By: Lauren Gray, Head of Reference
Share the gift of history this holiday season.
Day 8: Wall Clock
(Part of the 12 Days of Archives DIY Series)
It’s about time this post came around. We’ve been watching the clock in anticipation and now here we are – Day 8! My, how the time flies.
Ok, now that that’s out of our system….
Man has measured the passage of time since our earliest days. From the Babylonians to modern Kansans, we have all looked at our sundials and wondered – is it lunchtime yet?
Early Plains tribes measured time in broad strokes between seasons - when to hunt, when to plant – and by marking important events on the calendar through oral tradition, winter count pictographic calendars, and, in some cases, visits to medicine wheels. By the 19th century, settlers were hauling clocks to Kansas in the back of their wagons, and grandfather clocks became bastions of gentility in parlors across the territory, and later, the state. Fortunately, we now lug cell phones around instead of pendulous clocks.
If yesterday’s DIY Stationery was the easiest craft you’ll do this year, today’s Wall Clock may be the trickiest. It involves moving parts (the clock hands) and technology (the battery). But, we are confident that you will enjoy this hands-on (get it?) DIY craft. After all, who amongst us has not watched the seconds tick drearily past, waiting for an end to this interminable year?
There are a couple different ways you can approach this project, both of which require motorized clock hands of the desired size (available online or at your local discount store). If you’d like to have a single image as the background of your clock, you’ll need to mount your image on matboard with Mod Podge (see Day 2: Magnets for instructions) and secure the motorized clock hands on the matboard. If you’d like a larger wall piece, mount your clock hands directly on the wall, and surround it with framed or laminated images at the appropriate time coordinates (12:00, 6:00, etc.).
If you question whether many people really care that much about clocks, consider: how many photos exist of Big Ben? We rest our case.
And remember, if history has taught us anything, it’s that time waits for no man. (Last one, we promise.)
We have provided a sample of images from the expansive Menninger collection at the State Archives. The Menninger Clinic was a groundbreaking mental health research and treatment facility once located just up the hill from the Kansas Historical Society in Topeka.
If you like abstract art:
Or birds…
Maybe some cuddly lab rats?
Since we’re talking about cute things, Dr. Menninger’s children:
The landscape around the clinic (now closed) remains open for hikers and mental health enthusiasts, despite the current uncertainty of this historic building’s future.
This last one isn’t necessarily something you should put on your clock, but you’d think some of the country’s best psychiatric minds would be less…perplexed by the ticking of this particular brain?
On the seventh Day of Archives, my archivists gave to me: Stationery
On the sixth Day of Archives, my archivists gave to me: Bookmarks
On the fifth Day of Archives, my archivists gave to me: Coasters
On the fourth Day of Archives, my archivists gave to me: The Memory Game
On the third Day of Archives, my archivists gave to me: Greeting Cards
On the second Day of Archives, my archivists gave to me: Magnets
On the first Day of Archives, my archivists gave to me: Puzzles
Happy Holidays!