By
John H. Wilder
When first hearing about doing a Service Learning project, I was worried. I work full time and go to school full time and I didn’t know when I’d have time to do a large project like this. It turned out that doing this project was a highlight for me this semester. I was able to find a project working with the Iron Mission State Park that would fit my schedule. I had a wonderful time researching a pioneer’s everyday life and interpreting research to a museum format. This project allowed me to gain historical experience in the real world. Most importantly it allowed me to share the things I learned with the community and with all those who visit Cedar City in the future.
I first went to the Iron Mission on January 30, 2002. They were a little skeptical about me doing volunteer work. They had a previous experience with a Service Learning student in which not much was accomplished. I met with the curator, Ryan Paul, who wanted to make sure that I really wanted to help out. At the time there was a lot of construction in order to remodel the Iron Mission State Park, so the historical items were spread all over the place. When the construction was going to get over, Ryan had some projects in mind to make the Iron Mission a little more interesting. One of those projects that he needed some help on was a “Pioneer Room” exhibit. This would be an exhibit set up like a pioneer house would be with items that they used. He wanted interpretations on some of these items so that visitors could learn about and compare their own lives with a pioneer. He showed me the area where he wanted this room and showed me some items that needed interpretations. Then we set up a time a week later in which we could meet.
February 6 was our next meeting. Ryan introduced me to Wendy Blankenship, who had worked at the Iron Mission the previous summer. At this meeting we established a time line that we wanted to represent with this room. At first it was from 1850-1900, but we later amended this to 1850-1920. Next we split up the workload between the three of us. My portion was to research was laundry items and processes. I also said that I’d try to find some primary source pictures of women working in the home. I would go about this by trying the SUU Special Collections and asking my Mother in-law if she had old pictures of relatives in Washington County. Finally in this meeting we established times when we could all meet to show the progress we had been able to make. The dates that we set up were in every other week increments. They were February 21, March 7, and March 21. The proposal to this exhibit was due March 25.
Over the next month, I was able to find time to do research during Spring Break and on my days off. My research was done at the SUU Library and Special Collections. I kept a log of the days and amount of time I did research. Those days were: February 19 for 1 hour, February 21 for 3 hours, February 28 for 2-1/2 hours, and March 7 for 1 hour. Over all I spent 7-1/2 hours on research for this project. Add this to time spent at meetings and time spent typing up my interpretations for presentation, I spent 12 hours on this project.
In my research at the SUU Main Collection and Special Collections I encountered success, but also some problems. I found that among the books about the West, there is not very many about women, and even fewer containing information about the everyday processes of the home. One excellent book that had some great information about a woman’s life in the West was a book by Linda Peavy and Ursula Smith. This book was called Pioneer Women: The Lives of Women on the Frontier. This book also contained some great pictures of the everyday lives of women. After interpreting the research, I typed it up and submitted it to Ryan Paul. This is what I found.
Lye Soap: This was made pouring water through the wood ashes of a fire. The brown liquid that came from this was called lye. This would be mixed and boiled with grease or lard until it became the right consistency for soap. This would be poured into a pan to harden and be cut up into bars. This soap would be used as laundry soap, dish soap and hand soap.
The Laundry Process: Laundry was typically done on a Monday. A bucket of rainwater or nearby stream water would be gathered and boiled. Lye Soap would be added. The clothes would be added and scrubbed clean on a washboard or with a scrub brush. Wet clothes would then be hung out to dry on a clothesline. Laundry took the good part of a day.
Ironing: Ironing was usually done the day after laundry, which was typically on a Tuesday. An iron slug would be heated in a fire or a wood-burning stove. This slug would then be placed in a slot on the iron to make it hot. If a family did not have an ironing board, they would place a board on two steady objects, or iron on the table. Ironing took up most of a day.
-Water was gained by gathering rainwater in buckets, or going to a nearby stream to do laundry.
-Women that were employed outside that home were usually employed in someone else’s home to do chores like the laundry. Laundress was one of the main occupations for African American women.
-Washing could be done in exchange for goods like bread or seeds.
-The Laundry usually took one full day and ironing another full day.
Resources
-Dick, Everett. The Sod House Frontier: 1854-1890. D. Appleton-Century Company; New York, 1937.
-Peavy, Linda and Ursula Smith. Pioneer Women: The Lives of Women on the Frontier. University of Oklahoma Press; Norman, OK, 1996.
-Plante, Ellen M. The American Kitchen.
-Stratton, Joanna L. Pioneer Women: Voices from the Kansas Frontier. Simon and Schuster; New York, 1981.
