Things I learned at the Pend Oreille County Museum

We had been told that the Pend Oreille County Museum in Newport was worth a visit so we drove into town today - and thoroughly enjoyed it! For this post, I'm just going to share some of the things I learned from the displays...

One of the buildings was a rebuilt local school house...

Inside the schoolhouse were desks of various sizes. It was very cool (in temperature) inside the building with the log and mud coated walls. Different from a lot of museums, we were allowed to walk into the building and all around inside - not just peer in from the doorway.

Classroom rules for the students that were posted on the wall.

Another location in the museum had rules for teachers from 1872! Inquiring minds want to know: Why could teachers not get shaved in a barber shop?

Another display had various household appliances. In this area, they had this advertisement that says, "Back in the good old days, men didn't buy appliances. They married them." (good old days???? really?????)

I had to read this "out loud" in my mind to be able to figure out all that it said!

Questions that arise in my mind when reading this:
Re: #4: are the work britches and rags in two separate piles? Or are they in one pile, and wouldn't colored (cullord) be in another pile?
Re: #6: if the soap is put into the "bilin" water, and the "cullord" items aren't "bile", how do they get soap?
Re: #8 & #9: where would non- tea towels and old rags be put to dry?
Re: #8: why would tea towels be spread on the grass? Was there some benefit to that over drying in other places?
I love the last phrase of #13, and think that would be good advice to follow after any large (or small) chore is completed!

This was a second set of directions in the laundry area of the museum.

These two sets of directions made me wonder about "bluing" or "blue" - so I looked it up. I found this article: http://mrsstewart.com/purpose-of-bluing/ which I found very interesting! Some items from that website:

It is said that color experts can distinguish about 300 shades of white, and if you look at all the things around you that are white, you will notice the many different shades. Some are a pink- white, some are yellow-white, etc. The white which is the brightest of whites is one which has a slight blue hue. One of the more dramatic experiments to prove this point is to place a brand new white shirt or blouse next to one which has been laundered for perhaps a year or so and notice the difference. They will both look white until placed next to each other, when the new one will appear much whiter, and the blue hue will be evident.

Side note: We've noticed this in getting replacement lights for the inside of the bus... we don't like the blue-white lights. We learned that lights in the range of 3000K give the warm white light that we prefer.

After the fabric goes into use, the effects of the bleaches wear off, soil and stain mar the color, and the material goes to the wash to be cleaned. Detergent and water lift out the dirt and stains, and successive rinses remove the soapy mixture. Sometimes a mild bleach is used to help remove the stains. If all this is thoroughly done, the fabric is clean, but it is not “snow-white”. To counteract the rest of the yellow, blue must be added. A little diluted bluing in the washing process or in the last rinse water adds the necessary tint that makes the fabric really snow-white. Mrs. Stewart’s® Bluing allows the consumer to re-blue their items at home.

In the early and middle 1900s bluing was used by everyone who wanted to have a white wash, and could be found in virtually all laundries. When washing was done by hand or in wringer washers, the second rinse tub was always the bluing rinse, the blue became the accepted color for laundry products. In the ensuing years, most new products, detergents and other additives were colored blue. Many of the manufacturers even claimed that their products contained bluing. In spite of those claims, many homemakers have discovered that nothing whitens like Mrs. Stewart’s® Bluing."

Basically, bluing is made of a very fine blue iron powder suspended in water ( a “colloidal suspension”). We add a nontoxic amount of a pH balancer and a biocide to prevent the buildup of algae and bacteria. (This may be why Mrs. Stewart’s® Bluing is loved by farmers who tell us they use it in the water troughs of their farm animals and by owners of lily and fish ponds.)

I have some other pictures from our day, but that's all for now!