Material Type

Artifact

Date Range From

1870

Date Range To

1880

Materials

BRASS, WOOD

No. Pieces

3

Height

131.4

Length

146.1

Width

60.7

Description

BIRCH STAINED BLACK WALNUT, IVORY, EBONY. NEUMEYER LETTERED ABOVE KEYBOARD. 2 ORNATE BRASS CANDLESTICKS MOUNTED ON THE PIANO FRONT. GOLD PAINTED FILIGREE DESIGN ON FRONT. FOLD UP MUSIC STAND WHICH STORES INSIDE PIANO. DECORATED BRASS FOOT PEDALS. FOLD DOWN MUSIC STAND ON LID. GOUGE BURNED IN TOP. GREEN WIRE MESH ON REVERSE WITH CLOTH PIPING. ONE SIDE MESH HAS PARTIALLY BEEN REMOVED. BACK LEFT CORNER OF LID DAMAGED. LOWER FRONT PANEL CRACKED.

Subjects

MUSICAL T&E

Historical Association

HOME ENTERTAINMENT

History

BROUGHT TO CANADA IN 1920. *UPDATE* IN 2015 COLLECTIONS ASSISTANT JANE EDMUNDSON CONDUCTED A SURVEY OF MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS. IN THIS OBJECT'S PERMANENT FILE, SHE FOUND A LETTER FROM 2002, SENT TO COLLECTIONS TECHNICIAN KEVIN MACLEAN FROM MARGARET 'PEGGY' O'MEARA-BRINK, DAUGHTER OF GEORGE W. G. AND FLORENCE O'MEARA, THE DONORS OF THE PIANO (THE DONORS' NAME WAS INCORRECTLY RECORDED AS "G. O. MARA" AT THE TIME OF DONATION). O'MEARA-BRINK WROTE: "THE PIANO WAS BOUGHT ABOUT 1870 IN EUROPE BY A DUTCH COUPLE CALLED VELGHE... MRS. VELGHE WAS ENGLISH AND HER HUSBAND DUTCH. THEIR PROPERTY IN MALAYSIA, MY PARENTS FOUND, ADJOINED THAT OF MY MOTHER'S FAMILY - THE DEWINDS. THE VELGHES HAD STARTED THEIR RETIREMENT BY TRAVELLING IN INDIA, CHINA, ETC. AND SETTING UP HOUSE WHERE FRIENDS OR FAMILY WERE LOCATED. THEIR LAST STOP BEFORE THE FINAL LEG OF THE JOURNEY WAS INNISFAIL, ALBERTA. AT CHRISTMASTIDE OF 1923 MY DAD, GEORGE O'MEARA, BOUGHT THE PIANO FOR MY MOTHER [FLORENCE DEWIND O'MEARA]. THE VELGHES SOLD UP ALL THEIR OTHER FURNITURE AND WE NEVER HEARD OF THEM AGAIN. MY MOTHER HAD A VERY SPECIAL PIANO TUNER CALLED MR. CRIPPS... HE SAID IN ABOUT 1942 THAT 'THE VOICE OF THE PIANO' WAS DYING AND DR. FUMMERTON ACROSS 15TH STREET WAS GETTING A NEW PIANO - THE ONE THEY HAD WAS IN EXCELLENT CONDITION [AND MR. CRIPPS] ADVISED MOTHER TO TAKE THIS BARGAIN. MY DAD GAVE THE DEAR OLD PIANO TO THE MILITARY... THE NEXT THING WE HEARD OF THE PIANO WAS FROM MR. GEORGE WATSON WHEN THE MUSEUM WAS BEING STARTED. HE SAID THAT HE HAD MY MOTHER'S PIANO AND WOULD I WRITE A HISTORY ON IT... WELL TIME HAS A WAY OF ESCAPING WHEN YOU ARE 500 MILES AWAY AND RAISING KIDS... MY MOTHER WAS ON THE FESTIVAL BOARD AND MANY VISITING ARTISTS CAME AND PRACTISED. SOME WHO PLAYED FOR THE BOARD WERE ADJUDICATORS FROM SUCH PLACES AS OXFORD, WESTMINISTER ABBEY AND OTHER SUCH GREAT CENTRES." FURTHER RESEARCH ON THE O'MEARA FAMILY RESULTED IN THE FOLLOWING INFORMATION, GLEANED FROM GALT ARCHIVES, LETHBRIDGE HERALD ARTICLES FROM 1943 AND 1948, E.W.B. O'MEARA'S ENTRY IN THE LETHBRIDGE CENOTAPH PROJECT, AND THE OBITUARIES OF MARGARET 'PEGGY' O'MEARA-BRINK AND ISOBEL O'MEARA WRAY. GEORGE AND FLORENCE O'MEARA WERE IRISH IMMIGRANTS WHO HOMESTEADED IN CENTRAL ALBERTA. THEY HAD THREE CHILDREN, MARGARET, EDMUND, AND ISOBEL, AND SETTLED IN LETHBRIDGE IN 1929. GEORGE IS LISTED IN GALT ARCHIVES RECORDS AS AN INSTRUCTOR IN ENGLISH AND SOCIAL STUDIES AT LETHBRIDGE COLLEGIATE INSTITUTE THROUGHOUT THE 1930S AND EARLY 1940S. FLORENCE WAS NAMED AS TREASURER OF THE LETHBRIDGE MUSIC CLUB AT THEIR FIRST MEETING IN 1932. BY 1943 GEORGE WAS DECEASED, SON EDMUND WAS OVERSEAS WITH THE 1ST BATTALION CALGARY HIGHLANDERS, AND DAUGHTER PEGGY WAS THE FIRST ALBERTA WOMAN TO GRADUATE WITH A DOCTORATE OF MEDICINE UNDER THE CANADIAN WOMEN'S ARMY CORPS' EDUCATIONAL PLAN, AND THE FIRST FEMALE PHYSICIAN TO SERVE WITH THE CANADIAN FORCES. IN 1945, EDMUND O'MEARA WAS KILLED IN ACTION WHILE SERVING IN THE NETHERLANDS. HIS MOTHER FLORENCE RECEIVED HIS MEMORIAL CROSS. DAUGHTER ISOBEL STUDIED ARCHITECTURE AT THE UNIVERSITY OF MANITOBA, AND MARRIED MILTON 'BUD' WRAY' IN 1948, LIVING THE REST OF HER LIFE IN LETHBRIDGE UNTIL HER DEATH IN 2007. AFTER HER MILITARY SERVICE, MARGARET RAN A PRIVATE MEDICAL PRACTICE IN LETHBRIDGE UNTIL HER MARRIAGE TO DR. FRANCIS BRINK IN 1951, AND THEIR RELOCATION TO SPOKANE, WASHINGTON. MARGARET DIED IN 2010. SEE PERMANENT FILE FOR MARGARET O'MEARA-BRINK'S FULL LETTER AND HARDCOPIES OF SOURCE MATERIALS.

Catalogue Number

P19710167000

Acquisition Date

1971-03

Collection

Museum

Less detail