Museums 101: Household artifacts (photo diary)

The Historical Museum at Fort Missoula, in Missoula, Montana, has a room display called What is a Museum which explains what museums do.

While some museums display only items which can be classified as “fine art” (paintings, sculpture, and other items often associated with an intellectual elite), other museums contain displays of everyday objects highlighting the lives of the majority of the people. The Historical Museum at Fort Missoula has about 40,000 items in its collection which means that less than 2% are on display at any one time. According to the display:

“These items all represent Missoula County in numerous ways, from objects owned by the town’s founding fathers, to everyday objects like teapots and bowling balls that represent the culture and history of Missoula.”

Shown below are some of the displays of everyday household objects.

Shown above is a grouping of artifacts associated with laundry and house cleaning.

Shown above is a washing machine

Shown above is a display of kitchen artifacts.

Some of the kitchen artifacts are shown above.  

Shown above is another display of kitchen artifacts.

Shown above is a display of a phonograph, phonograph records, and other music-related artifacts.

Shown above is a display of bedroom-related artifacts.

Shown above is a display of children-related artifacts.

The unusual device shown above is a corn husker.

According to the display:

“This small hand device is used to quickly cut ears of corn from the stock. The ear is grabbed by one hand, while the other hand uses the hook portion to slice the ear off. The leather and metal plate protect the user’s hand.”