Material Type

Artifact

Date

1911

Materials

IRONSTONE

No. Pieces

1

Height

9.2

Length

44.5

Width

30.5

Description

SCRATCHED ON BOTTOM. HAS HOLE (SMALL) CRACKED. HAS URINAL ATTACHMENT. WHITE.

Subjects

TOILET ARTICLE

Historical Association

DOMESTIC

History

DONOR CLAIMS BEDPAN WAS BROUGHT FROM SCOTLAND IN 1911. *UPDATE* IN 2018, COLLECTIONS ASSISTANT ELISE PUNDYK CONDUCTED A SURVEY OF BOXED TEXTILES AND ACCESSORIES, INCLUDING A PIN DONATED TO THE GALT MUSEUM BY THOMASINA COWIE (NEE WHITE). ON 13 MARCH 2018, PUNDYK CONDUCTED A PHONE INTERVIEW WITH COWIE’S GRANDSON, STEWART JOHN CAMPBELL. HE IS THE SECOND SON OF ANNE ADAMSON CAMPBELL (NEE COWIE), THE ELDEST DAUGHTER OF THOMASINA AND JOHN COWIE. THROUGH REVIEW OF THE ARTIFACT DONATION MADE BY HIS GRANDMOTHER IN 1965, IT WAS DETERMINED THAT THESE ITEMS WERE UNKNOWN TO STEWART CAMPBELL. HE WAS ABLE TO PROVIDE GREATER DETAIL ABOUT THE DONORS AND SUPPLIED THE MUSEUM WITH FAMILY RECORDS. THE FOLLOWING INFORMATION HAS BEEN EXTRACTED FROM THE INTERVIEW: “[THESE ITEMS] APPEAR TO BE ARTIFACTS LARGELY COLLECTED BY MY GRANDFATHER, JOHN COWIE. WE KNEW IN OUR FAMILY HISTORY THAT MY GRANDFATHER SPENT SOME TIME AS AN ENGINEER IN THE WHAT I WOULD CALL THE BRITISH MERCHANT MARINE, [WHICH WERE] COMMERCIAL VESSELS THAT TRANSPORTED GOODS. [THE COMPANY] WAS VERY LIKELY CENTERED OUT OF GLASGOW IN SCOTLAND.” WHEN EXPLAINING THE POSSIBLE CIRCUMSTANCES OF THE DONATION, CAMPBELL SHARED, “SO WHAT I BELIEVE HAS HAPPENED IS THAT AFTER MY GRANDFATHER [JOHN COWIE]’S PASSING [IN 1964], THOM (AS HE USED TO CALL HIS WIFE) SENT SEVERAL OF THESE ARTIFACTS OVER TO THE GALT MUSEUM. THERE ARE OTHER ARTIFACTS THAT WOULD HAVE AN ORIGINATION OUT OF SCOTLAND THAT THEY BROUGHT WITH THEM WHEN THEY IMMIGRATED TO CANADA OR FROM ONE OF THE VISITS THAT MY GRANDMOTHER MADE BACK TO SCOTLAND TO SHOW OFF [HER] OLDEST DAUGHTER TO THE BALANCE OF THE FAMILY. MAYBE WHILE SHE WAS VISITING IN SCOTLAND SHE PICKED UP OR HAD BEEN GIVEN SOME OF THE OTHER FAMILY HEIRLOOMS.” IN A DESCRIPTION OF HIS GRANDPARENTS’ IMMIGRATION STORY, CAMPBELL RECOUNTED, “THEY ARRIVED AT THE USUAL PORTS, I GUESS MONTREAL, AND GOT ON THE CPR RAILWAY. THEY GOT AS FAR AS WINNIPEG. [MY GRANDFATHER] HAD IN HIS HAND A LETTER OF INTRODUCTION AND A RECOMMENDATION FROM THE HEAD OF THE CALEDONIA RAILWAY IN SCOTLAND. THERE IS SOME SIGNIFICANCE TO THE CALEDONIA RAILWAY IN THAT IT REALLY WAS DIRECTLY INVOLVED IN THE INDUSTRIALIZATION OF SCOTLAND, PARTICULARLY IN AND AROUND GLASGOW. SO HIS TRADE WAS AS AN ENGINEER AND THAT’S REALLY WHAT HE BECAME WHEN HE CAME TO CANADA AND JOINED THE CANADIAN PACIFIC RAILWAY. HE HAD AN INTERESTING LIFE, BUT IT WAS ALWAYS WITH THE CPR.” “I FIRST BEGAN TO KNOW OF MY GRANDMOTHER AND GRANDFATHER