Material Type

Artifact

Other Name

MINIATURE, “BOOK OF COMMON PRAYER”

Date Range From

1900

Date Range To

1910

Materials

PAPER, LEATHER

No. Pieces

1

Height

3

Length

6.25

Width

4

Description

MINIATURE BOOK BOUND IN GREEN LEATHER. TEXT AND DIAMOND SHAPE EMBOSSED IN GOLD ON COVER AND SPINE READS “COMMON PRAYER”. INNER FRONT PAGE HAS HANDWRITTEN TEXT READING “ETTA HENDERSON, APRIL 7/” WITH THE YEAR WORN AWAY. TITLE PAGE READS “THE BOOK OF COMMON PRAYER AND ADMINISTRATION OF THE SACRAMENTS AND OTHER RITES AND CEREMONIES OF THE CHURCH ACCORDING TO THE USE OF THE CHURCH OF ENGLAND TOGETHER WITH THE PSALTER OR PSALMS OF DAVID POINTED AS THEY ARE TO BE SUNG OR SAID IN CHURCHES… OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS WAREHOUSE”. WEAR AND STAINING ON COVER; GENERAL WEAR AND DOG-EARING ON PAGES. GOOD CONDITION OVERALL.

Subjects

DOCUMENTARY ARTIFACT

CEREMONIAL ARTIFACT

Historical Association

RELIGION

History

THE FOLLOWING BRIEF HISTORY OF THE HENDERSON FAMILY AND ETTA HENDERSON IVES, THE ORIGINAL OWNER OF THIS BOOK, WAS DEVELOPED WITH INFORMATION FROM THE BOOK ‘PIONEER PEMMICAN CLUB ROUND-UP, 1885 – 1985’ BY A.P. BAINES, AND THE GALT ARCHIVES. WILLIAM HENDERSON CAME TO CANADA FROM EDINBURGH, SCOTLAND IN 1879, WHEN HE WAS 22. A CARPENTER BY TRADE, HENDERSON MADE HIS WAY WESTWARD, BUILDING THE FIRST HOUSE IN MEDICINE HAT IN 1881, THE BARRACKS OF THE NORTH-WEST MOUNTED POLICE AND THE HUDSON BAY COMPANY STORE IN FORT MACLEOD, AND SETTLING IN LETHBRIDGE IN 1885 WHERE HE WORKED FOR THE NORTH WEST COAL & NAVIGATION COMPANY. HE WORKED ON THE CONSTRUCTION OF LETHBRIDGE’S FIRST SCHOOL, THE COMPANY HOSPITAL AND COTTAGES, AND LETHBRIDGE HOUSE (LATER KNOWN AS THE LETHBRIDGE HOTEL), WHERE HE REMAINED AS PROPRIETOR. IN 1887 HE MARRIED MARGARET THOMPSON LUNDY, A SCOTTISH WOMAN WHO HAD PREVIOUSLY BEEN WIDOWED IN DUNMORE, NWT. THE CEREMONY TOOK PLACE AT THE HOME OF WILLIAM STAFFORD AND WAS PERFORMED BY REVEREND CHARLES MCKILLOP. HENDERSON WAS VERY ACTIVE IN THE GROWING COMMUNITY OF LETHBRIDGE – HE WAS A MEMBER OF THE FIRST TOWN COUNCIL, THE MASONS AND ODDFELLOWS, A FOUNDER OF THE PEMMICAN CLUB, AND MEMBER OF KNOX PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH. IN 1897 HE BUILT A BRICK DUPLEX AT THE CORNER OF 7 AVE AND 5 ST SOUTH AND THOUGH THE STRUCTURE HAS UNDERGONE RENOVATIONS, IT STILL STANDS IN 2014. WILLIAM AND MARGARET HAD SIX CHILDREN – HAROLD, ETTA, EDNA, WILLIAM, ADELINE