The Lander Pioneer Museum just opened a new jewelry display in the museum lobby.
Mattie Ellan Darlington was a Lander woman who ran a local beauty shop and was a prolific jewelry maker. Dozens of her original handmade necklaces, ear rings, pins, bracelets and other pieces are on exhibit through the spring. This collection by Mattie Ellan Darlington represents her personal cultural influences and talents in her art as a beadworker.
Born in Byers,Texas, by the 1930s she was in Lander where she married Elmer Darlington. Mattie’s diverse work represents both European and Native American decorative design and reflects the mixed cultural influences she would have grown up with in western North America.
This collection and photograph was donated to the Fremont County Pioneer Museum by the grandchildren of Mattie Ellan Darlington.
