Material Type

Artifact

Date Range From

1956

Date Range To

1966

Materials

TOBACCO, PAPER

No. Pieces

1

Length

12.8

Diameter

1.7

Description

CIGAR LABELLED “KING EDWARD” AT MOUTH. CIGAR IS BROWN, UNTREATED PAPER ROLLED. LABEL IS STICKER THAT GOES AROUND CIRCUMFERENCE OF THE CIGAR – GOLD WITH BLACK BACKGROUND AROUND WRITING – TEXT IS GOLD. WHITE BORDER. CIGAR WRAPPED IN CELLOPHANE.

Subjects

PERSONAL GEAR

Historical Association

PROFESSIONS

LEISURE

History

THE TUXEDO SET – COMPLETE WITH JACKET, PANTS, VEST, TWO BOWTIES, AND A CIGAR THAT WAS FOUND IN THE JACKET POCKET – CAME TO THE MUSEUM FROM DONORS BRUCE AND JOAN HAIG. THE TUXEDO AND THE PIECES THAT WENT ALONG WITH IT BELONGED TO BRUCE’S FATHER, DR. ARTHUR HAIG (1901-1986). BRUCE AND JOAN HAIG DONATED THE COLLECTION OF ITEMS TO THE GALT MUSEUM, WHERE COLLECTIONS TECHNICIAN KEVIN MACLEAN CONDUCTED AN INTERVIEW WITH THE COUPLE ON NOVEMBER 25, 2016. THE FOLLOWING INFORMATION HAS BEEN EXTRACTED FROM THAT INTERVIEW: “IN 1977, WE MOVED INTO BRUCE’S PARENTS’ HOUSE,” JOAN STATED AS SHE BEGAN TO SPEAK ABOUT THE TUXEDO ENSEMBLE, “AND MOTHER, [PHYLLIS HAIG (NEE HARRISON)] HAD [THE TUXEDO] IN A BOX IN THE STOREROOM. SHE HAD IT MARKED TO GO TO THE APARTMENT [THEY LATER MOVED TO], BUT THEY NEVER TOOK IT. BRUCE’S DAD HAD HAD A SEVERE STROKE AND WAS UNABLE TO WEAR IT ANYMORE, SO SHE JUST LEFT IT. IT SAT ON THE TOP SHELF THERE UNTIL WE MOVED JUST A FEW WEEKS AGO. OUR DAUGHTER IS NOW IN THE HOUSE, AND THIS BOX WAS STILL ON THE SHELF IN THE STOREROOM, SO SHE DEPOSITED IT AT OUR HOUSE.” “[WE WERE ALWAYS AWARE OF THE ITEMS’ EXISTENCE, BECAUSE] AND IT WAS PA’S TUX.” PA BEING BRUCE’S FATHER, DR. ARTHUR HAIG, AS JOAN EXPLAINED. SHE CONTINUED, “IT’S NOT SOMETHING YOU’RE GOING TO JUST DUMP. WE DIDN’T KNOW WHAT TO DO WITH IT, SO WE JUST KEPT LOOKING AT THE BOX THAT SAID, ‘PA’S TUX,’ ON THE SIDE.” IN THE INTERVIEW, BRUCE ASKED JOAN IF HE EVER WORE HIS FATHER’S SUIT, SHE REPLIED, “NO, IT’S MILES TOO BIG FOR YOU.” THE HAIG’S BROUGHT IN A PHOTOGRAPH OF DR. HAIG WEARING THE SUIT TAKEN IN NOVEMBER 1963. BRUCE SAID, “AT ABOUT THAT TIME HE WAS HEAVILY INTO MEDICAL POLITICS. HE HAD JUST BEEN APPOINTED THE HEAD OF THE PROVINCE FOR THE CANADIAN MEDICAL ASSOCIATION, THE ALBERTA DIVISION PRESIDENT. THAT’S THE PICTURE THAT WE HAVE IN HERE. IT WAS JUST LIKE A PICTURE THAT WAS TAKEN WITH A CAMERA AT THE HOTEL BEFORE OR AFTER A DINNER-TYPE THING. WE FIGURED THAT’S [THE TIME PERIOD] WHEN HE WAS WEARING IT. HE USED TO WEAR A TUX [OFTEN]. I HAVE A PICTURE FROM BACK IN THE TWENTIES – HE GRADUATED ABOUT ’26 FROM MCGILL – AND THERE’S A PICTURE OF HIM IN A TUXEDO. IT WOULDN’T HAVE BEEN [THE ONE WE ARE DONATING], BECAUSE HE DIDN’T MOVE TO LETHBRIDGE UNTIL 1929.” EXPLAINING HER FATHER-IN-LAW’S NEED FOR SUCH ATTIRE, JOAN ADDED, “THEY DID HAVE A LOT OF FORMAL EVENTS AND FORMAL PARTIES. HOUSE PARTIES IN THOSE DAYS WERE FORMAL. WOMEN WORE LONG GOWNS, AND MEN WORE TUXES.” SOCIAL LISTINGS PUBLISHED IN THE LETHBRIDGE