Previous Artifacts - July 2010
Pettigrew Artifact Mystery Solved
Recently, the Collections Department came across a photograph of Dorothy Rogers, the former Pettigrew Museum Curator standing next to a large wooden artifact on exhibit in the gallery room in 1964. The artifact she was standing next to happened to be the subject of a mystery for current staff members. As recently as last month, this artifact had been stored in the attic of the Old Courthouse Museum with no accession number and no information associated with it. None of us knew where it came from and only had a vague idea of its use.
Finding this photograph of the Pettigrew Museum taken in the 1960s helped us solve the mystery and identify the artifact and the source. The object happened to be a form used to measure horse collars. Dorothy Rogers is actually demonstrating how the form was used in the photograph we found. The Haegle Harness Shop in Sioux Falls donated it to the Pettigrew Museum in 1961, three years before picture. Charles J. Haegle manufactured and repaired harnesses in Sioux Falls since ca. 1915. The Haegle Harness Shop was open from 1950 to around 1970.
We were lucky to find this photograph of the object on display in the Pettigrew Museum to help us solve the mystery. The Collections Department is interested in finding other photographs taken of the Pettigrew Museum in the 1930s-1970s. If you have any photos from that era of the museum, please contact us at (605)367-4210. Your photo just might help us solve a collections mystery.
