Minnetrista Sculpture - Waterbaby Fountain
I can hardly believe that it’s September. Before the leaves begin to fall in earnest and autumn is officially here, drop over to the Children’s Garden near Oakhurst and make the acquaintance of the bronze baby in the fish pond.
Historic Photographs Part III - The Rise of the Snapshot
We all have that special photograph album that we treasure. Perhaps it includes images of birthdays, vacations, and snapshots of special events. Have you ever thought about how the snapshot came to be? Our digital cameras and prints are easy, but photography wasn’t always such a breeze.
Minnetrista Sculpture - The Wishing Well
Have you ever walked through the gardens at Oakhurst and wondered about the rabbit fountain? Did you get married in the gazebo? At different points across Minnetrista's campus, you see beautiful sculpture and architectural details. Most of the pieces have a direct relation to the Ball family.
Historic Photographs Part II: Cartes de Visite
Like modern trading cards, cartes de visite became the craze in the 1860s. Immediate descendants of the calling card, they are small mounted prints, usually 2 Ѕ” x 4” in size. Cartes were inexpensive, easy to produce, and available to most people. Museums may acquire images for their cultural, rather than photographic, qualities. As cultural objects their value lies in the fact that they reveal history in a way that no other object can. In addition to the scholarly value of the carte de visite, cartes also have exhibition value.
Gardener Dustin answers: "What is a rain garden?"
There's been a lot of buzz at Minnetrista lately about rain gardens. I had a foggy notion of what a rain garden was. A garden full of rain? A garden built to attract rain, like a rain dance? Really, I had no idea.
GARDENING TIPS: Dry Season
We have now officially entered what Dustin, one of our Gardeners here at Minnetrista, calls "the dry season." For the past few years we've noticed having quite a lot of rain during the spring months, almost too much to really be able to do many spring projects in the garden. However, as July rolls around the rain just disappears, as if someone turned off the rain switch.
Historic Photographs Part 1: Ambrotypes
Several different types of photographs are represented in the Minnetrista Heritage Collection, including daguerreotype, ambrotypes, cartes de visite, snapshots and much more. This is the first of several articles describing different types of photos.
Uses for a Ball Jar...continued.
If you’ve been reading the blog, you’ve learned about a thermos with a Ball jar insert and a jar used to bury a pet canary. Here are two more uses for a Ball jar:
What is a Rain Garden?
Storm water management and rain gardens go hand-in-hand. A rain garden allows rainwater to collect and soak naturally into the ground before it flows into the river. The ground naturally filters out pollutants. One of our big garden projects in 2011 has been the Rain Garden that runs along the White River Greenway.
Do you remember the Minnetrista Golf Course?
Between 1923 and sometime in the 1950s, Minnetrista Golf Course existed on the current site of the Muncie Central High School athletic fields. Established as a gift from Frank C. Ball and Edmund B. Ball to the Muncie Y.M.C.A., the Minnetrista Golf Course was a public nine-hole course that was one of Muncie’s unique recreational facilities. According to Frank C. Ball, he “shot the first ball” at the dedication of the course.
Meet Theodore Bear, Collections expert
I bet you don’t know how museums keep track of all the terrific things people donate. I know I didn’t when I first came to Minnetrista in 1988 as part of the Heritage Collection. Since then I’ve learned a lot. In fact, I’ve learned so much that the collections staff asked me to introduce you to something they do every day – cataloging.
The Many Uses of the Ball Jar – Thermos Jug
There are so many ways to use a Ball jar– as a vase, a place to put your loose change at the end of the day, acandle holder and many more. Sometimes, however, an alternative use wasdetermined by the company and was very specific.