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Vancouver artifacts on display at antiques show

Event patrons get rare glimpse of how people lived at turn of the 20th century

By Stevie Mathieu, Columbian Assistant Metro Editor
Published: January 18, 2015, 4:00pm
7 Photos
Susan Mulqueen and her father Ralph Marquez look Sunday at artifacts dug up by archaeologists in downtown Vancouver.
Susan Mulqueen and her father Ralph Marquez look Sunday at artifacts dug up by archaeologists in downtown Vancouver. The items were on display Saturday and Sunday at the Clark County Antique & Collectible Show at the Clark County Event Center at the Fairgrounds. Photo Gallery

For a schedule of related upcoming antiques shows:

http://christinepalmer.net

RIDGEFIELD — Visitors to the Clark County Antique & Collectible Show got a rare glimpse this weekend at how downtown Vancouver residents lived around the turn of the 20th century.

Corroded sardine cans, the bones of a butchered cow, chipped plates, glass medicine jars and porcelain doll parts were on display at the show, which was held Saturday and Sunday at the Clark County Event Center at the Fairgrounds.

A decade ago, archeologists with Applied Archaeological Research found the historic items while digging up a lot just south of Esther Short Park, which is now home to Vancouver City Hall. Public records about the people living there more than a hundred years ago were hard to come by, but from what the archaeologists could gather, at least one saloon owner and a couple of merchants lived in the neighborhood then, said Julie Wilt, a project archaeologist who worked on the dig.

Those in the neighborhood ranged from working class to upper middle class families. It was the end of the Victorian era, and even if people weren’t wealthy enough to have a parlor room in their homes, they still purchased parlor items, such as the colorful porcelain tea kettle on display, to keep up genteel appearances, Wilt said Sunday.

For a schedule of related upcoming antiques shows:

http://christinepalmer.net

“It’s a nice feeling to see old things like this and think about the people who used them,” said Vancouver resident Marlene Stecher, who was at the show with her daughter-in-law, Ginger Edwards of Vancouver.

“I think this is one of the most interesting things that’s here,” Edwards said of the archeological display. “This actually came from the local area. … It’s all really neat.”

The cow bones were “kind of an unexpected find,” Wilt said, adding that it was unusual for people living in the downtown area during that time to butcher their own meat there.

“There was only one family that was doing that,” Wilt said. At the same home site, archaeologists also found the bones of sheep and chickens, she said.

“In this part of the world, it’s rare to find a site like this,” Wilt said. The downtown Vancouver lot, however, had served for a long time as a parking area, leaving it relatively undisturbed before the dig.

The items found there are now stored at a facility in Portland and aren’t brought out often, Wilt said.

Christine Palmer, producer of the antiques show, said she thought the items from the dig would be a perfect fit for the Clark County show. “We thought that was so germane to the area,” she said.

In all, an estimated 5,800 people checked out the antiques show, Palmer said. The event attracted 275 antiques vendors, who filled a total of 400 booths with old furniture, art, toys, jewelry and other collectibles. Appraisers also were on site to assess the value of items that attendees brought to the show.

Susan Mulqueen of Vancouver was at the event with her father, Ralph Marquez. She’s a frequenter of antiques shows, but said it was her first time seeing an archeological exhibit at one. When she lived in Ventura, Calif., she said, she heard of digs happening at construction sites, but she never saw the fruits of those efforts displayed anywhere.

In this case, she said, “it’s nice to be able to see what’s been found.”

Another antiques show with 1,000 booths is planned for March 7-8 at the Portland Expo Center, Palmer said. It will not include the archeological exhibit.

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Columbian Assistant Metro Editor