Elgin Public Museum 2011 Winter... · 2012. 8. 25. · Winter 2011 Newsletter MISSION STATEMENT The mission of the Elgin Public ... Dwight Armistead Mark Havemann Clare Ollayos Diane

Learning Through AdventureCOLLECTIONSElgin Public Museum

Of Natural History & Anthropolog y

Winter 2011 Newsletter

MISSION STATEMENTThe mission of the Elgin Public

Museum is to enhance understanding of the Natural

Sciences and Anthropology through exhibits and interactive

experiences.

Our Next Exhibit

For additional information or to register in advance for an event or program please call : 847-741-6655

Visit our website for more information at www.elginpublicmuseum.org

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EPM Hours

Memorial Day to Labor DaySaturday & Sunday 12 - 4 p.m.

Labor Day to Memorial DayTuesday through Sunday 12 - 4 p.m.

Closed Mondays

Special Hours for Touching on Traditions

Ancient Roots of Tattooshe world’s oldest tattoo belongs to Ötzi, the Ice Man found in 1991 on the Italian Austrian border of the Alps. Ötzi died about 5,200 years

ago, turning into a mummy due to freezing weather conditions. He has given archaeology amazing insight to Neolithic life. On the mummy’s body there are 57 tattoos, patterns made up of dashes, dots and a cross found along the spine, knee and ankle. Far from decorative – the tattoos would have been covered by clothing – archaeologists theorize that the tattoos may have been therapeutic. Used as a forerunner to acupuncture, the tattoos might have been applied to alleviate joint pain caused by arthritis.

Egyptian mummies also offer evidence of tattooing. The bodies of three women were found with tattoos at Akhmim dating from 2000 BCE. Perhaps colored by modern perceptions, the tattooed women were branded of “dubious status” or my favorite euphemism, “dancing women.” Later funerary inscrip-tions revealed that at least one of these women was actually a high status priest-ess named Amunet. Like the Ice Man, it is now believed that the patterns of dots were therapeutic, functioning as a protective amulet during pregnancy and birth. Tattoos accomplished many different things all over the ancient world. Scythians, Britons, and cultures of Peru and Chile reserved tattooing for high status people. Sometimes tattoos represented the criminal element, such as China’s Han Dynasty, where there were over 500 crimes punishable by ink. It can also indicate belonging as for the Greeks and Romans and lineage as for Maori. Tattoos can serve as a rite of passage. Upon reaching puberty, girls of many southwest American Indian groups would tattoo lines on their chin. They even offer protection in some cultures like the Vlachs of present day Greece and Balkans. The women would traditionally tattoo crosses on their forehead and forearm as a reaffirmation of their Orthodox Christian belief and

tattoo:AN AMERICAN EVOLUTION

February & March 2012

by Sara Russell

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Modern Tribal Tattoo (detail)

A special THANKS to all those who support our mission.

We couldn’t do it without you!

New and Renewed Membership

David & Sandra Kaptain (since 2010)Mark & Lucy Elliott (since 1993)

Tony & Laurie-Faith Aiello (since 2009)Jerry & Kathleen Turnquist (since 1986)

Scott & Laura Teipe (since 2005)Stan & Mary Holat (NEW)Michael Surerus (since 2010)

Terry Gabel & Sue Brigham (since 2009)Amy Knorek (NEW)

Al & Janine Kirkland (since 1996)Amy Bouque & Greg Hunt (since 2008)Harry & Phyllis Blizzard (since 1992)

The Driver Family (NEW)Wil Degorski (since 2010)

Ron & Mary Lou Conley (since 1991)Karin & Gentry Jones (since 2010)Tom & Karen Durkin (since 1995)

Bob & Karen Andrini (NEW)Mary Schalow (NEW)

Ramona Jean Burns (NEW)Bob & Debbie Sargent (since 1994)

Terri Scibetta (since 2006)Sigi & Nick Psimenos (since 2009)

Chris & Janice Glintborg (since 2003)

A T & TTerry Gabel & Sue Brigham

Betty MeyerTerri Scibetta

Wayne Heinmiller

Donors

The Elgin Public Museum is a public institution whose purpose is to

enrich the lives of the people within our community. Your membership and donations are vital ingredients

in the success of our mission. Because of your support and generosity we are able to present programming either free or at reasonable rates for all, in

the hopes all our citizens can greater understand and appreciate the

complexity of the world around them. THANK YOU!

