BLANKET

Description: BLUE, RED, YELLOW AND GREEN GEOMETRIC PATTERN WOOL BLANKET. PATTERN HAS BLUE BACKGROUND ALONG EDGE WITH FOUR PRONGED GEOMETRIC SHAPES. BACKGROUND IS RED DOWN CENTRE WITH GREEN DIAMOND SHAPED GEOMETRIC PATTERN. LONG EDGES OF BLANKET ARE FOLDED OVER AND SEWN. ENDS OF BLANKET ARE STRETCHED AND WORN. BLANKET HAS ONE HOLE WORN THROUGH MIDDLE.

History: DONOR RELATES THAT THE BLANKET WAS USED BY HER FAMILY AT SLOCAN CITY. 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: “WE HAD [THIS BLANKET] IN SLOCAN… IT WOULD HAVE BEEN USED EITHER ON THE BUNK BEDS OR IN THE LIVING ROOM… I REMEMBER THIS BEING MORE OF SOMETHING THAT COVERED THE MATTRESS… JUST A THIN MATTRESS AND LAID [THIS BLANKET] ON THERE. I REMEMBER IT AS BEING UNDERNEATH THINGS, RATHER THAN ON TOP… IN COALDALE THERE WERE OTHER BLANKETS… IT WAS SO COLD IN COALDALE [WE HAD] VERY THICK DOWN-FILLED QUILTS, MENNONITE QUILTS.” SEE RECORD P19970041001 FOR EXPANDED BIOGRAPHICAL INFORMATION AND PERMANENT FILE FOR FURTHER HISTORY.