Material Type

Artifact

Date Range From

1910

Date Range To

1915

Materials

STEEL

No. Pieces

1

Length

8.3

Width

2.2

Description

CRUDE CONSTRUCTION. EMBOSSED ON HANDLE. "THE BETTER SHOE SHOP, SASKATOON". SOME SURFACE CORROSION

Subjects

MERCHANDISING T&E

CLOTHING-ACCESSORY

Historical Association

DOMESTIC

RETAIL TRADE

History

BELONGED TO DONOR'S 2ND HUSBAND, WHO WAS A LIEUTENANT DURING W.W.II. WAS A GUARD AT THE P.O.W. CAMP 133 IN LETHBRIDGE. HE TRAVELLED WITH PRISONER WORK CREWS TO FARMS IN WELLING AREA. *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. *UPDATE* IN 2018, COLLECTIONS ASSISTANT ELISE PUNDYK CONDUCTED A COLLECTIONS AUDIT, WHICH INCLUDED ITEMS DONATED BY FLORENCE FLAVELL. FURTHER RESEARCH WAS CONDUCTED INTO THE DONOR’S FAMILY, INCLUDING HER SECOND HUSBAND, ERNEST JOHN FLAVELL. ATTEMPTS TO LOCATE THE FLAVELL’S NEXT-OF-KIN WAS UNSUCCESSFUL. THE FOLLOWING INFORMATION WAS DEVELOPED THROUGH ARCHIVAL RESEARCH. ACCORDING TO HIS LETHBRIDGE HERALD OBITUARY, ERNEST JOHN FLAVELL WAS BORN IN ENGLAND AND IMMIGRATED TO CANADA IN 1913, FIRST SETTLING IN SASKATCHEWAN. IN 1946, HE TOOK A POSITION OF GREENHOUSE MAN AT THE LETHBRIDGE RESEARCH STATION. HE PASSED AWAY IN LETHBRIDGE ON 17 NOVEMBER 1963. ACCORDING TO THE DONOR’S OBITUARY PUBLISHED IN THE LETHBRIDGE HERALD ON 24 JUNE 1989, FLORENCE LAURETTE FLAVELL (NEE TAYLOR) WAS BORN IN PORTAGE LA PRAIRIE, MANITOBA ON MAY 17, 1902. SHE CAME TO LETHBRIDGE AS A CHILD WITH HER PARENTS. SHE WAS A GALT SCHOOL OF NURSING GRADUATE, STUDYING AT THE SCHOOL FROM 1919 TO 1923. SHE PRACTICED NURSING UPON GRADUATION UNTIL HER RETIREMENT IN 1967. FLAVELL PASSED AWAY IN LETHBRIDGE ON 21 JUNE 1989 AT THE AGE OF 87 YEARS. PLEASE SEE PERMANENT FILE P19760020000 FOR MORE INFORMATION, INCLUDING HARD COPIES OF ARCHIVAL RESEARCH.

Catalogue Number

P19760022000

Acquisition Date

1975-07

Collection

Museum

Less detail