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Discover Mid-America — October 2008

Museum to chronicle
early-day appliances

The lowly toaster — subject of wedding-gift jokes for decades — seems like an unlikely museum subject. Unless, of course, the museum includes the very first toasters and hundreds of other small appliances.

Richard Larison, owner of J R Western Wear just north of Diamond, MO, has amassed a collection of more than 3,500 small appliances, with historic toasters topping the list. The 1,200-square-foot museum is filled floor to ceiling and wall to wall with display cases full of colorful examples of the first coffee pots, toasters, waffle irons, blenders, fans, electric shavers, hair dryers, vacuum cleaners and more. “Anything electrical,” said Larison, whose museum will open Oct. 9.

Larison said he started collecting more than 20 years ago when his friend, Dennis Lebow, got him interested in old electric fans with brass blades.

“I started with the fans, and noticed that they were disappearing from the market. For the ones that were available, the price had jumped up — doubling or tripling.” Larison said that Lebow then switched his collecting goals to automatic toasters.

“I didn’t realize it at the time,” Larison said, “but Lebow was trying to corner the market in those 1960’s model Sunbeam toasters.”

“I started looking,” Larison said, “and I bought me a book, and realized what was out there. After that, I collected a lot of different things and stored them in my basement. People would come over and tell me it was a shame I had the collection locked away where nobody could see it.”

So Larison added on to his western store, then added on again. The collection fills up the present display space, but by the time it opens it will be half again larger, with an area that will accommodate collector clubs and other events. There will also be a sales area, with items that duplicate others Larison has in his collection.

Larison pointed out the first electric skillet, made by Westinghouse. The primitive-looking appliance looked like a conventional cast-iron skillet, with an electric cord protruding from the handle. “Weighs a ton,” Larison said.

So does he have the first toaster?

“1908,” said Larison, directing my attention to a display case with dozens of the earliest models. There were no shiny, polished appliances with slots for the toast to pop through. Just naked frames with the heating wires dangerously exposed.

“There’s some controversy, but they say the 11-wire G.E. was the first,” Larison said. “And they came down to six wires because they figured they didn’t need 11. Then they found people were getting burned, so they enclosed them. Then they found the housewives wanted prettier models, so they decorated the cases with pretty designs.”

The toasters got fancier and more elaborate as we moved along the displays. But the function was still basic and simple: The bread was laid onto a grid, then had to be turned over to avoid burning. Some models allowed the toast to be laid flat after its exposure to the grid. Then it would have to be manually turned over to toast the other side — a hazard that limited sales. It was clear that a better design was needed.

Several systems were used to flip the toast, including a rotating holder operated by push buttons. There were even “walk-through” or “conveyer” toasters, which moved the bread across the heating grid, and pushed it out the opposite side of the toaster when it was done. Earliest examples of this model were plain. Then a small “window” was added to allow the toast to be examined during the process.

The first “pop-up” toaster was invented in 1919, designed primarily for restaurants. Models for home use came out five or six years later and immediately became popular.

Small electrical appliances first proliferated as a result of the “electricity craze” of the early 1900s, and spread to farm areas through rural electrification efforts. Toasters came into general use in the 1930s thanks to the standardization of sliced bread. By the end of World War II, when returning soldiers were starting families, the small appliance industry was booming.

Larison began his collecting mostly at flea markets and antique shops. “My wife and I would drive to Kansas City for the weekend,” he said. “When we came back, the back seat on the floor up to the window would be full, the trunk would be full — and once in a while Janice would have to put some of the stuff under her feet in the front seat.”

Now that his collection has gotten larger, Larison’s purchases are more selective as he tries to find missing models. Over the last five years, eBay has become his major source, he said. Although he still prowls the flea markets and shops, more than 75 percent of his purchases are made online. It’s become an international quest. “I often bid against collectors from Germany and other countries,” Larison said.

Larison said the museum will officially open the weekend of Oct. 9-12, when the Toaster Collectors Association holds their convention in the new facility. At that time, the public will be invited.

“This will be the largest collection of small appliances anywhere,” Larison said. “Visitors will see the 3,500 in my collection, and the association will probably be showing another 600 or more.”

Also in the museum are store displays and old advertising. Admission will be free with a donation jar for those who wish to help Larison defray expenses.

Look for the J R Western Wear sign to find the museum, located about 8 miles south of Joplin on Hwy. 59. For more information call 417-476-0707.

Ken Weyand can be reached at kweyand1@kc.rr.com

> Traveling with Ken Archive — past columns