HERALD ACCOUNT VARIOUS ENGAGEMENTS DR. AND MRS. HAIG ATTENDED OR HOSTED TOGETHER, INCLUDING ONE PUBLISHED IN THE JUNE 18, 1957 PAPER. IT IS STATED, “DR. ARTHUR HAIG OF LETHBRIDGE, PRESIDENT ELECT OF THE ALBERTA DIVISION OF THE CANADIAN MEDICAL ASSOCIATION, AND MRS. HAIG, WILL BE AMONG THE GUESTS AT THE RECEPTION TO BE GIVEN BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE CANADIAN MEDIAL ASSOCIATION...” DURING THE 2016 INTERVIEW, BRUCE CONTINUED, “HE WAS HEAVILY INTO THE KINSMAN AND THEN ROTARY CLUB. HE JUST LOVED THOSE SERVICE CLUBS. I’M SURE HE WORE [THE TUX] MANY TIMES FOR [RELATED EVENTS].” ON MAY 4, 1936, THE LETHBRIDGE HERALD REPORTED, “DINING ROOM OF THE ASSINIBOIA HOTEL HERE WAS COMFORTABLY FILLED BY SCORES OF YOUNG BUSINESS AND PROFESSIONAL MEN RESIDENT IN THREE ALBERTA CITIES, SATURDAY NIGHT, AS THE RECENTLY ORGANIZED KINSMEN CLUB OF MEDICINE HAT WAS FORMALLY PRESENT WITH ITS CHARTER LINKING IT WITH 50 OTHER KIN CLUBS THROUGHOUT THE DOMINION. CONFERRING OF THE CHARTER WAS PERFORMED BY DR. ARTHUR HAIG OF LETHBRIDGE, KIN GOVERNOR FOR DISTRICT NO. 4.” “MEN WORE FORMAL ATTIRE,” JOAN EXPLAINED, “SO DID WOMEN TO ALL OF THEIR FUNCTIONS. [BRUCE’S FATHER] WAS QUITE A PROMINENT DOCTOR. HE WAS THE CHIEF OF SURGERY AT ST. MIKE’S, AND THEN AT THE MUNICIPAL HOSPITAL. HE WAS A BIG MAN ON CAMPUS, AND KNEW IT.” UPON EXAMINATION OF THE TUXEDO JACKET’S LABEL, IT IS NOTED THAT THE JACKET IS FROM 1956. BRUCE EXPLAINED, “[IN] 1956, I’M AT UNIVERSITY. AT U OF S, SASKATOON [DURING THE TIME]… WE DO HAVE A [HOME] MOVIE OF A PARTY IN 1940 OR ’41, IN THE BASEMENT, AND I THINK THEY’RE ALL WEARING TUXES THERE.” “[MY PARENTS] WERE VERY SOCIAL. [MY FATHER] WAS FROM CLARESHOLM. [MY FATHER’S] FATHER HAD DIED OF TUBERCULOSIS OF THE SPINE. HE HAD BEEN MISTREATED BY A CHIROPRACTOR FOR HIS BAD BACK, AND THEY FOUND THAT HE HAD TUBERCULOSIS. [AFTER MY GRANDFATHER’S PASSING], HIS MOTHER GROOMED TWO OR THREE OF THE KIDS TO BECOME DOCTORS, PROBABLY AS A RESULT OF THIS TRAUMATIC EXPERIENCE. THEY REALLY BECAME THE NOUVEAU RICHE, BECAUSE IN THE ‘20S AND ‘30S, MEDICAL PEOPLE WERE ON A PARTICULAR PEDESTAL THAT THEY DON’T HAVE NOW BECAUSE OF SOCIALIZED MEDICINE. THEY HAD A CERTAIN OPINION OF THEMSELVES. THEY DRESSED UP AND THEY WERE IMPORTANT PEOPLE AND THAT’S JUST THE WAY IT IS.” ABOUT DR. ARTHUR HAIG’S PRACTICE, JOAN ADDED, “HE HAD A CONTRACT WITH THE GALT MINE, SO WHEN OTHER PEOPLE WERE STRUGGLING VERY HARD, HE WAS DOING PRETTY WELL. IN 1937 THEY BUILT THAT HOUSE. [THEY] HAD IT CUSTOM BUILT FOR THEM, SO THAT INDICATES THAT THERE WASN’T A LACK OF FUNDS AT ALL. THEY SOCIALIZED IN THESE CIRCLES. LETHBRIDGE WAS A VERY, VERY CLIQUEY TOWN; AND THEY WERE IN THE TOP CLIQUE.” “THE NORTH SIDE, OF COURSE, WERE THE LABORING GROUPS AND THE SOUTH SIDE WERE THE BUSINESS AND PROFESSIONALS AND NEVER THE TWAIN SHOULD MEET,” BRUCE ELABORATED ABOUT EARLY LETHBRIDGE SOCIETY, LAUGHING. “HE KNEW A LOT OF PEOPLE, AND I KNOW THAT EVEN NOW I RUN INTO PEOPLE THAT I THINK ARE