Path [2300]: News | 2018 Chapter News

Last Updated: 

Historic Wake Robin sign restored

 A full house at the Sarpy County Museum Thursday evening munched hors d’oeuvres, drank fruit punch and celebrated the restoration of a historic artifact. Museum Executive Director Ben Justman, with help of Brenda Carlisle, president of the museum’s board of directors, unveiled the restored Wake Robin sign that once directed visitors to a Fontenelle Forest cabin home and art studio built in 1916 by artist, journalist and archaeologist Robert Gilder. Gilder was a New Yorker who headed west in the 1880s, settling in Nebraska in 1887 and establishing himself as a journalist, archaeologist and painter of Nebraska landscapes whose works are today collected internationally. He worked as a newspaper reporter for 32 years, even  as he produced the hundreds of paintings that would become his lasting legacy. Gilder was born in 1856 and died in 1940. Gilder and Wake Robin elementary schools are named in Gilder’s honor. The restoration was conducted by the Gerald R. Ford Conservation Center in Omaha at a cost of $4,500 with funding provided by three Nebraska chapters of The Questers, an international organization dedicated to the preservation of historic objects and sites. The Nebraska chapter donated $3,500, along with a combined $1,000 donation from the La Belle Vue chapter and Bellevue chapter 1504 of the Corps of Discovery, which is a Questers branch reserved for married couples. Rebecca Cashman, the conservator who directed the restoration project, was on hand for the unveiling. She said the project proved satisfying because the sign, while in poor condition, remains important and retained enough of its original
artwork to make clear how it was supposed to look. “It’s an object that’s locally important, it was in really bad condition and it was something that not only could we stabilize, which is our first priority as conservators, but we could also make it aesthetically look like it once did,” she said. The sign, which will be displayed permanently at the museum, is part of a larger Robert Gilder exhibit that will be on display at the museum through Saturday. The overall exhibit includes Gilder art works and artifacts borrowed from Creighton University, the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, the Joslyn Art Museum and the Omaha World-Herald. The museum is located at 2402 Clay St., in Olde Towne Bellevue.

Ben Justman, executive director of the Sarpy County Museum, poses Thursday evening with the freshly unveiled and newly restored Wake Robin sign that once directed visitors to Robert Gilder’s Fontenelle Forest art studio. Pictured at right is Rebecca Cashman, of the Gerald R. Ford Conservation Center, who restored the artifact, and, at rear, Bellevue resident Lorraine Jeffus who serves as international president of The Questers, which financed the restoration.

From Bellevue Leader, May 16, 2018 • Volume 8 • Number 20

Prescott’s ‘Antiques on the Square’ Has
New Name, Location for June Show & Market

‘Antiques on the Square’—the popular event held semiannually on the downtown Prescott Courthouse Plaza—has a new name and a new larger venue. It is now the Prescott Antique Show and Vintage Market and its upcoming event will be held at the historic Prescott Rodeo Grounds on Sunday, June 3.
Just five minutes from downtown Prescott and the Courthouse Plaza, the spacious venue at 840 Rodeo Drive offers both indoor and outdoor exhibit spaces, ample parking in close proximity to  exhibits and a vintage setting that ties perfectly to the theme of the show! The increased space at the Rodeo Grounds allows for sales of larger “mid-century” architectural and repurposed salvage items along with the Antiques and Collectibles—and more. Hours are
from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.; admission is $3 with children admitted free and parking is free.  The well-known antique show, dating to the late 1980s,
is sponsored by the Thumb Butte and Yavapai Quester chapters.  The 2 chapters have promoted this semi-annual show for many years.  The event has  generated upwards of $7,000 annually for area P&R projects. Local and area organizations benefitting from antique show profits over the years include several museums and historical societies: Sharlot Hall, Smoki, Skull Valley, Chino Valley, and Dewey-Humboldt. Just in the last three years, many thousands of dollars have been given for restoration projects that include the Porter steam engine at the entrance to Sharlot’s Depot, the historic Cornville Post Office, Santa Fe Railroad phone booths used at Jerome Junction and Del Rio, a mining stamp mill, Citizens Cemetery, and new kitchen flooring at the historic Fort Verde Hance House. Recently, a $7600 check (from antique show profits and a grant from the Arizona State Organization of Questers) was presented to the City of Prescott to fund the restoration of windows and repair and/or replication of the steel security bars in the windows of the historic Grace Sparks Community Center, also known as “the Armory.” (See images below)  

From: The Antique Register at http://www.theantiqueregister.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/AR-MJ-18web.pdf

Cimarron #1195, Oklahoma, Raised Funds to Restore the Portrait of Will Rogers 
that hangs in the Oklahoma State Capitol. 
The painting was completed just months before Will Rogers died. 

