Material Type

Artifact

Date Range From

1940

Date Range To

1950

Materials

WOOD, CANVAS, LEATHER

No. Pieces

4

Height

21.1

Length

46.5

Width

39.5

Description

1. CASE. ABOVE DIMENSIONS. MADE OF WOOD. CASE IS CURVED NEAR FRONT TO MOLD TO ACCORDION. EXTERIOR IS COVERED IN SNAKESKIN PATTERNED PAPER. FRONT HAS WOOD HANDLE AND STEEL LOCKING MECHANISM. LID OPENS ON TWO HINGES AT BACK. INSIDE IS LINED WITH LIGHT GREEN PAPER. TWO STAMPS INSIDE LID READ "CANADA CENSORED INT. OP. 47", ALONG WITH THE IMAGE OF A CROWN. OUTER COVERING AND INNER LINING ARE WORN AND MISSING IN MANY AREAS, AS WELL AS EXHIBITING TEARS AND WATER DAMAGE. SIDES OF CASE ARE SEPARATING FROM BOTTOM. 2. ACCORDION. MADE FROM WOOD WITH GLOSSY, BLACK ENAMEL FINISH. BELLOWS ARE MADE FROM STEEL WIRE FRAME WITH CANVAS STRETCHED BETWEEN THEM AND BLUE PAPER COVERING EDGES. ON TOP OF ACCORDION, AT BACK, ARE 4 ROWS OF 8 ROUND, BLACK KEYS. ALSO ON TOP OF ACCORDION, NEAR FRONT, IN IVORY COLOR, IS "MAGISTE". KEYBOARD CONSISTS OF 15 IVORY COLOURED KEYS AND 10 BLACK (ALSO MADE FROM WOOD). THERE IS A LONG BROWN LEATHER STRAP ATTACHED TO SIDES NEAR KEYBOARD. ALSO A TIGHTER BROWN LEATHER STRAP ACROSS BACK OF ACCORDION, AS WELL AS TWO SHORT STRAPS ATTACHED AT SIDES NEAR BACK. BACK OF ACCORDION IS MADE OF NATURAL COLOURED WOOD. A WEAVE OF THIN FIBERS IS VISIBLE THROUGH SLOTS AT FRONT AND BACK OF ACCORDION (MANY FIBERS BROKEN). THERE IS SOME WEAR OF BLUE PAPER EDGING ON BELLOWS AND LEATHER STRAPS. THERE IS A LARGE PIECE OF ENAMEL MISSING DIRECTLY IN FRONT OF KEYBOARD; REST OF ENAMEL IS CRACKING IN SAME AREA. *UPDATE* AS OF 2011 INVENTORY, NUMBER OF PIECES WAS INCREASED FROM 2 TO 4. TWO BROWN LEATHER SHOULDER STRAPS ARE DETACHED FROM THE ACCORDION.

