Material Type

Artifact

Other Name

DUTCH CANADIAN CLUB FOLK COSTUME

Date Range From

1988

Date Range To

2004

Materials

LINEN, VELVET, PLASTIC

No. Pieces

4

Length

75

Width

46

Description

.A – LONG-SLEEVED SHIRT MADE OF BLUE AND WHITE STRIPED LINEN, WITH RED COLLAR. COLLAR HAS CUFFLINK-STYLE CLOSURE WITH METAL BUTTONS THAT DEPICT A CREST AND TEXT READING “… TONANTI…”. SIX CLEAR PLASTIC BUTTONS DOWN FRONT AND ONE AT EACH CUFF. CHEST POCKET ON LEFT SIDE. OVERALL VERY GOOD CONDITION. 75 X 46 .B – RED LINEN LONG-SLEEVED JACKET. OPEN FRONT, WITH TWO RED BUTTON CLOSURES AT WAIST LINE HEM. OVERALL VERY GOOD CONDITION. 71 X 46 .C – BLACK LINEN PANTS WITH PLEATED WAIST AND WIDE LEGS. FRONT WAIST CLOSURE HAS TWO METAL BUTTONS WITH IMAGE OF BIRD AND TEXT READING “SPES NOSTRA ES DEVS”. BACK WAIST CLOSURE HAS TWO HOLES ON EITHER SIDE OF WAISTBAND. OVERALL VERY GOOD CONDITION. 101.5 X 49 .D – BLACK VELVET CAP, MADE FROM A STRIP OF FABRIC THAT TIES AT BACK WITH SIX GREEN RIBBONS THAT ARE SEWN INTO SEAM. INNER CAP IS BLACK VELVET AND LINEN SEWN TO BOTTOM SEAM OF OUTER EDGE. LENGTH OF GREEN YARN ATTACHED TO RIBBON WITH METAL SAFETY PIN. BOTTOM RIBBON IS FRAYED. OVERALL VERY GOOD CONDITION. 13.5 X 21

