Recycling

Once upon a time a Swedish girl went with her father-in-law to a concert in Vancouver. He had been so kind as to purchase the tickets for said show as a birthday present for her, just because he had heard that she loved to play the fiddle. Completely disinterested in fiddle music himself, he none the less ever so kindly engaged in a conversation with her about fiddles and confessed to her that he had a "piece of junk" under his bead in the apartment, something that came from some great grandparent. The Swedish girl, who, despite the blonde hair, is not as dumb as she looks, put two and two together along the lines of "great grandparent when there is Norwegian in the family + fiddle = possible Hardanger fiddle". Several hours later, after the concert and a drive to White Rock plus elevator ride up to dad's apartment, she was able to confirm that yes, it was an 8 string Hardanger, complete with carved dragon head, scrimshaw decoration all over, except for the parts that were inlaid with mother-of-pearl. I'm just telling you that story because again I want you to realize that what may seem to be junk to you, may not be junk to me. To that end, I'm also re-posting something from British Columbia Historical Federation's Newsletter (ISSN print 1710-1433), just because it's such a god article and because it most definitively applies to the MSA Museum. Pretty please with a cherry on top read this and think hard about what you may have in your closet (or, as it were, under your bed)! Other BCHF newsletters and such can be found at their web site, http://www.bchistory.ca/.

It’s time to share those hidden treasures

Every closet has a box, every basement has a trunk, every

garage has a container and many contain bits of history in

photographs, collectibles, invoices, programs, etc. This is a good

time to relax and reminisce and to share some of this history with

your local museum or archives.

Many of the local museums and archives were established in the

1950's - 1960's and often have periods of time with little history,

pictures, etc. One of our new Associate members was sharing

with me her childhood when she lived in Richmond and

mentioned her grandparents operated a general store. In

checking with the Archives, they advised they had nothing on the

general store. Our new member is sharing pictures, bits of history

and memories with the archives. Another BCHFmember is a garage

sale addict and recently arranged a donation from an owner of five

1914 leather bound volumes of BRITISH COLUMBIA FROM THE

EARLIEST TIMES TO THE PRESENT by Scholefield and Howay

PLUS three BIOGRAPHICAL volumes of this series. We are

Presently researching them for information for articles, etc. and will

be donating them to libraries for research purposes.

I came across three boxes of service club memorabilia - I was a

Charter Member of the Richmond Kinsmen Club in 1959. The

boxes contain the Charter Group photograph, pictures of events,

parades, etc. that are now 40 to 50 years old! The Richmond

Archives advised they have nothing on the Richmond Kinsmen

Club and were thrilled that this missing part of Richmond’s history

will soon be filled.

When you look at your old photographs of buildings, events,

parades, etc. they could be of great interest to your local museum

or archives, so talk to them about it. Old street pictures from the

1920's or 1930's often show merchants’ store signs, invoices from

local businesses no longer operating are local history. If you wish

to keep the originals, the Museum/Archives can take copies that

are often better than the originals and you can retain the originals.

When checking through your boxes of forgotten memories, share

with us any unexpected item or special parts of history you have

shared with your local museum or archives.

In the Chinese Zodiac, this is the year of the Rabbit, so this is a

good time to HOP TO IT and start checking out your closet, attic,

basement, etc.

Ron Hyde, Editor

I'm not going to post anything...

Well, OK, so I lies, but only almost... I am posting, but it's nothing to do with collections management or history (I'll do that later, right now, this is more urgent). It's to do with social commentary.

We are, as you know, located in Abbotsford, and I hear a lot of my fellow British Columbians complaining right now. We're tired of the gray weather, cannot wait for summer, draaaaagging ourselves to work, fighting colds and the flu...we're feeling pretty hard done by right now. Many of us are dealing with illnesses that you can't really "see on the outside", and are met with the same "but you don't look sick" comments on a regular basis. I am one of those people, so I am very aware of how frustrating this can be, and how even diseases that are "invisible" to other people can be completely debilitating and exhausting. Some of us are single parents dealing with all that that entails, right from permanent sleep deprivation to permanently empty bank accounts, and some are "just" working poor despite bending over backwards... There are all sorts of reasons why we are just plain old fed up right now. So here is the official "suck it up, Buttercup" video. If you complain after this...well, at least I tried.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gc4HGQHgeFE&feature=related

We’re having a fashion show!

As you probably know by now (if you’ve followed my incessant ramblings about Trethewey House), Trethewey House was completed in 1920. In its heyday, the Abbotsford Lumber and Mining Company was the third largest employer in the province. Comparatively speaking, that puts Mr. Trethewey on the map as wealthy, and that affluence shows in the house. The plans for the house were bought from the Sears and Roebuck Catalogue, but as a difference to most folks who bought homes from the catalogue, Mr. Trethewey only purchased the plans, not the whole kit. He used locally produced materials in the house, such as brick from Clayburn, and, of course, lumber and shingles from his own mill, to construct this beautiful Arts and Crafts style bungalow than now sits at the heart of Abbotsford.

The style in which the house is built is emblematic for its era. So often when people want to hear about the Trethewey family and their home, they assume that we’re speaking about a time that lies farther back in history. Although it is true that our first pioneers came here at a time when “Little House on the Prairie” style clothing would have been worn, and that the Trethewey brothers came here just after the turn of the century, this house was built by Mr. Trethewey in 1920 for his third wife, Reta, and their son Joey. Reta was nothing like Laura Ingalls Wilder. Reta was a 1920’s flapper! So, on Wednesday, April 23rd at 6 PM, the MSA Museum Society is proud to present a fashion show of vintage 1920’s clothing in concert with fashions for today’s modern woman. Ivan Sayers is a fashion historian who specializes in the study of women’s, men’s, and children’s fashions, from 1650 to the present. Sayers has one of the largest and most comprehensive collections of historic clothing in private hands across Canada, and on April 23rd he will be bringing some of his 1920’s collection to The Old Spaghetti Factory on Sumas Way for a fashion show unlike no other. Be prepared to be wowed!

The 1920’s style was new and dazzling, a break with previous tradition that embraced all things modern. It was the result of many socioeconomic changes. Fashion was no longer just for the rich, as it was quite simply easier to sew a flapper shift than to piece together the earlier styles that had used up yards and yards of expensive fabrics, lace, buttons and other decorations (in archaeology we call that ostentatious wealth). In the 20’s, those who were very rich could still show it by using very expensive materials, such as silk, but the not-so-rich could still afford the style by using the same pattern but cheaper fabrics. This negated some of the social differences that had been more obvious before. That, in turn, was a societal change that was the result of, among other things, WWI.

Flapper style didn’t actually truly begin until the mid-1920’s. It was only really between the years 1926 and 1928 that, with the Charleston craze, the evening dress hemlines actually rose up to be in line with day dress lengths. That is the true Flapper style! It entailed ridding yourself of corsets and boning and donning shorter than before shapeless shift dresses, a new style of make-up and short, sleek hairstyles.

So what about the great metropolis of Abbotsford in the 1920’s? For that, I will cite Mrs Margaret Weir in One Woman’s Words, published by MSA Museum Society:

“There were a couple of barber shops for men and in Mr. Hunt’s shop on the south side of Essendene. There was also his pool room. These daring women went in to the pool room, climbed into the chair only men used before this daring advent, and had their hair “shingled”. We were free of hair that had to be “done up,” but permanents hadn’t come into being and wouldn’t be in Abbotsford until 1930, so there we were with “bobs,” all looking alike.”