The museum houses many items that were used to make women beautiful according to the dictates of fashion in their day. These items are still of interest to researchers, family members, and little girls who want to know how grandma did things.
Beauty was hard work in the early days of Payette County! Keeping boots polished, washing clothes, ironing acres of ruffles, flounces, and puffed sleeves took real skill.
The museum houses many authentic garments as well as photographs of the clothing being worn. Museum administrator Ann Curtis has also made period costumes for wear by volunteers or when it was felt that newer, more durable garments might be needed in a touchable display.
The museum currently has an exhibit with an antique treadle sewing machine and old patterns for aprons - including one apron cut out and awaiting the seamstress's attention.
There was little glamour associated with wash day - just hard work! This exhibit shows that often every inch of a home's porch would be needed for the complex process of cleaning the family's clothes. Sometimes mothers had to make their own soap for laundry, bathing, even washing hair.
Displays in the Payette County Museum easily catch the eye of children because the cases are set low to the floor where the children who visit the museum can see the collection of antique toys, or the life-sized baby doll with glass nursing bottle, a rattle, a cup, a brush and all the other necessities of caring for babies in days gone by.
Not all parents were lucky enough to keep their children with them for life. This exhibit shows the care family members took to remember their lost ones.
Stained glass windows are part of the heritage the museum gained from being placed in a historic Payette County church. These beautiful windows were donated as memorials to beloved members of Payette County families.
All text and photos not otherwise attributed are provided by museum volunteer and web designer Lucinda Sutherland of Payette, Idaho. E-mail your comments to Sutherland at lucisept61@yahoo.com .
The museum houses many authentic garments as well as photographs of the clothing being worn. Museum administrator Ann Curtis has also made period costumes for wear by volunteers or when it was felt that newer, more durable garments might be needed in a touchable display. 
The museum currently has an exhibit with an antique treadle sewing machine and old patterns for aprons - including one apron cut out and awaiting the seamstress's attention. 
There was little glamour associated with wash day - just hard work! This exhibit shows that often every inch of a home's porch would be needed for the complex process of cleaning the family's clothes. Sometimes mothers had to make their own soap for laundry, bathing, even washing hair. 
Displays in the Payette County Museum easily catch the eye of children because the cases are set low to the floor where the children who visit the museum can see the collection of antique toys, or the life-sized baby doll with glass nursing bottle, a rattle, a cup, a brush and all the other necessities of caring for babies in days gone by.
Not all parents were lucky enough to keep their children with them for life. This exhibit shows the care family members took to remember their lost ones.