Subjects

MUSICAL T&E

Historical Association

MILITARY

LEISURE

History

ACQUIRED BY LAWRENCE COOK, HUSBAND OF EDITH EVANS, THE DONOR, WHEN COOK WAS A CHILD. ACCORDING TO EVANS, THE ACCORDION WAS ACQUIRED BY WALTER A. COOK, LAWRENCE'S FATHER, AND WAS SAID TO HAVE COME FROM THE PRISONER OF WAR CAMP 133. LAWRENCE COOK WAS BORN IN 1934 AND IS BELIEVED TO HAVE GROWN UP FOR A TIME ON LETHBRIDGE'S NORTH SIDE, PRIOR TO MOVING TO 523 27TH STREET SOUTH. EVANS BELIEVES THAT HER HUSBAND TOOK ACCORDION LESSONS AS A CHILD. WALTER AND LAWRENCE WERE BOTH LOCAL POSTMASTERS. LAWRENCE PASSED AWAY IN JUNE 1975 AND WALTER IN 1967. EVANS CLAIMS THAT THE STORY SURROUNDING THE ACCORDION INCLUDES THE ASSERTION THAT IT WAS MADE BY A POW INTERNEE. IN OCTOBER 2007, FRANK HOSEK, THE ORIGINAL CONDUCTOR OF THE LETHBRIDGE A.C.T. JUNIOR BAND, WAS CONTACTED TO CLARIFY QUESTIONS REGARDING TWO OTHER INSTRUMENTS IN THE GALT COLLECTIONS THAT WERE SAID TO HAVE USED BEEN BY THE A.C.T. BAND AND INMATES IN POW CAMP 133 BY THEIR DONOR, BOB FINDLAY (P19900049001 AND P19900049002). HOSEK STATED THAT THE INSTRUMENTS WERE GIVEN TO THE ASSOCIATION OF CANADIAN TRAVELERS (A.C.T.) BY FEDERAL AUTHORITIES PRIOR TO CAMP 133'S DISMANTLEMENT AND DEMOLITION. HOSEK RECALLED THAT THE INSTRUMENTS WERE LEFT BEHIND AT THE CAMP WHEN ITS INTERNEES WERE REPATRIATED BACK TO GERMANY. HOSEK STATED THAT THE CAMP INSTRUMENTS WERE ORIGINALLY PROVIDED FOR THE PRISONERS BY THE INTERNATIONAL RED CROSS. WHEN ASKED ABOUT HIS KNOWLEDGE OF CAMP 133 ACCORDIONS, HOSEK WAS NOT ABLE TO CONFIRM THAT HE REMEMBERED THIS PARTICULAR ACCORDION AS HAVING BEEN PART OF THE INSTRUMENTS RECOVERED FROM THE CAMP, SAYING ONLY: "I HAD FOR A TIME A LARGE CLASS OF ACCORDION STUDENTS. THIS PARTICULAR INSTRUMENT YOU REFER TO MAY HAVE BEEN MIXED UP WITH ALL THE INSTRUMENTS.” SEE RECORD P19900049001 FOR MORE INFORMATION ABOUT THE A.C.T. BAND AND ITS USE OF CAMP INTERNEE MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS. SEE PERMANENT FILE FOR HARDCOPIES OF LAWRENCE COOK'S OBITUARY AND MEMORIAM OF WALTER COOK. *UPDATE* IN 2014 COLLECTIONS ASSISTANT JANE EDMUNDSON DEVELOPED THE FOLLOWING BRIEF HISTORY OF PRISONER OF WAR CAMP 133 WITH INFORMATION FROM THE GALT MUSEUM BROCHURE "LETHBRDGE'S INTERNMENT CAMPS" AND THE LIBRARY AND ARCHIVES CANADA WEBSITE. DURING WORLD WAR II THERE WERE 40 PRISONER OF WAR (P.O.W.) CAMPS CONSTRUCTED ACROSS CANADA TO HOUSE THE LARGE NUMBER OF INCOMING POWS - ENEMY MILITARY PERSONNEL THAT WERE CAPTURED IN COMBAT. CAMPS WERE BUILT IN ONTARIO, QUEBEC, THE MARITIMES AND ALBERTA. THE CAMPS IN LETHBRIDGE AND MEDICINE HAT WERE THE LARGEST, TOGETHER HOUSING 22,000 MEN. THE LETHBRIDGE CAMP, NO. 133, WAS BUILT IN THE SUMMER OF 1942, AND BY NOVEMBER OF THAT YEAR HOUSED 13,341 PRISONERS. THE CAMP WAS DIVIDED INTO SIX SECTIONS, EACH WITH SIX DORMITORIES, MESS HALLS, KITCHENS, AND ENTERTAINMENT FACILITIES. MEALS WERE IN SHIFTS WITH PRISONERS SERVING AS COOKS. TAILOR, BARBER AND SHOE REPAIR SHOPS WERE ALSO STAFFED BY PRISONERS, AND NON-COMBAT POWS PRACTICED THEIR PRE-WAR PROFESSIONS AS MEDICAL DOCTORS AND DENTISTS. HOUSING AND RATIONS WERE THE SAME STANDARD AS FOR THE CANADIAN ARMED FORCES, WHICH SOMETIMES CAUSED RESENTMENT AMONG LETHBRIDGE CIVILIAN RESIDENTS, WHO WERE UNABLE TO OBTAIN MANY OF THE SAME SUPPLIES ON THEIR STRICT WARTIME RATION ALLOWANCES. WITH MANY YOUNG LOCAL MEN AWAY AT WAR, LOCAL FARMERS BEGAN TO REQUEST LABOUR ASSISTANCE FROM THE CAMP, ESPECIALLY FOR THE SUGAR BEET INDUSTRY. BY 1943 AN AGREEMENT WAS REACHED AND SOME OF THE PRISONERS WORKED ON FARMS THROUGHOUT SOUTHERN ALBERTA. MOST OF THESE PRISONERS WENT FROM THE CAMP TO THE FARMS DAILY, BUT SOME WERE KEPT AT 'LODGES' AT THE MORE DISTANT FARMS FOR DAYS AT A TIME, WITH MINIMAL GUARDING. FOR THEIR LABOUR, THE PRISONERS WERE PAID 50 CENTS PER DAY. WITH WAR'S END, CAMP 133 CLOSED IN DECEMBER 1946 AND ITS PRISONERS WERE SENT BACK TO GERMANY. THE AREA WHERE THE CAMP STOOD EVENTUALLY BECAME AN INDUSTRIAL PARK AND PART OF THE FEDERAL AGRICULTURAL RESEARCH CENTRE.

Catalogue Number

P20030056000

Acquisition Date

2004-03

Collection

Museum

Less detail