Material Type

Artifact

Other Name

JEWELRY BOX?

Date Range From

1930

Date Range To

1940

Materials

WOOD

No. Pieces

2

Height

7.1

Length

17.6

Width

6.4

Description

HANDMADE RECTANGULAR WOOD BOX, LIGHTLY STAINED AND VARNISHED. INCLUDES DETACHABLE LID, WITH SMALL TAB NAILED TO ONE END AS HANDLE. PAINTED ON TOP SURFACE ARE WHITE, BLUE, RED, & GREEN FLOWERS. FADED. BOTTOM STAMPED "95749".

Subjects

CONTAINER

Historical Association

DOMESTIC

History

BELONGED TO DONOR'S MOTHER AND FATHER IN LAW, WHO IMMIGRATED TO CANADA IN 1948 FROM HOLLAND. PARENTS IN LAW WERE DIRKJE & THEUNIS (DOROTHY & TONY) ELZINGA. TONY WORKED AT ADVANCE LUMBER (CURRENT LOCATION OF EARL'S RESTAURANT) FOR 25 YEARS, RETIRING AS YARD FOREMAN. BOTH WERE ACTIVE IN THE FIRST BAPTIST CHURCH AND IN THE DUTCH COMMUNITY. *UPDATE* IN 2018, COLLECTIONS ASSISTANT ELISE PUNDYK CONDUCTED AN AUDIT OF ACCESSORIES, INCLUDING THIS BOX DONATED BY BERNICE ELDON. ON 2 MARCH 2018, PUNDYK INTERVIEWED THE DONOR’S HUSBAND, HARRY ELDON, ABOUT THE DONATION MADE BY HIS LATE WIFE. THE FOLLOWING INFORMATION HAS BEEN EXTRACTED FROM THAT INTERVIEW: ELDON DID NOT REMEMBER MUCH OF THIS JEWELRY BOX. HE EXPLAINS, “I DON’T HAVE A GREAT DEAL TO SAY ABOUT IT, BECAUSE MY MOTHER USED IT, AND I CAN’T… RECALL EVER SEEING IT. I MUST HAVE SEEN IT, BUT I DON’T RECALL IT. AND, SO IT’S STRANGE TO ME THAT MY MOTHER WOULD HAVE HID THIS… I GUESS IT’S A JEWELRY BOX…IT MAY HAVE BEEN A BOX THAT SHE KEPT HER COMBS IN, AS WELL…THAT MAKES SENSE TO ME, BECAUSE A JEWELRY BOX IS NORMALLY… HAS CLOTH IN IT TO PROTECT THE JEWELRY, RIGHT, AND THIS ONE DOESN’T, SO THIS ONE IS MORE ABOUT A COMB BOX…” IT IS SPECULATED THAT THE BOX CAME WITH THE FAMILY TO ALBERTA FROM HOLLAND, AS IT IS DATED TO BE FROM THE 1930S-40S. ELDON EXPLAINS, “WE BROUGHT ALL SORTS OF FURNITURE… A LOT OF STUFF THAT WE DIDN’T NEED BUT, ANYHOW, WE BROUGHT IT, AND USED IT… WE HAD THREE BIG CASES… [WHICH ARRIVED] A COUPLE OF WEEKS LATER, AND THEY WERE DELIVERED TO OUR HOUSE, AND WE HAD TO UNPACK IT, AND SHOVE IT WHERE IT HAD TO GO.” IN THAT INTERVIEW, ELDON RECALLED HIS FAMILY’S SETTLEMENT IN SOUTHERN ALBERTA, “[WE WENT] TO COALDALE FIRST [IN 1948]… [FOR] FOUR TO FIVE MONTHS… AND THAT WAS A MISTAKE. AND THEN WE WENT TO LETHBRIDGE. AND THEY STAYED HERE, AND DIDN’T GO BACK TO HOLLAND BECAUSE MOM DIDN’T HAVE… THE PROBLEMS THAT SHE HAD IN HOLLAND...” “IN HOLLAND, MY FATHER NEVER WORKED FOR A MAN,” ELDON EXPLAINED, “HE WAS A SALESMAN… [HE] HAD HIS OWN STORE... BUT IN 1940, WE MOVED BECAUSE THE WAR WAS STARTING, AND HE WOULDN’T STAY IN THE PLACE THAT HE WAS… I DON’T KNOW WHY WE MOVED, BUT [WE] MOVED TO FRIESLAND… [WHICH IS] A PROVINCE IN HOLLAND THAT IS ON THE NORTHERN EDGE, MAYBE 40-50 MILES FROM GERMANY. AND HE MOVED THERE TO BE CLOSER TO HIS PARENTS AND SIBLINGS. SO, THEN WE LIVED THERE FOR SEVEN TO EIGHT YEARS, UNTIL THE WAR WAS FINISHED, AND THEN WE DECIDED TO MOVE TO CANADA. BUT THAT WAS A BIT OF A MISTAKE AS WELL, BECAUSE [SOME OF] THE NEIGHBORS WERE MOVING, AND THEY SAID, ‘TONY’ – THAT’S MY DAD. HE WAS TINUS… IN HOLLAND, BUT THEY CALLED HIM TONY HERE – SO THEY SAID, ‘TINUS, WHY DON’T YOU MOVE AS WELL?’ AND [HE SAID], ‘HUH, I’LL TRY IT.’ AND, HE DID. WELL, IT WAS A DIFFERENT LIFE OUT HERE THAN IT WAS THERE FOR THEM… BECAUSE IT WAS EASY FOR THEM TO MAKE A LIVING [IN HOLLAND], AND IT WAS DIFFICULT FOR [THEM] HERE… BUT THEY ADJUSTED TO IT.” “AND, IN LETHBRIDGE, A JOB WAS PROVIDED FOR [MY DAD] AT THE ADVANCE LUMBER COMPANY… [THEY] LIVED AT 1318 6TH AVENUE SOUTH, AND THAT’S WHERE WE GREW UP. I WENT TO THE HIGH SCHOOL THAT IS NOT FAR [THERE]… WE COULD WALK IN 6-7 MINUTES. AND, THAT WAS IT… I HAVE ONE BROTHER, [AUKE], WHO IS 5 YEARS YOUNGER THAN ME; AND A SISTER, [MARY], WHO IS A YEAR OLDER THAN ME.” ALL OF THE ELZINGA CHILDREN WERE BORN IN HOLLAND BEFORE THE FAMILY’S IMMIGRATION. ELDON SAYS, “I WAS BORN IN ’35… [WHEN WE WERE MOVING] IT SOUNDED EXCITING TO SEE WHAT IT WAS GOING TO BE LIKE... AND [WHEN] WE MOVED… AS FAR AS WE WERE CONCERNED AS KIDS, IT WAS FINE…” “I WAS 12 WHEN I LEFT HOLLAND,” ELDON SAYS, “I HAD MY 13TH BIRTHDAY IN COALDALE. BUT, I’VE BEEN BACK TO HOLLAND QUITE A FEW TIMES BECAUSE OF MY BUSINESS, AND I HAVE GONE BACK AS WELL TO VISIT SOME COUSINS, AND WHAT-HAVE-YOU, THAT I KNOW THERE…” WHEN THE FAMILY FIRST MOVED TO CANADA, ELDON SAID, “WE BROUGHT ALL SORTS OF FURNITURE… A LOT OF STUFF THAT WE DIDN’T NEED BUT, ANYHOW, WE BROUGHT IT, AND USED IT… WE HAD THREE BIG CASES… [WHICH ARRIVED] A COUPLE OF WEEKS LATER, AND THEY WERE DELIVERED TO OUR HOUSE, AND WE HAD TO UNPACK IT, AND SHOVE IT WHERE IT HAD TO GO.” ELDON EXPLAINED, “MY MOTHER’S NAME AND MY FATHER’S NAME WAS ‘ELZINGA’, AND I CHANGED MINE, WHEN I WAS CLOSE TO GETTING MY DEGREE, AS CHARTERED ACCOUNTANT, TO ‘ELDON’, BECAUSE I DIDN’T THINK I WOULD GO THROUGH THE – WELL, THEY USED TO CALL US NAMES – AND SO I THOUGHT I WAS STARTING UP MY OWN ACCOUNTANCY, AND I DIDN’T THINK THE NAME ‘ELZINGA’ SOUNDED ALL THAT FAMILIAR. THAT’S A LONG TIME AGO.” A LETHBRIDGE HERALD ARTICLE STATES THEUNIS AND DIRJKE GAVE THEIR APPLICATIONS FOR CANADIAN CITIZENSHIP TO THE LETHBRIDGE DISTRICT COURT ON 2 FEBRUARY 1954. ACCORDING TO HIS OBITUARY IN THE LETHBRIDGE HERALD, THEUNIS (TONY) ELZINGA PASSED AWAY IN LETHBRIDGE AT THE AGE OF 73 YEARS ON 12 OCTOBER 1983. THE LETHBRIDGE HERALD PUBLISHED A THANK YOU FROM THE FAMILY FOLLOWING THE DEATH OF DOROTHY ELZINGA ON 10 OCTOBER 2000. THE DONOR, BERNICE ELDON (NEE LANCASTER), PASSED AWAY ON 6 NOVEMBER 2006. PLEASE SEE PERMANENT FILE FOR MORE INFORMATION, INCLUDING FULL INTERVIEW TRANSCRIPTION.

Catalogue Number

P19980071002

Acquisition Date

1999-07

Collection

Museum

Less detail