Subjects

CLOTHING-OUTERWEAR

Historical Association

ASSOCIATIONS

PERSONAL CARE

ETHNOGRAPHIC

History

THIS COSTUME WAS WORN BY WIM VONKEMAN DURING HIS PARTICIPATION IN THE EVENTS AND ACTIVITIES OF THE DUTCH CANADIAN CLUB OF LETHBRIDGE. BORN IN THE NETHERLANDS IN 1929, VONKEMAN IMMIGRATED TO CANADA IN 1981 WITH HIS WIFE TRUDY AND THEIR THREE CHILDREN, ANINE, ALWIN, AND HERWIN, SETTLING IN THE PICTURE BUTTE AREA. VONKEMAN WAS INSTRUMENTAL IN THE ESTABLISHMENT OF THE DUTCH CANADIAN CLUB, AND WAS ACTIVE WITH THE GROUP UNTIL HIS DEATH IN 2004. ON JANUARY 21, 2015 COLLECTIONS TECHNICIAN KEVIN MACLEAN INTERVIEWED THE DONOR, TRUDY VONKEMAN, ABOUT THIS COSTUME AND HER HUSBAND WIM’S INVOLVEMENT WITH THE DUTCH CANADIAN CLUB OF LETHBRIDGE. SHE SAID: “MY HUSBAND’S FAMILY WENT [TO CANADA] IN 1952 – HE WAS THE ELDEST SON AND HAD A NICE JOB IN HOLLAND SO HE STAYED BEHIND. THEN WE MET AND MARRIED AND HAD KIDS, AND IN 1979 WE WENT ON HOLIDAYS [IN CANADA] WITH THE KIDS FOR FOUR WEEKS… THEY ENJOYED IT VERY MUCH AND WHEN WE WERE BACK IN HOLLAND I HEARD MY TWO SONS [SAYING] ‘AFTER SCHOOL WE GO TO CANADA’… I SAID TO MY HUSBAND, ‘LET’S GO THEN AS A FAMILY, I DON’T WENT TO SPLIT THE FAMILY LATER’… THERE WAS A BIG FAMILY WAITING [IN CANADA] AND MY PARENTS DIED [IN 1979 AND 1980] SO THERE WAS NO REASON NOT TO DO IT [WHILE] WE WERE STILL YOUNG ENOUGH. I WAS 47 AND MY HUSBAND WAS 51, BUT STILL WE MADE IT. THE WHOLE FAMILY LOOKED AFTER US [AND] THERE WAS A JOB ON THE FARM [OUTSIDE PICTURE BUTTE]... WE DIDN’T NEED TO IMMIGRATE BECAUSE IT WAS EVEN BETTER IN HOLLAND THAN WHEN WE CAME HERE. STILL, ONE OF THE LAST THINGS MY HUSBAND SAID TO ME [WAS] ‘WE HAD LESS MONEY HERE IN CANADA BUT I’M GLAD WE WENT.’” VONKEMAN CONTINUED: “IN HOLLAND, THE CHURCH WHERE I BELONGED TO, THE WOMEN WERE PASTORS. HERE, NOT. AND I STOPPED GOING WHEN… THERE WAS SOMETHING THE MEN HAD TO DECIDE AND THE WOMEN COULD [ONLY] GO TO THE KITCHEN AND MAKE COFFEE. I WAS SO MAD [I DECIDED] I’M NOT GOING ANYMORE… [BUT WIM], HIS BACKGROUND, WE DUTCH PEOPLE DO SOMETHING TOGETHER… HE WANTED TO BE ACTIVE TO SHOW SOMETHING ABOUT WHERE HE COMES FROM… HE MET SOME OTHER DUTCH PEOPLE [AND] SET UP THE DUTCH CANADIAN CLUB… HE STARTED WITH DICK VAN GROOTHEEST AND HERMAN SIEMENS AND HE TOOK THE INITIATIVE… HE WANTED TO ORGANIZE AND DO STUFF. HE WAS NOT ONE TO SIT AROUND AND READ A BOOK… HE WAS ALWAYS BUSY AND TRYING TO FIND NEW THINGS [FOR THE CLUB] TO DO… I WAS IN THE BACKGROUND, HELPING WITH THE ORGANIZING AND HELPING HIM THINK ABOUT THINGS… WIM STARTED [THE CLUB’S] MAGAZINE, ‘VAN DE HAK OP DE TAK’ [ROUGHLY TRANSLATES TO ‘DOWN THE GRAPE VINE’]… THE CLUB HAD A FOLK DANCE GROUP AND THEY HAD THIS SUIT FOR IT. [THE DESIGN] IS FROM A CERTAIN PART OF HOLLAND [CALLED] VOLENDAM… A LITTLE FISHER TOWN WHERE ALL THE MEN WORE THIS IN THE PAST… [THE CLUB’S DANCE GROUP] WENT AROUND AND DANCED IN OLD FOLKS HOMES… AND THEY HAD A CHOIR TOO, ALL DRESSED UP IN VOLENDAM COSTUMES, SINGING ON DIFFERENT EVENINGS… YOU HAVE EVENINGS WHERE YOU DANCE AND YOU HAVE A MEAL, AND DRINK A GLASS OF WINE, AND HAVE FUN.” ON JUNE 24, 2015 COLLECTIONS TECHNICIAN KEVIN MACLEAN INTERVIEWED WIM VONKEMAN’S DAUGHTER, ANINE. SHE SAID: “AFTER MY DAD PASSED AWAY, WE HAD [THE COSTUME] DRY-CLEANED… AND I COULDN’T GET RID OF IT. IT HAD TO GO BACK TO THE DUTCH CANADIAN CLUB, TO THE DANCERS, SO THAT SOMEONE ELSE COULD WEAR IT. MY DAD WAS PRETTY SHORT, AND IT WAS A SPECIFIC SIZE FOR HIM [AND] IT WAS PART OF HIM, SO I JUST COULDN’T GET RID OF IT… WHEN I KEPT IT, I KNEW THAT I WAS NOT GOING TO KEEP IT MYSELF FOREVER, AND THAT IT SHOULD GO INTO THE MUSEUM… BECAUSE MY DAD HELPED ESTABLISH THE DUTCH CANADIAN CLUB… IT SUCH A BIG PART OF THE WHOLE LETHBRIDGE STORY… HE SET UP THE ASSOCIATION IN CONJUNCTION WITH OTHER PEOPLE, IN AN EFFORT TO MAINTAIN A CONNECTION BETWEEN DUTCH CANADIANS, AND KEEP SOME TRADITIONS GOING, OR BRING SOME NEW TALENTS. AND HE DID A LOT OF STUFF CROSS-CULTURALLY WITH CANADIANS AND DUTCH PEOPLE, BRINGING CHOIRS AND DANCERS OVER FROM HOLLAND, DOING STUFF IN THE STATES WITH OTHER DUTCH ASSOCIATIONS, AND JUST TRYING TO CONNECT PEOPLE… THERE ARE MANY RURAL DUTCH-CANADIANS – FARMERS, FARMERS’ FAMILIES – BUT THERE’S ALSO LOTS OF PEOPLE IN LETHBRIDGE AND SMALLER COMMUNITIES. BUT THEY ASSOCIATE THROUGH CHURCHES, I THINK… AND MY MOM AND DAD LEFT THE CHURCH [SO] THAT COMMUNITY, FOR THEM, WAS NOT THERE. MY DAD LIKED SINGING IN THE CHOIR IN THE CHURCH, SO PERHAPS HE WAS FILLING A BUNCH OF HIS OWN NEEDS BY SETTING [THE DUTCH CANADIAN CLUB] UP, AND ALSO FOR OTHERS IN THE COMMUNITY.” SEE PERMANENT FILE FOR FULL INTERVIEW TRANSCRIPTS AND INFORMATION ON THE DUTCH CANADIAN CLUB OF LETHBRIDGE. FOR PHOTOGRAPHS SHOWING WIM VONKEMAN WEARING THE COSTUME, SEE GALT ARCHIVES 20150075. FOR MORE INFORMATION ON THE VONKEMAN FAMILY, SEE P20150022000.

Catalogue Number

P20150005000

Acquisition Date

2015-01

Collection

Museum

Less detail