Adopt-an-Artifact

Individuals and families that join the Ephraim Historical Foundation as Sustaining Members or above (dues of $500 or more) are eligible to designate a portion of their membership dues toward archival and collections care through the Adopt-an-Artifact program.

If you choose to adopt an artifact with your membership dues, a part of your tax-deductible donation will go to the Adopt-an-Artifact program. This part of your donation will be ear marked to support the preservation and storage of artifacts in the collection and preserve Ephraim’s tangible history.

Adopting an artifact is a unique way to get involved with the museum’s collection and help provide the support needed to continue to collect and preserve Ephraim’s history.

Every adoption receives the following:

  • Adoption certificate

  • Digital photo of the artifact

  • Description of the artifact and its significance

  • Adopt-an-Artifact Sponsor listing on the website

Adopt-An-Artifact Items & Sponsors

Dr. Sneeberger Medical Bag

  • 1991.032.0001a

    Dr. William Sneeberger was licensed to practice medicine in 1918, and not long after he moved to Ephraim with his family to practice in 1921. He played a major role providing medical care to the community with he and his wife Dorothy, a nurse, delivering most of the babies in the community at their homes. Dr. Sneeberger’s provided care to the Ephraim community for over 45 years, retiring in 1967. He was awarded the honor of being the first ever Fyr Bal Chieftain in 1965 and resided in Ephraim until his passing in 1969.

    • Mike and Windsor McCutcheon

Sail Sleigh

  • 1987.001.001

    Used for both practical purposes and recreation, the sail sleigh played a significant role in early Ephraim history. The lack of established roads on the peninsula in the early years of the Village meant a near complete dependence on the water as a means of transport and commerce, and the sail sleigh was a quick and efficient way of transporting goods in the winter. Early Ephraim settlers transported barrels of salted fish and other goods over the ice for sale in Green Bay and Michigan to supplement their income, saving a dangerous trek on foot along the rocky shorelines.

Ebenezer Ship Wheel

  • 1991.005.001

    The Ebenezer was a 56 ft. schooner built by Captain Fordel Hogenson in Ephraim.  It operated in the Green Bay area for 15 years.  At the end of its life span, the schooner was scuttled by Hogenson, who ran it aground under full sail in the shallows near his business, Evergreen Beach Hotel, in Ephraim.  The ship's wheel was discovered underwater by Sheldon Olson, former owner of the Hillside Hotel, and John Holbrook.  Olson was sure it was from the Ebenezer because as a child he watched Captain Hogenson build the schooner along the shore.

Anderson Hotel Sign

  • 2017.257.001

    In 1899, Matilda ‘Tillie’ Valentine opened Stonewall Cottage on Moravia Street. After her marriage to Adolph Anderson in 1906, Tillie built a larger new hotel, naming it the Anderson Hotel.  Stonewall Cottage was torn down shortly thereafter to accommodate the new structure, which boasted 21 rooms. In the 1930s, Tillie’s son Everett and his wife Kittie took over operations of the hotel. The Anderson Hotel became known for its entertainment, largely in the form of musical productions. Shows were elaborate, with costumes, props, and, oftentimes scripted. It remained a hotel until 1978, when it was sold and converted to condominiums.

William Bernhard Blueprints

  • 1992.001

    William Bernhard was born in Russia and educated in Architecture in Dresden, Germany. He and his wife Svea came to the United States in about 1910, settling in Chicago by 1913. Bernhard gained notoriety as a world-class architect, designing several major buildings in Chicago. He first visited Door County in 1915, and by the early 1920’s the couple owned property in north Ephraim, eventually basing his architectural practice in the village by 1932. He went on to design over 150 commercial and residential buildings in Door County - most notably, Ephraim Village Hall and the original Ephraim Fire Station.

Pioneer Schoolhouse Desk

  • 2009.019.001

    Built in 1880 on land donated by Ephraim’s founder Rev. Andreas Iverson, with an addition in 1900 to expand capacity from sixty to eighty students, the Pioneer Schoolhouse served the Ephraim community for over 65 years. A one-room schoolhouse, children of all ages were schooled under the same roof. In July 1949, Warren Davis and former schoolteacher Helen Sohns set into motion to save the structure from being demolished, and in doing so formed the Ephraim Foundation. Today, the structure is maintained as a museum and programmatic space for the Foundation.

