Curran Homestead Roundtable

The Curran Homestead Living History Farm and Museum is a nonprofit educational institution. This blog is a forum for ideas and comment by everyone who contributes to The Curran Homestead's continued success. It is also a resource of ideas for development, marketing, fundraising,grant writing, rebranding strategies, and the like for the student, budding museum professional, and those who are simply interested. Click "0 COMMENTS" at the end of each blog entry and share your thoughts with us.

Wednesday, February 25, 2009

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"Even today., in societies of almost universal literacy, it is a rare soul who bequeaths to future historians a written account of his thoughts...How can you study a society if you attend only to the expressions of a small and deviant class within the whole?" (Schlereth 142)

References

Schlereth, Thomas J. ed. Material Culture Studies in America. Walnut Creek, CA: Altamira Press, 1999.

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This is a "recyclable [before such terms were bandied about]" exhaust system, a muffler, for a circa 1920s automobile ( this may have been used on a 1928 Chevrolet truck). On the right of the device is the tail pipe. Between the pieces at each end a piece of sheet metal would be formed in a cylinder shape and fastened together with rivets or other fasteners. The cast steel part in the middle of the rod would, I believe, serve as a baffle within the sheet metal cylinder construction. Such a device required the kind of labor our society now avoids in lieu of the disposable. From the Farm of Donald and Thelma Bowden, Goodale's Corner, Orrington, ME. cast steel, c.1928.

New Acquisition ( 2/27/2010): This device was created by Richard Bowden when he was in high school ( he lived on the Bowden Farm then at Goodale's Corner in Orrington, ME). The bottom appendages would be fitted onto a gear or pulley from a shaft. The center bolt at the top, which is missing, would be turned into the center of the round shaft, with the appendages grasping the back side of the pulley. "When the center bolt is tightened against the center of the shaft, it pulls the pulley or gear from the shaft," according to its maker. "Visualize a belt pulley on the front of an engine that drives the alternator, air conditioner compressor, power steering...etc....the pulley needs to be removed from the shaft in order to replace the oil seal that has developed a leak..." Such a hand-made device embodies Maine's propensity for solving problems with both ingenuity and the materials at hand. From the Farm of Donald and Thelma Bowden, Goodale's Corner, Orrington, ME.,steel, c.1956.

The Conquests, Prior owners of Fields Pond Farm

The Conquests ( Edward (b.1891) and his father Arthur Joseph Conquest (circa 1925/6). In a recent interview with Connie Russell (nee Conquest), daughter to Edward, it was explained that her grandfather Arthur was an English immigrant. Edward, his son, had actually bought what would become The Curran Homestead prior to 1914 ( when the Currans purchased it) in his father's name. Edward had set his father up there to farm for a few years. A horse farm was also owned by the Conquests somewhere near where Cozy Corners is now located in Orrington. That was sold lock, stock, and barrel to a man a short time after the Conquests bought it. The new owner realized a month later that he couldn't afford it; he begged Edward Conquest to buy it back, but he refused to. Shortly thereafter the new owner, according to family legend, set the barn on fire with all the horses in it. This, according to Mrs. Russell, distressed her father for many years after as he was extremely fond of horses all his life. He wished in hindsight to have avoided the loss of those horses in the fire.

From the Curran Homestead Collection: Ice Pike. I recently came across this after we had out first annual ice harvest on Fields Pond. This differs from the gaffing tool that we recently used with much success in lieu of a tool with this type of multiple head. Ice harvesters used such a tool for maneuvering ice block. It differs from some of the examples that I have previously seen. The wooden handles were much longer than this. It may have been the choice of the individual harvesters but such a short handle would serve the purpose of one of a variety of tasks related to drawing the ice block out of the water onto a conveyor for transport.

Curran Homestead Roundtable

Wednesday, February 25, 2009

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