items in our collections

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Artifact of the Week — September 21, 2023

White House Cook Book Want to cook like a renowned chef? This tome is loaded with more than recipes; in fact, the inside cover page lists its subheading as “cooking, toilet and household recipes, menus, dinner-giving, table etiquette, care of the sick, health suggestions, facts worth knowing, etc., etc., the whole comprising A Comprehensive Cyclopedia … Continue reading »

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Artifact of the Week — September 7, 2023

Louis “Moondog” Hardin, Jr. Sometimes these articles write themselves. Our curator, Alan Bufford, was researching last week when he stumbled upon an odd article about a local man who was renowned as a street musician in New York nearly 50 years ago. How did Alan inadvertently discover Moondog? He was researching Moondog’s father, Louis Hardin, … Continue reading »

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Artifact of the Week — August 17, 2023

Corner grocery stores In early Independence County history, grocery stores abounded since most families did not have a vehicle to drive to a grocery store. In 1887, 29 grocery stores dotted the small city of Batesville alone. Many of these stores relied on customers buying on credit, which was useful when a busy mom would … Continue reading »

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Artifact of the Week — August 3, 2023

Blowing Cave in Cushman Saturday was the 42nd Mid-South Archaeological Conference in Jonesboro. I was invited and spent the day learning about different facets of archeological digs and listening to detailed reports. During a break, I struck up a conversation with Scott Akridge, who was friends with the man who owned Blowing Cave! When I … Continue reading »

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Artifact of the Week — July 13, 2023

Cave City Watermelon Festival When the Cave City Chamber of Commerce began looking at ways to best promote the town, their two options included the cave located in the middle of town or having the “world’s sweetest” watermelons. Chamber officials didn’t believe a “Cave Festival” sounded very appealing, but a Watermelon Festival did!   The Cave City … Continue reading »

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