Antietam Time

     The National Museum of Civil War Medicine recently received a donation of a collection of items which came from the Pry family.  If you are familiar with my museum, you will know that our first satellite location is the Pry House Field Hospital Museum out on the Antietam Battlefield.  If you are unfamiliar with the story of this fascinating property, take a look at our website here.  The Pry House was owned by Philip Pry’s family.  However, the items we just received belonged to the Samuel Pry family.  

An undated photo of Philip and Samuel Pry, courtesy of Betsy Web.

     Philip and Samuel Pry were brothers who both lived in Keedysville at the time of the Civil War.  They built the Pry House together in 1844, and a few years later they bought a nearby grist mill together.  They even married sisters!  Philip Pry married Elizabeth Cost, while Samuel Pry married Mary Cost.  In 1862, when the Battle of Antietam was fought, Philip & Elizabeth owned what is now known as the Pry House, while Samuel and Mary owned the Pry Mill.  Both of their properties were taken over and used as Union hospitals after the battle.  So you can see that the two families were closely connected!

A Library of Congress image of the Pry Mill.

     The most striking item from the collection is the clock which belonged to Samuel & Mary Pry.  It was described to me as a mantel clock, so I was quite surprised when a very large box was delivered to my office. 

You can see that the clock stands about 36” tall!  It is actually more of a shelf clock than a mantel clock.

     This is an eight-day weight clock and was manufactured by John Birge and Company in Bristol, Connecticut around 1834.  It has a large triple decker case with a carved eagle on top, columns on the sides, and round feet on the base. 

The top tier contains the clock face.  The small mirrored opening in the center can actually be raised to view the works inside.  If you look carefully on the column to the left, you can see it is covered by a piece of clear packaging tape.  I was not pleased to find that the shipper put that there!  While it came off of the varnished door frame cleanly, it was more problematic on the painted column.  A very gentle test at one edge proved that the tape was pulling the paint off the wood.  After a bit of research into the issue, I used a hair dryer to heat the tape, which allowed me to ease the tape off of the paint more cleanly.

The bottom tier has a hand-painted scene on the door, with a heart-shaped window in the center to view the pendulum.  The buildings portrayed in this scene appear to possibly be the original U.S. Capitol Building and White House.

     The clock had to be partly disassembled before it was shipped, plus the pendulum arm fell off in transit, so I found an experienced “clock guy” to put it back in working order.  Not only was he was able to give me a lot more information about the clock, he made a “house call” as well!

David Myers of Boonsboro, Maryland, oils the works of the clock.  It should be ready to run once he puts it back together!

Here’s a closer view of the brass clock works.  You can see the chime and the striker at bottom center.  The thin rod in the middle is the pendulum arm, and the cords on either side connect to two large weights.  The clock has one for the time and one for the chime.  Once a week, as the clock is wound, they are raised to the top of the clock next to the clock face. 

     Once I obtain a suitable case, I will have the Pry clock out on display at the Pry House.  I’d like to thank Betsy Web and Robin Jackson, descendants of Samuel & Mary Pry, for their very generous donation!  For now, you can hear the Pry clock chime in this video clip: 

    

Photos courtesy of the National Museum of Civil War Medicine, except where otherwise noted.

Some Civil War Medicines

     It’s time for another new exhibit!  Last week I helped to install an exhibit out at the Pry House Field Hospital Museum, on Medicines in the Civil War.  NMCWM Educator, Kyle Wichtendahl, developed this exhibit, so my role was mainly to help choose the appropriate artifacts, and then to pack them and transport them to the Pry House.   

Don’t laugh, but I’ve found this to be an effective method of transporting smaller artifacts!  Of course the artifacts are padded and packed well inside this acid-free box first.  I like to tie the lid down to keep everything securely inside the box.  The seatbelt ensures that the box doesn’t slide around inside the vehicle.  The box with the larger artifacts is secured in the trunk with a cargo net.

     So, now that the artifacts are ready to go, let’s take a look at some of the drugs which were used during the Civil War.

One of the panels from the exhibit tells about some of the beneficial drugs of the time, such as opium and quinine, as well as some of the harmful drugs such as mercury and lead acetate.  Examples of each of these are on display in this exhibit.

Also on display is my museum’s TV star – the bottle of silver nitrate which was featured on Mysteries at the Museum!  You can see the post about that episode here.  The large syringe on display behind the bottle would have been used to inject this medicine.

