COMPACT

Description: CIRCULAR BRASS COMPACT WITH ETCHED EMBLEM OF FEMALE HEAD AND SHOULDERS. FACE AND BACK OF COMPACT HAVE INTRICATE ETCHED DESIGNS. INSIDE OF FACE HAS MIRROR WITH "ARMAND" ACROSS TOP ABOVE MIRROR. BELOW MIRROR IS "PAT-7-1-24" AND "MADE IN U.S.A.". COMPACT IS EMPTY. FINISH IS SLIGHTLY WORN.

History: COMPACT BELONGED TO DONOR'S MOTHER, LOIS NAKAYAMA (NEE MASUI YAO), WHO MAY HAVE OWNED IT PRIOR TO COMING TO VANCOUVER. LOIS NAKAYAMA WAS ORIGINALLY FROM JAPAN AND WAS A CHRISTIAN MISSIONARY TO THE JAPANESE COMMUNITY IN VANCOUVER WHEN SHE MET AND MARRIED G.G. NAKAYAMA IN 1926. SHE WAS A GRADUATE OF JAPAN'S KINDERGARTEN TRAINING COLLEGE AND WORKED EXTENSIVELY WITH YOUNG CHILDREN IN VANCOUVER, SLOCAN AND COALDALE WHERE SHE MOVED WITH HER FAMILY IN 1945. 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: “[THIS] WAS MY MOM’S AND IT WAS FILLED WITH KIND OF A HARD POWDER AND A LITTLE POWDER PUFF THING… WE HAD A CHEST OF DRAWERS WITH A MIRROR ABOVE IT [IN THE MARPOLE HOUSE], AND IT WAS KEPT IN THERE, IN THE TOP DRAWER… SHE WOULD PAT HER FACE WITH IT AND IT HAD THIS PARTICULAR SMELL. AND I USED TO LOVE HOLDING IT. IT WAS SO SMOOTH AND ROUND AND SMALL… SHE DIDN’T PUT POWDER ON EVERY DAY. SHE PUT IT ON FOR A SPECIAL OCCASION. AND SHE USED POND’S VANISHING CREAM A LOT… SO THIS CAME ALL THE WAY [TO SLOCAN AND COALDALE] WITH HER AND STAYED WITH HER, HER WHOLE LIFE… IT’S A MEMORY OF MY MOM. IT’S QUITE PRECIOUS TO ME.” SEE RECORD P19970041001 FOR EXPANDED BIOGRAPHICAL INFORMATION AND PERMANENT FILE FOR FURTHER HISTORY.