Restoration Update Not much has happened (visually) in the past few weeks. The plaster has cured and now is hard and ready to work with. Matthew Weil has stripped the picture rails in preparation for their being refinished. After several layers of paint were removed much more detail on the rails can be seen. Most […]
The Frances Willard Memorial Library and Archives was happy to welcome Professor Rui Kohiyama to our Reading Room earlier this month. Professor Kohiyama teaches American and Gender Studies at Tokyo Woman’s Christian University, and has done much research on missionaries and the WCTU in Japan. She has been in email contact with the Archives for […]
The plasterers have made tremendous progress over the past week. Work in the office and hall has been completed and the dining room and the parlor are set to be completed either by the end of this week or early next week. Some walls were so badly damaged due to the house settling that large […]
Ever wonder what Frances Willard carried around with her in the satchel she named “Old Faithful”? Pictured above are a few of the papers she had in it upon her death and includes pamphlets, a newspaper clipping, a letter, and invitations. These items remained there until recently when conservators working on the satchel discovered and removed them. Old Faithful was named […]
When we work in an archive, it is easy to feel like we are treading on hallowed ground—constantly solemn, serious, and afraid to take anything for granted. But during a recent research trip to the Willard Archives, I discovered a surprisingly bizarre, and hilarious, object. This photograph, pasted into the teenage Mary Willard’s unpublished diary […]
Week 2 update: The wallpaper has been fully removed to reveal the original plaster, a mystery opening, and a previously unknown wallpaper pattern. The completion of this work also means we have to say “goodbye” to Mike and Zach. It has been a pleasure working with them. The plasterers from Bob Jirasek Plastering have started […]
The restoration work has begun! The furniture has been moved out of all 4 rooms being restored in Rest Cottage (Parlor, Entry Hall, Office, and Dining Room) and the wallpaper is being stripped from the walls. (Over time, we will be introducing more proper restoration terminology, but let’s start out simply, shall we?) Already we […]
The Woman’s Christian Temperance Union is best known for its efforts to rid the world of alcohol. But one of its most successful campaigns – one that shapes laws in every state to this day – focused not on “demon rum” but on sex, specifically, the age of consent to sexual intercourse. While conducting research […]
Discovered in the Frances Willard Papers in the Willard Archives on Halloween by a visiting researcher—who was looking for something else entirely– this note was written to Frances Willard by Lizzie Borden (yes, the Lizzie Borden who was accused of murdering her father and step-mother with an axe). The note, sent from Fall River, Mass., […]
The story of the Willard Centenary Souvenir Map One of our favorite artifacts is this 36”x26” rectangle of cream-colored cotton, printed in brown with a map of the United States as of 1938. If you look closely, you can see that most of the states contain one or several dots. Each one indicates the […]