Rachel’s Curios

Photo essay by Connie Kent and Reina Lopez

As a senior in high school in Nebraska, Rachel Lathrop sat for the Civil Service exam, and as soon as she graduated, hopped on a train to Washington, D.C., where she worked in the Surgeon General’s Office in the Pentagon. That was in 1945.

Washington, D.C., was just her first stop. From Harvard, Nebraska, a town with a population no larger than Rogue Valley Manor, Rachel has traveled to all seven continents: Africa, Antarctica, Asia, Australia/Oceania, Europe, North America, and South America.

During ten plus years with the Foreign Service, she served in American Embassies in Salzburg, Austria; Tokyo, Japan; and Lagos, Nigeria. At each posting, she traveled around the area seeing the sights. She even took a month long safari, visiting half a dozen countries in Africa.

During her travels she collected wonderful tokens of the places she visited. I’ve chosen a few to highlight.

Here is an ornate Wine Haber from Salzburg, Austria, a beautiful glass vase-like container that comes to a point at the bottom and is supported in a decorative iron stand. The bottom of the glass container has a silver rod, that releases the wine when pressed by a wineglass. A glass tube suspended in the top of the vase can hold ice, for serving white wine, or can be removed for red wine. The stand has a tray below the spigot where a dish can be placed to catch any drips.

Rachel’s Curios

Glass wine dispenser

Japanese brass incense

Japanese Salt and Pepper

Wooden African Animals

Ebony African couple

Ebony gazellas

Masai Warrior and spears

Ebony Face front and back