Material Type

Artifact

Other Name

RUG WEAVER

Date Range From

1930

Date Range To

1940

Materials

WOOD

No. Pieces

1

Height

2.8

Length

92.5

Width

49.5

Description

RUG WEAVER IS RECTANULAR WOODEN FRAME WITH NARROW SLATS THROUGH ITS BODY. FRAME IS MADE UP OF TWO LENGTHS OF WOOD WITH HANDLE CROSS PIECES SET INTO INTERLOCK CORNER JOINTS. ENDS OF LOOM HAVE HANDLE HOLDS HEWN TO INSIDE OF FRAME. ALONG TOP AND BOTTOM EDGE OF FRAME ARE HOLES FOR ENDS OF EACH SLAT. NARROW WOODEN SLATS ARE SLOTTED INTO HOLES ALONG FRAME FOR WEAVING. A SINGLE HOLE IS DRILLED INTO THE MIDDLE OF EACH SLAT. FRAME IS SLIGHTLY WORN, DIRTY AND STEEL FASTENING NAILS ARE VISIBLE ALONG EDGES OF FRAME.

Subjects

TEXTILEWORKING T&E

Historical Association

DECORATIVE ARTS

DOMESTIC

History

LOOM WAS HANDMADE BY DONOR'S FATHER, GEORGE MATY, IN 1933. USED BY FAMILY TO WEAVE RAGS AND RUGS.

