September 2022 Newsletter

Hunter’s Corner

The Story of Frontier Times Museum
Pamphlet Written by J. Marvin Hunter
Published date Unknown

Since Frontier Times Museum opened the doors of its new home on May 20, 1933, more than 25,000 people have come to visit it. These visitors are chiefly from other towns, cities and states, and some were from foreign countries.  Naturally, some of them were local people, but the percentage is necessarily small, for Bandera has a population of less than 1,000, while Bandera County contains only about 5,000 people altogether. 

In Memoriam

Jane demonstrates the victrola to two young museum visitors, 2005

Those we love don't go away they walk beside us every day, unseen, unheard but always near, still loved, still missed & very dear

Jane Graham
Former Museum Manager

It is with heavy hearts that we say goodbye to our beloved Jane Graham.  Jane Graham served as the manager of the museum from 2004 to 2009.  Along with her husband, John, Jane did an amazing job cleaning up the museum and organizing the museum's displays.  She was particularly proud of their work redoing the Doane Western Art Gallery.  Her and John removed peg boards from the wall and hung the museum's art collection on the natural limestone walls. They gathered up numerous oxen yokes from the floor of the museum and hung them high above the paintings, creating a beautiful tableau of art and historical artifacts.  Upon her retirement, Jane was designated an official Yellow Rose of Texas by then Governor Rick Perry, a befitting honor for this native Texan who was born and raised in San Antonio.  Jane loved a good party and continued to attend all the museum functions where her laugh and smile charmed everyone who had the good fortune of visiting with her.  She was always interested in what was happening at the museum and was delighted to hear all the behind the scenes gossip of her cherished museum. The family has generously asked that donations be made in her honor to the museum.  She will always be a treasured part of the museum's history and will be missed terribly.  

AuPairs Visit in August

Executive Director Rebecca Norton teaches Cowboy Culture and History to a group of 80 AuPairs.  As international workers, AuPairs are able to work for American families as nannies on education visas. They travel to Bandera four times a year to study Texas history. Bandera is one of several locations in the United States they visit on their educational tour. Staying at the Mayan Dude Ranch, they toured the museum and downtown Bandera while visiting. 

Annual Fundraising Gala

Our annual fundraising gala will be on October 28th as we groove to the Fab Seventies and raise money for the museum.  Dinner by Black Tie Affair Catering.  Music and Dancing by MishMash.  Along with silent and live auction.

September Events

Frontier Tales

Back to School
Frontier Tales 
By Rebecca Huffstutler Norton

 
            I always find it surprising that children today go back to school in August during the brutal “dog” days of summer.  I grew up in Alabama where our calendar was still based on early agricultural practices, so school let out on Friday before Memorial Day and didn’t convene again until the Tuesday after Labor Day.  While we had plenty of opportunities to fritter away long summer days, we were still expected to do chores around the farm.  In fact, my mother’s annual tradition of starting off the summer was to have us lay a nice layer of chicken manure on her strawberry plants the minute we got off the bus.  Despite what I perceived as inhumane treatment, a look back on frontier schools reveal that my childhood may not have been that bad.
            A wonderful recollection of schooldays was written by Ida Babcock Hall which appeared in the Frontier Times magazine, entitled Early Schools and School Books.  Mrs. Hall recounts how her father, who came to Texas in 1850, remembered his one-room log cabin school.  School desks and chairs consisted of a split log with a bare log to sit upon. He remembered his schoolmasters as “grim and severe” and discipline in the way of whipping with a switch was frequently given out for what we would consider minor trespasses such as laughing and whispering.  Mrs. Hall’s own childhood memories of school were a bit more cheerful.  She began school in Burnet County and recalls the pleasure of wearing a new plaid dress with home-knit stockings to start the school year.

   Childhood illnesses were rampant then and it was not uncommon for children to die before they were even in their teens.  To ward off any ailments, a cord was hung around their necks with a lump of “devil’s dung,” an herb so named because of its pungent smell.
Schools were now built of clapboard and wooden desks had replaced logs. They were still primarily one-room affairs that held all ages since a state-system of regulated schools was not yet developed. Students used whatever books could be had, most likely a McGuffey Reader and math books. Since paper was expensive, lessons were written out on slate boards with chalk.  Memorization was key to learning since the lessons were erased for the next lesson.  Both boys and girls performed janitor duties.  The boys were tasked with cutting wood for the wood burning stove in the winter and fetching water to be kept in a bucket with a ladle to quench anyone’s thirst. Girls swept and kept the place tidy and clean. 
            Corporal punishment was still given for misbehaviors as parents had no problems with whippings because they followed the same disciplinary methods at home. Recesses were a treasured time to play games and laugh without inhibition. Since students had to travel some distance to get to school, many rode their own horse. Lunchtime meant riding the horses around the school grounds. The schools were often a gathering place for the community.  At nights, literary societies were a popular past time and both adults and children performing by singing, playing music, reading aloud, or reciting poetry.  Spelling bees were also a form of entertainment, simple pleasures for a simpler time.

Museum Supporters

Thank you to our supporters
August 2022

Members Renew
Jake & Kari Short 
The Farm Country Club-Homer & Kathy Stevens

Donations
Luke Real

Capital Campaign Donations
David Hicks   
Ben Nolte

Volunteers
Holly Boyle
Elizabeth Griffith
Tessa Kolodny 
Toni  Kunz
Logan Miles   
Jennifer Nimmrichter
Eddie Rowe
John Schuetze
Roger Wolfe  
Lanie Wood-Intern

Volunteers-Jamboree Musicians
Lew Pewterbaugh 
Paul Hilliard   
David Le Steourgeon   
Lee Harmon 
Lee Haile 
Homer Whisenant 
Marilee   
Bob  DeGeorge   
Dennis Owen

 Become a member today! 
Mail your check to Frontier Times Museum
P.O.Box 1918 Bandera, TX 78003
Individual:  $25  
Family & Friends:  $50
Sustaining:  $100
Business:  $100
Patron:  $250
Hunter's Museum Circle:  $500