This hospital knapsack could be easily carried, and allowed the battlefield medical personnel access to the medical supplies needed to treat the wounded soldiers.  The case exterior is made of black oil cloth, and it covers a wooden frame.  The interior consists of an upper drawer which swings out and down from the knapsack.  The lower portion of interior has wooden dividers for the medical containers and supplies.

This medicine tin is one of several which came from the knapsack.  It contained “Spiritus Frumenti” or medicinal whiskey.  As you can see from its label, this tin was made by T. Morris Perot & Co. of Philadelphia, specifically for the U.S. Medical Department.

Not all of the artifacts we wanted could be displayed.  I made the decision not to risk transporting this bottle of ether, even though it would have fit well into this exhibit.  Though it’s hard to tell in this photo, the bottle is still about a third full of liquid.  I did not want that glass stopper working loose during the ride in the car!

Our newest intern, Jennifer, was happy to assist with putting the artifacts on display!

Here, Kyle makes sure all the labels are placed correctly before we put the covers on the display cases.

And here’s the new exhibit!

     “Medicines in the Civil War” will be on display at the Pry House through 2015.  Come by and see it if you get the chance!

Photos courtesy of the National Museum of Civil War Medicine.

A Beautiful Day at the Pry House!

     I recently had some tasks to complete out at the Pry House Field Hospital Museum.  The Pry farm is gorgeous this time of year, and I will freely admit that I chose my Pry work day after consulting the weather forecast!  I was able to enjoy a beautiful sunny day there, while still doing my work.

My first task was to prepare to paint two display cases in the house.  This bright yellow color was a bit too distracting!  A more neutral color will allow our visitors to notice the artifacts on display and not the cases.

     I worked in a room which was closed off from the display areas in the house, so that I didn’t have to worry about the dust or paint fumes affecting the artifacts or the visitors!  I was also careful to protect the floor from any paint drips by laying down some sheets of plastic.  After a quick sanding and dusting of the cases, I was able to get the first coat of paint on both cases that morning.

     While I waited for the paint to dry, I worked on a few other issues in the displays.  I hid some pest strips in strategic areas, to cut down on the number of insects in the house.  Though we take as many precautions as possible to prevent insects from entering the house, historic buildings tend to have little cracks and gaps which still allow entry to some pests. 

     You may recall a post I did back in January about the Letterman desk which is on display at the Pry House.  (You can read that one here.) There was an issue with the amount of light to which it was being exposed.  Though curtains were installed in the windows to block much of the sunlight, I mentioned that I wanted to put a blue wool standard card on the desk to monitor the issue.  Shortly after that post, the entire desk was covered since the house was closed to the public for the winter.  I didn’t need to worry about monitoring its light exposure at that point!

This blue wool standard is used to help assess the amount of ultraviolet light damage to artifacts.  Half of it is covered to keep the light from affecting that side.  When I check it later, I will easily be able to see if the uncovered side has faded due to UV exposure.  You can also see that I placed the blue wool card out of view behind the label on the desk!

At lunch time it was a treat to be able to eat outside on the balcony, and to enjoy the view of the garden, barn, and mountains.

I wasn’t the only one taking advantage of the nice weather.  Kyle and Cooper were working hard to keep the Pry medicinal herb garden in good shape.

There are still more great views!  If you come to visit the Pry House Field Hospital Museum, don’t forget that there is an overlook out behind the house.  It allows for a spectacular view of the Antietam Battlefield!

     All too quickly, lunch time was over and I had to get back to my painting.

First though, I had to stop and pet Hazel, who’d come in to keep Katlyn company at the front desk.  How can you walk past that face without saying ‘hello’ to her?!

Back to work now!  The cases are already looking much better, but they need a second coat of paint. 

Two coats of paint did the trick.  You can see that one of the Plexiglas display tops is out of the way in the corner.  You can also see that there’s an easel set up next to it.  Though it may appear that the easel is out of place here, I purposely put it there so that no one would accidentally trip over the top.  Being clear and low to the ground can make them difficult to see when one is walking around and looking at other things…. not that I’m admitting that’s ever happened to me!

Finally, there was the little matter of cleaning up the mess!  It was certainly worth the effort to repaint those cases though.  Now the paint can “cure” for a few weeks while we work on the display of Civil War medicines which will go into these cases. 

Photos courtesy of the National Museum of Civil War Medicine.