant’s fami- staff collected and documented was or manufacturers, Indians and other ly for that of farmers, what they important and contributes signifi- people of color, rural folk, women, looked like, and why they never cantly to our understanding of the children, and families—were under- assembled a quilt from the squares. past. For example, Mrs. Henry recorded in their time and remain We know that community was im- Jackson-Hinchley of Mankato do- underdocumented. As a result, we portant to them and their friends in nated St. Paul’s first post office, a continue to look for new, imagina- Pennsylvania; clearly, they sought to small, crudely made, nondescript tive ways to recreate the stories of retain that sense of belonging in pine box with 12 pigeonholes for these people’s lives. their new home, as they and their sorting mail. It was used between descendants saved the squares for 1842 and 1849 by her husband, Hen- The Society’s museum collections well over 100 years. Questions and ry, who served as postmaster. And in include approximately 250,000 deductions like these make us better 1890 a St. Paulite, Capt. Charles H. three-dimensional historical objects historians. Beaulieu, donated a fire steel used and nearly 1 million archaeological Some of the objects preserved by by “Aysh-ke-bug-e-co-zhay (Flat artifacts, with good representation the territorial movers and shakers Mouth) Head Chief of the ‘Pillager’ of the fur-trade era, Indian culture, and cared for by the early museum Chippewas.” The documentation of the Henry H. Sibley and Lac qui staff reflect an inherent flaw in doc- these two pieces is substantial for Parle sites, early entrepreneurial umenting one’s own culture: It’s the time period, although curators activity, and the precious family trea- hard to be objective. We tend to today would have asked more ques- sures brought here by territorial im- acquire things of personal interest. tions and sought photographs, jour- migrants. Many of these things can As a result, history museums have nals, and direct quotes regarding provide a tangible connection to many objects now referred to as usage, the users, and the makers. lesser-known people from that time. relics and curios. In the early years, One of the most significant ob- Sometimes objects come to the the Minnesota Historical Society’s jects in the Society’s collections from museum without much information, gifts included these 1856 donations the territorial period is a rare, quill- and curatorial and conservation from Samuel Whiting of Winona: decorated leather coat once owned staff must serve as historical detec- “Leaf from the large Banian Tree in by Governor Ramsey. Dating to the tives. By analyzing elements such as the East India Co.’s Garden, in Cal- mid-1800s, it is modeled on the west- the materials, manufacture, and use cutta, 1853” and “A Rose Geranium ern style of cloth coat worn by Euro- patterns and then tying together the Leaf, from the Grave of Napoleon I, peans of the time. The Ojibwe, Cree, facts available in other resources, we at St. Helena, together with some Eastern Sioux, and Red River métis can often assemble the story of an poetry in reference to it.” An un- made this type of garment, and simi- object and its makers and users, known supporter donated “A leaf lar ones are portrayed in illustrations placing them all in a broader histor- from the ‘Old Charter Oak,’ after of treaty signings and other signifi- ical context. Such is the case in the the tree fell, August 21st, 1856.” cant events of the period. story below of Sarah A. Sibley’s Many of these donations were lost Ramsey’s granddaughters, Laura ermine muff and tippet. when the capitol burned in 1881, and Anita Furness, donated this coat

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to the Society in 1943; unfortunate- the Minnesota story as well as as- as well. William Golcher, born in ly, records describe it only as a white pects that diverge from prevailing England in 1834, emigrated to Phil- buckskin scout coat (Sioux) and say ethnic, religious, political, or socio- adelphia in 1840 with his father, a nothing about how it was used, why economic norms. We hope that the prominent gunsmith. Under his it was saved, who made it, or where objects and their stories below bring tutelage, Golcher mastered the art it was from. People have postulated each of you a meaningful encounter and by age 18 became foreman of that Ramsey bought it as a souvenir with the past, one that is relevant to his father’s shop. In 1855 Golcher of his role in negotiating an Indian your everyday lives and your person- moved west and opened his own treaty, but it is just as likely that it al reflections on history. establishment in St. Paul with asso- was made and presented to him as ciate James Simpson. a gift at a treaty signing or a similar —Marcia G. Anderson Golcher & Simpson produced occasion. Whatever its origins, cura- firearms suited to the rigors of fron- torial and conservation staff were tier life, including the half-stock