Telephones ~ "Can You Hear Me Now?"

The lobby exhibit for October consists of telephones from the collection of Prairie Museum of Art & History. Marvin Bickner recently made a generous donation of eighteen telephones from his personal collection.

Some of the telephones are standard telephone company black desk or wall phones, while others are novelties and collector's items. Whatever the design, they were all functional

Newer technology has taken us away from the corded phones to include wireless, mobile 'bag' phones, and include modern personal cellular phones.

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Baseball "Stuff"

The exhibit of baseball memorabilia in the lobby this month is the collection of Kary Dilts. Most of her collection is from the Colorado Rockies since she lived in Colorado Springs before moving to Colby a few years ago.

Kary became a fan and started collecting during the Rockies inaugural season in 1993. Her most recent addition is a players "Pet Calendar" for 2019-20. She purchased most of the items herself, but a few were gifts. Some of the items were only available by attending the games.

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Dogs

The temporary lobby exhibit for August is a collection of miniature dog figurines accumulated by Olive Pridemore. They are now part of the Prairie Museum of Art & History collection.

Olive enjoyed many hobbies including collecting ceramic figurines, toothpick holders, and salt & pepper shakers.

Olive was born in Colby to Elmer W. Lewallen and Lois Hamill Lewallen. She was a 1931 graduate from Colby High School. She then entered Halstead Hospital School of Nursing, graduating in 1936. 

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Come in soon to visit these cute pups. As always, there is no admission to visit the lobby exhibit. 

Kitties

The July lobby exhibit is a collection of kitty figurines on loan from Ann Miner.

Here's Ann's story:
Laura Davis was a Colby resident who co-founded the recycling center here. I got to know her through that, and because her kids and mine played soccer together.
She loved cats, and had quite a collection of figurines as well as three live cats. When she succumbed to cancer in 2009, we temporarily adopted her three cats and her sons decoded to bequeath a selection of her cat figurines to us as well. I wish I knew the stories these kitties tell - where did each come from? Were they gifts or pieces Laura chose? Other than the blue ceramic cat I picked up for her in Mexico, these cat tales are unknown.

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