The Children’s Area of the Museum is a section evolving out of a gallery formerly designated for rural life. As our collection of artifacts is growing to include a sizeable selection of antique toys, furniture, and clothing it has become evident that it deserved its own space. Drawn from various galleries, collection rooms, and other exhibits scattered throughout the Museum, the Children’s Area is anchored by the delightful display on Sam, A Special Puppy and five operational model trains. Sam was a local dog who achieved national fame through the writings of his owner Brenda Darsey. The trains are the nucleus of a much larger collection donated to the Museum by Hampton Ward. These model trains are G gauge and O gauge. Four of these are on tracks suspended from the ceiling while the fifth unit is on an antique baggage cart surrounded by scenery representing Cairo in the 1950s. 

The Museum is privileged to own 158 volumes of the War of the Rebellion: A Compilation of the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies. Dating back to 1880 these books are invaluable to anyone researching the Civil War. Considered primary resources, these are the battlefield reports by both Northern and Southern officers in their own words. With these books we are fortunate to own the original correspondence between the set’s first owner and the War Department who published them. One of the letters in our collection is a letter from Robert Lincoln, Secretary of War and son of Abraham Lincoln, to the original purchaser. 

The books are available to qualified researchers for use within the Museum only.

No serious study of the American Civil War is complete without consulting the Official Records. Affectionately known as the “OR”, the 128 volumes of the Official Records provide the most comprehensive, authoritative, and voluminous reference on Civil War operations. The reports contained in the Official Records are those of the principal leaders who fought the battles and then wrote their assessments days, weeks, and sometimes months later. The Official Records are thus the eyewitness accounts of the veterans themselves. As such they are “often flawed sources – poorly written in some cases, lacking perspective in others, frequently contradictory and occasionally even self-serving.” Nevertheless, they were compiled before the publication of other literature on the subject that, in several cases, caused some veterans to alter their memory and perception of events later in life.

Impetus for publishing the Official Records came from Union General-in-Chief Henry Wager Halleck. Apparently overwhelmed by the task of writing his 1863 annual report to Congress, Halleck recommended to the Committee on Military Affairs the collection and publication of official documents and reports on all Civil War operations. Republican Senator Henry Wilson of Massachusetts, Chairman of the Committee on Military Affairs, introduced a Joint Resolution “to provide for the printing of the official reports of the armies of the United States.” Both the House and the Senate adopted Wilson’s resolution on May 19, 1864. President Abraham Lincoln signed the bill into law the next day.

The rock was carved and put on the trail—later named the Hawthorne Trail—as a marker to indicate the way to a Spanish block fortress along the trail in the 1700s.

In 1955, local boys Dess Oliver and Jimmy Arline heard about the rock from another Grady County man who had found the rock in a local site known as Blowing Cave. The rock was believed to have been thrown in the cave by local Native Americans.

The local man who had told Oliver and Arline about the rock wanted it on his gravesite when he died. Oliver and Arline felt the rock had local significance and received permission from the deceased man’s family to take the rock to the Cairo Public Library.

Oliver and Arline took the rock to the FSU Anthropology Department with the library’s permission. Once its authenticity was verified, the rock was given to the Grady County History Museum.

One of the greatest innovators in piano design and construction was Frederick Mathushek. Mathushek’s vision was to create the finest pianos possible, and with his unique approach and unconventional designs, he eventually succeeded in building some of the finest pianos in American history.

Our 1867 Mathushek Baby Grand Piano was purchased in the early 1900s by Frank O. Mitchell residing at the time in Quincy, Illinois. After its purchase the family relocated to Memphis, Tennessee. The son of Frank (Hoy N. Mitchell) married Mary Lee Stone of Jackson, Mississippi in 1933. The piano was given to Hoy and Mary Lee as a wedding present.

Mary Lee was an accomplished piano and organ player and spent many hours, not only playing the Mathushek piano herself, but also teaching young children in her home how to play. She was an elementary school teacher by profession, and served as Music Supervisor for the school system of Jackson. During her teaching career she also taught at the Methodist orphanage in Jackson where she met what was to become her adopted son, Prentiss Raiford Mitchell. Prentiss came to live with Hoy and Mary Lee in 1946.

At the time of Mary Lee’s death in 1980, Prentiss, then residing in Tallahassee, FL inherited the piano. In 1990 the piano underwent a total restoration by Mr. Gary Bowser of Bowser Piano & Organ Service in Tallahassee. The piano is in perfect restored condition and playable.