The Material Legacy

Bedroom Set

The set – bed, dresser, comode – was new when my parents (Gilbert and Lillie Cardinal) were married in 1901. The bed no longer exists. The set is made of cherry wood. The dresser originally had a mirror in a frame so that the mirror could be tilted. My mother removed the frame and hung the mirror on the wall in the 1920's. The frame is gone, but the mirror was left in attic at 132 S. Oneida St. until Carl Sippel gave it to me in 1985. The bevel-edge mirror has a broken-out section which my mother concealled with picture post cards.

Child's Dishes

This set of china is a small tea set for children to play with. There are also two pewter castors.

These items belonged to my mother, Lillie Strahl Cardinal, and date back to her childhood in the 1880's. I do not know exactly how or when she got them, but they were among her prized possessions.

Match Box

This match box was used by my parents for many years. I don't know its origin, but I remember it in the basement at 132 South Oneida Street, Green Bay, Wisconsin, from the mid-1920's. It was mounted near the furnace and remained there when the house was sold to Carl and Marian Sippel in 1950 or 1951. They continued to use the box for matches in the basement until 1982. They gave it to me for Christmas 1982. It continues in use for matches beside our Franklin stove.

The box is wall-mounted of cast iron, and is of self-closing design. It measures about 3¾″ × 2¼ × 1″ – just right for a handful of wooden kitchen matches. These words are cast on the lid: Self Closing – for matches &c. – Patented Dec. 20, 1864 – D.N & Co. – New Haven. The bottom is made rough as a place to scratch the matches. The remainder is coated with black enamel.

In 1983, I removed the original enamel and recoated it with new black enamel.