- Chatham-Kent Museum - Chatham
Purple velvet hat with silver embellishments
Accession Number: 991.21.4I chose this object from our collection because I find clothing, especially trends from throughout the 18th, 19th and 20th century, very intriguing. Further, how clothing can represent someone’s standing in society or their personality, culture, etc. is compelling. It is a way of communication that we use to express ourselves and we have done so for thousands of years. The way fashion changes is often in tandem with the cultural changes that occur in a society. This is important knowledge about the history of our country that young people should be educated about.This stylish hat from the 1920’s to 1930’s era was found in the attic of the McAlpine home in Dresden, Ontario before it was torn down in 1983. This hat was typical of something that women in the early 1900’s would wear in Canada. In the 19th century, women always wore hats while outdoors but by the 20th century hats were more of a fashion choice than a polite requirement. By the time this hat was worn, an uncovered head did not necessarily indicate a bad reputation or loose morals as it once would have. The deep purple velvet used for the hat once represented royalty and would have been very fashionable for the time period. The silver beading, in a leaf and flower pattern, is very intricate and may have been hand sewn. The expert craftsmanship that created this hat is a disappearing art, as most clothing today is sewn by machines and is not customized.This artifact is an example of how clothing, fashion, and trends can change very quickly over a small period of time. Even today, clothing that a woman wears expresses her personality or class. Women who did not wear hats while outside in the 19th century were considered less attractive to a potential mate. This hat, like clothing today, helped its wearer communicate about herself, her social standing, her tastes, and even her morals. It is imperative to teach young audiences that people from earlier time periods were not alien; they were very much like us today. Perhaps the way they did things and expressed themselves through fashion was a little different but the same underlying social principals still exist.
Fergie Jenkins Baseball Card
Accession Number- 988.32.13Dimensions- 8.9cm x 6.4cmI chose this artifact because, as a Canadian sports fan, no athlete set the stage for Canadian success on the biggest stages of sport more than Fergie Jenkins. As a multi-sport athlete from Chatham, Ontario, Jenkins was the first Canadian inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, New York. Since Jenkins, many Canadians have played and excelled in Major League Baseball. But they all have Fergie Jenkins to thank for blazing the trail.Jenkins is not only a testament to Canadian sport in general, but he is an example of the rich history of African-Canadian athletes. Born to a father who immigrated to Canada from Barbados and a mother who descended from slaves who escaped via the Underground Railroad, Jenkins overcame racial discrimination throughout his career to become one of the greatest pitchers in baseball history. Jenkins is one of the greatest athletes in Canada’s 150 year history and a living, breathing national treasure.With 284 career wins and 3,192 career strikeouts, Fergie Jenkins was a superstar. With a career that spanned 1965 to 1983, Jenkins brought unprecedented recognition for the game of baseball in Canada. Jenkins also excelled on the basketball court, playing for the world-renowned Harlem Globetrotters during the baseball offseason on multiple occasions. And all his accomplishments are memorialized in this Topps baseball card from 1983, which allowed young fans to sentimentalize over one of their favorite athletes and a true Canadian legend.Baseball cards have long been one of the marquee collectibles for young sports fans. A baseball card of Fergie Jenkins, in particular, is a monument to a man who achieved great things for the sporting culture of this country, and for the African-Canadian community. Former Chicago Cubs manager Leo Durocher said it best when he described Jenkins as “one of the best pitchers in baseball, ever.”
