A Message from the Director
 It’s December and the Museum has taken on a very festive look for the holidays. “Christmas Tree Lane” offers beautiful trees and wreaths decorated by members of the community, “All I Want for Christmas” features toys that children of past eras hoped to find under their Christmas trees or in their stockings, and “Unforgettable” highlights the upcoming Snow Queen Festival. The Mercantile is stocked with holiday merchandise, the exhibits are filled with holiday decorations, and two dozen lighted wreaths hang in our windows to break the darkness for Main Street travelers on cold December evenings. A visit to the DPM at this time of year is sure to put you in the holiday mood. We will be keeping normal hours throughout the holiday season with the exception of December 23, 24, 25 and January 1 when we will be closed to allow staff and volunteers to celebrate with their families.
Happy Holidays from the staff of the DPM: Sue, Sherri, Lora, Carol, Jackie & Dick |
"All I Want for Christmas" Sparks Toy Trivia
 “All I Want for Christmas”, an exhibit of some of the wonderful toys from our collection, is now open on the second floor landing. Some of the highlights include an Erector Set originally released in 1913, a Shirley Temple Doll from the 1950s, Cabbage Patch Kids from 1983 and an Atari Game System from the late 1970s. The exhibit also includes a list of the most popular toys of the past 100 years. The list has been posted on the museum website www.dacotahprairiemuseum.com so you can see when your favorite toy was introduced.
While researching this exhibit, staff discovered some very interesting toy trivia. For example, Crayola Crayons were introduced in 1903. The first box included only eight colors (black, brown, blue, red, purple, orange, yellow and green) and sold for a nickel. Today parents and schools purchase 2.5 billion crayons annually.
The View-Master 3-D viewer was introduced in 1938, since then sales of the viewer have topped one billion units. The most popular View-Master reel depicts Mecca. Scrabble was introduced in 1948. Since its introduction, over 100 million Scrabble games have been sold worldwide. There is a Scrabble game in one of every three American homes.
Mr. Potato Head was introduced in 1952. The original game included only the parts (eyes, ears, noses, and mouths) that were to be placed in a real potato supplied by Mom and Dad. A plastic potato was included in the game in 1960. |
New Snow Queen Exhibit is "Unforgettable"
 The annual Snow Queen exhibit is now open in the Lamont Gallery and features the official portraits of each queen since 1947, memorabilia from past contests, and personal items including gowns and crowns loaned by several past queens. This popular exhibit will be open through January.
Aberdeen held its first Snow Queen festival in 1947 after officials from the St. Paul Winter Carnival approached city leaders with the idea of hosting a satellite festival in Aberdeen. The Aberdeen Jaycees and Jaycettes took responsibility for organizing the first festival and each member contributed $10-$25 to cover expenses. Dorothy Lockington, who represented Aberdeen, was chosen from a field of twelve candidates to reign over that first Festival.
Frosty the mystery snowman became part of the Festival in 1949. In 1955 a Junior Snow Queen contest for ninth grade girls was initiated, and a talent contest was added the following year. Snow Queen buttons were introduced as a fundraising tool for the festival in 1981.
Visit the “Unforgettable” exhibit to learn more about this long-lived Aberdeen tradition.
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Did You Know?
- The first Christmas Seal was introduced in Denmark in 1904, Americans began the tradition in 1907.
- Alabama was the first state to recognize Christmas as an official holiday in 1836.
- Charles Dickens wrote many other Christmas stories but none topped the success of “A Christmas Carol.” Dickens considered Little Larry, Puny Pete and Small Sam before settling on Tiny Tim as the name of the young boy in the story.
- 1.76 billion candy canes are produced each year.
- Electric lights were first used to decorate a Christmas tree in 1895.
- Santa Claus was first depicted with a sleigh and reindeer in a cartoon drawn in 1863 by Thomas Nast.
- The first charity Christmas card was produced by UNICEF in 1949 and featured a picture drawn by a seven year old girl from Czechslovakia
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Christmas Tree Lane
 If you love holiday decorations, Christmas Tree Lane is the place for you. Twenty-nine trees and wreaths decorated by area individuals and organizations with pheasant feathers, library cards, pretzels, kitchen utensils, sewing tools, flags and daisies fill the DPM’s education wing. Christmas Tree Lane will be open for your enjoyment through January 3. There is a slide show of the exhibit on the museum website for anyone unable to visit in person. If you or your organization would like to share a tree for the 2008 exhibit, please contact Sue or Carol at 626-7117.
Holiday Hours
The Museum will be closed December 23, 24, & 25 for Christmas and January 1 for New Year’s.
Regular hours will be in effect for all other days. The office is open Monday - Friday 8am - 5pm; galleries are open Tuesday - Friday 9am - 5pm, Saturday-Sunday 1pm - 4pm. |
