PIN

Description: HEART SHAPED WOODEN PIN WITH "JOY" HAND CARVED IN RELIEF. LETTERS OF PIN ARE COLORED WITH BLACK INK. SAFETY PIN CLASP HAS FALLEN OUT.

History: PIN WAS MADE FOR DONOR WHILE AT SLOCAN CITY DURING THE SECOND WORLD WAR, POSSIBLY BY HER FATHER, REV. 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 SHE BECAME A WRITER AND LECTURER OF RENOWN IN CANADA. MS. KOGAWA 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, AND MATCHING PIN P19970041072, KOGAWA SAID: “[THESE PINS] WERE GIVEN TO US BY SOMEBODY AND THEN I… PAINTED THE LETTERS BLACK ON MINE… [THEY WERE] MADE IN SLOCAN, BY SOMEBODY FROM THE COMMUNITY… SOMEBODY JUST CARVED THEM OUT… THESE WERE KEPT BY TIM.” SEE RECORD P19970041001 FOR EXPANDED BIOGRAPHICAL INFORMATION AND PERMANENT FILE FOR FURTHER HISTORY. *UPDATE* IN 2018, COLLECTIONS ASSISTANT ELISE PUNDYK CONDUCTED A SURVEY OF PERSONAL ARTIFACTS. NO FURTHER INFORMATION FOR THIS ITEM WAS DISCOVERED.