able to date the jacket by style and HUNTING RIFLE plains rifle and the heavy double construction and can elaborate its shotgun. The quality of the firm’s The settlement of Minnesota’s fron- story by determining how the skin workmanship was renowned, and the tier coincided with the nationwide was prepared, identifying the animal partnership soon developed into one transformation of gunsmithing from source of quills and the dye used to of the most prolific gun trades in a craft to an industry. In the decades color them, and searching for more the Northwest. Simpson left in 1863, before the Civil War, the production clues in illustrations and art of the but Golcher operated a business in of firearms by individual artisans period as well as in the voluminous St. Paul until 1878. He later moved resulted in unique weapons with records of Minnesota’s first gover- to San Francisco, where he managed stylistic trademarks representing a nor. Coats of this era, method of a gun shop until his death in 1886. specific region. After 1860, large- manufacture, and quality are exceed- Golcher & Simpson crafted this scale manufacturing, aided by the ingly rare. Ramsey and his family muzzle-loading hunting rifle for distribution system of the railroads, knew that—and we can somewhat St. Paul entrepreneur Auguste Louis began to displace independent confidently assume that they pre- Larpenteur in the late 1850s. A mag- craftsmen, and local characteristics served it because it has some tie to nificent example of custom-made in firearms slowly vanished. Minnesota history. work from one of Minnesota’s pio- Most of the firearms used in Min- While many of the collections neering gunsmiths, this .45-caliber nesota Territory were handmade have been assembled primarily weapon features platinum and silver products from other regions and through donations, the Society has fittings and a walnut stock adorned countries including New England, more recently taken an active role in with the initials of its fortunate France, Germany, and Sweden. Min- searching out objects that illustrate owner in nickel silver. nesota’s early gunsmiths were often the variety of the state and region. transplanted from other countries —Adam Scher While it is unlikely that we will find significant items from the territorial period today, the last 25 years of diligent work have further shaped the already rich collections, adding depth and diversity. As leading material- culture specialist Thomas J. Schlereth aptly wrote, “The artifacts made and used by a people are not only a basic expression of that people; they are, like culture itself, a necessary means of man’s self-fulfillment.”2 The Min- nesota Historical Society builds its collections to illustrate the broad and commonly shared themes of

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MOCCASINS August 1848 the couple, with their modest belongings, had settled into In the years preced- the elm-bark village where they ing 1849, most Da- taught young Dakota women and kota villages along men from Many Rattlesnakes’ band. the St. Peter’s School ledgers show that the num- (Minnesota) and ber of pupils varied greatly accord- Mississippi Rivers ing to hunting and gathering cycles, contained a Chris- and the Aitons occasionally served tian mission school with the Williamsons at nearby sponsored by the Amer- Kaposia. Despite joys and fellowship, ican Board of Commission- however, the trials and cultural ers for Foreign Missions. For mis- alienation of frontier life were con- sionaries, it was not an easy decision SLATE BOARD siderable, and after less than three to accept an assignment in Indian AND PENCILS years Nancy, having survived fre- territory. Writing from her parents’ quent bouts of homesickness and These slate pencils and the slate home in Quincy, Illinois, in Febru- the deaths of two children, died of board fragment were discovered in ary 1848, young Nancy Hunter com- pulmonary consumption. 1940 during excavations of the forted her betrothed, the Reverend John Aiton remarried in 1855, Alexander G. Huggins house site at John F. Aiton: “How could Provi- this time to young Ohioan Mary western Minnesota’s Lac qui Parle dence speak more plainly . . . it Briggs, a missionary at Kaposia. From mission. Huggins, according to his- seems to speak ‘Labor for the service there, the couple saved a pair torian Theodore C. Blegen in Min- Indian.’ Their souls are precious.” of center-seam moccasins now in the nesota: A History of the State, was a “lay Hunter’s fiancé wrote back in March Sibley Historic Site collection. The teacher of farming” who traveled to from his Cincinnati seminary: “I unworn moccasins have smoked- Lac qui Parle with Dr. Thomas S. have been anxiously revolving our leather uppers, fine silk ribbonwork Williamson in 1835 to establish the going to the Sioux, in my mind. . . . on the vamps and cuffs, and white mission for “Christianizing the My own physical courage is very seed-bead edging on the low cuffs. Sioux.” Richard R. Sackett conduct- small. Yet the Dr. [Thomas S. Wil- The Aitons served the Dakota at ed the excavations for the Works liamson] thinks that firmness might Yellow Medicine and the Hazelwood Projects Administration. supply its place; but I doubt it.” Republic before settling on a farm It is unusual to find 19 slate writ- The Aitons finally decided to near St. Peter. After her husband’s ing tools at one site. The large num- accept a mission assignment among death in 1892, Mary moved to Min- ber suggests that school classes may the Dakota at Red Wing village. By neapolis, where in 1908 she organ- have met in the residence. The slate ized the Captain Richard Somers board fragment has lines scored on Chapter of the Daughters of the one side to guide the writer and the American Revolution. In 1912 and word “Wapanton” (Wahpeton?) in- 1915, Aiton contributed the scribed on the other in script. The moccasins and other keep- Wahpeton division of the Dakota sakes to the DAR’s lived near Traverse des Sioux, Lac newly opened Sibley qui Parle, and Big Stone Lake. Ac- House Museum. cording to Helen Tanner’s Atlas of Great Lakes Indian History, Traverse —Lisa A. des Sioux was an important river Krahn crossing. Lac qui Parle was probably the best-known “civilizing” experi- ment among the Dakota in the 1830s; missionaries there received the support of the influential trader Joseph Renville. —Charles O. Diesen

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Fashion drawings in Godey’s Lady’s Less than a year later the Minne- Book for the late 1830s depict er- sota witnessed the first encounter mine winter outerwear accessories, between armored ships in a battle including tippets, collars, cuffs, and that would revolutionize naval war- muffs, and Sarah probably instruct- fare. On March 8, 1862, it was serv- ed a furrier to imitate these popu- ing near Hampton Roads, Virginia, lar designs. The beautiful work- when it was attacked by the C.S.S. manship of an unknown Detroit Virginia (formerly the Merrimac), an or Washington City furrier can armored Confederate vessel. The be seen in the watermelon- Virginia’s opening rounds damaged pink silk linings, hand-- the Minnesota’s main mast, and after- crocheted button closures, wards it ran aground. It was spared a and careful decorative second attack because the Virginia arrangement of the tails. drew too much water to advance The result is a set of within firing range. Nightfall halted accessories that would the engagement, and in the morn- be the envy of any ing the U.S. Navy’s ironclad Monitor fashion-conscious upper- arrived to battle the Virginia. The class woman, east or west. two fired dozens of shots into each These unique objects other without measurable effect, MUFF AND TIPPET were donated to the Sibley Historic demonstrating that wooden vessels An ermine muff and tippet, or cape, Site collection in 1948 by Frances W. like the Minnesota would never be offer a real-world example of the Sibley, who inherited them from her able to contend successfully with physical and cultural distance trav- aunt, Sarah A., after her death in armored ships. Witnessing this first eled by furs in the Indian trade. Hen- Detroit in 1918. The ermine ensem- battle between ironclads, Minnesota ry Sibley of the American Fur Com- ble has yellowed somewhat with age, commander Colonel Gideon J. Van pany sent the furs to his youngest sis- but very few premium trade furs like Brunt wrote: “Never before was any- ter, Sarah Alexandrine (not to be these still exist, especially in such thing like it dreamed of by the great- confused with his wife Sarah Jane), good condition and with such an and the 19-year-old had this fur en- evocative history. semble created for an 1840 visit to —Lisa A. Krahn Washington City (Washington, D.C.) with her father, Michigan supreme court justice Solomon Sibley. SHIP’S WHEEL Each pure-white ermine pelt used AND BELL in the muff and tippet has a showy dark-tipped tail; this is the winter Christened in Washington, D.C., in camouflage coat of the American 1855 with water from the Minnesota least weasel. The many tiny skins River, the U.S.S. Minnesota was required for Sarah’s ensemble, prob- among the last of the great wooden ably captured one by one in Indian warships. One of the largest in the snares in the late winter of 1838–39, U.S. Navy when constructed, the were scraped clean of flesh by Indian Minnesota was a 285-foot, 3,200-ton, women. The excellent quality of the steam-driven frigate armed with 40 furs probably brought the hunter guns. Its first tour of duty took it to the maximum (although still small) Asia as part of the East India Squad- value in trade goods that spring. The ron from 1857 to 1859. With the fur company shipped thousands of outbreak of the Civil War, it became packs of animal furs to the Leipzig the flagship of the Atlantic blockade fur markets each summer, but Sibley flotilla that in June 1861 captured most likely diverted these premium the first Confederate warship, the pelts directly to his sister. Savannah.

