SD Agricultural Heritage Museum Blog

Postum beverage was part of a late 19th Century clean living movement, promoted by John Harvey Kellogg and his student C.W. Post. This movement promoted anti-smoking, avoiding alcohol and caffeine, proper breathing, plenty of exercise and vegetarianism. C. W. Post and his invention of Postum was part of this movement.

• What's New Wednesday

A reaping machine is a tool used during harvest that cuts and gathers ripened grain crops. Prior to Cyrus McCormick’s invention of his 1834 reaper, a Scottish clergyman working on his father’s farm invented one of the first practical mechanical reaping machines. Patrick Bell (1799-1869) invented his reaping machine in 1826 and publicly demonstrated it in 1828. Bell’s reaper used a 12-vane revolving reel that pulled the crop over the cutting knife. The knife was triangular reciprocating blades over fixed triangular blades. The canvas conveyor moved the grain and stalks into windrows. Two horses pushed the machine through the field. Bell never sought a patent for his reaping machine. He believed that his invention should benefit all humankind.

• Throwback Thursday

Butter molds were used to shape and mark butter before it cooled and hardened. Antique butter molds are often made of wood but can be made of glass or metal. The wooden mold is turned on a lathe and the stamps are hand carved. They were commonly made from cherry wood, maple wood, or poplar. Other wood that was available was used, too. Butter molds can be found in 1 pound, ½ pound, ¼ pound, and single pat size. Late in the 19th century, molds went from being hand turned and carved to mass produced. The pictured butter mold is lathe turned and holds one pound of butter. It has a pineapple design and is stamped with “Pat. Apr 17, 1866.”

Stamped designs added visual appeal to table butter and acted as a trademark identifying the farm or the dairy selling the butter. Common designs found on butter molds include wheat sheaves, thistles, cows, sheep, hens, roosters, flowers, stars, acorns, and pineapples. The pineapple is an old symbol for hospitality.

Sears, Roebuck, and Company offered in their 1897 catalog maple wood molds, either square or round. The molds they sold were ½ pound, 1-pound and 2-pound molds with fancy carving or Jersey cow design. Depending on the design and shape of the mold, they sold for various prices between 13 cents and 30 cents each.

• What's New Wednesday

Feed sacks, the ever-useful piece of fabric. Not only can you make clothing, curtains and dish towels from them, you can make a shelter for your flock of chickens! Building a simple A-frame poultry shelter like this one requires 2x4 lumber and muslin chicken feed bags nailed over the frame.

• Throwback Thursday

The 19th century was filled with quackery and patent-medicine schemes, tonics, cures and devices. Dr. George A. Scott, a businessman with no medical training, was the inventor of electric brushes and devices. In 1872, he received a U.S. patent for a molded hairbrush handle. In the 1880s he introduced to America and England his line of “electric” brushes.  The brushes did not function with electricity but with magnetism.

• What's New Wednesday

Trench art has existed since ancient times, but it flourished during World War I. It was made by soldiers in the trenches, prisoners of war, and civilians caught in the war zone. Using the wastes of war—bullet casings, shrapnel, ordnance casings, and pieces of destroyed buildings – those living in a war zone created beautiful and useful items. The various works created included souvenirs, tools, jewelry, vases, candle sticks, cigarette and match cases, and ashtrays; whatever form inspired the artist. Soldiers would create items to pass the time and document their activities. Civilians and soldiers created works that they sold, sent home to loved ones, or to commemorate battles in which they fought.



This ashtray is made from brass and has a button soldered to the center of the bowl. The button has a crown in the center, laurel leave beneath the crown and “Gott Mit Uns” (God With Us) above the crown. This was the symbol of Imperial Germany. During World War I, this expression was inscribed on the edge of 3- and 5-mark silver and 20-mark gold coins. It was also inscribed on German soldiers’ belt buckles.

• What's New Wednesday

This interesting home belonged to Edward W. and Mae A. Laisy. They constructed their home from local stone and their entry archway appears to be made with petrified wood. The house was also very modern. The South Dakota Extension Service recognized Mae as one of the Eminent Homemakers of 1936.

• Throwback Thursday

Mr. Herbie Side, the little red guy in the lower left corner, was a character created by Ken Frost, an SDSU Extension Weed Specialist to help educate farmers about weed control and the proper application of herbicides. Not formally trained in art, Frost worked at South Dakota State University Extension from September 1961 to October 1966. His drawings were used to illustrate Extension agronomy presentations and were also published in regional newspapers.



This Herbie Side cartoon drawn with colored marker pens is titled "Sprayer Calibration." The red crop duster airplane labeled "Extension Service Weed Dept." on the side and “2,4-D" on the wing is preparing for takeoff. 2,4D is an herbicide that kills broad leaf weeds. Herbie is hurrying to place the fact sheets in the dispenser compartments on the underside of the plane before it takes off.

• What's New Wednesday

Oct. 29 is the last Little I Memory Collection Day at the South Dakota Agricultural Heritage Museum. The South Dakota Agricultural Heritage Museum and the SDSU Little International Executive Committee are on the hunt for photographs, memorabilia and oral histories from past participants for an exhibit celebrating Little International’s centennial in 2023. People interested in scanning or donating photographs, recording their memories or checking with museum staff about a donation or loan of artifacts or other memorabilia, are encouraged to contact the museum.

• Throwback Thursday

Happy Halloween! This Halloween postcard promoted using U & I Sugar for creating sweet treats for Halloween. The postcard is copyrighted 1916. In 1920, U & I Sugar was the third largest sugar company in the US. The company, incorporated in 1889, was largely financed by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (Mormons). The company processed sugar from sugar beets grown in Utah, Idaho, Wyoming, Washington, and South Dakota. The sugar processing plant in Belle Fourche, SD was built in 1927, utilizing machinery moved from Delta, UT. Belle Fourche was chosen as a site for the new processing plant because of its proximity to the water supply from the Orman Dam and Reservoir. Competition from cane sugar production and beet leaf hopper blights led to tough times for sugar beet production in the American west. With more profitable crops to be grown, the company also had trouble getting enough farmers to grow sugar beets. The Belle Fourche factory was a marginal operation and closed in 1964.

• What's New Wednesday