DRESS

Description: WHITE COTTON DRESS HAS PETER PAN COLLAR AND GATHERED SLEEVES. FRONT CLOSURE FLAP HAS WHITE EMBROIDERED FLOWERS AND DESIGNS. COLLAR HAS WHITE EMBROIDERED FLOWER DESIGNS AS DOES FRONT ABOVE GATHERED BREAST. COTTON LABEL INSIDE BACK OF COLLAR HAS JAPANESE SYMBOL AND "SHIROKIYA" EMBROIDERED IN ORANGE. DRESS IS YELLOWED AND HAS A NUMBER OF SMALL RUST STAINS.

History: DRESS BELONGED TO DONOR AS A YOUNG GIRL. THE NAKAYAMA FAMILY WAS ORIGINALLY FROM VANCOUVER BUT MOVED TO COALDALE FOLLOWING THE SECOND WORLD WAR WHEN THEY WERE INTERNED AT SLOCAN CITY IN THE INTERIOR OF BRITISH COLUMBIA BY THE CANADIAN GOVERNMENT. THE DONOR'S FATHER, REV. CANON G.G. NAKAYAMA, WAS AN ANGLICAN MINISTER IN VANCOUVER, AND THEN ESTABLISHED THE CHURCH OF THE ASCENSION IN COALDALE IN 1945 WHERE HE SERVED UNTIL 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: “MY MOTHER [WAS] VERY SENTIMENTAL… I THINK SHE TOOK WHAT WAS MOST PRECIOUS [FROM MARPOLE TO SLOCAN]. AND THAT MAKES ME WEEP, I MEAN THERE WAS SUCH A NEED TO KEEP PRACTICAL THINGS, AND YET SHE WOULD KEEP THESE THINGS… I WOULDN’T HAVE WORN THIS IN SLOCAN AT ALL – THIS IS A BABY THING… [MY MOTHER] WAS A VALUER OF THE PAST AND THE MEMORIES THAT WERE PRECIOUS… HOW SWEET SHE WAS TO HAVE DONE THAT. AND I JUST TOOK FOR GRANTED THAT THESE THINGS WERE THERE.” SEE RECORD P19970041001 FOR EXPANDED BIOGRAPHICAL INFORMATION AND PERMANENT FILE FOR FURTHER HISTORY.