Lace sample
Creator: Domsch, Sonia Cloe
Date: between 1995 and 2000
Bobbin lace sample made by Sonia Domsch (1934- ) of Atwood, Kansas. Design is a basket full of flowers. Domsch learned lace making from her great aunt, Anna Beck, as a young girl. Anna and her siblings had emmigrated with her mother, Mary Dostal, from the Bohemian region of what is now the Czech Republic in 1894. The family name was changed from Dostal to Beck after arriving in America. After living briefly in Oklahoma, the family relocated to Atwood. There Mary and Anna made and sold lace to help support the family. Sonia is also a dedicated teacher of her art, having taught lace making to her daughter and granddaughter and participated as a Master Artist in the Folk Art Apprentice Program co-sponsored by the Historical Society and the Kansas Arts Commission. In 1986 she became the first Kansan to receive a National Heritage Fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts.

Pick axe
Date: between 1870 and 1940
Pick Axes are used to break up solid materials. The pointed metal tip is used to hack through concrete and other very hard surfaces which the metal chisel tip is used for chipping up softer materials, like asphalt, or compacted soil.

Scissors
Date: between 1942 and 1945
Col. James C. Hughes acquired these scissors while serving in the United States Army during World War II. Born in Topeka, Kansas, in 1888, Hughes served in the Mexican Border Conflict, World War I, and World War II. During the latter conflict, he commanded a Philippine regiment (Filipino soldiers led by American officers), which surrendered in 1942 on the Bataan peninsula. Hughes spent the next 41 months in various Japanese P.O.W. camps. He was liberated by Russian forces at Camp Hoten, Manchuria, in 1945. Hughes died in 1964 and is buried in Arlington National Cemetery.

Shovel
Date: between 1870 and 1940
This square mouthed shovel was probably used for shifting sand and cement. Particularly in concrete making, the straight edge of the head might have been used to mix the constituents together.

Union Pacific Railroad tool box
Date: between 1903 and 1945
Galvanized steel tool box with hinged dome lid. Manufactured by John R. Brazelton of Trenton, Missouri. Used for storing spare clothing and tools by Lester Raynesford, an engineer with the Union Pacific Railroad from 1903 to 1945. Raynesford originally lived in Ellis, Kansas, moving to Salina in 1917. At one point in his career he made the UP's "Salt Run," hauling salt from the mines at Kanopolis.