Antiques Return Home

Once upon a time there was a lovely retired couple in Arkansas.  They had built a gorgeous lake home to showcase the heirlooms that the woman had inherited from many past generations that had settled in NW Missouri .  They decided it was time to move closer to one of their children living on the east coast.  What to do with all of those wonderful and historic heirlooms?

They wanted to share their beauty and stories with present and future generations who lived in the same area of NW Missouri, so they contacted our little museum.  I serve on the collections committee, and when we were told about their offer to have anything our little museum hearts desired, I told the curator I would go down and help her select, catalog and pack said items.
That took place last weekend.

This little story would have been so much better if I would have made time to actually take photos.  No such luck.  We traveled about 7 hours from our county to Arkansas. There was another person from the collections committee, a couple that donate much of their time to our museum, myself, my husband and my burly son -- the curator managed to keep us busy most of last Saturday.  She also videotaped an oral history of the items.  What a thoughtful gift to the museum!

When we were getting ready to leave, the lady mentioned to me that anything left was for sale (most people would have been in a coma state watching all of their family history being packed into a U-Haul).  She was still smiling and gracious so I decided I would just "shop" items in the garage.
I didn't want her, or anyone else to feel like I was taking advantage.  I bought a few things, including this St. Joseph MO confections box.  St. Joseph is about 10 minutes away from us.  I love the thought of this great little box heading back home (like the museum items).

On the way home we stopped by a flea market close to Springfield, MO.  I found this little oval restaurant plate that says "Hotel Robidoux".  I am sure I was the only one at the flea that realized Hotel Robidoux (long gone) was located in St Joseph MO.  I snapped it up.  Heading back home.