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est enthusiast in maritime warfare.” What we know of Lavinia is limit- However, by the end of the nine- ed to her 1835 birth date, her 1858 teenth century, armored vessels marriage date, her five daughters’ would comprise most of the world’s birth dates, recorded in census rec- modern navies. ords, and the death dates of three The Minnesota was withdrawn infants, found in Hastings Gazette from active service in 1865, and for obituaries. We can guess, though, the next 35 years it served as a train- that as the wife of a prominent citi- ing vessel. In 1901 Cass Gilbert, zen and a resident of the only octa- architect of the Minnesota capitol gon house in Hastings, she must building, persuaded state commis- have indeed been a fashionable sioners to petition the federal gov- woman. ernment to donate an artifact from The muslin day dress with its the ship for display. Three years flounces, paisley print, and tiny- later Congress authorized the dona- waisted full skirt was donated by the tion of the steering wheel and bell couple’s daughter in 1941. to the Minnesota Historical Society. —Linda McShannock Measuring about five feet in dia- meter, the double wooden wheel required two helmsmen to operate. SATCHEL As many as six sailors might be needed to man it in bad weather. Family legend has it that Samuel The cast brass bell, which is 30 inch- Ashley Higbee carried everything he es in diameter and weighs about 300 needed for his new life in Minnesota pounds, bears the Minnesota’s name, Territory in this handmade wooden the initials of the Washington navy satchel. The inscription inside it yard where the ship was built, and where Norrish had recently become reads: “Uncle Ashley’s satchel. He the year the bell was dedicated, 1856. a partner in the J. L. Thorne and carried this on a stick over his shoul- Co. dry goods business in the up- der when he came from Bloomfield, —Adam Scher and-coming town of Hastings, Min- Wisconsin to Minnesota. He walked nesota. Lavinia may or may not have the whole distance. . . . when they been a lady of “ample fortune,” but came in 1858 and bought land-–the COTTON DRESS she certainly had ready access to old Grannis farm at Vernon Center.” This paisley-printed, sheer cotton fashionable English dress goods Higbee had moved first from summer dress was worn by a young from her husband’s store. Claremont, New Hampshire, to woman, probably for her wedding Though little information sur- Wisconsin with his sister and broth- or the social activities preceding it. vives about Lavinia, records show er-in-law, Caroline and Samuel Rice Godey’s Lady’s Book for April 1855 that John Norrish was a well-known Grannis. Sometime during 1858, the describes fashionable, flounced businessman and public official dur- year of Minnesota’s statehood, Hig- dresses and confirms what this ing the 40 years he lived in Hastings. bee set out for this small Blue Earth particular garment tells us about Born in 1828, he emigrated to County settlement in search of un- Lavinia Tarr, for whom it was prob- America in 1852 and found his way broken sod. Higbee’s sister and ably made: “A handsome flounced to Hastings by 1857. There he not brother-in-law followed in 1859, dress is always more expensive than only stocked a “superior line” of and his 21-year-old nephew and one with a plain skirt, and ladies of dress goods, but he became a mem- namesake, Samuel Higbee Grannis, ample fortune are apt to give a pref- ber of the state legislature in 1876 arrived in 1860. erence to what only a limited num- and 1881, director of the state A shoemaker by trade, Higbee ber can afford to wear.” prison, and director of the state probably made this satchel himself. Tarr married John Freeman Nor- agricultural society. He easily fits the Constructed of wood, reinforced rish, both of Devonshire, England, profile of a man who could provide with metal straps, and covered with in May 1858. Immediately afterward for a lady used to dressing in the oil-impregnated cloth sometimes they sailed for the United States, height of fashion. called leatherette, the crude satchel

