RIPON HISTORICAL SOCIETY MUSEUM AND ARCHIVES
The Ripon Historical Society Museum collection is housed in all of its three properties: Pickard House, Pedrick-Lawson House, and the Pedrick-Lawson barn.
Each building has an interesting history. Follow these links to see pictures our the two houses and read their stories. Pickard House Pedrick-Lawson House
Our museum exhibits change regularly, and we typically offer displays from the archives to support them. For a preview of current exhibits in our three buildings, follow this link.
PICTURES FROM EXHIBITS
Click on the links below for pictures and information.
| Postcard Exhibit | ||
How We Use Our Buildings
Pickard House is the Society headquarters. In Pickard House, volunteers carry out many of the functions that keep the organization going--from accessioning artifacts and documents to mounting exhibits and assisting people with research. Exhibits in Pickard House, both in the archives and the museum, are changed regularly and follow specific themes related to the Ripon area and the people who have lived here. The meeting room in the 1999 addition and the archives are accessible by elevator. Our programs, school visits, and board and committee meetings convene in the meeting room. It also houses a library that gives insight into the lives of past generations of Riponites through the books they read and saved. The entire basement area is devoted to one of the most extensive local history archives in the state, which may be used with a curator by appointment. The second floor of the original house provides additional exhibit space.
Pedrick-Lawson House is also maintained as an exhibit area and several rooms are set up as a home might have been in the 19th and early 20th centuries. This house is open only at scheduled times, such as Summer Sundays and Open Houses, and by appointment with a curator.
The Pedrick-Lawson gardens are maintained by volunteers and contain many plants that would have been there when the home was occupied by Belle Lawson. A marker for "Little Charlie" Pedrick, which was replaced long ago in the cemetery, was found broken under a Ripon area front porch. It was donated to the Society, repaired, and placed in the garden of what was once a Pedrick home.
The barn, also part of the Pedrick-Lawson property, contains agricultural equipment, machinery, sleighs, old plumbing, a Green Giant exhibit complete with the Jolly Green Giant and Little Sprout, medical instruments, and a variety of interesting items that are more related to barns and outside than to houses.
Examples of Displays in Pedrick-Lawson House
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Some Items in our Traveling Trunk
Examples of Pedrick House Exhibits
Archival Display
Barn Display
