Official Newspaper of Eddy County since 1883
Official Newspaper of Eddy County since 1883
"From the Old Country" is a new display that features items that folks chose to carry from the old country and into Eddy County. New exhibits such as this bring several artifacts together to tell a larger story about the people who migrated to – and chose to stay in – Eddy County.
This month, the Calendar of Cheer offers us a stanza from the poem "In God's Garden" by English poet Dorothy Frances Blomfield. The calendar was a gift to Laura Pomrank from her students in 1919.
If you've been a reader of Archival Anecdotes, you may have noticed that I like to use metaphors and stories to get a better sense about artifacts, histories, people or places. While it is true I learned how to interpret artifacts in my formal training as an anthropologist, there is also much more of this perspective that I gained from my relatives – many of whom now reside in a cemetery some 900 miles away.
I don't make it back to visit nearly enough, and all too often the reason for a trip includes adding another relative to the cemetery plot. This year I am making a trip to honor the first of my generation to have passed. I'll spend some time with her parents, and in her historic home. I'll get to admire her rose gardens, and spend some time at her graveside.
Each time I return "home" it's different, yet it is the only childhood space I have that is still intact. The cemetery gains more residents, but my great-grandfather and great-grandmother still help me reach back in time. Just a few blocks away from the cemetery is a house built by my great-grandfather and his son-in-law (my grandfather). The house was completed the very same year that my father was born.
The yard has changed, and now the old time victory garden grows things like kiwi fruit and Swiss chard. The trees continue to grow larger and some have been cut down. But the bird bath remains in the same spot, where it marks the graves of several family cats. It was Grandpa who decided that it would please the deceased felines to be able to watch the birds from their resting place.
Everything has a story. Everything. And the stories get richer as we understand more. It's this kind of thinking that leads me to ask questions like, "What if we were to look at the museum as a garden?"
The seeds were planted long ago, some whole shrubs were installed. What if the display cases were like flower beds, each sprouting seeds planted long ago? The photographs are like windows to pathways. Postcards are like windchimes. Paintings and artwork are like banners and flags. Trinkets become lichens and moss, all of which come together with some interesting characters and odd pieces, telling us stories through time.
Please note, this article brings the spring series of Archival Anecdotes to a close. I have much to do now that I can access the museum. I suppose you could say that I will be tending to the garden.
The Eddy County Museum will be open Sundays from 12-3 p.m. between Memorial Day and Labor Day.
