Halloween Art Memories

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by Kristine Schmucker, HCHM Curator

 “I was in the seventh grade in 1964 and had been interested in art for as long as I remember, so somehow I managed to get an assignment to paint a window downtown at Halloween.” –Dan Hollingshead, 2014 e-mail.

Halloween Painting by Dan Hollingshead in the window of Frey's Jewelry, 1964. Courtesy Dan Hollingshead.

Halloween Painting by Dan Hollingshead in the window of Frey’s Jewelry, 1964. John Bahre also worked on the painting. Courtesy Dan Hollingshead.

Hollingshead recalled that quite a few of the downtown businesses participated and allowed spooky Halloween scenes to take over their store windows for a time each October.   Usually two people were asked to create a scene, but Hollingshead noted that his partner was John Bahre, They used a water-base paint.

West 6th Street, Newton. ca. 1957. Looking east. Frey's Jewelry is located at 133 W. 6th (sign is visible). HCHM Photo Archives.

West 6th Street, Newton. ca. 1957. Looking east. Frey’s Jewelry is located at 133 W. 6th (sign is visible). HCHM Photo Archives.

Hollingshead graduated from Newton High School in 1970.  He lives in Longmont, CO and continues to create beautiful paintings and murals.   The Halloween painting on the windows at Frey’s Jewelry in Newton was his first piece of “public art.”  For more information on  Dan Hollingshead’s work see: http://danhollingshead.com/

What do you remember about this Halloween tradition? How long did it last? How were artist chosen?

Please share stories and photos in the comment section or on facebook.  We would love to know more!

Thank you to Dan Hollingshead for sharing his photo and memories!

Sources:

  • Newton City Directories, 1963, 1965.
  • Photo Archives, HCHM
  • Dan Hollingshead to Kristine Schmucker, e-mail, 22 October 2014.

 

 

A “start towards fame:” Isaac N. Lewis’ Harvey County Connections

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The Archives is full of fun tidbits of information including this clipping discovered by Archivist Jane Jones highlighting a little known fact.

Clipping, n.d. Found in"Early Settlers" file, HCHM Archives, Newton, Ks

Clipping, ca. November 1931,  found in”Early Settlers” file, HCHM Archives, Newton, Ks

The 1931 newspaper clipping explains that the death of Col. Isaac Lewis

“is of interest to Harvey county people as he is a former resident and received his start towards fame from here and thru a local man.”

Isaac N. Lewis was born in New Salem, PA, 12 October 1858.  Although most of his life was spent in the eastern part of the U.S., for a time Lewis lived in Kansas.  The 1880 census lists Lewis, age 21, living in the household of his sister and brother-in-law, Hiram and Sarah Hackney, in Highland Township, Harvey County, Kansas.  His occupation is school teacher, probably at  one room school No. 64, known as Highland School.  The Highland School was located in Section 12, Highland Township on ground owned by H.H. Hackney, Lewis’ brother-in-law.

A second Harvey County connection was noted in the article.  Lewis received his appointment to the U.S. Military Academy from Samuel R. Peters Kansas congressman and Newton lawyer.

Lewis entered the U.S. Military Academy in June 1880 as a cadet from Kansas. He graduated from the Academy in 1884. Shortly after graduation, he married Mary Wheatley and they had four children.

While at the Academy, his skill with inventing was noted. Following his graduation he was able to put these skills to work. Lewis, a Second Lieutenant of Artillery,  was at Fort Leavenworth in Kansas from 1888-1890. During this time, he developed “the first successful artillery range and position finder” used by the War Department. Over the years, he continued to create improved models of the range and position finder.  He also was the inventor of numerous other instruments related to artillery.

Lewis Machine Gun

He is most famous for his “automatic air-cooled machine gun”  developed in 1911-1912. The first machine gun to be successfully fired with accuracy from an airplane.  A demonstration of the gun was given in June 1912 at College Park, in Maryland.  Although the United States failed, at first, to realize the potential, the British government was “quick to utilize Colonel Lewis’ s machine gun.”  More than 100,000 of the guns were used by the Allied armies during the Great War.  As result, Lewis received millions of dollars in royalties from the British government. The Lewis Machine Gun was used from 1914 until 1953.

He retired due to a physical disability with the rank of Colonel in 1913. He made his home in Montclair, New Jersey.

Isaac N. Lewis

Isaac N. Lewis

Lewis died suddenly from a massive heart attack on November 9, 1931 while waiting in the Hoboken, New Jersey train terminal. He was 73 years old.

by Kristine Schmucker, HCHM Curator

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Sources:

  • “Inventor of Lewis Machine Gun Dead: Former Harvey County Man Passed Away Very Suddenly,” Newspaper Clipping, ca. November 1931, found in “Early Settlers” File HCHM Archives, Newton, Ks
  • U.S. Census, 1880
  • Historical Map of Harvey County, Philadelphia, J.P. Edwards, 1882.
  • http://www.firstworldwar.com/atoz/mgun_lewis.htm
  • http://www.oldmagazinearticles.com/pdf/LEWIS-GUN,-P.-A.PDF
  • http://www.allworldwars.com/Lewis-Automatic-Machine-Gun-1916.html
  • http://replicaplans.com/LewisGun.html

Behind the Scenes: HCHM Archives

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aam_c_0 by Kristine Schmucker, HCHM Curator

 “Upon these pages pure and white

are recorded those who fail to 

Do Right.” -Judge C.H. Stewart, 1937

Much of the work done by archival volunteers and staff is time consuming and tedious.  Once a document collection is donated to the Archives, the work begins to make it accessible to researchers.

Finding aides and indexes are created by entering key pieces of information into a database.  Without these finding aids, it would be almost impossible to find specific information.

Recently, HCHM volunteer, Ellen Schneider, began creating a database of the Justice of the Peace Dockets for Harvey County.

Harvey County Justice of the Peace Docket, HCHM Archives, Newton, Ks.

Harvey County Justice of the Peace Docket, HCHM Archives, Newton, Ks.

These huge books contain the day to day workings of the court, written out in long hand.  The dockets include civil and criminal cases from 1872 through the 1940s.

Ellen created a searchable database so that researchers could more easily find information on cases relevant to their project.

Charles H. & Mary Ann Showalter Stewart with Elizabeth, 1915

Charles H. & Mary Ann Showalter Stewart with Elizabeth, 1915.

While creating a database of the Justice Dockets, Ellen discovered that Judge Charles H. Stewart often included poetry in the extra pages.

Just another volume filled

with grief and Trouble . . . 

Where honest men

Have stepped aside . . .

While others let the

“Old Serpent” (SIN)

Quietly step in . . . 

Until the Sheriff quickly led

Them to the Justice who has said,

“Guilty.” –Judge C.H. Stewart

His 1946 obituary described Stewart as a “well known Newton citizen and justice of the peace” who had lived in Newton since 1876. He married Mary Ann Schowalter on August 28, 1898 and they had one daughter, Elizabeth (Mrs. Dwight Eells).

Thank you to Jane Jones, HCHM Archivist and her team of volunteers who do the painstaking work of organizing and indexing  the historic documents from Harvey County.

Thank you to HCHM’s Archival Volunteers:  Ron Dietzel, Pam Navrat, Tom Sandwell, Marilyn Schmidt, Ellen Schneider.

Sources:

  • Evening Kansan Republican, 30 December 1946, p. 1
  • Evening Kansan Republican, 23 April 1951, p. 4 
  • Marriage License Collection, HCHM Archives, Newton, Ks
  • Harvey County Justice Dockets, indexed by Ellen Schneider, HCHM Archives, Newton, Ks