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TIFFANY CUP places brought from the East and a In marked contrast to the separate dining room for the fami- handmade satchel brought to ly’s servants.4 the territory, this fancy silver The lovely sterling-silver Tiffany cup made by New York’s presti- cup dates to 1853–54, based on the gious Tiffany and Company mark on the bottom. At some time also found a home in early in the 1850s, Rice’s fortunes on the Minnesota. While we know rise, he might have given the cup to little about how the cup— his wife as a pres- engraved with the name ent. As presti- “Mattie” in old English let- gious then as ters—arrived in the territo- it is today, ry, we can speculate based Tiffany made on what we know about the heavier gauge family that owned it. wares with a Edmund Rice met and higher per- married Anna Maria “Mattie” centage of sil- Acker in Kalamazoo in 1848. ver than most Both were members of families of its competi- that had migrated to Michigan tors. Decorated from the East, she from New York in the raised-relief and he from Vermont. The next repousse style, the cup is year, like other young couples at the richly patterned by hand hammer- time, they headed west where land ing from the inside. Also distinctive was cheap and opportunities is Tiffany’s “butler” finish, which seemed promising.3 resembles the finish achieved after In a 1953 reminiscence, years of hand polishing. their daughter Maria wrote —Kendra Dillard that the family had lived in a log cabin on Third Street (now Kellogg Boulevard) in WOMAN’S St. Paul until their home on WORKTABLE Trout Brook, a small creek running into the Mississippi “We remember, with all allowable River northeast of the city, was built pride, that the first payment on the in 1862. Trout Brook was the home- lumber for the first schoolhouse stead of the Rice family and their 11 [in St. Paul] was made with money could hold scarcely a change of children until the land was vacated earned with the needle by the ladies clothing. in 1882 for the Northern Pacific [sewing society],” wrote school- In 1960 Samuel Grannis’s daugh- Railway. teacher Harriet E. Bishop in her ter Edith donated the satchel to the Edmund Rice operated a law of- reminiscence of territorial Minnesota Historical Society. The fice in St. Paul until 1855. Two years Minnesota. For the early and mid- family’s saga is recounted in a 1962 later he became president of the nineteenth century woman, sewing book in her father’s own words. New Minnesota and Pacific Railroad and was at once part of her household Hampshire to Minnesota: Memoirs of its successors, which built Minneso- duties and a means of artistic ex- Samuel Higbee Grannis (1839—1933), ta’s first rail line, from St. Paul to pression. Some historians contend in the MHS library, is unique in its St. Anthony, in 1862. His circum- that needlework was also political: details yet similar to the stories told stances had improved enough for “Women used their sewing and by thousands of families who arrived him to purchase a 45-acre tract at a quilting skills to assert their agency in Minnesota from the East during cost of almost $9.00 per acre and to in the world outside the home, to the territorial period. build an eight-bedroom, three-bath claim and secure for themselves —Kendra Dillard house complete with marble fire- more public and political space.”5

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and tools, the worktable may have circumstances, there is no doubt been the first piece of fine furniture that this worktable symbolizes the designed specifically for females. vital place that needlework held not Some tables doubled as small desks, only in Bishop’s public and private including compartments for writ- lives but in those of many nineteenth- ing instruments and baize-cov- century women. ered writing surfaces. —Patty Dean Bishop’s worktable, which dates from about 1850, is typi- cal. The box is veneered maho- DRAGOON’S gany, and the hinged lid opens to JACKET AND CAP reveal a shallow well lined with birds-eye maple and originally par- As Minnesota moved toward becom- titioned to hold sewing tools and ing a territory, a young soldier rode implements. The mirror inside the through Mexico City with General lid was probably used to increase Winfield Scott’s victorious American the amount of reflected candle or army. James Bell was escorting his gas light. Most worktables also fea- celebrated commander on the route tured a pleated-fabric storage bag to Veracruz when a fall with his hanging beneath the box, but horse put him in the hospital. Soon Bishop’s has a veneered semi- mustered out of the army, Bell cylindrical drawer instead. moved to the wilds of Wisconsin and