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January 31, 2016
WOLF CREEK HERITAGE MUSEUM NOTES by Virginia Scott MUSEUM HAPPENINGS We had a good week, it is nice to have time to complete internal projects and reorganize work spaces and especially our archives. The Core group is busy auditing our collections and correctly our records when needed. If you ever wonder how we keep track of our collection, join us on a Wednesday and you can see the paperwork and paper trail that each item has. We welcomed a group of Wheeler County museum peers to the museum on Thursday and shared our systems of recordkeeping with them. It was both entertaining and educational to share ideas and goals with our neighbor museum. We look forward to future contacts with the surrounding museums. The board will have a work day on the 10th to complete our annual report and make goals for the 2016 year. If you have any suggestions, please send them to us. The student art is slowing taking shape. Please plan to stop by and see the work of our students. It is amazing as always how talented our students are and we need to provide them with feedback that art is important to their education. HISTORICAL MUSINGS On Tuesday, February 2, was Groundhog Day. Since I am writing on Monday, I do not know if he saw his shadow or not. I will report next week. Did you know, however, that the University of Dallas in Irving, Texas claims to host the second largest Groundhog celebration in the world. Second only to the most well known in Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania. According to folklore, if it is cloudy when a groundhog emerges from its burrow on this day, then spring will come early; if it is sunny, the groundhog will supposedly see its shadow and retreat back into its burrow, and the winter weather will persist for six more weeks. Groundhog Day was adopted in the U.S. in 1887. Clymer H. Freas was the editor of the local paper Punxsutawney Spirit at the time, and he began promoting the town’s groundhog as the official Groundhog Day meteorologist. The custom has its origins in ancient European weather lore, wherein a badger or sacred bear is the predictor, as opposed to a groundhog. The first documented American reference is found in a diary entry, dated February 4, 1841, of Morgantown, PA, storekeeper James Morris: "Last Tuesday, the 2nd, was Candlemas day, the day on which, according to the Germans, the Groundhog peeps out of his winter quarters and if he sees his shadow he pops back for another six weeks nap, but if the day be cloudy he remains out, as the weather is to be moderate." |
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