A Bear for Wear.

What happened to this poor plaster bear? Unfortunately, we do not know for it came to the Chippewa Valley Museum in this condition. In 1992, the Uniroyal-Goodrich Tire Company in Eau Claire donated a plaster polar bear to the Chippewa Valley Museum. It was dirty, stained, broken, its head apart from its body. Heavily painted lips and eyelids gave it a clownish look. Despite its poor condition, the bear was an important part of Eau Claire’s history. Thanks to a grant from the Institute of Museum and Library Services and the Bank of America, conservators at the Midwest Art Conservation Center reassembled, cleaned, and repaired our bear. With continued care, the bear will connect future generations to the tire factory that shaped the Eau Claire community in the 1900s.

Where is this bear from?

It came from Gillette Safety Tire Company, which was later known as U.S. Rubber then Uniroyal. In 1917, Raymond B. Gillette opened the Gillette Safety Tire Company in the City of Eau Claire. The tire factory filled the void left by the collapse of the logging and lumbering industry. Mr. Gillette often used an old lumberjack saying, “A Bear for Wear,” when referring to the tires, meaning, the tires would last a long time. The Bear for Wear slogan came to be represented as a polar bear and a symbol of the Gillette brand. It can be seen in logos, signage, and advertising and, like the bear on display, in three dimensions. At one time, there were many bears in a range of sizes. They have become rare. This is the only Gillette plaster bear the Chippewa Valley Museum has ever encountered.

The Gillette Safety Tire Company became U.S. Rubber, then Uniroyal, then Uniroyal-Goodrich. The tire factory was one of Eau Claire’s largest employers for 75 years but in 1992, the plant closed, a casualty of a changing tire industry.

Taking care of the bear

The bear came to the museum shortly after the Uniroyal-Goodrich closed. We placed it in a padded box with acid–free materials but did not attempt to fix it. Why not? Because it takes extensive training and knowledge to understand what materials will work best together and not harm an object in the long run. Short-term fixes can result in long-term damage. For example, tape will fix a small paper tear, but it will also stain the paper, dry out, and eventually make the paper more brittle. Choosing to do nothing prevented any further damage to the bear until it could receive conservation treatment.

The bear meets a conservator

In 2008, we brought the bear to the Midwest Art Conservation Center (MACC ) in Minneapolis, Minnesota for a treatment proposal. A conservator examined it. A conservator is an individual with extensive education and technical expertise in preserving cultural objects and artwork. Conservators have advanced training in art history, science, and studio art. To conserve something is to apply one or more physical treatments to an object to slow deterioration or repair damage.

The bear is made whole

The estimated cost for the project was $3,500. This exceeded the Chippewa Valley Museum’s normal budget to care for individual objects. We sought funding from a competitive federal grant program that gave institutions up to $3,000 to help preserve America’s treasures. The American Heritage Preservation grant program, administrated by the Institute of Museum and Library Services, gave the go ahead to have the bear treated. The bear spent several weeks in the MACC lab in the care of Donna Haberman, Senior Objects Conservator at MACC.