With any Museum, there are often have more artifacts than can on exhibit at any given time. So on this page we would like to showcase items that haven't been on exhibit for some time- a look behind the scenes, out of storage, off the shelves...enjoy. If you have a topic you would like to see featured here, send us an e-mail.

 For those long hot days of summer, the old-fashioned cooling style of choice has been the fan. Here we feature some of our hand held fans in the museum's collection. This shows the typical, accordion folding hand fan with paper or fabric 'leaves' glued to wood or ivory sticks called 'blades'. The 2 outer blades could be the same as the inner blades, or of a different type or design. A large or small metal or ivory loop could be at the bottom of the fan that would tie to the waist by a ribbon when not being used at a dance or social event. They were often decorated with sequins, beads, paint, tassels or feathers.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Some were hand painted designs or scenes of antiquity.                             Some fans were circular and also self-storing when folded.

 The fan to the left is a party fan made of ivory blades. Note the fancy top (the guard) blade. The fabric leaves are bespeckled with tiny metal sequins, and then the whole confection is topped with fine feathers.

 

The fan to the right is a painted fan made from palm leaves with paper covering. The palms could be left plain, but old palm fans were reinforced with a rim of bamboo, seen here in this example. The handle was also bamboo.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 A colorful and beautiful example of the extravagant, painted folding fan.

 

 Another variation of the round folding fan, called a "Shaker" fan after the religious group who made them popular. Also self contained when closed, and locked with the metal clip at the ends of the blades.