A label haphazardly stamped Minnesota Territory, working as a numerous times inside the lid riverboat pilot, among other jobs. and drawer reads “P. Schreiber/ Years later, his family donated the Manufacturer and Designer/in Fur- cap and jacket, pocket pistol, and niture and Bedding/Broadway [illegi- playing cards used in the Mexican Such seems to be the case with ble].” It may have indicated where War to the Minnesota Historical Bishop, who called the activities of the piece was made. Did the work- Society. Private Bell hardly could the Circle of Industry, as the city’s table accompany Bishop on her conceive that his familiar old uni- early ladies’ sewing society was for- riverboat journey to St. Paul in 1847? form would one day be unique. mally known, a vehicle of “rational, Or was it a gift from her new-found The Second Regiment of U.S. social pleasure” that would “elevate Minnesota friends? Whatever the Dragoons, Bell’s outfit, had been the moral tone of society.”6 Bishop organized for the Florida campaign was also the founding secretary- of 1836, fighting the Seminole treasurer for the sewing society of Indians there until 1842. Deployed the First Baptist Church. It is west, most of the regiment later fitting that one of the few tangi- joined General Scott’s Mexico City ble reminders of her life is campaign in 1847. After parti- her worktable, donated to cipating in the Battle of the Minnesota Historical Cerro Gordo and the Society in 1937 by Harriet assaults on Mexico Merrill Clifton of City, the Second Dra- Evanston, Illinois. goons remained The worktable as a piece on duty in the of furniture, introduced by country as part of English designer Thomas the hard-pressed Sheraton in his Drawing-- U.S. Army of Book (1791–94), quickly Occupation. became popular in America. Enlisted men Usually made of mahogany and such as James providing storage for needlework Bell received one

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woolen winter-service uniform jacket at the actual clothing worn by a per year, along with a similar but un- member of the flamboyant Second trimmed cotton drilling jacket, is- Dragoons. Important to sued seasonally. Uniforms were nor- military historians, the uni- mally made or inspected at Schuyl- form contrasts significantly kill Arsenal outside Philadelphia. with the never issued, regu- Bell’s jacket, however, falls far lar-army garments of the below usual government standards. Mexican War period in External edges at the front center the National Museum and bottom are unfinished, with of American body and facing pieces simply laid History. together and coarsely stitched. The —Stephen E. Osman cream-colored domet flannel lining is crudely whipped together. Facings are roughly cut and unevenly at- QUILT tached. The external pocket flaps BLOCKS are false, and the narrow yellow worsted binding is sewn with wide Friendship quilts running and felling stitches indis- with names of family criminately. and friends cross-stitched The dates of Bell’s service in Mex- or written in ink on the cen- ico may explain the jacket’s poor ter blocks of each square quality. In fall 1847 the acting quar- were popular parting gifts to termaster general of Scott’s army families moving west. These quilts had set up an extensive system in were most popular during the 1840s Mexico City to manufacture uniforms. and 1850s, a time of great senti- Not until the next year, after Bell’s mentality, when many families discharge, were better-quality Phila- moved to land newly opened to a farmer. The unassembled quilt delphia-made uniforms available. settlement. blocks remained in the family This forage cap is the only known The autograph-cross or album- until donated to MHS by a great- example with its original colored block pattern was a favorite choice granddaughter in 1986. branch-band intact. Adopted in for friendship quilts. This set of —Linda McShannock 1839, this style proved popular, at autographed quilt blocks contains least compared to the leather forage signatures by Pennsylvania relatives cap it replaced. The folding cloth and friends of the Hamilton Clark(e) CARIOLE cape of Bell’s cap was carefully cut family, which left the community in off, and the lining and padding, 1852 for Minnesota Territory. The “During the winter of 1851–52 I pro- chin strap, and original side buttons blocks are signed in ink, and some ceeded to England, having travelled are no longer