WHEN THEY WERE LIVING FOR A PERIOD OF TIME IN VANCOUVER AND THEN THEY MOVED TO LETHBRIDGE,” CAMPBELL EXPLAINED, “SO THEY MOVED TO VANCOUVER WHEN HE RETIRED FROM THE CPR IN THE OGDEN YARD IN CALGARY AND THEY STAYED ONLY TWO OR THREE YEARS. I GATHER THE HUMIDITY THERE WAS NOT CONDUCIVE HIS OWN HEALTH AND HE NEEDED TO MOVE TO A DRIER CLIMATE, BUT ALSO TO MOVE CLOSER TO FAMILY AS WELL. MY PARENTS AT THAT POINT IN TIME WERE RESIDENT IN PICTURE BUTTE, AND THEN SUBSEQUENTLY HAD MOVED TO LETHBRIDGE. [AS A RESULT OF THEIR PROXIMITY TO WHERE MY FAMILY LIVED,] I KNEW MY GRANDPARENTS VERY, VERY WELL AS A BOY GROWING UP.” “THERE WASN’T A LOT OF CONVERSATION ABOUT THEIR TIME BACK IN SCOTLAND,” CAMPBELL RECALLED, “[THIS COLLECTION] REFLECTS [A PERIOD IN THEIR LIVES] WHEN THEY HAPPILY IMMIGRATED AND THEY’VE HAD A POSITIVE EXPERIENCE IN CANADA AND SPECIFICALLY IN LETHBRIDGE.” DESCRIBING HOW HIS FAMILY CAME TO SETTLE IN LETHBRIDGE, CAMPBELL SAID, “[MY FATHER], DON CAMPBELL, WAS BORN [IN DALKEITH, ONTARIO]. HIS FATHER, HIS MOTHER, AND HE AND HIS TWO SISTERS CAME TO PLENTY, SASKATCHEWAN, WHERE THEY WERE FARM WORKERS. AND THEN THEY MOVED FROM THERE TO JUST EAST OF SUTHERLAND. MY FATHER AT THE AGE OF 18 BECAME RESPONSIBLE FOR THE FAMILY AND FARM. HE WASN’T A FARMER, BUT HE WAS A MERCHANT. SO MY FATHER EVENTUALLY LEFT THE FARM AND BECAME A TRAVELLING SALESMEN FOR MARSHALL WELLS HARDWARE. AND THAT’S WHAT BROUGHT THEM TO CALGARY IN 1939 AFTER MY MOTHER AND FATHER GOT MARRIED IN SASKATOON. MY DAD, WITH HIS TRAVELLING FOR MARSHALL WELLS, WAS ALWAYS LOOKING FOR A SPOT HE COULD BUY [TO ESTABLISH] A HARDWARE STORE. HE WAS ABLE TO TAKE PART OWNERSHIP OF A HARDWARE STORE IN PICTURE BUTTE AND EVENTUALLY BECAME THE SOLE OWNER. AND HE WAS IN THAT HARDWARE STORE FOR 32 YEARS AS I RECALL.” “I WAS BORN IN 1947,” CAMPBELL CONTINUED, “AT THE AGE OF ONE, [WE MOVED] TO PICTURE BUTTE [AND] WE, AS A FAMILY, MOVED TO LETHBRIDGE WHEN I WAS 6 IN ABOUT ’53 OR SO. THE REASON FOR THE MOVE [TO LETHBRIDGE] WAS THAT MY MOTHER WAS MUSICAL. SHE HAD BEEN TEACHING AND CONDUCTING CHOIRS SINCE SHE WAS 14 YEARS OLD. AND SO THE MINISTER OF SOUTHMINSTER UNITED CHURCH LEARNED OF WHAT WAS HAPPENING AT THE PICTURE BUTTE UNITED CHURCH, [SUCH AS] SOME OF THE OPERETTAS THAT MOM WAS PUTTING ON [THERE], AND INVITED MOM TO SING IN THE SOUTHMINSTER CHOIR. ULTIMATELY, THEY INVITED MY MOTHER TO BECOME THE CHOIR DIRECTOR AND TO ESTABLISH A JUNIOR GIRLS’ CHOIR. AND SO THIS PROMPTED MY MOTHER AND FATHER TO MOVE FROM PICTURE BUTTE TO LETHBRIDGE EVEN THOUGH MY DAD CONTINUED TO WITH THE HARDWARE STORE OUT OF PICTURE BUTTE.” EXPLAINING THE EXTENT OF HIS FAMILY’S AND HIS OWN CONNECTION TO LETHBRIDGE, CAMPBELL SAID, “I WAS RAISED IN LETHBRIDGE ESSENTIALLY. SO I HAVE