3/1/2022 | Mark Hanson, Curator

Sometimes artifacts like this Buckeye egg incubator live lives their original makers could never imagine.

Measuring approximately 36 inches square and 12 inches tall, this incubator hatched poultry eggs in the early 1900s. The metal assembly on the side is part of the kerosene burner used to warm the incubator. It also originally sat on four legs.

Later in its life, the incubator’s original function and form sparked the donors’ imagination. They purchased it and used it for years as a coffee table in a poultry themed room. But the story does not end there.

The donors’ children grew up around this artifact, and it served them in an entirely different way. The incubator became a fantastic fort and prison while playing with their action figures. We know this to be true, because we found evidence.

While processing the incubator into the museum’s collection, we discovered an action figure’s plastic toy gun inside!

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