AND FRED. ALL SIX RECEIVED THEIR EARLY EDUCATION IN LETHBRIDGE, BUT WERE LATER SENT TO BOARDING SCHOOLS – THE BOYS TO UPPER CANADA COLLEGE IN TORONTO, THE GIRLS TO HAVERGAL COLLEGE IN WINNIPEG. IN 1908 HENDERSON SR. WAS ELECTED MAYOR OF LETHBRIDGE, BUT DIED OF PNEUMONIA IN DECEMBER 1909 WHILE STILL IN OFFICE. HIS THREE SONS ALL SERVED IN WORLD WAR I, AND HAROLD WAS KILLED IN ACTION IN 1917. THE REMAINING SONS AND DAUGHTERS WERE ALL MARRIED AND RAISED FAMILIES. ETTA MARRIED LOCAL FARMER ALBERT ELI IVES, AND HAD THREE CHILDREN, MARGARET, KATHARINE, AND THADDEUS. ADELINE MARRIED JACK KANE AND LIVED IN BARONS. EDNA OBTAINED HER NURSING DEGREE AT QUEEN’S UNIVERSITY, MARRIED DR. ATKINSON, AND SETTLED IN MASSACHUSETTS. MARGARET HENDERSON SR. LIVED IN THE FAMILY HOME BUILT BY HER HUSBAND FOR NEARLY 30 YEARS AFTER HIS DEATH, AND WAS ACTIVE IN THE PEMMICAN CLUB AND I.O.D.E. UNTIL HER DEATH IN 1933. GIVEN THAT THIS MINIATURE BOOK IS SIGNED “ETTA HENDERSON” ON THE FIRST PAGE, IT WAS LIKELY USED BY ETTA PRIOR TO HER MARRIAGE, DURING HER CHILDHOOD. THE FOLLOWING INFORMATION ABOUT THE POPULARITY OF MINIATURE BOOKS WAS EXTRACTED FROM AN ARTICLE ON ABEBOOKS.COM (SEE PERMANENT FILE FOR HARDCOPY): “MINIATURE BOOKS, USUALLY PRAYER BOOKS, APPEARED IN EUROPE DURING THE MIDDLE AGES. THEY WERE TINY IN ORDER TO BE EASILY CARRIED AND ALSO SO THEY COULD BE CONCEALED FROM PRYING EYES… BY THE 19TH CENTURY, BOOKS IN GENERAL HAD BECOME MORE AFFORDABLE AND MINIATURE BOOKS REALLY CAME INTO VOGUE. AS WITH EARLIER ERAS, THEY WERE PRIZED BECAUSE THEY WERE PORTABLE… DURING THE 19TH AND 20TH CENTURIES, BOOKS FROM ALMOST EVERY GENRE WERE AVAILABLE AS MINIATURES, INCLUDING CLASSIC FICTION, DICTIONARIES, BIBLES, PRAYER BOOKS, AND OTHER NON-FICTION WORKS LIKE FISHING GUIDES WHERE THE USER WAS OUT AND ABOUT. PUBLISHERS ALSO BEGAN PRODUCING MINIATURE LIBRARIES FOR CHILDREN, SPECIALLY DESIGNING THE BOOKS TO BE MORE COMFORTABLY HELD IN SMALL HANDS… AS PRINTING AND BINDING TECHNIQUES IMPROVED, BOOK MAKERS DISPLAYED THEIR SKILLS BY CREATING EVEN SMALLER BOOKS WITH INCREASINGLY INTRICATE AND BEAUTIFUL BINDINGS.” ETTA HENDERSON IVES PASSED AWAY IN 1979, AND THE PRAYER BOOK WAS INHERITED BY HER GRANDSON BRUCE IVES, THE DONOR. SEE PERMANENT FILE FOR THE OBITUARIES OF WILLIAM AND MARGARET HENDERSON, AND HENDERSON FAMILY HISTORY EXCERPT FROM BAINES’ BOOK.

Catalogue Number

P20140012002

Acquisition Date

2014-04

Collection

Museum

Less detail