JACKSTRAWS

Description: MULTI COLORED PLASTIC STICKS WITH TAPERED POINT ENDS. SEVEN ARE LIME GREEN. THREE ARE FADED GREEN, ONE OF WHICH IS BROKEN. THREE ARE WHITE. THREE ARE TRANSPARENT AMBER. ONE IS MILKY WHITE WITH MULTIPLE CRACKS AND FOUR BREAKS WHICH HAVE BEEN REPAIRED WITH GLUE. ONE IS WOODEN, AND SLIGHTLY SHORTER IN LENGTH THAN THE OTHERS.

History: PICK UP STICKS BELONGED TO DONOR AND HER BROTHER, TIM, WHO PLAYED WITH THEM AS CHILDREN. THEIR FATHER REV. NAKAYAMA MOVED HIS FAMILY TO COALDALE IN 1945 AFTER BEING INTERNED AT SLOCAN CITY IN THE INTERIOR OF BRITISH COLUMBIA IN 1942. THE FAMILY WAS ORIGINALLY FROM VANCOUVER WHERE THEY LIVED BEFORE WORLD WAR II. AT COALDALE HE FOUNDED THE ANGLICAN CHURCH OF THE ASCENSION WHERE HE WAS RECTOR FROM 1945 TO 1970. 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: “WE PLAYED WITH THEM A LOT, MY BROTHER AND I… I PLAYED IT IN COALDALE, PROBABLY IN SLOCAN TOO… MY MOTHER WOULD HOLD THEM, PUT THEM DOWN AND DROP THEM… YOU CAN’T ALLOW [THE STICKS] TO MOVE… YOU CAN TAKE ONE APART, AND USE IT TO TRY TO MOVE THE OTHERS IF YOUR HAND IS SHAKY. BUT IF ANYTHING MOVES, THEN YOU’RE OUT. AND SO IT GOES ON UNTIL SOMEBODY WINS… WE HAD TO BEG [MY MOTHER] TO PLAY. SHE’D COME MAYBE, [BUT MY FATHER] WAS A PRETTY BUSY GUY, SO HE HARDLY EVER PLAYED THESE GAMES… SOMETIMES I PLAYED BY MYSELF, THIS PARTICULAR GAME, AND I LOVED IT.” SEE RECORD P19970041001 FOR EXPANDED BIOGRAPHICAL INFORMATION AND PERMANENT FILE FOR FURTHER HISTORY.