I Moustache You for a Different Cup

            Despite the fact that we have advanced so much in the twenty-first century with technology, it seems we may have left some well thought out inventions in the past. Although I say we left this nifty invention behind us, perhaps some people are still making good use of the moustache cups.

            What would one do if offered a spot of tea after tediously caring for their moustache and applying wax to hold their facial hair in place? Well, rather than turn down a freshly brewed pot of tea, gentlemen could make use of a moustache cup. A moustache cup served to protect the wax from melting off the gentlemen’s moustaches, or simply from ruining the moustache with warm liquid. I suppose women could also use it to protect their faces from steaming liquid, but they were geared more towards protecting the moustaches of fashionable men.

            From the outside, moustache cups resemble any other ordinary tea cup, but the inside is a little different. A small semi-circular lip sits across part of the opening, leaving a small space in between the lip and the cup side. The small space allowed for the passage of liquid, while the lip served to protect gentlemen’s moustaches. Since the lip is only over a small portion of the opening, more towards one side than the other, it forces the cup to become right-handed or left-handed. Our moustache cup is white with raised floral designs in gold luster. The protective lip forces our cup to be for right-handed tea drinkers.

             The moustache cups made their appearance sometime in the 1860s, but lost popularity as moustaches went out of fashion in the 1920s and 1930s. Perhaps men with moustaches no longer felt the need to be so particular when it came to the styling of their moustaches, or perhaps they were just very careful when it came to drinking tea. Who knows why these weren’t still used by the few with moustaches and have yet to reappear, but if you know of a moustache enthusiast that’s hard to buy for now you know about the moustache cups. Who knows, maybe they’ll make a comeback!

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moustache_cup

Liar, Liar Pants on Fire

            Today’s hidden history highlights an artifact that, unfortunately, we don’t know much about. This fire alarm box was donated to us in the 1960s by a gentleman from Sussex. We can only assume that it was used somewhere in this area of New Brunswick, or that this gentleman happened to pick up the box during his travels. What we can tell you about is the history behind fire alarm boxes in general and how they were used.

              In 1852 two gentlemen designed the first fire alarm box in the United States. Eventually, a man by the name of John Gamewell got involved, and soon the alarm boxes were known as Gamewell systems. The fire alarm boxes were installed in a time when phones were rare, and needing to alert officials of fires was as important and urgent as it is today. The boxes were installed on street corners in many cities, and by 1890 five hundred cities were equipped with Gamewell fire alarm boxes.

              So, what would you do in the event of a fire? Once you realized there was a fire and you could take action, it was important to seek out a red box like ours. Our box has its own instructions in raised letters on the front – “For Fire, Break Glass, Open Door, Pull Hook Down and Let Go.” When triggered, an electrical pulse that related to the box’s specific number was sent out to fire headquarters. The headquarters would then react on their end, and if all went as anticipated, the fire would be responded to and, hopefully, all would end well – or as well as it could following a fire.

               If anyone has any information on the history of these fire alarm boxes in the area we would love to hear from you! 

  

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fire_alarm_call_box

https://www.facebook.com/GamewellFireAlarmBox/info/?tab=page_info

http://plaws.net/fire/list.shtml

Whisk Me Away

Learning how to knit when I was younger consisted of nothing more than two needles, some yarn and a pattern, but this artifact opened my eyes to the grand history behind knitting. I was well aware that in the past knitting was a daily event for women who made most of the household clothing items, or those that could be knitted at the very least, like socks. This knitting whisk, though, adds another level of skill to knitting.

The knitting whisk in our collection was made in Rhynie, Aberdeenshire, Scotland. How it arrived here we cannot be certain, but the whisk was put to use by the mother of the artifact’s donor. Whether you had to be a professional or not to make use of a knitting whisk, knitting whisp, or knitting stick, our research tells us that having a whisk to hold one your needles made for an efficient task. While some knitting devices of this type were made simply of a carved piece of wood, a bundle of wrapped straw, or a bundle of goose quills wrapped in yarn, the knitting whisk in our collection has a black leather body and a brown leather belt.

From what we can uncover, the holes in the leather body of our knitting whisk were to hold the end of one of the needles. The belt was put on by the knitter and the end of a needle could then be inserted into one of the holes. Supposedly, the whisk made it easier for women to knit. There were even accounts of women wearing them so they could knit on their way home from the market, or just to make it a little faster when sitting around the fireplace in the evening.

In the past the knitting whisk was used for many years in Europe and Great Britain, although it has become less common today, it is still very popular in some European countries. The whisk was typically used to hold the right needle, and therefore was worn towards a woman’s right hip. When worn around the waist the whisk allowed for one’s work to be done higher up, which in turn decreased the need to look down and therefore the strain on one’s neck. Where you wore the belt was all up to preference, but it was suggested to use metal needles, as the strain and tension from being positioned in the belt could cause wooden needles to break. 

The most valuable advantages that we came across when researching the now commonly known knitting belt included, an increase in knitting speed due to the minimal movement required, and the ability to allow one hand to solely wrap yarn and control tension allowing for an even piece of work.

            Whether you knit for profit or for pleasure, maybe the knitting whisk is something to add to your wish list – it could be quite an investment!

http://www.principlesofknitting.com/supported-needle-method/

http://www.principlesofknitting.com/why-use-a-knitting-belt/

http://www.principlesofknitting.com/how-to-use-a-knitting-belt/

Ahoy Captain!

