Material Type

Artifact

Other Name

BLACKIE'S LITTLE ONES' ANNUAL

Date Range From

1940

Date Range To

1945

Materials

PAPER

No. Pieces

1

Height

3.9

Length

24.7

Width

19.4

Description

FRONT COVER OF BOOK FEATURES AN ILLUSTRATION OF A LITTLE BOY AND GIRLS SITTING IN A FIELD OF FLOWERS. THE BOY IS PUTTING FLOWERS IN THE LITTLE GIRL'S HAT. THE SKY BEHIND THEM IS YELLOW. AT TOP OF FRONT COVER READS "BLACKIE'S LITTLE ONES' ANNUAL". SPINE OF BOOK IS WHITE AND READS "BLACKIE'S LITTLE ONES' ANNUAL". BACK COVER OF BOOK LISTS "BOOKS FOR CHILDREN". BOOK IS 168 PAGES OF DIFFERENT STORIES, BY DIFFERENT AUTHORS, WITH ILLUSTRATIONS. FIRST PAGE OF BOOK HAS "JOY N." PRINTED ON IT IN BLUE. SPINE IS TORN; BOOK IS WORN AT EDGES; PAGES ARE COMING LOOSE.

Subjects

TOY

Historical Association

LEISURE

History

THIS WAS ONE OF THE FEW BOOKS THAT WAS BROUGHT BY DONOR'S PARENTS TO SLOCAN CITY IN 1942, FROM VANCOUVER. DONOR SAYS SHE LOVED IT; SOME OF THE COLOURING AND PAINTING DONE INSIDE IS BY DONOR AND SOME BY HER BROTHER TIM. DONOR SENT IT TO THE MUSEUM BECAUSE IT WAS GETTING DAMAGED BY THE SUN SITTING IN HER BOOKSHELF. DONOR STATES THAT WHEN WRITING HER NAME INSIDE THE BOOK'S COVER SHE USED THE INITIAL N. INSTEAD OF HER FULL JAPANESE NAME, BECAUSE AT THE TIME SHE WOULD HAVE DONE ANYTHING TO BE WHITE. THE FOLLOWING IS A QUOTE FROM DONOR'S BROTHER TIM : "I THINK OUR PARENTS ASKED US WHAT WE WANTED TO TAKE WITH US. JOY AND I MUST HAVE CHOSEN THOSE PARTICULAR BOOKS. SUCH MATERIALS WERE SCARCE DURING OUR "CAMP" LIFE, AND IN THE IMMEDIATE POST-WAR YEARS WE SPENT IN COALDALE. I REMEMBER THE 3 TITLES YOU MENTION. OUR FATHER, THE REV. GORDON GOICHI NAKAYAMA, MUST HAVE PICKED UP THE USA BOOK IN ONE OF HIS TRAVELS AND INSCRIBED HIS NAME IN IT. THE OTHER BOOKS, ONE WITH JOY'S NAME, AND THE OTHER WITH MINE, WERE OUR TREASURES THAT WE LEAFED THROUGH REPEATEDLY AND ENJOYED IN THE LOG CABIN WHERE WE LIVED IN SLOCAN CITY." THE NAKAYAMA FAMILY WAS ORIGINALLY FROM VANCOUVER AND WERE INTERNED IN SLOCAN CITY DURING THE SECOND WORLD WAR. FOLLOWING THE WAR THE NAKAYAMA FAMILY MOVED TO COALDALE, ALBERTA. AT COALDALE DONOR'S FATHER, REVEREND NAKAYAMA, FOUNDED THE ANGLICAN CHURCH OF THE ASCENSION WHERE HE WAS RECTOR FROM 1945 TO 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: “THIS IS A VERY DEAR LITTLE BOOK… I LOVED THE PICTURES IN IT; LOVED THE HAPPINESS THAT WAS IN THEM… FULL OF LOVELY LITLE POEMS. A LOT OF HAPPY MEMORIES FOR ME LOOKING AT THIS BOOK, WHEN I WAS A LITTLE GIRL IN SLOCAN, AND TURNING THE PAGES CAREFULLY AND LOVING IT. I LOVED BOOKS AS A CHILD AND THIS WAS VERY PRECIOUS TO ME… WHEN WE MOVED AWAY FROM VANCOUVER AND I LONGED TO GO BACK, I WOULD THEN RE-ENTER INFANCY IN ORDER TO RECAPTURE IT, SO, FOR EXAMPLE, ON THE PIANO I WOULD PLAY ‘TWEEDLEDUM AND TWEEDLEDEE’, ALL THOSE THINGS THAT TOOK ME BACK TO INFANCY, TO VERY EARLY CHILDHOOD, JUST TO RELIVE IT. I CAN REMEMBER DOING THAT THROUGH HIGH SCHOOL, JUST TO GO BACK, AND LOVING THESE LITTLE BOOKS BECAUSE THEY TOOK ME BACK… THERE WERE PICTURES IN HERE OF… A SEAGULL AND THE BEACH, AND THAT WOULD TAKE ME BACK TO VANCOUVER AND THE BEACHES AND THE FISHING SHIPS, AND THE BASKET OF CHIPS, AND THE THINGS THAT I LOVED, AND ALL THAT HAPPINESS THAT WAS THERE WOULD BE IN HERE… [MY CONNECTION] WOULD HAVE BEEN [IN] THOSE PICTURES MORE THAN FOR THE WORDS... IT IS NOT GREAT LITERATURE.” SEE RECORD P19970041001 FOR EXPANDED BIOGRAPHICAL INFORMATION AND PERMANENT FILE FOR FURTHER HISTORY.

Catalogue Number

P20020086001

Acquisition Date

2003-07

Collection

Museum

Less detail