OREGON — Curators of the Ogle County Historical Society recently presented two different examples of research demonstrating a wide variety of work in local historical preservation.
First was the Nightingale Doll House mystery requested by the Oregon Library. A handmade dollhouse of definite Swedish design had been unrecognized for some decades. A small front plaque “To honoree Elizabeth D. Palmer by Harry C. Palmer”, was a beginning clue. Working backward from the man’s found obituary, it was learned that the woman’s middle initial “D” was her maiden name – Dickerson. She was in fact, the daughter of a man named James Spencer Dickerson. In a history by her brother Willard, he described the founding of Eagle’s Nest Art Colony. In it, he recorded that their father James S. Dickerson, of the U of Chicago, introduced his friend Wallace Heckman, also of the U of Chicago, to sculptor Lorado Taft. This meeting sealed the 1898 origin of Taft’s land lease for summer artists in Oregon.
But the Nightingale Dollhouse question led back to a well-known children’s book titled The Nightingale House and by whom this same Elizabeth Palmer was author. She lived in St. Paul, Minnesota, was the designer of the dollhouse and owned a children’s store there called Kindermart. Her book has the same cover image as the mystery dollhouse in the Oregon Library attic.
Interior rooms have hand woven rugs, Swedish rose painting and Jenny Lind wooden furniture, all in authentic Swedish design. Elizabeth Palmer traveled across the country for her book promotion and the Nightingale Dollhouse traveled with her. For the curious, the famous singer Jenny Lind, known as the Swedish Nightingale, also has a role in this story… More information on how this Elizabeth D. Palmer story, her book, and the dollhouse returned to Oregon, can be found at OCHS and the next Gazette.
Next, a mapping project using GIS techniques was presented by Kris Gilbert, OCHS technology curator. (GIS is a computer-based tool that maps and analyzes the Earth’s events and existing features. It combines location data with descriptive information accurately and much faster than older manual mapping methods.) Kris is a dedicated cemetery preservationist and presented to the depot group a new map of Riverview Cemetery. Using GIS, she mapped all the known recorded graves as well as walking the cemetery to create the most accurate record to date.
Most significant in this public map is that grave sites can be searchable by typing in surnames by computer. All known burials are seen by markers and when activated, the burial name at that site is seen on the screen. Another screen will identify all military sites. This now provides a template for flag placements, DAR ceremonies and more exact genealogy. The oldest surnames in this early Oregon cemetery are disappearing even faster as the gravestones degrade from acid rain and the elements.
Mowing and maintenance of these oldest cemeteries is very challenging for those who volunteer to care for them, serve as trustees and struggle to find funds for their existence. A humorous but effective solution has become the recent use of commercial goat herds that are placed within fences that can be moved from one area to another. Kris described how this had worked at the landlocked Brooklyn cemetery on north River Road. A long abandoned, weed and bramble filled 1.3-acre site, the goats proved to be a solution at last without the previous backbreaking work done by boy scouts and many volunteers.
Later Edgar Ferrer, history docent, gave tours of the Ruby Nash Museum to attendees at the OCHS Depot program.
