Centennial swag: Memorabilia from Canada's last big bash
'They're in the collection for Islanders to enjoy for years to come'
Everywhere Canadians look this weekend, Canada 150 decorations and merchandise will be on display: flags of all sizes, hats, pins, T-shirts, banners and glow sticks.
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Believe it or not, some of these cheap trinkets have historical value, and will eventually end up in P.E.I.'s collection of artifacts — nestled alongside treasured items from centennial celebrations in 1964, 1967 and 1973.
"Everyone loves to collect souvenirs and commemorative memorabilia," said Lesley Caseley, registrar for the P.E.I. Museum and Heritage Foundation, a Crown corporation of the province.
The province's centennial collection includes badges, commemorative glassware, pins, coins, flags, and a map.
"They liked to put a logo and a symbol on everything," Caseley said. "We're happy that we have them here and they're in the collection for Islanders to enjoy for years to come."
But Caseley points out the bigger year for P.E.I. centennial celebrations — and merchandise — seems to have been 1973, when Island licence plates declared P.E.I. was "the place to be in '73."
'The place to be in '73'
For 1973, the provincial collection includes a painted ceramic decanter shaped like the head and shoulders of a father of confederation, made by the Hudson's Bay Company and — at one time, anyway — filled with rye whiskey.
"So you could lift off his head and have a drink of whiskey," laughed Caseley.
Other 1973-branded items include spoons, paper napkins, flags, and more.
One unique item from 1967 is a centennial 4-H project created by then 12-year-old Marlene Simmons of Wilmot, P.E.I., showing her sewing skills and some of the fashions of the era.
The province's collection is held in a warehouse in a Charlottetown business park, and its artifacts are periodically displayed at P.E.I.'s network of seven small museum sites including Beaconsfield in Charlottetown.
'Common item'
The collection is small and Caseley said the province welcomes more donations of such items — even though they may not have a lot of monetary value, they are valuable as historic artifacts, she said.
"The thing is, people saw it as such a common item, that sometimes they didn't keep it," she said. "Or they still have it in their homes, and they haven't thought about it."
"We are always looking for a unique item that tells an Island story," she said. Donated artifacts are accepted or rejected by a collections committee.
What does the collection tell historians like Caseley about the mood during centennial celebrations?
"I think they were feeling excited — it was a time of a younger country kind of finding its feet," she said. "There was a push to get to know people in the different provinces — so, we were diverse but united."
"The Island was excited to participate in that larger national pride," she said, noting many people made the trip to Expo '67 in Montreal — the marquee event of Canada's centennial year.
Your finds
Marcia Gardiner of Crapaud, P.E.I., has designed a special denim jacket to commemorate Canada's 150th, featuring "handmade red and purple maple leaves, military patches to acknowledge and thank our veterans, vintage Maritime athletic and commemorative patches, embellishments and beading," she said on Facebook.
The centre patch is from Charlottetown's centennial year, 1955, which she found at a P.E.I. flea market. Gardiner said proceeds from the finished jacket will support a local charity.
"This bracelet was given to the girls in my class on the last day of school in 1967. The boys were given medallions I think," said Lynette Hennessey, who was in Grade 5 at a one-room school in Newtown Cross, P.E.I., when she received the gift, which she still cherishes.
Katharine MacDonald, who owns the vintage shop Of the Island in Murray River, P.E.I., shared a couple of her centennial finds: a plate and a dishtowel.
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