From the Director - Margaret “Peggie” Stromberg

t doesn’t seem possible that another year has passed. It has been a successful year for programming and bringing excellent speakers and learning experi-

ences for our members and the community in general. Family science night continues to be a really popular program, well attended and well received. For the space program we had 134. Sara does a great job coming up with new ideas each month. Native American Cultural Day featured drummers and dancers from Chicago’s Blackhawk Troop. Their colorful regalia and intricate dance steps were a joy to see. We had a new tipi owner this year. Jon Jordan of Joliet (Lakota Sioux) shared his lodge and his knowledge of Plains Indians. Regulars Sal Redhawk with his wigwam and Ken Geier flintknapping rounded out the outside activities. Joseph Standing Bear performed a Bison Blessing and Bill Buchholtz played Native Flute. We brought in several speakers and exhibits during 2011 and already have several planned for 2012. Of course Touching on Traditions is currently up and attracting visitors. Our facebook friends number 533 and our membership is increasing. As always our finances continue to suffer. The City of Elgin owns the building and the collection, paying Elgin Public Museum, Inc. to operate the museum. Over the past several years the funding has been more than cut in half; U-46 has discontinued field trips; corporate sponsorship is down; and in-terest rates on investments has gone down, as most of you have noticed as well. Luckily enough EPM had a reserve account and we have supplementing our waning city commitment with funds we had put aside for new exhibits. Without these funds, we would have had to close. As we wind down the year, if you are planning any year end giving, I hope you will consider the Elgin Public Museum. You can contribute online and by mail. Our future depends on how many funds we can raise. We will continue to partner with other groups to make our investment in the community even bigger. Please visit the museum often. Members get a discount on programming and in the museum store. We have some nice items in the store for holiday giv-ing. If you can’t make it in when we are open to the public, call us and we will open for you to shop, if we are here when you are. Thank you all for your support over the past year and we look forward to seeing you at YOUR museum often in 2012. When you come in, let us know you are a member so we can thank you personally for your support.

EPM StaffMargaret “Peggie” Stromberg

Executive Director Michael McGrathMuseum Coordinator

Sara RussellEducation Coordinator

Marge FoxEducator

Amanda Wolf Ines Cintora

Museum Attendant

EPM Board MembersMartha Yochum

Gilbert Nore

Dwight Armistead

Mark Havemann

Clare Ollayos

Diane Ramsay Shedd

Don Quillman

Michael Curtin

MuseuM Gold

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ver since Rachel Camacho headed back to school at the end

of summer we have had only Amanda Wolf as a desk attendant. Finally we’ve gotten Amanda a little help. Starting this month, Ines Cintora will be joining our ranks. Ines is currently studying Business Administration at Elgin Community College. She is also an active volunteer at the Youth Leadership Academy where she helps guide young people to realize their potential through continued educa-tion and good citizenship. So if you see a new face behind the desk in the store, stop by and say hello. Many of our members have great stories about the museum from the past. Whenever you’re here and have some time, we’d love to listen to them. It’s your memories that translate into talking points that our attendants, and all of us, can use to make that 1st time visitor to the Museum appreci-ate what a unique institution we have right here in the Elgin Community. And if you’re so inclined and would like to write down an unforget-table memory about Lords Park, send it to us and we’ll share it with the rest of our membership. It’s an open invitation.

EPM’s Newest Employee

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FACE LIFT

nce the Museum went from summer hours to fall hours after

Labor Day the city installed new lighting inside in the main and west wing. It didn’t end there. A couple of months later this 104 year old structure received a good once over. A crew spent almost 2 weeks power washing the exterior and doing some much needed tuck-pointing. Although the building is always well maintained by the city, it now looks a little more polished. With the expenditure the City of Elgin is making here, it’s quite evident that they realize the cultural signifi-cance of this institution. We here at the Museum are very appreciative and are keeping our fingers crossed that they find a little more money for a fresh paint job in a few of the rooms.

