Silver, sliding-temple eyeglasses with a small metal storage case. The glasses belonged to Robert Simerwell, a Baptist minister, educator, and blacksmith. Simerwell and his wife, Fannie, began working as missionaries to the Pottawatomie in Michigan in the 1820s. They continued their work with the tribe after they moved to the area that would become Kansas in 1834, eventually retiring from the Pottawatomie Baptist Mission located near Topeka in 1854. The eyeglasses were made by Charles Maysenhoelder, a silversmith in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

Creator: Maysenhoelder, Charles
Date: between 1810 and 1825