*UPDATE* IN 2021 TWO COLLECTIONS ASSISTANTS, RYLEY GELINAS AND O. E., CONDUCTED AN AUDIT OF THE ROLLED TEXTILE COLLECTION, INCLUDING SEVERAL TEXTILES DONATED BY HELEN HAZUDA. ON SEPTEMBER 28, 2021, GELINAS INTERVIEWED HAZUDA ABOUT HER DONATION AND HER MEMORIES OF THE OBJECTS OF THIS DONATION, INCLUDING A WOODEN LOOM. DURING THE INTERVIEW, HAZUDA TALKED ABOUT HER MEMORIES OF THE ORIGINS OF THE LOOM: “IT WAS HOMEMADE. I DON’T KNOW ABOUT WHETHER IT WAS MY DAD, I HAVE NO IDEA.” SHE REMEMBERS HER PARENTS, GEORGE AND ANNA MATY, USING THE LOOM TO WEAVE THE RUGS, SOME OF WHICH WERE ALSO PART OF THE DONATION. “I REMEMBER MY MOTHER AND DAD DOING THAT, MAKING THAT, USING IT FOR RUGS. THIS IS MADE STRICTLY FROM OLDER CLOTHES THAT WERE NO LONGER USED AND THEY WOULD CUT IT AND ROLL IT IN A BALL AND THEN WOULD HAVE IT WITH THIS LOOM. MOTHER WOULD BE AT ONE END AND DAD [WOULD] BE AT THE OTHER AND AS THEY LIFTED IT UP, IT WENT ONE ROLL AND THEN THE OTHER ONE.” THE RUGS, HAZUDA EXPLAINED, WERE JUST FOR FAMILY USE: “NO WE DIDN’T SELL THEM BECAUSE THIS WAS USED WITH STRIPS OF CLOTHING AND THEY WOULD CUT IT ABOUT LIKE THIS… AND THEN ROLL IT INTO A BALL SO THAT YOU CAN PASS IT FROM ONE PERSON TO THE OTHER. I REMEMBER THE LOOM GOING UP, AND YOU PUT YOUR BALL THROUGH HERE, AND THEN COME DOWN… AND DAD WOULD PULL IT THIS WAY, BUT IT WAS STRICTLY OUT OF RAGS.” ONLINE RESEARCH CONDUCTED BY GELINAS FOUND AN INTERVIEW DONE AS PART OF THE COYOTE FLATS PIONEER VILLAGE ORAL HISTORY PROJECT IN 2015 AND WAS USED TO PROVIDE ADDITIONAL CONTEXTUAL INFORMATION. IN THAT INTERVIEW, SHE SPOKE OF HER FATHER: “MY DAD WAS NOT A MECHANICAL PERSON, HE LOVED HIS HORSE AND BUGGY… OH HE WAS WONDERFUL, HE WAS QUIET… DAD, HE JUST KIND OF DID WHAT WAS EXPECTED OF HIM AND HE WAS VERY GOOD TO ME.” ACCORDING TO THE COYOTE FLATS INTERVIEW, HAZUDA’S PARENTS IMMIGRATED TO CANADA FROM SLOVAKIA. HER FATHER CAME IN 1928 AND SETTLED IN THE TABER AREA, AND IN 1933, HER MOTHER FOLLOWED. HER PARENTS WORKED IN THE BEET FIELDS “FOR SEVERAL YEARS. THEN THEY SAVED ENOUGH MONEY AND BOUGHT A FARM IN PICTURE BUTTE.” HAZUDA WAS BORN IN 1935, THE LAST OF THREE CHILDREN. HER OLDER BROTHER, MICHAEL MATY, WAS BORN IN 1928 IN SLOVAKIA. HIS OBITUARY IN THE LETHBRIDGE HERALD EXPLAINS THAT HE PASSED AWAY IN 2008 AT THE AGE OF 79. HAZUDA HAD A SECOND BROTHER, “LITTLE GEORGE,” WHO WAS BORN IN 1934, DIED OF MEASLES AND PNEUMONIA IN 1937. IN THE COYOTE FLATS INTERVIEW, HAZUDA EXPLAINED THAT “WHEN MY PARENTS FIRST CAME TO CANADA AND THEY DIDN’T HAVE A HOUSE TO LIVE IN OF COURSE THEY WERE IMMIGRANTS SO THEY LIVED IN THIS GRANARY.” TIMES WERE OFTEN TOUGH IN THE EARLY YEARS IN CANADA FOR THE YOUNG FAMILY. IN HER INTERVIEW WITH GELINAS, HAZUDA DESCRIBED HER MEMORIES OF THE SITUATION: “I JUST, I JUST FIND IT HARD BECAUSE THEY HAD NOTHING; THEY LIVED IN A GRANARY. BUT YOU KNOW THEY WERE HAPPY, AND DAD HAD A HORSE AND BUGGY AND WE’D STILL GET OUT SOMEWHERE, SO MEMORIES ARE GOOD, VERY GOOD.” THIS PERSPECTIVE, HAZUDA EXPLAINED IN HER COYOTE FLATS INTERVIEW, WAS DEVELOPED LATER IN LIFE: “ONCE I GREW UP AND MOVED AWAY AND I THOUGHT I NEVER DID THINK THAT WE WERE POOR AND I GUESS WE WERE BUT I NEVER FELT POOR.” THE FAMILY LIVED IN BARNWELL (A VILLAGE OUTSIDE OF TABER) FOR MOST OF HAZUDA’S CHILDHOOD, BEFORE RENTING A FARMHOUSE AND THEN BUILDING A THREE-BEDROOM FARMHOUSE THEY BUILT, BOTH IN PICTURE BUTTE. HAZUDA STATED IN HER INTERVIEW WITH GELINAS THAT THE OBJECTS IN THE COLLECTION, INCLUDING THE LOOM, RUGS AND A TAPESTRY WERE CREATED WHEN THEY LIVED IN THE BARNWELL GRANARY AND CONTINUED TO BE USED IN THE SUBSEQUENT HOUSES. AFTER THE DEATH OF HER PARENTS, GEORGE MATY IN 1969 AND ANNA MATY IN 1986, HAZUDA AND HER OLDER BROTHER, MICHAEL, INHERITED MANY OF THE OBJECTS FROM THEIR PARENTS: “AFTER THEY PASSED AWAY, THEN I GOT SOME AND MY BROTHER GOT SOME.” FOR MORE INFORMATION, SEE PERMANENT RECORD.

Catalogue Number

P19940007001

Acquisition Date

1994-01

Collection

Museum

Less detail