- The Canadian Clock Museum - Deep River
City of Hamilton Mantel Clock
This City of Hamilton model mantel clock was made 1880-1884 by the Canada Clock Company in Hamilton, Ontario (accession number 2014.05.01). It has a solid walnut case, hand-painted flowers on the central glass tablet, and cherubs in front of angled vertical mirrors at each side. The clock has a spring-driven, eight-day, time and strike, pendulum movement.Allan Symons is the Curator of The Canadian Clock Museum in Deep River, Ontario. This is one of the most attractive among twenty-five different models of mantel (and wall) clocks in the museum’s collection of clocks made in Hamilton, Ontario in the early 1880s. Other examples can be seen in the Galleries section of the museum’s web site at www.canclockmuseum.ca.The Canada Clock Company (Hamilton) was the third of three companies in Ontario over a twelve-year period starting in 1872 (in Whitby) that made their own clocks for the Canadian market. They struggled against fierce competition back then from eight successful American clock companies located in Connecticut.This beautiful mantel clock was 100% Canadian-made one hundred and thirty-five years ago when the country of Canada was just fifteen years old ! Of course, “beauty is in the eye of the beholder”.These three early companies, ending with the Canada Clock Company in Hamilton, Ontario in the early 1880s, set the stage for Canadian factories to make products in this country for the Canadian market. Later, starting in 1904 when Kitchener, Ontario was still called Berlin, and for almost forty years to 1941, The Arthur Pequegnat Clock Company produced dozens of models of mantel, wall, and hall clocks. Unfortunately, the same as for the three earlier clock companies, no production records are known.
- Homer Watson House and Gallery - Kitchener1.2 km
Homer Watson in the Main Gallery
This photo shows Watson in the Main Gallery. Did you know that Watson added the Main Gallery to the original house in 1906 to better display his art? The gallery was intended to show Watson’s works to the many patrons who visited his studio. Clerestory windows allow natural light to enter the gallery while providing as much wall space as possible to hang his paintings.
- Ken Seiling Waterloo Region Museum - Kitchener1.6 km
Ken Seiling Waterloo Region Museum - Video
Watch the Waterloo Region Museum video to hear from some of the many people involved in the design and construction of Ontario's largest community museum.
“Circa 75” Stereo Console, 1967
“Circa 75” Stereo Console, 1967Electrohome Limited, Deilcraft Division65 cm high x 91 cm diameter2007.031.059Electrohome Limited has a long history of innovation in the City of Kitchener. Arthur Pollock founded the company (1907) under the name ‘Pollock Manufacturing’ to manufacture phonographs. Renamed Dominion Electrohome Industries Limited in 1933, the firm manufactured small appliances, radios, and electric motors. In 1937, the furniture division ‘Deilcraft’ (from the first four letters of the company’s name) was introduced, manufacturing dining room and bedroom sets in addition to radio cabinets. It quickly grew to become one of Canada’s largest cabinet plants. This particular console is a combination radio-turntable-intercom-television-telephone prototype, called the “Circa 75”. For 1967, this unit was ahead of its time, although it ultimately did not go into production. Connected to a control chair, the console allowed the user to do everything: answer the door, order groceries via video phone, listen to music wired throughout the house, and speak via intercom. This console exemplifies innovation in technology, for which Waterloo Region is renowned. Remarkably, local inventors were at the forefront of technological advances that have inspired ones we know today, in Canada’s centennial year.
- Schneider Haus National Historic Site - Kitchener8.4 km
Coverlet, ca. 1879
Coverlet, ca. 1879Anonymous169 cm x 235 cm1994.012.015 This coverlet is from the Fred and Dora-Mae Blayney collection of 15 coverlets, which was certified in 1994 as nationally significant by the Canadian Cultural Property Export Review Board. It is quite different from the others in the Blayney collection and is not the work of any known Waterloo County weaver. It is all wool, rather than the more usual wool and cotton; relatively narrow (169 cm as opposed to 190.5 – 203 cm average); and the design elements do not match patterns used by local weavers. It is clearly Canadian, however, with beavers in the corners. The building in the central medallion - the Crystal Palace - was moved to the grounds of the Canadian National Exhibition for the first Toronto Industrial Exhibition of 1879. The building was altered in 1902, and burned down in 1906. This piece was likely made to mark the 1879 exposition, possibly with the intent to mass produce, and is the only example of this design found to date. This coverlet is a stunning example of an early national promotional piece. It would have been used to celebrate the diversity of products and innovations from across Canada that were available for viewing at the Canadian National Exhibition.