Inside and Out the Museum is Being Maintained

for Future Generations

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as a powerful charm against the evil eye. On a practical level, the tattoos also protected the women from the harems of the ruling Turks, who disliked the “mutilated” women. Polynesian cultures developed tattoos over a millennia with highly elabo-rate geometric designs that sometimes cover the entire body. British explorer James Cook and his men saw these permanent designs for the first time on their expedition to Tahiti in 1769. The Tahitian term tatatau or tattau, literally “to hit” or “to strike” developed into our word tattoo. Receiving a tattoo was not for the faint of heart. Cook’s naturalist, Joseph Banks, described the pro-cess used on a twelve year old girl. “It was done with a large instrument about two inches long containing about 30 teeth. Every stroke . . . drew blood.” Sailors brought the practice back to Europe. Tattooing did not, however, catch on in the mainstream. Colonial powers and missionaries tried to suppress the practice. People in Europe and the United States who sported tattoos were seen as subversive. In the 1830’s James O’Connell was a castaway in the South Pacific who received full body tattoos. There, the tattoos offered O’Connell le-gitimacy within the community and rendered him fully human. Upon return-ing to New York, he earned a living exposing his tattoos to the public. Women and children literally ran away screaming. Ministers warned that pregnant women who so much as looked at O’Connell would transfer the tattoos onto their unborn children. Even today, with a recent Pew poll finding that well over a third of people under 40 have tattoos, we still feel a little uneasy in our perceptions of tattoos and people who get them. Studies have found that people without tattoos re-ceive better care in emergency rooms. Women with tattoos are more often seen as dishonest and less intelligent according to research. On the other hand tat-tooing is also viewed as a beautiful art form that can express individuality and identity. And perhaps that makes perfect sense that our opinions are mixed. Tattooing has been used by humans for thousands of years for everything from amulets to status symbols to declarations of love, for punishment, as outward expressions of religious beliefs, and for adornment.

Ancient Roots Continued

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FMarch is still a ways off and we haven’t nailed down all the details for this evenings activities but you can count on another fun filled Family Science Night. The set-up will be the same with stations throughout the Muse-um to learn how the world around us ticks.

FImagine life for the animals of the ice ages – how did they survive? Learn all about ice age animals with your fam-ily at Family Science Night! Different stations will be set up around the Mu-seum for kids and adults to discover and discuss Mammoths, Mastodons and More!

FIt’s Friday the 13th, so let’s dive into the freaky – freaky animals, freaky experi-ments and all around freaky science. Different stations will be setup around the Museum for kids and their families to experiment and experience demon-strations in the wacky and weird.

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P.A.W.S. the pre-school program is for children ages 3 to 5 years old and their caregiver. Stories, games, songs, and crafts; stimulate a child’s curiosity about the natural world around them.

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Up Coming Events and Programs

Marge Fox on Safari

Chocolate Fest will be held at Hawthorne Hill Nature Center.

Register through Elgin’s Parks & Rec-reation Department at 847-931-6123.

Chocolate FestSaturday, February 12th, 10am - 4pm

Continue to check our website for the latest in

Learning Through Adventure.

F - Family Program A - Adult Program

Bison Feeding Schedule

You have no idea how big and im-pressive these creatures are until you’re nose to nose with them. Join us and assist the zookeeper in feeding these animals.

$2 per adult, $1 per childEPM members FREE

Reservations Required

Freaky FridayFriday, January 13th, 6-8 p.m.

In Our Own Backyard Tr i c k y Tr a c k s

Saturday, February 18th, 10 - 11:30 a.m.

Fee $10 per child and caregiver. EPM Members $8

Registration required 1 week in advance

Mammoths, Mastodons, and More

Friday, February 10th, 6-8 p.m.

Cost $2 per person EPM members FREE

Science Nights are Drop-in programsso no registration is required

Science Night ScheduleOur monthly hands-on science

experiences for the kids

??? - You Know It Will Be Fun and Educational

Friday, March 8th, 6-8 p.m.

EXHIBIT OPENINGTAT TOO:

An American Evolution

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Bison FeedingSaturday, January 29th, 7 a.m.

This pre-school program is for children ages 3 to 5 years old. Stories, games, songs, and crafts stimulate a child’s curiosity about the natural world around them.

In Our Own BackyardScampering Squirrels

Saturday, March 17th, 10 - 11:30 a.m.

Fee $10 per child and caregiver. EPM Members $8

Registration required 1 week in advance

Learn about chocolate’s connection with the natural world while spend-ing the afternoon – indoors and out – enjoying chocolate treats that you can make and share on Valentine’s Day. Northwoods Dutch Oven Cook-ing Group will demonstrate chocolate recipes using Dutch ovens. Elgin Pub-lic Museum will host “Before Hershey Bars: A Cultural Look at Chocolate.” Hawthorn Hill Nature Center will host “A Chocolate Hike” at 2 PM.

$2 per adult, $1 per childEPM members FREE

Reservations Required

Saturday, February 4th, 1 p.m.

Saturday, February 25th, 7 a.m.

Saturday, March 24th, 10:30 a.m.

