Just like the Three Kittens of Mother Goose fame, it is only too easy to lose one or both mittens. They disappear in the washing machine, fall off the clothesline, or tumble from a torn pocket leading to cold, frostbitten fingers. One solution was attaching mittens together with a cord. The cord would be long enough to stretch from one hand across to the other through the sleeves of a jacket, guaranteeing matching gloves and warm hands. A too short cord, however, could make snow angels impossible.
This month's Collection Spotlight features mittens donated to the museum along with other materials belonging to Mary Loretta Biggins (1904-1995). A dedicated volunteer, Mary performed various duties for the American Lung Foundation, American Red Cross, American Cancer Society, Retired Eagles Active Citizens, Riverfest, March of Dimes, and many more organizations. Mary’s community service-oriented energy found another outlet at JC Penny department store in Dubuque beginning in the 1920s. Her obituary in the October 2nd, 1995 edition of the Telegraph Herald reported that Mary would pay for additional children’s clothing when parents couldn’t afford more.
While we do not know if these child-sized feather-and-fan knit mittens were Mary’s own or a present-in-waiting, fraying has finally torn the cord apart.3