Captain McKay & his sextant.

A recent donation to our collection consisted of a fascinating sextant that belonged to Peter McKay. Captain Peter McKay was born in 1818 in Guysborough County, Nova Scotia to Alexander McKay and Ann Nash. After pursuing his interest in navigation throughout his teen years, he soon became a sea captain around the age of 20. Captain McKay was at sea for 44 years, from the 1840s to the 1880s. When he retired from sailing, Peter moved to Sussex to be near his son William Bennett McKay who had been working at the Whites General Store and later married into the White family. In his retirement Peter bought the Intercolonial Hotel in Sussex (we also received the Guest Book from this hotel!). In 1903 Captain Peter McKay passed away – his body was embalmed and shipped by train to his home of Bridgetown, Nova Scotia the same day. As well as a sea captain sailing out of Nova Scotia for years, Peter was a strong prohibitionist and he had been very successful as a temperance speaker,

            While some of you may know what a sextant is, with GPSs, iPhones, google maps and other navigation tools available now, we wouldn’t be surprised if not everyone did. To put it simply, a sextant is an instrument that measures the angle between two objects. One of these objects is usually the horizon, and the other is something in the atmosphere, like the sun or moon. By using the two mirrors on the sextant, and moving another piece of the instrument, one is able to find the angle between the two objects. Taking the angle and the time it was found, one can then use a nautical chart to find a position line. Since we also received many of Captain McKay’s nautical charts we can assume this is what he did!

            The sextant that was donated to our collection was made by Crichton Bros. of London, England. Their company name is displayed on an ivory nameplate on the instrument. The sextant also came with its wooden case that is believed to be made of mahogany. Inside the lid of the case is a label for Robert H. Cogswell, Chronometer Establishment, est. 1830 at 175 Barrington Street, Halifax, NS. The initials “PMK” are also in pencil on the inside lid. For an artifact used during the 1800s this sextant is in excellent shape – considering their accuracy and therefore extreme value to a captain, it is no wonder that this sextant is in such pristine condition.

            For anyone who is interested in how the sextant works or would like some more information, we have included a few links that we used for information, as well as a short video that demonstrates how a sextant is used.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sextant http://www.robinsdocksideshop.com/how_to_use_a_sextant.htm http://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=how+to+use+a+sextant&view=detail&mid=1CB75DAE124B73DB364B1CB75DAE124B73DB364B&FORM=VIRE

An Apple a Day Will Keep the Doctor Away

After a long, but pleasantly milder winter we are getting back to uncovering more hidden histories here at the museum. Upon searching our vault for some textbooks, a few old medical books were discovered. Since allergy and cold season are upon us once again, we saw it fitting to share with you one of these artifacts.

The “20^th Century Family Physician” is a 1,157 paged hardcover book, published in 1900. This book includes symptoms, causes and treatments for a wide array of illnesses including pneumonia, scabies, and apoplexy. In addition “20^th Century Family Physician” outlines the proper procedure for setting broken bones and treating various diseases of the eye. There is also a whole chapter designated to the diseases of women and children. Included in this chapter is information pertaining to marriage (selecting a partner for life), pregnancy, diseases and hygiene of pregnancy, and care of the mother after labor. Another chapter expands on various medical plants like lime, fennel, and wood sorrel.

A few excerpts that we found interesting and you may or may not find helpful :

In the chapter deemed ‘Hygiene’ we find that the opening sentence for the section ‘The Care of the Sick’ on page 1067 is: “One of the first items to be attended to in the management of the sick room is proper ventilation. Fresh air is of extreme importance for a healthy person, but doubly so for one who is sick.” The next paragraph begins, “No odors of any kind should ever be perceptible in the sick room; their presence is evidence that the ventilation is imperfect.” So if you are finding that you are experiencing a difficult time ridding your body of a nasty spring cold, you may want to make sure that the ventilation in your dwelling is up to par.

Another interesting passage on page 39 outlines the disease varicella, or the more commonly known chicken pox. A disease that many of us have unfortunately experienced personally. Treatment is described here, “as to require nothing more than the simplest of home treatment; a saline laxative, such as the citrate of magnesia, occasional sponging and light diet”. One may wonder how well this treatment eased the pain of those excruciatingly itchy blisters!

Lastly, we offer you a bit of advice regarding the “Cold in the Head”. Unless you take action immediately treatment of this is said to be ineffective – “so soon as the attack is indicated by sneezing and the other familiar symptoms, the individual should take a hot bath for ten or fifteen minutes, followed immediately by Dover’s powder (ten grains) and quinine (five grains); he should then be warmly covered in bed or otherwise until perspiration is freely established. In this way a cold in the head can often be cut short.” The paragraph goes on to describe what some of the more stubborn individuals experience, “When, however (as is usually the case), the individual cannot or will not take the time and trouble to adopt these measures, he must expect that this affection will last from twelve to fourteen days in spite of all that can be done. During this time he should take especial care to keep himself warmly clothed, avoid draughts and secure regular evacuations.”  

 The Kings County Museum is not recommending any of these treatments (nor are we saying you shouldn’t give them a try!), and is not to be held responsible for any good or bad results (well maybe the good). We just hope that whether it be allergies or the common cold, you find relief soon and enjoy your summer!