From dollhouses to powder horns and pilot goggles: Step back in time in Southern Tier

As this column is published, the Northeast is waiting for the moon to pass between the earth and sun – plunging us into darkness during the day.

In olden times, early mankind would worry that the light would not return. Yet, it always does, and will do so again on Monday, April 8. Someone above turns those lights back on and illuminates our area, as the sky once again turns blue.

That is something akin to what has been transpiring at the Tioga County Historical Society. No, we have not created an eclipse, but something interesting happened as we were planning our three exhibits for the year. Our plans went a bit astray as our imaginations ran wild for a while. Instead of the three exhibits, the light of creativity came from behind the moon.

When it was all over, we had created six exhibits in place of our planned three.

I have written about our first opened exhibit for 2024 entitled “From Doll House to Our House,” which looks at home life between the year 1880 and 1910. Our rooms are based on a large dollhouse with similar furniture, and we also included three cases of area homes that represent that period. To be accurate, we included the chamber pot set in the bedroom, a Victrola in the parlor, and even a spittoon in the gentleman’s study.

Our main gallery transformed into an imaginary train ride around Tioga County to find what items may have been made in those communities. The exhibit is title “Bridges to Blankets, Caskets to Corsets, Motorcycles to Manure Spreaders: The Unique Manufacturing History of Tioga County.”

It is not only a fun journey; it is highly educational as many of the industries shown have now closed their doors for good.

There is now a wonderful doll exhibit in the east gallery, which also includes doll clothes and doll accessories. Some of these dolls were made prior to the Civil War, and the exhibit shows the many changes in creation of these dolls – ranging from the materials of which they are constructed to the changing clothing styles in our country during those times.

For the first time in many decades, the Tioga County Historical Society is exhibiting many items from the James Truman Coin Collection with our history of American currency. The exhibit also includes locally made paper money, and one case shows the many banking items once distributed to their customers.

Also located in the east gallery are two cases illustrating some of the many powder horns in the collection of the museum.

One of the horns on display dates back to the time of the French and Indian War in the 1750s. Many of the powder horns were carried by early settlers to this region. A related case includes some related hunting items. These include one of the first accepted military rifles of the United State government and dates to the first half of the 19th century.

Our last exhibit is in our main lobby on the upper levels, and it is titled “Those Daring Young Men and Women in Their Flying Machines.”

It focuses on aviation items in the museum’s collection. The display includes a 1920s Spirit of St. Louis lookalike metal toy plane, pilot's cap and goggles, pilot hat, and a large assortment of models of items which were made or had components made by IBM-Owego which is now Lockheed Martin.

We also included photographs of an early female aviator who worked with Glenn Curtis, and a photograph of Doug Hurley, the well-known astronaut who grew up in Tioga County.

More: When was the last eclipse in Binghamton? Past solar events in Broome County history

Well, there you have it.

When that light of creativity passes through an azure sky, great things can happen.

These exhibits will remain available until mid-October. The exhibits are open to the public and any school groups who wish to see them. The Tioga County Historical Society Museum is located at 110 Front St. and is open 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Tuesday-Saturday. Admission is free, but donations are gratefully accepted.

Take some time out of your busy lives to visit the museum when we are open – but don’t miss the eclipse.

This article originally appeared on Binghamton Press & Sun-Bulletin: Spanning Time: These six exhibits step back in Southern Tier history