Material Type

Artifact

Date

1935

Materials

FELT, PAINT, COTTON

No. Pieces

1

Length

79.3

Width

19.2

Description

GREEN FELT PENNANT WITH BROWN TRIM AT FRONT AND TWO SETS OF BLACK DOUBLE-STRAND TIES FOR SECURING PENNANT. PENNANT HAS WHITE PAINTED TEXT ON FRONT “LETHBRIDGE GOLDEN JUBILEE CELEBRATION, 1885 TO 1935”. PENNANT IS CREASED ACROSS FRONT AND BACK, AND TEXT ON FRONT IS DISCOLOURED AND YELLOWED; OVERALL VERY GOOD CONDITION.

Subjects

DOCUMENTARY ARTIFACT

Historical Association

COMMEMORATIVE

DECORATIVE ARTS

History

ON JULY 21, 2017, COLLECTIONS TECHNICIAN KEVIN MACLEAN INTERVIEWED GLENN AND JOANNE ALLEN REGARDING THEIR DONATION OF RCMP AND LETHBRIDGE MEMORABILIA. GLENN ALLEN WAS RAISED IN LETHBRIDGE, AND COLLECTED THE OBJECTS AS A CHILD IN LETHBRIDGE. ON THE LETHBRIDGE JUBILEE PENNANT, ALLEN RECALLED, “PENNANTS WERE REALLY POPULAR IN THOSE DAYS. [MY FAMILY] LOVED PENNANTS, AND, IN MY ROOM, AS A CHILD, I HAD [IT] PINNED TO THE WALL.” “THAT [PENNANT] RELATES BACK TO [MY PARENTS’] MARRIAGE… THE PENNANT WAS THE YEAR THEY WERE MARRIED.” “[IT] WOULD HAVE BEEN POSTED ON MY WALL IN CALGARY. THEN IT WENT INTO A BOX WITH THE OTHER PENNANTS. I LIKELY HAD THOSE BEFORE I WAS ADOLESCENT IN AGE, AND THEN WHEN ADOLESCENCE CAME ALONG, THERE WERE OTHER THINGS THAT INTERESTED ME, AND THOSE PENNANTS WENT.” “PENNANTS…SHOWED THAT YOU HAD BEEN SOME PLACE. MY DAD BEING WITH THE RAILWAY, WE WENT BY RAIL TO VANCOUVER, FROM THE TIME I WAS ABOUT 3 ON. IF YOU STOPPED IN BANFF, YOU HOPPED OUT AND YOU GOT ONE OF THESE, AND YOU DID AT LAKE LOUISE, AND YOU DID AT REVELSTOKE, AND THEY WENT TO SEATTLE. THEY BROUGHT ME [PENNANTS].” “THEY WERE KIND OF ‘THE THING’, SO THEY BROUGHT THOSE BACK TO ME. I HAD DOZENS OF THEM.” ALLEN ELABORATED ON HIS FAMILY’S HISTORY IN LETHBRIDGE, NOTING, “MY MOTHER’S FAMILY CAME TO LETHBRIDGE IN 1923, AND SHE WAS ABOUT 12 AT THE TIME. SHE DIDN’T GO TO SCHOOL ANY FURTHER AT THAT POINT IN TIME, AND SHE WAS HIRED ON AS A HOUSE GIRL FOR THE STOLZ FAMILY.” “MY DAD’S NAME WAS TOM, THOMAS SPENCE ALLEN, AND MY MOTHER WAS DOROTHY EMMA SCHIELS. MY DAD’S FAMILY - HIS FATHER AND, A FEW YEARS LATER MY DAD AND HIS MOTHER - CAME TO LETHBRIDGE IN 1910, AND THEY SETTLED IN NORTH LETHBRIDGE, AT 707 12A ST. NORTH. THERE WERE THREE BOYS AND ONE GIRL. THEY ALL WENT THROUGH HIGH SCHOOL AT GALBRAITH HIGH SCHOOL, AND MY DAD WORKED FOR THE RAILWAYS. HE STARTED AS A MESSENGER…HE WAS 15 YEARS OF AGE. HE PROGRESSED IN THE FREIGHT CPR BUSINESS, AND BECAME A FREIGHT INSPECTOR IN LETHBRIDGE, AND THEN, IN 1948, WAS TRANSFERRED TO CALGARY. MY MOTHER WAS ALWAYS A HOUSEWIFE. THEY LIVED ON 3RD AVENUE NORTH, BY THE LEALTA THEATRE. THEY HAD JUST ONE CHILD. I GREW UP [IN THAT HOUSE] UNTIL I WAS ABOUT AGE FIVE. AT THAT TIME, THE END OF THE WAR WAS COMING, AND SOLDIERS WERE RETURNING. RENTAL HOUSING BECAME ALMOST NOT AVAILABLE. ANYBODY WHO WAS RENTING AT THAT TIME, IF YOU HADN’T BEEN IN THE FORCES, YOU WERE REQUIRED BY ORDINANCE TO FIND ANOTHER PLACE. IT WAS A HOUSE WHICH WE HAD TO GIVE UP. WE’D BEEN THERE SINCE I WAS BORN. THEN WE MOVED OVER TO 12TH STREET C, THE 500 BLOCK. WE LIVED TEMPORARILY THERE, AND THEN THAT HOUSE WAS SECONDED. WE WERE ONLY THERE MAYBE 6 MONTHS, AND THEN WE MOVED INTO AN ATTIC SPACE AT 507 12TH STREET A NORTH, AND LIVED IN THE 2 ROOMS IN THE ATTIC - NO INSULATION, AND VERY COLD IN THE WINTER, AND HOT IN THE SUMMER.” “[MY FATHER] GOT A PROMOTION [IN 1948]. HE GOT A PROMOTION TO CALGARY…A BETTER JOB.” “MY MOTHER AND DAD LIVED IN LETHBRIDGE, GREW UP IN LETHBRIDGE. MY MOTHER WAS THE COLLECTOR IN THE FAMILY. WHEN I WAS MARRIED [IN 1962], ALL OF THESE THINGS SHE GAVE ME TO JUST TAKE ALONG, BECAUSE THEY HAD BEEN GIVEN TO ME. THEY ARE JUST LITTLE ITEMS THAT WE JUST DON’T KNOW WHETHER THEY HAVE ANY VALUE, AND RATHER THAN HAVE THEM JUST GO TO LAND FILL, WE’D LIKE YOU TO HAVE A LOOK AT THEM.” “TODAY IS OUR FIFTY-FIFTH WEDDING ANNIVERSARY, AND WE’RE RETURNING TO LETHBRIDGE BECAUSE WE’VE HAD THESE THINGS IN OUR POSSESSION FOREVER, AND WE WANT TO SEE IF THEY HAVE ANY VALUE TO THE MUSEUM. THEY ARE RELICS THAT WE’VE [GATHERED] FROM PAST YEARS.” FOR MORE INFORMATION INCLUDING THE FULL INTERVIEW TRANSCRIPTION, PLEASE SEE THE PERMANENT FILE P20170023001-GA.

Catalogue Number

P20170023003

Acquisition Date

2017-07

Collection

Museum

Less detail