Nutcracker Museum

4th Quarter Newsletter 2022

for the Leavenworth Nutcracker Museum

 THE ANTIQUE NUTCRACKERS… Michelle McMullen, chosen as The Nutcracker Lady II has learned much about the popular wooden toy soldier nutcrackers which occupy the largest part of the museum, but now her studies are centered on her most important job – to learn about the history and identification of the antique nutcrackers. It is the antique part of the collection that truly qualifies the Leavenworth Nutcracker Museum as a noteworthy museum known worldwide.

As it is impossible to retain all that you read and hear, the museum library contains all available books on nutcrackers and their history for referral. Of these, “NUTCRACKERS Shape and History” by Adolf Heidenreich is the most comprehensive on the subject, and from this book the Michelle is learning how nutcrackers developed through the various stages of the Renaissance, Baroque, Rococo and into the prolific nutcracker producing Victorian and early 20th century eras. And together with this book and the knowledge that I can share with her, Michelle is learning to distinguish between the nutcrackers crafted by the carvers of France, Italy, England, Switzerland and other European countries.

Michelle is also learning about the various woods and metals used in the making of the antique nutcrackers and again, we have books available for referral. She already knows the methods by which a nut is cracked, but now she must also learn about the history and nutritional values of the various nuts that are being cracked starting with those gathered by ancient peoples who used the nutting stones.

Michelle is learning how and where to acquire specimens for the museum both in Europe as well as in the US. Once acquired, she is learning how to photo and enter them into the filing system for permanent records. There are two nutcrackers that I have personally acquired recently and am using in Michelle’s training. The first is a carved boxwood nutcracker from France and is the oldest known dated nutcracker in the world. We carefully compared it with another one in the museum dated 1569 and others in the museum that have been given general 16th century dates by archeologists. We also studied those shown in Heidenreich’s book and other published works. Here are pictures of the two earliest dated nutcrackers , 1554 and 1569, that are displayed in the museum.

The other nutcracker that recently arrived is an extraordinary work of bronze from the latter part of the 14th century, and was purchased from a reliable French antique dealer. It has a fascinating design employing both animals and birds along with human faces and, except for a missing bird, it is in exceptionally good shape. Michelle and I compared it with the others we have in the museum and with those in the Heidenreich book and came up with an interesting history lesson as shown in the following photograph. At the left is a nutcracker from the 14th century with a primitive design of animals and birds. The center one, evidently made later, shows just animals, and on the right, this new addition from the end of the 14th century showing animals, birds and faces of humans. Note the faces on the ends of the levers and the larger faces on the cracking end.

Working in the museum, Michelle has already had experience in the care of the nutcrackers-- to clean, wax, polish, and watch for problems such as cracks or woodworm, and now we will be working on how to attractively display them, to write informative signage for the visitors, and produce promotional articles about the various nutcrackers.

All these subjects, plus many more, are being taught, session by session to Michelle McMullen, the very capable lady who has been chosen to succeed me as The Nutcracker Lady II when the time comes. It is a huge commitment on her part, but the personal rewards are many. WELCOME, NUTCRACKER LADY II