Box Lunch Social on the lawn at Allison-Antrim Museum on July 14. Details
 

“The Ubiquitous Box” is the subject matter of the July and August 2005 exhibit. The box permeates our daily lives. Webster’s dictionary defines the word box as “a usually 4-sided receptacle with a bottom and often a cover.” 

The following is the opening of chapter two of The Christmas Box written by Richard Paul Evans, from which the inspiration came for this exhibit.  “It is not my intent to launch upon a lengthy or sanctimonious dissertation on the social significance and impact of the lowly box, well deserved as it may be.  But as a box plays a significant role in our story, please allow me the indulgence of digression.  From the inlaid jade-and-coral jewelry boxes of the Orient to the utilitarian salt boxes of the Pennsylvania Dutch, the allure of the box has transcended all cultural and geographical boundaries of the world.  The cigar box, the snuff box, the cash box, jewelry boxes more ornate than the treasure they hold, the ice box, and the candle box.  Trunks, long rectangular boxes covered with cowhide, stretched taut, and pounded with brass studs to a wooden frame.  Oak boxes, sterling boxes; to the delight of the women, hat boxes and shoe boxes; and to the delight of all enslaved by a sweet tooth, candy boxes.  The human life cycle no less than evolves around the box; from the opened-topped box called a bassinet, to the pine box we call a coffin, the box is our past and, just as assuredly, our future.”

That passage says it all. Give some thought to how the “lowly box” plays a role in your daily life.  We live and work in boxes with openings. We travel in boxes with wheels everyday. Take a visual inventory around your home to see just how many different boxes you have – whether antique, just old or new.  Think about the boxes of your ancestors that are no longer a part of our culture, like candle boxes and hat boxes.  What kinds of things were stored in antique-style boxes that are held in contemporary boxes? What kinds of things are contained in boxes today that our ancestors didn’t have?  The answers will amaze and surprise you. 

“Thank you,” to the following people for the loan of their boxes for this exhibit:  Elizabeth Graff, Earl Harbaugh, John Henson, Katherine Hill, Vivian Scull, and Robert Swisher; Allison-Antrim Museum members – Hermione Brewer, Jim Craig, Gladys Burns, Richard Gingrich, Harry Myers, Evelyn Pensinger, Gloria Pugliano, Mary Jo Sprankle, Anna and Paul Shockey, John Walker, and Bonnie Shockey.  Items are also from the collections of Allison-Antrim Museum.

Of historic significance to Greencastle is the tool chest of Gen. David Detrich, one of Greencastle’s early cabinet makers and undertakers.  He began his cabinet making and undertaking business in Greencastle in 1829 after completing his apprenticeship. During his 53 years in business he made or helped to make coffins for 3,830 people. 

The tool box and woodworking tools of the late Howard Swisher are on exhibit upstairs in the large bedroom.  Howard retired in 1975 after working for Moller Pipe Organ for 47 years. The consoles for the organs were made by Howard. 

Other Greencastle related boxes include a man’s 19^th century collar box.  Purchased at a public sale, is an early U.S. mail box that was supported on a pole and stood on a corner in Greencastle during the early 1900s. 

Also, from Greencastle is an early egg box with “J. A. Brown Greencastle, PA” stenciled on the ends and sides. 

The Rauhauser family once owned orchards on the southeastern outskirts of Greencastle.  Orchard Circle housing development now stands where the orchards once stood.  A Rauhauser’s apple crate is part of the exhibit.

How many remember the milk box and the clank of empty glass bottles being removed in the wee hours of the morning, only to be replaced with full bottles of whole milk with cream on top?  An Arthur’s Dairy (Waynesboro, Pa.) milk box and a milk crate delivery box and milk bottles from the Greencastle Sanitary Dairy will be on exhibit.  Milk boxes were well insulated to keep the bottles of milk at a safe, cold temperature, until they were removed and put into the refrigerator. 

The black patent leather shoes with spike heels, displayed in the large bedroom, were made in Greencastle at the Windsor Shoe Factory, which was later bought by the Sylvania Shoe Company.

Boxes in the exhibit also include ones which were made to hold spice, tea, salt, candles, crackers, candy, silver, jewelry, rings, hats, shoes, gloves, matches, pencils, paints, babies, dolls, and many more things. There is also an 1849 metal military hat box, music box, cash box, writing box, a box camera, box car, and box woods. What visitors will not find in the exhibit is a toy box, sand box, box springs, theater box, litter box, or batters’ box. 

“Everything old is new again.” Look for the old boxes that held salt, tea, spices, and matches that are also held in “new” boxes today.

Pandora’s Box has been opened, so have fun with boxes.  Use the scavenger clue list to search for the boxes that are part of the permanent exhibits throughout the museum. 

Think outside the box!

Written by Bonnie A. Shockey

July 2005