In my research, I was not able to find any primary source pictures from either the SUU Special Collections or from my wife’s side of the family, but I was able to find an interesting account of everyday living here in Cedar City. This was written by Gladys McConnell who was the daughter of a woman who was involved in dairying in pioneer Cedar City. Gladys felt it was important to record down processes of living that her mom had told her about. I was truly amazed at how these pioneers lived off of the land.
One account that Gladys McConnell gave was the process of making cheese. A calf would be fed some milk and then killed. The stomach would be removed and cut open to extract the enzymes that curdled the milk. After the cheese was made, leftovers would be poured back into the stomach to make more enzymes. This process could make cheese all summer long.
Another part of this manuscript that I found extremely interesting was some medicinal recipes that the pioneers used. I gave a copy of these to Ryan Paul to either include in the “Pioneer Room” exhibit, or to put into a future exhibit. Here are those recipes:
For poultices to extract or draw infection and to reduce inflammation, she used:
1. Sugar and soft soap mixed together
2. Bread and milk
3. White of egg and salt
4. Sticky gum
5. Wagon grease
6. Prickly pears roasted, split and placed on afflicted spot, especially the eye.
7. Since many women suffered from infected breast—caked breast they called it—she used cloths soaked in linseed oil, heated and applied to the breast, and also poultices of fresh cow manure. I am told this worked very well.
For dysentery she used:
1. Boiled milk
2. Wild Raspberry leaves steeped in milk
3. Raspberry or wild geranium leaves steeped in water
For coughs:
1. The liquid extracted from onions and sugar
2. Honey and vinegar
3. Sugar and kerosene
4. Butter and sugar
For Croup:
Urine (chamber lye, they called it) and molasses
Young ladies also used urine and buttermilk to bleach their freckles.
To reduce a fever, she used all kinds of herbs steeped into tea:
1. Garden sage
2. Wild sage brush leaves
3. Angelica – root and leaf
4. Yarrow
5. Columbia
6. Peppermint
7. Marshmallow
McConnell, Gladys. Historical Research and Writing, Manuscripts, Dairying. SUU Special Collections. MS.6 B5F3.
In researching the laundry process and reading Gladys McConnell’s manuscripts, I couldn’t help but wonder if I could live off the land like the pioneers did if I were put into similar circumstances that they lived in. I also wondered if they would be able to survive in our day and time. Doing this project showed me how truly alien a pioneer life-style was from our own. I am grateful for the opportunity to share this historical truth that struck me with the community.
On our March 7 meeting I was able to help set up the “Pioneer Room” Exhibit. Ryan and I pulled items down from storage and arranged them to how we thought they should go. We set up two areas: one to look like a pioneer kitchen and another to look like a parlor. The kitchen contained items like a wood-burning stove, iron and ironing board, a food cooler and a washtub. The parlor contained an old organ, bookshelves, sewing machine and loom, chairs, a baby carriage, etc. At the time these areas were not separated by anything, but Ryan Paul found out that the budget allowed for them to build walls to create two actual rooms. These walls will allow us to display our interpretations better. Ryan was hoping this construction would be done by late of April, early May. The exhibit should be finished soon after this.
I did not use any electronic sources in my written research, because I was able to find what I needed in books. I did ask Professor Mulderink if he had any suggestions. He mentioned the Smithsonian web site. I you would like to know more, you might want to check this site out. One electronic resource that I ran into was some CD ROM’s that the SUU Special Collections has. They are full of historic magazines such as those put out by the Daughter’s of Utah Pioneers. I browsed through these for a little bit and they had a lot of good pioneer information. In museum work I found that the Internet is pretty useful. Ryan Paul was on ebay daily looking for items to put in the museum. Some items that he showed me that he had gotten from ebay were old copies of books such as The Book of Mormon and Robinson Crusoe.
There is still a little bit of work that I need to accomplish. In the parlor area of the exhibit there is an old organ that doesn’t work. Ryan wanted to get some organ music of the period recorded to play at the exhibit. He was able to find some sheet music from that era. I told him my wife plays the organ. Now we just have to find a time when we can get together to record the music. We plan to do this in one of the local church buildings if possible.
I am grateful that I had the chance to participate in this Service Learning opportunity. This was a great way to apply real life history in benefiting the community. I haven’t had any other experience like this in a history class. It helped me to be able to get to know museum work and get good history work experience. I’m grateful to have been able to share some learning with the community and those from all over the world who visit this community. I enjoyed this experience so much that I will continue to do service at the Iron Mission State Park this summer. Please come visit the “Pioneer Room” exhibit at the Iron Mission State Park at 585 N. Main St. Cedar City, Utah.