Family heirlooms, novel artifacts and a new collection donated to the museum were the highlights of the "show and tell" meeting of the Moniteau County Historical Society Jan. 8.
Genealogy library volunteer James Albin showed a wintry covered bridge painting with a barn-board frame. Though he did not know the location of that particular bridge, he shared the history of the only covered bridge built in Moniteau County. It crossed the Moreau River, was built in 1872 and dismantled in 1920.
Museum caretaker David Jungmeyer showed pieces of the recently-donated O.A. McFadden collection, including an antique hall lamp designed as a birthday present for the cartoonist and lighting illustrator's wife, Flossie. Jungmeyer also read a 1947 poem written about the Clarksburg family's home and hospitality.
One member read an ancestor's letter home in 1862 from the Virginia battlefields of the Civil War. Another shared her ancestor's "memory cards" written in the 1840s in German.
Others brought aged sleigh bells and a cow bell. A guest showed a 1942, 37 mm, deactivated shell that would have been used in the main gun of a Stewart or Lee tank during World War II.
Past president Paul Jungmeyer shared a German blessing wall hanging that hung in his grandparents' home after they were married in 1901. And former museum caretaker Richard Schroeder dicussed the value of zinc, showing specimens recently collected at the open pit mines in Joplin.
Gloria Knipp brought a lapel pin shaped like propellers, with the words "remember the harbor" and a pearl at the center. She said she wears it every Dec. 7, Pearl Harbor Day, in recognition of her aunt who was among the "Rosie the Riveters" during World War II.
During the business meeting, the society voted to resume its annual chili supper. A date will be named later
Memberships are due - $15 for a year or $100 for lifetime.
The museum will need physical work this year, including window cleaning, window shade replacement and shelving to create better access for public records, including old county books and one-room school house minutes.