You have no idea how big and im-pressive these creatures are until you’re nose to nose with them. Join us and assist the zookeeper in feeding these animals.

Come join us for the grand opening. Learn about the ancient art of tattoo-ing and its evolution into mainstream American culture. This traveling ex-hibit comes to us from Northern Il-linois University. It recently received the Illinois Association of Museum award of Excellence. The exhibit is co-sponsored by Topnotch Tattoos.

This special program is a Members Only event. Through stories, pictures and souve-nirs, Marge Fox will relate her experiences in setting foot on her 7th continent. We’re setting up some coffee with breakfast treats to nibble on. Watch for a special invitation as the day approaches.

n the Fall Newsletter article EPM History 101, I pointed out a bear mount on top of a display case

in one of the pictures. That bear is named Tillie and today she is still part of the Museum’s collection. See-ing her in a picture, which dates back over 40 years, got me wondering. Is there a story here? At the time I wrote my last article, I vaguely remembered running across an old newspaper article about 2 bears named Jack and Tillie that escaped from the Lords Park Zoo. Was this escaped escapee our Tillie? After scouring Museum records, here is what I learned about Tillie. The registration paperwork (information that is recorded at the time a donation is made) is very scarce. In the accession log there is one entry in the year 1936, a Black Bear Mount, and that is all. That one line of hand written data appears to be the only Museum documentation at the time Tillie came into our possession. The next piece of information I found was on an index card. It shows that our bear specimen was finally and officially registered on December

Elgin Public Museum History 101Chapter 2 “Tillie”

by Mike McGrath

17th, 1981 by Nancy Epping. On the card is written that the mount came from the Lords Park Zoo. It was a 3 year old bear that died on April 12, 1936. Up to this point there is no reference anywhere that this bear was named Tillie. The next piece of information I found in a folder was hand written by Nancy Epping. It said that the information stated was taken from the testimony and notes of Howard Gusler. Howard Gusler was the curator of the Museum from 1963 to 1975. According to the notes, our bear was known to the zookeepers as

Tillie. It’s also written “Story says fell off of swing & broke her neck (unverified) Further, she was regularly bullied by intended mate (This mate was destroyed by City because of behav-ior) H.G. ‘80” Now that you have some recorded back-ground information, here is a story I came across in a box of old newspaper clipping that relate to the Museum and Lords Park Zoo.

The headline that first caught my eye was Bear Hunt Calls Out City’s Police Reserves, But “Jack” And “Tillie” Are Back on Zoo Cage. Some prankster… "jimmied the lock on the bear cage at Lord’s Park and opened the door wide so that Jack and Tillie, the only occupants, had only to walk out to reach freedom." The zoo’s custodian discovered the empty pen around 11:30 in the evening and called police. A posse of zoo em-ployees, police and volunteers, with flashlights in hand started combing

the area. Tillie was found first, along Willow Creek right here in the park and was easily persuaded to return to the safety and security of her cage. Jack on the other hand was a little more troublesome. He was finally spotted near the tennis courts (I’m not sure if they are in the same loca-tion today as in the past) “Marshall Huber ordered his men to try and capture the bear alive but in case Jack became angry and showed evidence of fight, that they should not endanger their own lives, but shoot the animal.” That turned out not to be necessary as the officers used bright search lights to blind the bear and prod him back to his cage using sticks. By 2 a.m. the job was complete. This would be an interesting story about our Tillie, except for one glar-ing problem. The article I just quoted has a hand written date on it of Wed. June 8, 1938. If this date is accurate, according to the Museum records, the bear we call Tillie had already been dead for over 2 years. What I think might be going on here is that when EPM’s Tillie died, she was so beloved by the citizens of Elgin, that when a new female was brought in to replace

Tillie is in storage on the lower level. The Black Bear on display came to the Museum from the Arlington Heights Historical Museum back in 1992.

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Accession Log containing entries dating back to 1904.