present. The Second include dates and place names. in snow shoes from Athabasca to Dragoons sometimes removed their Each of the 37 squares is made of a St. Paul’s, a distance of 1,730 statute caps’ padding to create a more rak- different cotton print, the variety of miles. Being aided by dogs for the ish appearance. colors and designs available in the last four hundred and fifty miles, The decorative yellow band of 1850s reflecting the increased out- which . . . were accomplished in ten 1½-inch worsted tape, crudely bast- put of New England textile mills. days.” So wrote Dr. John Rae, noted ed to the top and bottom of the cap These one- and two-color, small- explorer associated with the Hud- band, clearly shows the shadow of patterned prints were used for chil- son’s Bay Company, to an unknown and hole from the attachment loop dren’s clothing and women’s every- recipient in February 1856. Rae ar- of the now-missing company letter day dresses. rived in St. Paul on February 14, “G.” Use of the colored band is well Hamilton, his wife, Sarah Jane, 1852, having traversed the territory documented in paintings of troops and their six children settled in from Pembina by dog team. He was serving in Mexico. Eagle Creek Township in Scott on his way back to England from the Bell’s uniform offers a rare look County, where Hamilton became Arctic Ocean, where he had searched

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in vain for the ill-fated exploring and other documents,” perhaps Christmas 1953, Edmund Rice and Fam- party of Sir John Franklin.7 explaining an apparent delay in ily Papers, MHS. The mode of travel that Rae donating the sled. This seems to be 4 Maria Rice Dawson, “A Letter to My referred to in his letter was dog- corroborated by J. Fletcher Williams Grand Children About My Childhood sleighing or dog-sledging, a familiar in his 1876 History of the City of Saint Home, ‘Trout Brook,’” typescript, 1953, and necessary form of transporta- Paul, where he noted, “The ‘dog- Rice papers. 5 tion during Minnesota’s snowy sledge’ used by Dr. Rae, in his long Elaine Hedges, Pat Ferrero, and Julie Silber, Hearts and Hands: Women, winters. The route between St. Paul journey over the snow, was present- Quilts, and American Society (Nashville: ed by him to the Historical Society, and Pembina, where the popula- Rutledge Hill Press, 1996), quoted in tion rivaled that of St. Paul and as a memento, and may still be seen Winterthur Portfolio, Winter 1988, p. 226. St. Anthony, had no stage line until at their rooms.” 6 Bishop, Floral Home, or First Years of 1859. Carioles, or one-person, flat- While we may never know defini- Minnesota (New York: Sheldon, Blakeman bottomed sleds, often were the only tively, but this cariole still evokes and Co., 1857), 101. alternative to travel on snowshoes. rugged days long past. 7 John Rae, John Rae’s Correspondence Resembling an enclosed toboggan, with the Hudson’s Bay Company on Arctic —Kendra Dillard these dog-drawn vehicles probably Exploration, 1844–55 (London: Hudson’s originated among Indian people.8 Bay Record Society, 1953), xcv, xcvi, Whether or not the Minnesota quoted in Curtis L. Roy to Alan Wool- Historical Society’s cariole is indeed worth, Feb. 24, 1982, museum collections the one that carried Dr. Rae to NOTES accession file 1981.11.25, Minnesota His- St. Paul in 1852 is speculative. The torical Society, St. Paul; The Minnesotian 1 (St. Paul), Feb. 21, 1852. 9-foot wood-and-hide “Red River Alexander Ramsey, “Our Field of Historical Research,” in Minnesota Histor- 8 Here and below, J. Fletcher Williams, train” presented to the historical ical Society Collections 1 (St. Paul, 1872): A History of the City of Saint Paul to 1875 society by William Gates Le Duc in 43–44. (1876; reprint, St. Paul: Minnesota His- November 1855 could be Rae’s sled. 2 Thomas J. Schlereth, comp. and ed., torical Society Press, 1983), 322; Proceed- It was in that year that the organiza- Material Culture Studies in America (Nash- ings of the Minnesota Historical Society, from tion gained a “hall set apart in the ville, Tenn.: American Association for Its Organization, Nov. 15, 1849, to the Ad- Capitol . . . properly furnished with State and Local History, 1982), 164. mission of the State, May 11, 1858 (St. Paul: shelves for the reception of books 3 Maria Rice Dawson, manuscript, Ramaley and Cunningham, 1878), 12.

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