PEN

Description: STYLUS STYLE WOOD PEN IS GREEN ON END AND BLACK ON GRIP. PEN HAS BRASS NIB WITH "ECLIPSE" LOGO. GREEN PAINT IS HEAVILY WORN AND CHIPPING.

History: PEN WAS USED BY DONOR WHILE AT SLOCAN CITY INTERNMENT CAMP FROM 1942 TO 1945. HER FATHER WAS REVEREND G.G. NAKAYAMA. JOY WAS BORN IN VANCOUVER AND MOVED TO COALDALE FOLLOWING INTERNMENT IN SLOCAN CITY IN THE INTERIOR OF BRITISH COLUMBIA DURING THE SECOND WORLD WAR. AFTER LEAVING COALDALE MS. KOGAWA BECAME A WRITER AND LECTURER OF RENOWN IN CANADA. SHE IS THE AUTHOR OF SEVERAL BOOKS INCLUDING "OBASAN" AND "THE RAIN ASCENDS". FROM AUGUST 29 TO 31, 2011 COLLECTIONS TECHNICIAN KEVIN MACLEAN INTERVIEWED THE DONOR, JOY KOGAWA, ABOUT HER MEMORIES ASSOCIATED WITH SPECIFIC OBJECTS THAT SHE DONATED IN 1997. OF THIS ARTIFACT, KOGAWA SAID: “THAT WAS MY PEN THAT I USED TO LEARN TO WRITE… IN GRADE 4… SO WE JUST HAD THESE NIBS, AND WE WOULD HAVE MORE THAN ONE OF THOSE, AND WE WOULD DIP THIS INTO THE INKWELL, RUB IT OFF, SO THAT THERE WOULDN’T BE TOO MUCH, DRIP IT OFF. AND THEN WE’D WRITE A LITTLE BIT, THEN DIP IT BACK IN AND WRITE A LITTLE BIT MORE… I COULD NOT WRITE WELL AND MY HANDWRITING HAS NEVER BEEN GREAT… I DID WRITE THINGS DOWN IN SLOCAN, I WAS ALWAYS TELLING STORIES… I WROTE POEMS… STORIES JUST WENT THROUGH ME ALL THE TIME, ANYTIME, STILL DO.” SEE RECORD P19970041001 FOR EXPANDED BIOGRAPHICAL INFORMATION AND PERMANENT FILE FOR FURTHER HISTORY.