Continued on page 6Data card at time of accession in 1981.Page 5

n 1986 Elgin Public Museum board member Jane Roll conceived the idea of doing an exhibit which would show the holiday customs of as many cultures

as possible. The only criteria were to be living in or around Elgin and have a family history of another place. Those of you who know and remember Jane will understand how she made it happen that same year. Jane’s idea was to acquaint the community with the immigrants who had settled in Elgin, bringing their cultures with them. She rounded up families willing to help and the first exhibit opened with about 10 displays in the lobby of Hemmens Auditorium. The families came, decorated their table or tree, brought a national dish to pass and the tradition started. After enjoying the international feast everyone gathered together to decorate the United States tree. Jane was a teacher at Elgin High School and the word quickly spread about the special ex-hibit the museum was doing. Soon teachers were signing up their classes to see the displays and hear about the customs of others. More families became involved and eventually the Hemmens lobby could no longer hold the displays, and the whole thing moved to the Lords Park Pavilion where it remained until two years ago when it moved up the hill to the museum building. The pavilion could be separated into three rooms for programming and school groups came in from as far away as Joliet, Buffalo Grove, Arlington Heights and other towns as well as U-46 and close by districts. Some families stayed with us and others moved and yet more came on. One family from Guatemala has been involved since the beginning. Some of the sto-ries have been sad and others have been happy, but all of the families were glad to have made Elgin their home. It is always a thrill for us to see the children’s faces light up when they see that we have a tree or table from a country close to their own heart. The school groups are no longer coming in huge numbers because U-46 and others have nearly cut out field trips due to transportation costs. Many of the displays no longer have families, but students from the Elgin High School gifted academy are helping decorate. So it constantly evolves and changes, but the thing that stays the same is the joy we get from seeing how people react to seeing the displays and learning about other cultures.

The Evolution of TOUCHING ON TRADITIONS

by Peggie Stromberg

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this bear, the zoo gave her the same name. So the Tillie that we possess is not an escaped convict. Going through these old newspa-per articles, I uncovered more hard to believe tales about the Lords Park bears. Here’s one from the early 1900s. Davey Walker was a park custodian and “…the show Davey liked best to put on for the crowd was to lock up all but his old trusty bear and then persuade some boy or girl to ride that trusty bear’s back around the bear pit.” Hard to believe, isn’t it? OK, just one more. It has to do with pranksters in the zoo. This one dates from Sept. 1960. Headline: Prank-sters Free Monkeys; One Attacks Woman, Dog. According to the ar-ticle the attack happened right outside the Museum. I wonder if that person was any relationship to the prankster 22 years earlier. I’m going to wind up this article with one more bit of information I’ve heard here at the Museum. I’m not saying if it’s true or not. It’s about how our Tillie met her death. “Tillie fell off that swing and broke her neck as she was stretching for a marshmal-low that a visitor had thrown just out of her reach.” And what do we learn from this tragedy?

HISTORY 101 Continued

Our beloved Tillie, may she Rest in PeaceOpen for viewing ever yday through December 31st .

Educator Sara Russell explaining the English tradition of “crackers” to a class of students on a holiday field trip.

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DON’T FEED THE ANIMALS!

Marge Fox on SafariA Special Invitation

to EPM Members and Donors

here are seven continents on our planet. Marge Fox has FINALLY

visited all of them. Last year she set foot on the Dark Continent and is anxious to share with us that adven-ture. On March 24th we’re having an old fashioned travelogue here at the museum. In the late 1800’s and early 1900’s there was no internet, no cable televi-sion, and many households on the expanding frontier did not even have radio. Entertainment was often local and home grown. Yet people still enjoyed tales about exotic places. Anthropology was an emerging scientific discipline at this time that exposed “ordinary people” to the cultural diversity of the world they live in. Traveling lecturers ventured out among these communities and delighted the citizens with illustrated talks of faraway places and the experiences encountered. For the prairie populace it was an escape from the grind of their daily lives, much like movies are for many today. We are going to store the projection lantern and replace it with a Powerpoint show. There will be central heating in the building so you won’t have to bring extra blankets. Hot coffee and hot chocolate will be ready to warm the in-nards. Miscellaneous breakfast treats will be spread out for your enjoyment. And these are only enticements for the actual program highlight. If you think you might not make it to Africa in your lifetime, (I know I won’t) but are still fascinated by this corner of the world, join us for a first person account of this incredible con-tinent through stories, pictures, and artifacts. It’s something special we’re offering to our treasured members and donors. Like I said, it’s going to be the morning of Saturday, March 24th. Keep an eye out for more information as that date approaches.

Don’t forget Marge will be conducting her first P.A.W.S program of the year “Tricky Tracks” for pre-schoolers

and caregivers on Saturday, February 18th.

Hippos take a break from eating in the ponds for a little land foraging.

Is Marge getting a hug from this young elephant? Or does he just want the peanuts in Marge’s hand that he’s been working for.

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C ALL US FO R MO R E IN FO R MATIO N AT 8 47-741- 6 655Page 7