Historic Treasure of the Week - September 19, 1982
By Dorothy W. Jerse
Curator, Vigo County Historical Society
Historic Treasure of the Week - September 19, 1982
By Dorothy W. Jerse
Curator, Vigo County Historical Society
An important accession at the collection of the Vigo County Historical Society earlier this year was this trunk and contents which belonged to Carrie Mass Hall. The gift could well be called a "personal time capsule" dated 100 years ago.
Carrie mass hall and Albert hall were married in 1882. Carrie died in childbirth two years later. The baby daughter survived her by only months. At the time of Carrie's death, her personal belongings were packed in the trunk and kept there by her family for almost 100 years.
The camelback trunk is wood covered with decorative paper on the inside and tooled leather on the exterior. Each of the brass hinges is imprinted with "Pat. Oct. 77." The interior lining paper carries red, black and gold designs. The removable upper shelf is divided into storage sections, each covered in velvet.
The memory trunk contains a variety of century-old items including clothing, needlework, advertising, letters and a collection of long-forgotten souvenirs.
Julia Hall inherited the trunk from her uncle, Albert Hall, in 1930. She was born in 1887, attended Fort Harrison School and was graduated from Wiley High School and Indiana State Normal School. She taught music at Rankin School for 52 years.
After her death in 1981, the trunk and its contents, were given in to the Vigo County Historical Society by her sister, Mary Hall McKee, Vincennes.
Visitors may view the century-old collection in the Francis Vigo Room in the Historical Museum of the Wabash Valley, 1411 South Sixth Street.
Open hours are 1 to 4 p.m. Sunday through Friday. Admission is free.