What is it?

I was at the Daughters of Utah Pioneers museum the other day (where they don't allow photos) and saw this curious object. What is it? Its not the broom made of corn straw. And I'm not talking about the little rolling pin. I'm talking about the assemblege of willow sticks, made by Ole Anderson in early Pleasant Grove days. What would possess a person to preserve such an artifact made of willow sticks for more than a hundred years?