Rural Heritage Museum gets new dairy display with help from Central BEST

By Willis Patenaude, Times-Register

When Central BEST students Danielle Whittle and Allison White first went to the Rural Heritage Center and Museum in Elkader in early March, they were initially tasked with lending a helping hand with the history of veterinary medicine display. But as they toured the museum, they noticed a few things. 

First, they saw the veterinary display was “pretty much handled,” Whittle said. Others were already tending to it. The second thing they noticed was a collection of old cream separators, which piqued their interest—an interest that stems from their collective childhoods and connections to the dairy industry. That’s especially true for Whittle, who was raised on a dairy farm. 

As the students surveyed the collection and the museum, it became evident there was no dairy display that showed the evolution of the industry in northeast Iowa, but rather a mishmash of pieces. By the end of the tour, the students offered to create and assemble a dairy display.

Museum representative and board member Roger Thomas thought this was a great idea, as it would add to the diversity of agriculture equipment already in the museum and provide a sort of history lesson on something indelible to the region. 

With full control over the project, Whittle and White began determining what would go into the dairy display. What was important? What was needed to tell the story and history of the industry in rural Iowa? 

While they had a few items in mind, Whittle admittedly was not an “expert in the field,” nor was White, but they knew someone who was: grandpa Tom Whittle, who has spent his life as a dairy farmer. 

Grandpa Whittle provided invaluable assistance throughout the project, starting with a list of items to include, such as the famed three-legged stool, three-gallon pail, butter churn, milk bottler, milking units, cow kicker, tester, straps and a stanchion, along with photos, signs and posters. 

With the list in hand, Whittle and White started procuring items, either through donations or on loan from willing Clayton County residents. This effort was driven by social media posts, most of which were put out on Facebook and the Central website news feed, which asked for “old dairy equipment, manuals or photos of milking barns.” 

There were also a lot of phone calls and emails, as the students contacted well over 50 people, most of them local, but some were outside Elkader or neighboring cities like Volga and Gunder. It’s a list of names that includes Dave Moser, Madonna Hosch, Tom and Mary Weber, Dorothy Eckardt, Shirleen Reinhardt and, of course, Grandpa Whittle. 

As the calls came in, the next part of the project became getting the items to the museum. While some were dropped off, most were picked up by Whittle and White, who took time outside class, after school and on weekends to pick them up. 

One item, the hobbles, which Whittle described as “metal chains,” took a different, more indirect route to the students. It was taken to the church of Whittle’s grandparents and delivered to them, who then brought the item to the students. 

Among the other items collected for the display were a shotgun pail, straps for a surge bucket, calf feeder bucket, milking unit with cord, cream cans, cow kicker, milking unit with hoses, strainer, milk measurer, a metal hanger for milking units and a cheese curd shovel. 

Some of the older items, according to Thomas, are magazines that date to 1908 and a cream separator that is estimated to be from 1902. Regardless of age, each element is a learning experience and helps “tell the story of agriculture in America.” 

One item that is personal to Whittle—and her favorite piece in the display—is the wooden stanchion, which was where animals were tethered at the neck to their stall, which allows for feeding, milking or administering medications. This particular wooden stanchion is from an old, “falling down barn” on the Whittle Farms properties that housed a dairy set-up from a bygone era. Getting the stanchion was a family affair that included Danielle, father Dennis and, of course, Grandpa Tom. 

“We cut one of the several stanchions out of the falling down barn and reassembled it at home. While getting it, grandpa explained a lot about how they would milk back then and had lots of stories to share,” Whittle said.  

The stanchion, like many other items in the display, contains “stories within stories,” Thomas said. Like Whittle, he has a personal attachment to the cream separators that put this entire project into motion. 

“As a kid, cranking that machine, that would’ve been my job,” Thomas explained.

When asked if it brings back fond memories, Thomas smiled, responding, “No.”

“Can you imagine a 10-year old doing that?” he added with a laugh. 

Now, all that was left was to build the display, which required more time after school and on the weekends. The students created mini placards for each object, briefly describing what it is, what it was used for and how it worked. 

Whittle and White made sure the display was accessible to everyone, not just people with knowledge of the dairy industry. They didn’t want it to become too technical, because history should be inclusive and understandable to everyone who passes through the museum. 

Overall, 80 percent of the display is due to the efforts of Whittle and White, while the remaining 20 percent came from the museum inventory. Even a cursory look at it shows how far dairy farming has come. Working on the display was an “eye-opening” experience for the students, even with their connections to the industry.   

The newly created dairy display, like most contained in the museum, doesn’t have a set timeline and will remain up throughout the year—and possibly longer—for public viewing during museum hours. Much depends on when the owners of the items ask for them back. Even then, Thomas said the display will remain. It will just be adjusted accordingly as items come and go.