Collection Item of the Week - Corn Dryer

In honor of our recently completed exhibit on the Osheim barn, the collection item of the week is this early 20th century corn dryer.  During harvest in the early part of the century, farmers hand-selected the best ears of corn and saved them to use as seeds for next year's crop.  These ears of corn would be dried on a device like this to prepare the seeds for the next planting season.

The corn dryer was donated by Dave Osheim and was used by his ancestors on their family farm just south of Story City.  The barn that was located on this farm was sold and dismantled last August and taken to Texas.  Extra pieces of wood from the barn were donated to the historical society, which allowed us to create this unique exhibit.  

 

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This exhibit is located in our Carriage House Museum.  Several of the donated barn wood pieces were doors.  The exhibit was built on a 2x6" frame and the doors were attached so they are functional.

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As you can see in this photo, the 2x6" frame allowed us to be able to have exhibit space behind the doors.  Several old tools, cow bells, and horse shoes are displayed.

The model barn was built by Theroy Wierson, Dave's great uncle.  It is modeled after the design of the original barn on the family farm.  The real barn was built by Thor Ericson in 1870.  Theroy was Thor's grandson.

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This exhibit was made possible by the handiwork of some wonderful volunteers.  We would like to thank Mike, Al, Dwayne, Dan, and Chris for their hard work on this project.