Friends of the Museum Raffle — Get Your Tickets Now!

The Friends of the City of Las Vegas Museum are pleased to announce our Second Annual Endowment Fund Raffle. As a result of past generosity, the current endowment fund balance is over $27,000. We need your help to reach our goal of $100,000 by 2012, New Mexico’s Centennial Year. Purchasing a raffle ticket is one way to support the Museum’s collections, exhibits, and educational programs. Recent projects at the Museum include the development of an interpretive plan and an interactive educational game, Las Vegas Alive!; redesign of the Website; Songs of the Cowboys program; and Scrapbooking Las Vegas and Git Fer Vegas, Cowboy! exhibits. Proposed projects include an exhibit about clothing and an interactive oral history program.

The drawing will be held February 3, 2010 at the Friends of the Museum Annual Meeting. You do not need to be present to win.

For more information about the Friends of the Museum, the endowment fund, and where to buy your tickets, go to our website.

Tools of the Trade

Finish carpenters are fine craftspeople. Not only are their products works of art, their tools are often beautiful, as well. Spokeshaves shape wheel spokes, of course, or any type of long, roundish piece, like a table leg. There are four in the collection: two are a combination of wood with metal blades, two are entirely metal. Draw knives are used to roughly shape a round section. In this area, draw knives are used to clean poles for vigas. The draw knife is also used to approximate a round section to be worked on a lathe. A plow plane has nothing to do with agriculture or flying. It’s used to cut grooves along the grain in a piece of wood. It could also cut a rabbet (an open-sided groove). Ours is made from rosewood with brass fittings. Planes have various shapes and functions. The collection includes moulding planes (to shape the edge of material, like a router bit would do today); a jack plane to make rough passes over surfaces; jointer planes to flatten a surface; and smooth planes for finishing. Chisels, squares, mallets, mortise marking gauges, augers and compasses round out the collection’s woodworking tools.

Linda Gegick
Museum Administrator

JUST A DRESS? Interpreting Historical Artifacts

When researching information to create a label for a new display—a two-piece dress and undergarment—I found myself in the role of detective—digging for clues, following leads, and getting lost in the details.

Digging for clues, I examined the “crime scene”—tailoring, fabric, size, and distinguishing marks. A Bellas Hess label gracing the slip led me to research the company. Then I tried to determine the purpose and historical context of the outfit. The provenance, that is, the source of the items, Miss Bertha Hanson (1882-1907), and their size—adult clothing—established a time frame—the late 1890s. But was it an evening gown, a uniform, a visiting costume?

Next I consulted the Museum collection, fashion books, the family records, and the Internet. I found similar dresses, their purposes, and descriptive language such as fitted bodice, tight sleeves, and flared skirt. I learned that Miss Hanson might have been a Harvey Girl, that the style and fabric indicate daytime use, and that the lace of the undergarment was derived from 18th century France.

Following a lead from a co-worker, I came across young Miss Hanson’s signature in the Harvey Ranch Hotel register. I researched the Hotel. This led me astray, so I returned to the crime scene. What was the dress used for? What kind of lace is that? Come by the Museum to find out.

Pat Romero
Museum Assistant - Research specialist