Beginning in the 1970s, Wichitan Sylvia Jackson started collecting vintage miniature Christmas trees that she decorated with small ornaments and other tiny, often handcrafted, items in themed vignettes.
In 1991, she loaned her collection to the Wichita-Sedgwick County Historical Museum, which usually exhibits select trees from the collection around the Christmas holiday.
Occasionally, like this year, it will exhibit the entire collection of 22 trees.
Considering the collection involves several thousand pieces, it’s no small feat to display the trees, which range in height from 12 inches to 24 inches, said Eric Cale, the museum’s executive director.
The 12-inch tree that started the collection gets special treatment, displayed under a glass dome in a glass-and-wood display case in a second-floor exhibition space. An accompanying display card indicates the tree has 210 ornaments.
Jackson, now 90, recalled how she’d spotted the bare vintage tree in an antique store on South Broadway in Wichita. “I thought it was so cute, so I bought it,” she said.
She decorated the tree with tiny Victorian-themed and old-fashioned ornaments, hoping her two young sons would enjoy the addition of a miniature Christmas decoration in their home.
As she added trees throughout the years, she started displaying the collection at the First Church of the Nazarene, which her family attended. She added more trees after loaning the collection to the museum.
“I guess I was always looking, and I did lots of checking in antique stores,” Jackson said.
Some of the trees have themes that reflect Jackson’s interests and her family.
Two trees, one called Silver Nostalgia and the other Golden Memories, display family photos in the charms and lockets hanging on the branches and in miniature frames around the bases of the trees.
Miniature stringed instruments with cases, handcrafted by professional violin makers, are displayed with the Sound of Christmas tree that is decorated with tiny pieces of sheet music and miniature instruments. Jackson, who earned a music education degree from Wichita State, played string bass for 15 years with the Wichita Symphony and later served on the symphony’s board.
Other themes include a Time Will Tell vignette, where heirloom watches are displayed on an old German-made tree, and a Sentiments of the Season tree decorated with antique calling cards, roses and Victorian-inspired cornucopias.
One of the largest vignettes features 75 miniature packages and gifts under a tree loaded with 600 ornaments.
The tree collection is one of Jackson’s two holiday celebration legacies.
As a board member for the Wichita Art Association, now known as Mark Arts, Jackson was one of the founders of the annual Holiday Tables exhibition. The 57th Holiday Tables, where guest hosts and businesses create tablescapes, was held in early November.
Jackson said her health has prevented her from visiting the museum to see her collection, but former director Robert Plunkett created two scrapbooks of pictures of the collection that she occasionally looks through.
“I’m just amazed the museum still displays them,” Jackson said.
The miniature tree collection on loan from Wichitan Sylvia Jackson will be exhibited through the end of December at the Wichita-Sedgwick County Historical Museum, 204 S. Main. Museum hours are 11 a.m.-4 p.m. Tuesdays through Fridays and 1-5 p.m. weekends. Admission is $5 for adults, $2 for children ages 6-12, and free for children under 6. The museum is free to visit on Sundays.
