CONCERTINA

Description: 24 BONE BUTTONS ON EACH END. GREEN AND WHITE LEATHERETTE BELLOWS. SOME OF THE BUTTONS ARE MISSING. HANDLES MISSING.

History: MONTGOMERY WARD CATALOGUE 1894. UPDATE: ON 8 JANUARY 2014, COLLECTIONS WAS VISITED BY DONOR DESCENDANT JACK SIMMONS PER HIS INTEREST TO PROVIDE ACCESS TO OBJECTS DONATED TO THE MUSEUM BY HIS FATHER AND MOTHER, HARPER AND EDITH SIMMONS, IN THE 1960S. DURING THE DISCUSSION ON THE ORIGINAL DONATION, JACK SIMMONS STATED THAT A CONCERTINA INSTRUMENT WAS ALSO AMONG THE EFFECTS ORIGINALLY OFFERED AND, ULTIMATELY, TAKEN. EARLY RECORDS SUPPORT JACK’S STATEMENT; HOWEVER, THE ONLY OBJECTS ATTRIBUTED TO THE SIMMONS’ DONATION PER THE DATABASE ARE A CLOCK AND A ROLLING PIN. THIS CONSTANTINA IS ATTRIBUTED “DONOR UNKNOWN” AND, IN THE CASE THAT IT MAY HAVE BEEN AMONG THE SIMMONS’ OFFERINGS, AN IMAGE OF IT WAS SENT TO JACK’S BC-BASED SISTER TO CONFIRM THAT IT WAS ORIGINALLY FROM THE SIMMONS FAMILY. THE SISTER, JUDY LESCHAISON, WAS PRESENT AT THE TIME THAT HER PARENTS MADE THE DONATION TO THE MUSEUM. ON 9 JANUARY 2014, SIMMONS RE-CONTACTED THE GALT TO CONFIRM THAT THIS CONCERTINA HAD PREVIOUSLY BELONGED TO HER PARENTS. ACCORDING TO INFORMATION PROVIDED BY JACK SIMMONS, HIS PARENTS HARPER SIMMONS AND EDITH CRONEY WERE MARRIED IN LONDON, ENGLAND IN 1940, WHILE HARPER WAS SERVING IN WWII. AFTER THE WAR THE COUPLE FARMED AT HEASLIP, MANITOBA BEFORE MOVING TO LETHBRIDGE IN 1953. SEE RECORD P19651497000 FOR MORE INFORMATION ABOUT THE SIMMONS FAMILY.