Early Anderson Dock Painting

  • Unknown Artist

    Oil on canvas, 10 x 13 inches

    2017.309.0002

    Painting of Anderson Dock and Warehouse from the shore by an unknown artist.  Cordwood is stacked on the Dock with ship docked and another visible on the water. Lumbering played a crucial role in early Ephraim’s history, giving the settlers a source of income in the years before crops were successfully sowed. Eagle Bluff and Horseshoe Island are visible in the background. Note with painting says "Kathy Lowry”.  Back of frame stamped "Patented Sept. 1884, Thayer & Chandler, Chicago”.

“Ephraim”

  • Vida Pauline Weborg (1854-1952)

    Pencil on paper, 9 x 12 inches

    1991.265.0002

    Vida Pauline Weborg was born and raised on farmland that is now part of Peninsula State Park. She left her home in Fish Creek to study at the Art Institute of Chicago. Ms. Weborg was a teacher in Chicago and a successful book illustrator, best known for her illustrations In Viking Land, a book describing a summer tour she took with her sister Johanna, and Old Peninsula Days by Hjalmar Holand. Vida Weborg represents one of the earliest artists found in the Ephraim Historical Foundation collection.

“Ephraim Autumn”

  • Karsten Topelmann (1929-2021)

    Watercolor on paper, 24 x 20 inches

    (2017.167.0001)

    Classically trained in Europe, artist Karsten Topelmann has been painting the scenery of Door County for almost 60 years.  He was raised in an art-filled home in Germany, where his father was an architect, his mother a sculptor. Karsten studied painting and drawing and graduated from the Munich Royal Academy of Art.  He left Munich for America in 1955, settled in Chicago, where he worked as graphic designer and art director at the Container Corporation of America, and married his wife, artist Ellen Sprogo.  The couple and their three small children moved permanently to Ephraim in the early 1960s.

“Shanty Bay”

  • Edgar S. Cameron (1862-1944)

    Oil on board, 7 x 10 inches

    2017.310.0001

    American impressionist painter Edgar S. Cameron studied at the Chicago Academy of Fine Art, the Art Students League in New York under William Merritt Chase, and at both the Academy Julian and the Ecole des Beaux Arts in Paris. Cameron maintained a studio residence at the Tree Studio Building and at the artist colony on Ohio Street in Chicago, established in 1894.  He exhibited at the Art Institute of Chicago. From the Estate of Mr. E. Gordon Watson and Mrs. Jessie Wolf Watson, donated by their nephews Steve, Craig, and Gary Wolf of Lombard, Illinois.

“Goodletson Cabin”

  • Charles L. Peterson (1927-2022)

    Black and white watercolor, 20 x 24 inches 

    1992.149.0001

    The Goodletson Cabin, built in 1854, a year after Ephraim was founded, by Thomas and Kirsten Goodletson to house their family on Horseshoe Island. In 1855, the cabin was moved across the ice to the mainland where it stood until 1886. The cabin served multiple uses since, as a meeting place for Lutherans of Ephraim before the building of their church, and as a “honeymoon suite” for the Ephraim Hotel. In 1974, Ted Hoeppner of the Ephraim hotel donated the cabin to the Ephraim Historical Foundation who moved it to its current location next to the Pioneer Schoolhouse.

“Untitled”

  • Francis H. Hardy (1885-1960)

    Watercolor on paper, 9 x 11 inches

    2018.003.0001

    Ephraim summer resident Francis Howe Hardy of Evanston, Illinois, was a scientist by profession and an artist by avocation. Hardy began painting later in life as a hobby and took art classes during several winters in Florida. In summertime, he painted scenes of Door County in the small art studio adjacent to his timber and stone home on top of the bluff overlooking Anderson Pond and the waters of Eagle Harbor. Hardy was one of the founders of the Peninsula Arts Association, who organized exhibits at Ephraim Village Hall and the Pioneer Schoolhouse.

Anderson Business Manuscripts

  • In 1858, the settlers of Ephraim agreed to sell 166 of the original 400 acres which constituted Ephraim to Aslag and Halvor Anderson in exchange for community use of a new pier the pair agreed to build. The dock and neighboring general store which was finished in 1859. This signaled relief for Ephraim’s economic struggles as the deepwater pier of Anderson’s Dock allowed for much easier trade and shipment of goods. Aslag oversaw operation and maintenance of the dock until his death in 1892 when his son Henry Adolph took over.

Historic Postcard Collection

  • The Ephraim Historical Foundation’s archives house over one-thousand historic postcards, with pieces dating back from the present day to the late 1800’s. Not only are postcards unique archival documents insofar as they usually depict scenes from a particular place and time, but messages inscribed also give a sense of daily life and ritual.