Material Type

Artifact

Date Range From

1950

Date Range To

2001

Materials

COTTON, POLYESTER

No. Pieces

1

Length

68.1

Width

51

Description

HAIRDRESSER APRON IN YELLOW, PINK, BLUE, AND WHITE PAISLEY PATTERN; APRON IS MACHINE-STITCHED WITH OPEN BACK, PALE YELLOW TIE STRAPS AT THE TOP OF THE NECK, AND TWO LONG TIE STRAPS AT THE WAIST. FRONT OF THE APRON HAS TWO WIDE, DEEP POCKETS THAT MEET IN THE MIDDLE AND ARE STITCHED TOGETHER. APRON HAS PALE YELLOW TRIM AT NECKLINE, AROUND THE ARM-HOLES, AND AT TOPS OF THE POCKETS. APRON HAS MINOR THREAD FRAYING INSIDE AND AT BOTTOM HEM; TIE STRAPS HAVE MINOR THREAD FRAYING AT ENDS; OVERALL VERY GOOD CONDITION.

Subjects

CLOTHING-OUTERWEAR

Historical Association

PROFESSIONS

History

ON JUNE 5, 2019, COLLECTIONS TECHNICIAN KEVIN MACLEAN INTERVIEWED CAROL DARMODY REGARDING HER DONATION OF OBJECTS RELATED TO HER PARENTS, IRENE (NEE NAGY) AND JOHN FROUWS. ON HER MOTHER’S HAIRDRESSING, DARMODY RECALLED, “SHE TOOK THE HAIRDRESSING COURSE, I THINK IT WAS 1937, IN CALGARY, AND SHE REALLY LOVED HAIRDRESSING. SHE DID VOLUNTEER HAIRDRESSING FOR YEARS AT EDITH CAVELL, EVEN LATER IN LIFE. SHE TOOK IT VERY SERIOUSLY, AND LOVED DOING IT. SHE DID [HAIR FOR] NEIGHBOURS, FRIENDS, RELATIVES, BOYFRIENDS, GIRLFRIENDS, DAD…IT WAS ALWAYS A BIG PART OF HER LIFE…NOT REALLY FOR MONEY, JUST THE BARTERING THING, LIKE MAYBE SOMEONE WOULD MAKE HER COOKIES...” “[MOM] DIDN’T DO IT EVERY DAY, BECAUSE [HER AND MY DAD] WERE BUSY—AND THEY WOULD BABYSIT. [MY PARENTS] NEVER HAD GRANDKIDS, SO THEY BABYSAT ALL THE NEIGHBORHOOD KIDS ON NORMANDY…IT WASN’T LIKE A COMMERCIAL OPERATION…AN AUNT WOULD PHONE, ‘I NEED MY HAIR CUT.’ ‘COME ON OVER.’ OR, SHE WOULD GO OVER THERE. AND, MY MOM ALWAYS DROVE, SO SHE WOULD GET AROUND.” “[DURING THE WAR, MOM WAS] HAIRDRESSING, AND WORKING FOR TCA, PREPARING FOOD FOR THE PILOTS.” “IT WOULDN’T BE A LOT [OF MONEY THAT SHE MADE]…BECAUSE PEOPLE WOULDN’T BE SPLURGING TO HAVE THEIR HAIR DONE [DURING THE 1930S AND 1940S]…MOM DOES REMEMBER DOING THE MADAME’S [HAIR]…I DON’T KNOW THE ONE…[THAT WAS WHEN] PROSTITUTES AND MADAMES WERE ALLOWED TO SHOP IN LETHBRIDGE [THERE WAS CONSIDERABLE DISCRIMINATION TOWARD PROSTITUTES AT THE TIME. FOR A TIME, PROSTITUTES WERE ALLOWED TO SHOP IN LETHBRIDGE ONLY ONE DAY PER WEEK], BUT SHE DID HAVE A MADAME FOR SURE…MOM CONSIDERED HERSELF A GOOD HAIRDRESSER. MY FRIENDS MIGHT DISAGREE, BUT…SHE DID HAVE A FEW INTERESTING CLIENTS, FOR SURE, WHEN SHE STARTED…[IN THE] LATE ‘30S, DURING THE WAR…IT SHOULD BE NOTED WITH THE PASSAGE OF TIME, MOM DIDN’T KEEP UP WITH THE LATEST HAIR STYLES. WHEN I BECAME A YOUNG ADULT, I OFTEN REFUSED TO LET HER CUT OR STYLE MY HAIR.” ON WHERE HER MOTHER DID HAIR, DARMODY SHARED, “I CAN’T REMEMBER HOW THAT WORKED…THERE IS NO PICTURE OF MOM IN A SHOP, SO I’M NOT SURE. THERE WOULD HAVE BEEN HAIRDRESSING PLACES…THE MADAME MIGHT HAVE COME TO THE HOUSE. MOM WOULD HAVE HAD AN APARTMENT.” DARMODY ELABORATED ON HER MOTHER’S PASSION FOR HAIRDRESSING, NOTING, “SHE NEVER STOPPED [DOING HAIR]. WELL, WHEN SHE GOT ALZHEIMER’S, IT WOULD HAVE BEEN DANGEROUS FOR HER TO HAVE SCISSORS, SO SHE PROBABLY STOPPED LATE…CLOSE TO 2000…SHE LOVED IT…EVEN JUST TO CUT DAD’S HAIR, AND THE ODD NEIGHBOR’S HAIR. SHE USED A RULER [TO MEASURE THE LENGTH TO BE CUT] WITH MINE. I DON’T THINK I LET HER [CUT MY HAIR WHEN I BECAME AN ADULT]…IN THE EARLY ‘90S, SHE WOULD HAVE BEEN VOLUNTEERING A LOT AT EDITH CAVELL, AND IT’S KIND OF IRONIC, BECAUSE IT BOTHERED HER, GOING TO THE NURSING HOME, BECAUSE SHE KNEW ALL THESE PEOPLE [SHE OFTEN WOULD BE UPSET TO SEE PEOPLE SHE KNEW FROM THE PAST SUFFERING FROM ALZHEIMER’S DISEASE AND NEGLECT]…SHE WOULD MAKE THEM FEEL HAPPY [BY DOING THEIR HAIR]…IT WAS FREE…SHE DIDN’T DO IT FOR MONEY. THEN, SHE ENDS UP IN A SIMILAR SITUATION [BEING PLACE IN CARE FACILITY IN 2001, BECAUSE SHE HAD ALZHEIMER’S], BUT DAD DEALT WITH HER HAIR. HE WOULD JUST CUT IT STRAIGHT, BUT IT SUITED HER.” “SHE WAS A BIT MORE EXTROVERTED THAN DAD, AND JUST THAT CLOSE CONTACT WITH PEOPLE, AND MAKING SOMEONE FEEL HAPPY, WHOEVER THAT PERSON WAS. AND, IF THAT PERSON DIDN’T HAVE MONEY, IT DIDN’T MATTER – JUST MAKING THEM FEEL BETTER.” FOR MORE INFORMATION INCLUDING THE FULL INTERVIEW TRANSCRIPTION AND COPIES OF THE LETHBRIDGE HERALD ARTICLES, PLEASE SEE THE PERMANENT FILE P20190010001-GA.

Catalogue Number

P20190010009

Acquisition Date

2019-06

Collection

Museum

Less detail