Taken from the Edmond Sun's "Edmond Life and Leisure" Section, September 21, 2017.

Taking  care of history: From paper to buildings, Questers seek to preserve history

SCOTTSBLUFF — Panhandle residents who are interested in preserving and restoring the past for the benefit of the future can join one of the local chapters of Questers and share your love of history, collecting and educating others.

Questers is an international organization which hosts educational programs, speakers trips and workshops centered around the preservation and/or restoration of historical pieces and/or places. The organization is active in  the Panhandle, boasting three chapters — Dome Rockers, Scotts Bluff  and Scotts Girls. Current Nebraska State President Sandra Strey is the first  Quester from the Panhandle to serve in that position.
The organization and its members are interested in history and believe in preservation of everything from paper to buildings. Previous talks have covered antique leather books and postcards. Strey said she never thought the book talk would be all that interesting, but she was fascinated at the workmanship required to produce such items.  It’s not all serious. Strey said it is also a lot of fun.

Strey also became an expert on several new historical items. “It was a learning experience, but I was fortunate that a lot of people would help me,” she said. “That was the most fun for me. We go on trips and see many historical items and historical sites,” she said.  They have made trips to Fort Robinson and Fort Laramie.  But one trip to Sioux County was particularly memorable for Strey.

“The Agate Springs Ranch house was interesting,” she said. “A lot of it is empty, but there are a lot of little touches of history everywhere.”  Locally, Questers obtained a grant to paint the windows at the West Nebraska Art Center. They are currently waiting to hear if they will re- ceive a grant for the coping, or wall capping, on the outside of the building. The Dome Rockers chapter, which Strey belongs to, helped in the moving of materials from the North Platte Valley museum to the Farm and Ranch museum as the two were merging into the Legacy of the Plains Museum.

Strey’s heart lies in helping preserve history at the Legacy of the Plains Museum. The Dome Rockers were among several groups who worked together to transport everything from the Platte Valley Museum to Legacy.  “Maybe we didn’t give them money, but we gave them hours,” she said. “The best thing was, every time we were at the museum, you could hear laughter throughout the place.”
 
Statewide, Questers is waiting to hear about a grant for the Bess Streeter Aldrich home in Elmwood. Strey said.  She has been pleased with the amount of work and support from the state for the many projects Questers is involved in. “Nebraska has been very progressive about helping our state,” she said.

Questers was founded on April 6, 1944, by Jessie Elizabeth Bardens, a red cross production chairman, in Fort Washington, Pennsylvania.  “She had a group of people come to her house and bring an antique and a sandwich,” Strey said.  From that grew the motto, “The powers of the mind are memory and imagination for without memory we have no past without imagination, and future.”

Strey became involved after she was invited by Ronda Lewis to a Spring Tea where potential new members can find out more information about the organization. Strey became one of the charter members of the new chapter, Dome Rockers. The names of chapters come from something in the area where the chapter is established. Each chapter has a minimum of eight people. Many keep about 15-20 in a chapter to keep the original idea of everyone fitting into one home intact. They have the flexibility to decide when and where they meet, but most meet from September to May. A member can also be an associate member in one other chapter. Strey said this happens more often when a new chapter is beginning, so other chapter members can help get the new one up and running until they can stand on their own.

Taken from the Omaha Star-Herald, Friday, January 19, 2018

This display box was a regular fixture in many stores around the country. Customers could simply pull open a drawer, grab the piece of thread they wanted and go pay for it. With the clear fronts, customers could view what they needed before opening the drawer and having fewer hands touch the threads before one was purchased.

This needle box is one of the unique items stored at the Legacy of the Plains Museum in Gering. It is one item that Sandra Strey, Nebraska Questers president, likes to show off because it is in excellent condition and nearly intact as it was when the needles were sold.

These types of display cases used to be a regular site in stores around the country. Customers would sim- ply pull open a drawer and take what type of thread they needed and go pay for it, said Sandra Strey, president of the Nebraska Questers. The box is currently stored at the Legacy of the Plains Museum and is one of many items in the museum’s collection. Strey said she hopes it will one day be on display for the public