The Bread Maker.
Here’s an interesting little contraption we found as we began to open boxes in our collections room. During quarantine, while sheltering-in-place, many of us donned our aprons, channeled our inner Paul Hollywood and got to baking. Well, if you were living through the last great pandemic of 1918 you might have used this bread maker. It’s a universal bread maker, manufactured around the turn of the 20th century. A hand crank attaches to an internal dough hook, and comes complete with instructions on the lid!
-Alexandra Schindler, Collections Registrar
The Musical Water Pitcher.
You sure don’t see something like this everyday! This unique, whimsical object appears to be a hand-painted glass pitcher with a music box built into the base. Who doesn’t like a little music with their drink? We don’t have much history or provenance (a record of ownership; the place of origin or earliest known history of something) on this object. If you know anything at all about this musical vessel, please share by commenting on our blog. Don’t be shy, sometimes the tiniest details prove the most useful!
-Alexandra Schindler, Collections Registrar