OLDER THAN GOD, AND THEY SAY, ‘OH, DR. HAIG DELIVERED ME,’” JOAN ILLUMINATED, “AND OF COURSE IN THOSE DAYS, DOCTORS WORKED 24 HOURS A DAY, SEVEN DAYS A WEEK. WHEN THEY GOT CALLED THEY WENT, SO HE EARNED HIS TIME OFF AND HIS FRIVOLITIES. HE WAS A VERY INTERESTING MAN. HE AND I GOT ON QUITE WELL.” “WITH THE ROTARY [CLUB] THEY USED TO HAVE THESE BIG MASQUERADE PARTIES. BRUCE’S MOTHER AND I ONCE DRESSED UP. SHE PROBABLY WORE THIS [JACKET TO ONE OF THESE PARTIES] – DRESSED UP IN TUXEDOES AND TOP HATS AND THE WHOLE THING. I BORROWED ONE FROM A DRAMA CLUB. [DR. ARTHUR HAIG] LIT US EACH A CIGAR, SO THAT IT WOULD HAVE ASHES ON THE END. WE WEREN’T SMOKING THEM, BUT WE HAD CIGARS WITH US. [WE] HAD LOTS OF FUN. THAT WAS AFTER [BRUCE’S FATHER’S] STROKE… [AND AT THESE EVENTS] DIFFERENT GROUPS WOULD HAVE A TABLE. THEY DIDN’T BUY A TABLE, BUT THEY WOULD CLAIM A TABLE AND YOU DIDN’T DARE SIT AT THE HAIG CLINIC TABLE. AND [THERE] WAS THE CAMPBELL CLINIC TABLE, AND SO WE WENT AND SAT AT IT, AND BRUCE’S BROTHER WAS THERE AND DIDN’T RECOGNIZE HIS OWN MOTHER AND TOLD US TO GET LOST… [BRUCE’S MOTHER] LAUGHED ABOUT THAT FOR YEARS AFTERWARDS, ABOUT HOW HER OWN SON HAD TRIED TO THROW HER OUT OF THE PARTY,” JOAN RECALLED AS SHE LAUGHED. THE CIGAR DONATED AS PART OF THE COLLECTION IS A PART OF THE TUXEDO’S STORY. “IT FELL OUT OF THE POCKET WHEN I TOOK THE THING OUT OF THE BOX,” JOAN EXPLAINED, “HE SMOKED CIGARS FOR MOST OF HIS LIFE. IN FACT, EVEN WHEN WE MOVED INTO THE HOUSE, YOU COULD STILL SENSE THAT THERE HAD BEEN CIGARS SMOKED IN THAT HOUSE AND THAT TOOK YEARS TO AIR OUT.” “HE [ALSO] SMOKED CIGARETTES,” BRUCE ADDED, “IN LATER YEARS WHEN THEY STARTED TO HAVE THE CANCER SCARE, THEY WOULD HAVE THE LITTLE EXTENSION ON THE CIGARETTE.” IN THE LETHBRIDGE HISTORICAL SOCIETY’S 1991 PUBLICATION TITLED, “LETHBRIDGE: ITS MEDICAL DOCTORS, DENTISTS, DRUG STORES,” IT STATES, “[DR. ARTHUR A. HAIG] GRADUATED [IN] 1926 [FROM] MCGILL. [HE] PRACTICED IN LETHBRIDGE FROM 1928 AND WAS JOINED BY HIS BROTHER, DR. WILLARD HAIG IN 1934. WITH DRS. J. E. AYRE, H. A. ARNOLD, W.R. HAIG AND E. A. M. CAIRNS FORMED THE HAIG CLINIC IN 1939. [DR. A. HAIG] WAS BORN [IN] DEVIL’S LAKE, NORTH DAKOTA, MOVED TO CLARESHOLM, ALTA, IN 1902. [HE WAS A] SPECIALIST IN GENERAL SURGERY.” AN ARTICLE IN THE JANUARY 7, 1989 EDITION OF THE LETHBRIDGE HERALD WAS PUBLISHED IN COMMEMORATION OF THE HAIG’S CLINIC 50TH ANNIVERSARY. IT STATED, “THE HAIG CLINIC WAS FORMED JAN. 1, 1939… IT OPENED IN THE MCFARLAND BUILDING IN DOWNTOWN LETHBRIDGE… IN 1950, A NEED FOR MORE SPACIOUS PREMISES RESULTED IN THE PRESENT HAIG CLINIC BUILDING, 601 6TH AVE, S… IN 1963, ARTHUR RETIRED FOR HEALTH REASONS. HE DIED NOV. 14, 1986 AT THE AGE OF 83.” PLEASE SEE PERMANENT FILE FOR MORE INFORMATION, INCLUDING FULL INTERVIEW TRANSCRIPTION, DETAILED ARTICLES LETHBRIDGE HERALD OUTLINING THE HAIG CLINIC HISTORY AND THE HAIG’S SOCIAL OUTINGS.

Catalogue Number

P20160041008

Acquisition Date

2016-11

Collection

Museum

Less detail