VERY, VERY FOND MEMORIES OF MY TIME THERE AS A BOY. THE COMMUNITY MIGHT HAVE BEEN 25,000 TO 30,000 PEOPLE. YOU KNEW A LOT OF PEOPLE, YOU DIDN’T KNOW EVERYBODY, BUT YOU KNEW AN AWFUL LOT OF PEOPLE. AND CERTAINLY PEOPLE LIVING IN LETHBRIDGE KNEW MY MOTHER REALLY WELL. AND PEOPLE LIVING IN PICTURE BUTTE AND COALDALE KNEW MY FATHER VERY WELL.” “MY MOTHER WAS A MUSIC TEACHER AND A VOLUNTEER CHOIR CONDUCTOR. WE HAD STUDENTS COME THROUGH OUR HOUSE FROM ALL OVER SOUTHERN ALBERTA. THERE WOULD BE FAMILIES THAT WOULD DRIVE THEIR DAUGHTERS FROM [PLACES SUCH AS] VAUXHALL, CARDSTON, RAYMOND, AND FORT MACLEOD INTO LETHBRIDGE [FOR] THE PRACTICES OF HER CHOIRS. AND THE BASEMENT WAS A STUDIO, SO IN ANY ONE WEEK THERE WOULD HAVE BEEN ANYWHERE FROM 60 TO 80 STUDENTS COMING THROUGH THE HOUSE,” CAMPBELL WENT ON. “THE MEMORIES ARE PRETTY DEEP INTO THE LIFE OF LETHBRIDGE. [AFTER HAVING MY OWN FAMILY, WE SPENT] SIX REALLY LOVELY YEARS LIVING IN LETHBRIDGE AS A FAMILY. SO MY DAUGHTERS – HEATHER ANNE, SHELIA JEAN, MARY LOUISE, AND MEGAN LEE – HAVE FOND MEMORIES OF THEIR TIMES IN LETHBRIDGE AS WELL.” PROVIDED ALONG WITH THE INTERVIEW WERE RECORDS COMPILED BY STEWART CAMPBELL USING THE GENEALOGY WEBSITE, ANCESTRY.COM. ACCORDING TO THE RECORDS, JOHN COWIE WAS BORN ON 7 NOVEMBER 1883 IN MOTHERWELL, LANARKSHIRE, SCOTLAND TO HIS PARENTS, ISABELLA (NEE LAIRD) AND ROBERT COWIE. HE WAS THE ELDEST OF APPROXIMATELY TEN CHILDREN IN THE FAMILY. COWIE WAS MARRIED TO THOMASINA COWIE (NEE WHITE) IN MOTHERWELL, LANARKSHIRE, SCOTLAND OF 26 JULY 1910. THOMASINA WAS BORN ON 13 SEPTEMBER 1884 IN LOCHMABEN, DUMFRIESSHIRE, SCOTLAND TO JOHN AND ANNE (NEE ADAMSON) WHITE. THE COUPLE EMIGRATED FROM SCOTLAND TO CANADA IN 1910, WHERE JOHN BEGAN WORKING FOR THE CANADIAN PACIFIC RAILWAY. THIS WORK TOOK THE FAMILY TO SASKATOON, SK, AND SUTHERLAND, SK, TO GLACIER STATION, BC, AND FINALLY CALGARY, AB WHERE HE RETIRED IN 1945. UPON RETIREMENT, JOHN AND THOMASINA MOVE TO VANCOUVER, BC AND BY 1955 THEY HAD SETTLED IN LETHBRIDGE, AB TO BE CLOSER TO THEIR ELDEST DAUGHTER, ANNE ANDERSON CAMPBELL (NEE COWIE), AND HER FAMILY. THEIR SECOND DAUGHTER WAS NAMED ISABELL WRIGHT (NEE COWIE) AND SHE LIVED IN SASKATCHEWAN. JOHN COWIE PASSED AWAY IN LETHBRIDGE ON 31 DECEMBER 1964 AT THE AGE OF 81 YEARS. THOMASINA COWIE PASSED AWAY IN LETHBRIDGE ON 3 SEPTEMBER 1976 AT THE AGE OF 91 YEARS. FOR COMPLETE IMMIGRATION STORY AND EXTENDED FAMILY HISTORY, PLEASE SEE THE PERMANENT FILE, WHICH INCLUDES THE FULL INTERVIEW TRANSCRIPTION, GENEALOGY RECORDS, AND LETHBRIDGE HERALD CLIPPINGS. FOR MORE INFORMATION ABOUT ANNE CAMPBELL, PLEASE SEE PERMANENT RECORDS OF HER DONATION P20000018000.

Catalogue Number

P19651577000

Acquisition Date

1965-01

Collection

Museum

Less detail