CLOTH

Description: RECTANGULAR WHITE COTTON CLOTH WITH GREEN AND PINK FLORAL DESIGN EMBROIDERED IN TOP LEFT CORNER. ONE PINK FOUR PETAL FLOUR IS EMBROIDERED IN TOP RIGHT CORNER.

History: CLOTH WAS A HOUSEHOLD ITEM IN DONOR'S FAMILY. POSSIBLY MADE AT SLOCAN CITY OR SHORTLY AFTER. MATERIAL IS A RE-USED FLOUR SACK. THE NAKAYAMA FAMILY WAS ORIGINALLY FROM VANCOUVER BUT MOVED TO COALDALE FOLLOWING THE SECOND WORLD WAR WHEN THEY WERE INTERNED AT SLOCAN CITY IN THE INTERIOR OF BRITISH COLUMBIA BY THE CANADIAN GOVERNMENT. THE DONOR'S FATHER, REV. CANON G.G. NAKAYAMA, WAS AN ANGLICAN MINISTER IN VANCOUVER, AND THEN ESTABLISHED THE CHURCH OF THE ASCENSION IN COALDALE IN 1945 WHERE HE SERVED UNTIL 1970. FROM AUGUST 29 TO 31, 2011 COLLECTIONS TECHNICIAN KEVIN MACLEAN INTERVIEWED THE DONOR, JOY KOGAWA, ABOUT HER MEMORIES ASSOCIATED WITH SPECIFIC OBJECTS THAT SHE DONATED IN 1997. OF THIS ARTIFACT, KOGAWA SAID: “IT’S A REUSED FLOUR SACK… IT COULD HAVE BEEN [USED] FOR WIPING THINGS… THIS ONE’S [EMBROIDERY IS] QUITE PRETTY, BUT IT’S NOT THAT ELABORATE, IT’S QUITE SIMPLE… [MY MOTHER] PROBABLY DID THAT [NEEDLEWORK]… ALL GIRLS IN JAPAN WOULD HAVE DONE SEWING AND SHE DID HER SHARE. AND SHE TRIED TO GET ME TO LEARN TO SEW AND I TOOK HOME EC., BUT THEN THERE WAS THIS WOMAN IN COALDALE AND [MY MOTHER] HAD ME TAKE LESSONS ON SEWING. I NEVER TOOK TO IT… I NEVER LIKED DOING IT… I NEVER RECEIVED THE SENSE THAT THESE KINDS OF CRAFT THINGS WERE WORTH DOING, THEY FELT LIKE A WASTE OF TIME TO ME.” SEE RECORD P19970041001 FOR EXPANDED BIOGRAPHICAL INFORMATION AND PERMANENT FILE FOR FURTHER HISTORY.