- McDougall Cottage Historic Site - Cambridge10.3 km
McDougall Cottage Historic Site, 1858
Hand-painted ceiling and frieze, 1906-1907 by Jack Baird The single-storey cottage at 89 Grand Avenue South, located in a heritage conservation area in the centre of Cambridge, is an excellent example of a worker’s mid-19th century coursed grey granite house. Its first occupant was John McDougall, an immigrant from Scotland, who was a carpenter at the Goldie and McCulloch Company (across the street) for 25 years before his retirement in 1876. Decorating the front room is a trompe l'oeil ceiling painting and frieze executed by Jack Baird for his brother James, the house’s second occupant. The paintings depict Jack’s travels in Canada, Scotland, and the Philippines. Local scenes include Soper Park (by Gore Insurance on Dundas Street). The gardens of McDougall Cottage reflect the Baird family’s passion for spring flowers and nostalgia for their Scottish homeland. A 1950s newspaper article recounts how James ordered primrose seed from England. He started the plants by the hundreds in flats on the rear sun porch, and then planted them among daffodils in the garden. Originally, the garden extended from the east side of the cottage to the Grand River, before flood-protecting berms were constructed following the devastating flood of 1974.
- City of Waterloo Museum - Waterloo14.2 km
Crown Royal
Regal Tradition: The Story of Crown Royal Like many communities across Ontario, the Joseph E. Seagram and Sons Distillery began in 1857 as a secondary business out of a local Waterloo grist mill. Many partners and owners later, the Seagram Distillery would become the largest distillery in the world, dominating the global market.Seagram’s premiere blended rye whisky, Crown Royal, with its purple bag packaging, is one of the most notable success stories in the history of the beverage alcohol industry. Created as a tribute to visiting royalty, it quickly established a new standard of excellence among Canadian whiskies and remains one of Seagram’s great sales stories.The tradition of Crown Royal began in 1939 with the first Royal Tour of Canada by reigning British monarchs, King George VI and Queen Elizabeth. To mark this historic occasion, Samuel Bronfman, President of the Seagram Distillery, decided to create a quality whisky to be packaged in a crown-shaped bottle and dressed in a royal purple bag. One hundred cases were produced that first year. Like the packaging, the name chosen for the product was intended to reflect the quality of the spirit, a marketing concept that quickly caught the consumer’s attention. Often referred to as the “Special occasion brand that makes any occasion special”, many Canadian adults and children have fond memories of the “little purple bag” and the treasures that could be stored inside. Keeping marbles, game pieces or Barbie accessories in a Crown Royal bag is so Canadian!A limited edition Crown Royal XR (Extra Rare) Heritage Blend, comprising of just four bottles was commissioned and one was presented to Queen Elizabeth II during her visit to the Kentucky Derby in 2007. The bottles were hand blown by Kentucky glass blower Casey Hyland, etched with 24K gold, and filled with some of the last whisky distilled in Waterloo. The City of Waterloo is privileged to have one of these exclusive bottles in our collection. The tradition continues; Crown Royal, even without the bag remains a top seller around the world.Object Information:Accession # 2013.36.1Object name: Crown Royal XR BlendDate: May 1, 2007, presented to Queen Elizabeth II at the Kentucky DerbyMaker: Whisky from the former Seagram Distillery, Waterloo ON, owned by Diageo USDimensions: 27.5cm h x 12 cm w x 5.8 cm d
- Guelph Museums - Guelph23.0 km
Jockstrap
Guelph claims many firsts but this is one of our most important inventions, not only for Guelph but for athletes around the world.Joseph Cartledge started the Guelph Elastic Hosiery Company in 1922, making knit sports stockings and garments. Cartledge worked with a doctor to create an athletic support garment for men and he patented his design.A contest was held in the 1920s to name the athletic support and Jockstrap was the winning name. The winner was awarded five dollars– a big prize in the 1920s. Guelph Elastic Hosiery held the patent for the Jockstrap until 1956 and the company continued to make jockstraps and other protective devices until 2006.Object Information:Object ID: 2014.65.2.3Object Name: Jockstrap, Manual and BoxDimensions: 33 cm L x 29.5 cm W (jockstrap)Kathleen Wall, Curatorial Coordinator, Guelph Museums