June 14, 2010 11:26:13
Posted By The Curator

Hello All,

 

I was recently informed there was a misprint in the Meadville Tribune stating the concert on the lawn was Tuesday the 15th.

 

THIS IS AN ERROR

 

Unfortunately either your trusty author or the paper missed that so please forgive us! We will be playing all of your old time favorites on June 22 at 6pm!

 

Sorry for the Inconvenience!!!

 

-The Baldwin-Reynolds House
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June 1, 2010 12:08:15
Posted By The Curator

Hello All!

 

Here are a few pics from our recent plaster restoration. We still have a long way to go, but it's been a great start!

Durable Restoration of Ohio did a spiffy job!

Durable Restoration of Ohio performed the work. They are known for jobs including the Warren Harding and Rutherford Hayes houses among other remarkable buildings!
Plaster in the parlor

They really made our parlor looks spiffy!
Jacking the beam in the library back into place

At some point mid 1900s, forced air heating was installed and a floor beam was cut through to accomodate it! They had to jack the floor up in the library and reframe the area to keep the 2nd floor on the 2nd floor!
We were able to get samples of the originalo ceiling color and paint it accordingly

Durable was able to save samples of the removed plaster, discovering the bottom or original layer of paint! We were able to match the color using the handy computers at Sherwin Williams Paints and return our ceiling to its original color!

 

More photos of the completed rooms soon!!!!!!
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Categories: Events, General, Updates, Welcome, Restoration, Presentation, house, architecture, fun, greek revival
 
May 30, 2010 12:09:17
Posted By The Curator

Henry Baldwin


Last summer, our Curator/Director Joshua Sherretts gave an interview with Erie's NPR Station- WQLN. Listen to Joshua and WQLN's Kim Young as Baldwin finally begins to gain his hour in NWPA!

 

http://66.211.213.13/wate/wate0907251.wma
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March 14, 2010 01:18:50
Posted By The Curator
Did you ever want to know how to care for your heirloom furniture? Decorate your Victorian home? We have been hard at work trying to find ways to help you out with these things and this summer and are adding workshops to our summer schedule. Starting in June, we will be holding workshops open to the public on these topics and more and want your feedback on what else you want to learn at the museum! We would be holding any of these on Saturdays and will be taking reservations once plans are finalized. Here are a few of our proposed topics:
 
Herbs and their Uses
 
Step back in time with us to learn what rue, tansy, and other herbs you may not have even heard of are, what their uses were/are, and how to grow them in your own home.
 
Antiques 101
 
Come learn an overview on purchasing, collecting, and decorating with antiques. We’ll go over some ways to spot fakes, and where to look to find the most accurate values of your collection.
 
Decorating with and Caring for Antique Furniture
 
Enjoy antique furniture collecting? We do (for obvious reasons)! Join us to look at different styles of furniture, how to best decorate a room with them, and how they should be maintained.
 
Creating a Victorian Holiday in your home
 
You may have been to our house for Christmas over the years, but did you ever wonder how to do some of those things at home? We could show you.
 
Cooking with Katherine
 
Katherine Reynolds’ handwritten family cookbook is part of our collection and we’d be happy to open it up for you! Come learn just how many of the vague, complicated recipes of old time are made in modern kitchens!
 
Please help us this week by reading these options and emailing us with you vote at museum@baldwinreynolds.org on which workshops would interest you the most. If you have other ideas for workshops, don’t hesitate to let us know as well as which of those I mentioned are your favorites. We can’t wait to serve you in even more ways in 2010!
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Categories: Events, General, workshops
 
February 2, 2010 04:40:19
Posted By The Curator
It’s amazing how a person can change the climate of a town or city forever. When Gideon Sundback was brought into the fold at what would become Talon, the Swedish born and German trained electrical engineer may have seen a challenge he couldn’t pass up, but by no means could have dreamed his work would change Meadville forever. After finding two chairs at the museum donated by Marguerite Titus Sundback, wife of zipper fame, we’d like to share a small taste of their lives.
 
Gideon Sundback moved to the United States from Sweden at the age of 24, almost immediately taking a job at Westinghouse in Pittsburgh. He was quickly sought out by the Automatic Hook and Eye Company (predecessor to Talon) in Hoboken, New Jersey. He took on the project of trying to improve upon existing zipper designs in 1906, giving speculation as to the reason for his interest a mix between the desire of a challenge and the appeal of his employer’s daughter, Elvira Aronson. Sundback and Aronson were married in 1909. Sundback moved to New Jersey and began work on improving the C-curity which after a year on the market was beginning to reveal problems already.
 
Sundback was determined and with new interest from Lewis Walker who had began to drift from the failing company, in 1913 Walker purchased the company and assets for $50,000 and tied his fate to it completely- moving it to Meadville Pennsylvania.
 
Upon the design of Sundback’s Hookless #2, the zipper in Meadville became a permanent staple and with it the fame of Walker, Sundback, and the rest of the Hookless Fastener Company in Meadville, PA. The company was eventually renamed Talon and its fame continued for decades- locally to this day.
 
Many of our readers may have worked for Talon Zipper and some may have been fortunate enough to know Sundback, who remarried Marguerite in 1916 after his first wife’s death in 1911. Their legacy lives on at the museum in the form of Marguerite’s leadership there in the Baldwin-Reynolds House’s early years as well as two French styled chairs in the library. Those chairs are permanent fixtures in our exhibits, just as their former owners will forever remain permanent fixtures in our fair city.
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Categories: General, Updates, Sundback, Gideon, zipper, talon, Marguerite
 

 

 
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