The Old Brutus Historical Society doesn't simply tell, it shows too.
Chet Susslin / The Citizen
Joe Marshall displays a leather license plate from 1901 or 1902, on loan to him from a friend.
Joe Marshall displays a leather license plate from 1901 or 1902, on loan to him from a friend.
Former Cayuga County Clerk Joe Marshall will take the audience of the society's April meeting through the history of New York state license plates when he presents his personal collection of about 75.
Though many of Marshall's plates are long retired from use and some are quite rare, he neither searched nor paid for any of them.
“I don't go out and look for them or anything,” Marshall said.
License plates first became a collector's item for Marshall in 1986, when the Statue of Liberty design for New York state's plate came into use. At the time, Marshall was county clerk, and citizens would often ask him how to discard their old plates.
“Then everyone started giving me plates,” he said. “I spoke to senior groups and lodge groups and everyone started saying they had certain plates too.”
Marshall's older sister, Reva Kline, also collected old license plates from flea markets and passed them on to him.
The history of New York's plate can be pieced together with a glance across Marshall's collection. It was once made of porcelain, then steel, then galvanized steel and finally the present material, aluminum. It has often been comprised of red, white, blue and gold colors, but the 1920 plate sported pea green and the 1923 plate background was solid purple.
“They were some real oddball colors,” Marshall said.
But what can't be gleaned from that glance is the history of the plates' origins. Before 1910, license plates were left to the owners to produce, usually from leather or wood. A single plate per car was standard at that time.
A registration disc with a number was assigned to the driver by the Secretary of the State of New York - who handled automobile licensing at the time - and that number was reproduced on the plate. At the historical society meeting, Marshall will display a loaned leather plate from 1901, the year the state started requiring them.
Licenses were made this way until 1910, when two steel plates became the practice by law. Plates were manufactured privately until 1923, when the Department of Motor Vehicles assumed authority and the labor was moved to prisons such as Auburn Correctional Facility.
In addition to Marshall's collection, the Old Brutus Historical Society's April meeting will mark the opening of “Kaleidoscope of the Arts,” a gallery in the society building that boasts wall after wall of historical artifacts related to the arts.
Every few feet along the exhibit, guests are welcomed by mannequins clad in the authentic garb of iconic characters like Bess from “Porgy and Bess,” Sergeant York and Scarlett O'Hara from “Gone with the Wind.” O'Hara's dress is flared outward by a hoop manufactured in Weedsport's old Rheubottom hoop factory.
Lining the walls in the main hall of the society are landscape paintings by Weedsport painters like Chris Baker, Sue Whitman Guszcza and Penney Cosentino.
“We hope people would learn the broad range of talent in all areas of the arts in Weedsport,” said Jeanne Baker, the Town of Brutus historian.
The theater section of the “Kaleidoscope” exhibit features several playbills from productions at the Burritt Opera House, which was one of the first all-steel opera houses in the world but burned down in the 1930s. It was eventually replaced with a movie theater.
The oldest item in the society's show is a 5-foot-wide print of Andersonville Prison drawn from memory by Thomas O'Dea during the Civil War.
While perusing the featured attractions, guests of the society can take in its permanent basement installations, including recreations of a schoolhouse room, a dairy store and the cabin of a lumber boat on the Erie Canal. The basement features an Osbourne Reaper from 1891 surrounded by a wheat field mural recently painted by Dawn Jordan, who also created the mural on the society building's north side.
Even more of the society's historical treasures are part of the hall itself. The chandelier comes from Weedsport's old Presbyterian church, the pew from the old Methodist church and the stained glass window from St. Joseph's Catholic Church, circa 1860. Baker is hopeful guests will soak in that history surrounding them in the society's meeting room.
“We're proud of the history of the artistic endeavors people have done in the village,” she said.
Staff writer David Wilcox can be reached at 253-5311 ext. 245 or david.wilcox@lee.net
Though many of Marshall's plates are long retired from use and some are quite rare, he neither searched nor paid for any of them.
“I don't go out and look for them or anything,” Marshall said.
License plates first became a collector's item for Marshall in 1986, when the Statue of Liberty design for New York state's plate came into use. At the time, Marshall was county clerk, and citizens would often ask him how to discard their old plates.
“Then everyone started giving me plates,” he said. “I spoke to senior groups and lodge groups and everyone started saying they had certain plates too.”
Marshall's older sister, Reva Kline, also collected old license plates from flea markets and passed them on to him.
The history of New York's plate can be pieced together with a glance across Marshall's collection. It was once made of porcelain, then steel, then galvanized steel and finally the present material, aluminum. It has often been comprised of red, white, blue and gold colors, but the 1920 plate sported pea green and the 1923 plate background was solid purple.
“They were some real oddball colors,” Marshall said.
But what can't be gleaned from that glance is the history of the plates' origins. Before 1910, license plates were left to the owners to produce, usually from leather or wood. A single plate per car was standard at that time.
A registration disc with a number was assigned to the driver by the Secretary of the State of New York - who handled automobile licensing at the time - and that number was reproduced on the plate. At the historical society meeting, Marshall will display a loaned leather plate from 1901, the year the state started requiring them.
Licenses were made this way until 1910, when two steel plates became the practice by law. Plates were manufactured privately until 1923, when the Department of Motor Vehicles assumed authority and the labor was moved to prisons such as Auburn Correctional Facility.
In addition to Marshall's collection, the Old Brutus Historical Society's April meeting will mark the opening of “Kaleidoscope of the Arts,” a gallery in the society building that boasts wall after wall of historical artifacts related to the arts.
Every few feet along the exhibit, guests are welcomed by mannequins clad in the authentic garb of iconic characters like Bess from “Porgy and Bess,” Sergeant York and Scarlett O'Hara from “Gone with the Wind.” O'Hara's dress is flared outward by a hoop manufactured in Weedsport's old Rheubottom hoop factory.
Lining the walls in the main hall of the society are landscape paintings by Weedsport painters like Chris Baker, Sue Whitman Guszcza and Penney Cosentino.
“We hope people would learn the broad range of talent in all areas of the arts in Weedsport,” said Jeanne Baker, the Town of Brutus historian.
The theater section of the “Kaleidoscope” exhibit features several playbills from productions at the Burritt Opera House, which was one of the first all-steel opera houses in the world but burned down in the 1930s. It was eventually replaced with a movie theater.
The oldest item in the society's show is a 5-foot-wide print of Andersonville Prison drawn from memory by Thomas O'Dea during the Civil War.
While perusing the featured attractions, guests of the society can take in its permanent basement installations, including recreations of a schoolhouse room, a dairy store and the cabin of a lumber boat on the Erie Canal. The basement features an Osbourne Reaper from 1891 surrounded by a wheat field mural recently painted by Dawn Jordan, who also created the mural on the society building's north side.
Even more of the society's historical treasures are part of the hall itself. The chandelier comes from Weedsport's old Presbyterian church, the pew from the old Methodist church and the stained glass window from St. Joseph's Catholic Church, circa 1860. Baker is hopeful guests will soak in that history surrounding them in the society's meeting room.
“We're proud of the history of the artistic endeavors people have done in the village,” she said.
Staff writer David Wilcox can be reached at 253-5311 ext. 245 or david.wilcox@lee.net
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