Official Newspaper of Eddy County since 1883
Official Newspaper of Eddy County since 1883
World War II U.S. Army Veteran Harry Hall poses next to a car. The photo appears to be taken outside Harry's childhood home, formerly on 2nd Ave North in New Rockford. For many veterans, the end of the war meant the beginning of a new life. Courtesy photo.
One of the oldest and most well-traveled artifacts residing at the Eddy County Museum is a coffee grinder that originated in Sweden circa 1820. The Matt and Bengta Mattson family brought it to North Dakota in the 1860s. After settling in Sheyenne, the Mattson family continued to use the handheld grinder until the 1920s. After one hundred years of service, it retired for at least 40 years.
When the Eddy County Museum opened in 1965, Bernice Ostby of Sheyenne donated it to the collections. The Mattson coffee grinder found its forever home at the Eddy County Museum for one reason: a member of the community deemed it important enough to represent a time in history.
These kinds of artifacts are the very backbone of the museum and provide insight into those who migrated from afar, homesteaded in harsh conditions, opened up shop and helped build communities. In many cases the people connected to these artifacts were not especially heroic, pivotal or even that well known. These artifacts are part of what has been dubbed, "the early days" and extend from the 1860s to the 1910s.
Artifacts that date from 1915 to 1945 represent a wartime era. The tone of the story had changed. Rather than history being a celebration of marriage and mutual survival on the prairie landscape, the story of the wartime era highlights the collective sacrifices made for the promise of freedom.
The postwar years offered a big boom to North Dakota's agricultural industry, and promised a new modern age. It was during this time that the museum was born. Because the museum was founded in the 1960s and things aren't considered historic artifacts until they are at least 50 years old, there are just a few pieces of mid century history accumulating within the museum.
It is just enough to scratch the surface. After all, this history resides in living memory.
I am giving myself a challenge for the next six weeks – to highlight artifacts and stories of the 1950s and 60s. If I get stuck, I know a few experts I can call upon.
