Curling Sweaters - Spring 2013

The seasonal exhibit up now at the Kimberley Heritage Museum is all about curling sweaters, bonspiels, and curlers. Most curlers had hand-made sweaters crafted by themselves or other local knitters to wear during weekly club play. The heavy knit 'Cowichan Sweaters' are a trademark style developed in the 1860s by the Cowichan people of SE Vancouver Island. First done in solid colours, patterns were added in the 1890s:

 

Example of traditional motif - Cowichan Sweater - (M. Stang, donator)

By the 1940s, knitting pattern and yarn companies such as Mary Maxim were offering patterns for the so-called Curling Sweater as well as other themed patterns:

Mary Maxim graph-style knitting pattern - "Bonspiel Days" - for Men

Nordic Sportsman's youth's and ladies curling sweater pattern

Before long, commercial manufacturers such as White Ram of Calgary, AB and Indian Art Knitting were selling their versions of the sweater in finer wool: 

Fireman's League championship sweater: Seagrams Stone National Curling Championship 1972 - S. Jereb donor

The machine-made types of sweaters were mostly worn during tournaments when they first came out.


Bonspiels always had a lot of socializing off the rink. Below is the type of outfit worn to a more formal dinner associated with a bonspiel.

Late '50s ladies suit

Bonspiel Programme from February 1939

Up now and until about the end of April, 2013, be sure to come in and see our collection of curling memorabilia and curling sweaters, most of which were donated by Ina Hansen and Mae Shaw (see National Curling Champs 50th Anniversary blogpost)

Dianne Cooper, volunteer

National Curling Champs 50th Anniversary

2012 marks the 50th anniversary of the 1962 dawn of the awesome accomplishment of Kimberley women in the realm of Canadian Curling.

Fifty years ago, the Ina Hansen ‘rink’ (aka curling team) with Ada Callas as third, Isabel Lieth as second, and May Shaw as lead, won the second ever Canadian Women’s curling championship as representatives of British Columbia!

Over the next two years, they went on to win a three-peat provincially, a feat not repeated until January 2012 when the Kelowna rink skipped by Kelly Scott won their third BC spiel. Then, the Hansen rink were runners-up nationally in 1963, and once again National Champs in 1964.

To mark this 50th anniversary, the Shaw family, Bill of Red Deer, AB; Barb of Ottawa, ON; and Larry of Cranbrook, have generously donated a shadow box featuring memorabilia of their mother, May (Mae) Shaw to the Kimberley Heritage Museum.  By special request of the family, the shadow box is on loan to the Kimberley Curling Club at 523 Archibald St, Kimberley BC;  ph 250 427 2591

Other of Shaw's items donated to the Kimberley Heritage Museum  include sweaters, tournament pins, photograph albums, newspaper clippings, shoes, award certificates, and another tam - like that currently on display at the Museum.

The shadowbox arrives and is signed in

Bill Shaw and Gord Jenkins bring in the shadowbox

 Bill Shaw signs the donation in to the Museum

All donations to the Kimberley Heritage Museum are signed over by the donor. Then the items are accessioned:  each item is marked with a number corresponding to hard copy and digital files. These files contain all available information of the 'who, when, where, and what' of the item as well as standardized categories common to all museums as well as local significance.

After accessioning, curator Marie Stang, assesses the storage and preservation needs of each item and decides where and how to store or display it.

The plan for Mae Shaw's items (not including the shadowbox, which is on display at the Kimberley Curling Rink) is to use them in new 'back wall' display in the main gallery about this 50th anniversary, coming in the summer of 2012.

Bill Shaw takes in the Museum display, recalling how much work it was to 'break-in' a new straw broom

Curling History:

summarized from the 'curling dot ca' website

Kimberley women’s national championships:

1962 – won the second ever Canadian Women’s (Diamond D):

                             Ina Hansen, Ada Callas, Isabel Leith,  May Shaw

1963 – again represented BC at Canadian Championships (Diamond D):

                             Hansen, Callas, Leith, and Shaw

1964 – won the fourth ever Canadian Women’s (Diamond D):

                             Hansen, Callas, Leith, and Shaw

1973 – won the first ever Canadian Senior’s Championships:
                             Calles, Hansen, Shaw, and Barbara Weir

General Curling History

1927  –  Men         –   first Canadian Men’s national championship – the Brier

• held in Toronto, ON at the Granite Club

• sponsored by The Macdonald Tobacco Company

• won by skip Professor Murray Macneill of Halifax, NB with a team made up of 3 other skips recruited at the last minute

1960 – Women     –  first east / west women’s championship

• held in Oshawa, ON

• won by the Joyce McKee rink, Saskatchewan

• prior to this, a western Canada championship was sponsored by the T. Eaton Company; the east had only individual provincial championships. 
  

1961  –  Women   –    first Canadian Women’s national championship

• The Dominion Diamond D held in Ottawa, ON

• sponsored by Dominion Stores Limited

• won by skip Joyce McKee from Saskatoon, SK

1973  –  Senior Women     –   first Canadian senior women’s championship

• won by the BC team skipped by Ada Calles with Ina Hansen, May Shaw, and Barbara Weir

Gord Jenkins and Bill Shaw letting us get a good look at the shadowbox

 See the Framing Nook's photo of the shadowbox here

The involvement of Kimberley people in all aspects of Canadian Curling was and continues to be quite extensive - much more than this little snapshot can provide.  Thanks for reading!

The Scotties Tournament of Hearts is happening as we post!


(Dianne Cooper writer and photographer, 18 Feb 2012)

Sports Memorabilia Spring 2012 - Starting January

In honour of the 80th Anniversary of the Kimberley Dynamiters hockey team, the Museum seasonal exhibit space is featuring memorabilia of some our citizens' significant sporting endeavors: hockey and curling, in particular.

Hockey

On display - Dick Vincent's Jersey

A little frayed around the edges, this jersey was worn by Dick "The Bear" Vincent, right winger for the Dynamiters for 14 years.  He started with the Dynamiters in the 1961-62 season, the teams first year in the 'new' Civic Centre Arena.

 Dick Vincent started playing hockey in high school in Otterbutne, near Pine Falls, Manitoba. Next he went to Flin Flon, MB and Portland, Oregon, USA before coming to Kimberley. He and his wife, Alma, settled and raised their family; Dick was employed as a millwright with Cominco here in Kimberley and Alma was a substitute teacher.

March 8th 1975 at the Civic Centre Arena was an "Appreciation Nite" for Dick Vincent. Below are some excerpts from the souvenir programme handed out that night:

     "the WIHL highest scorer ever ... 800 points with 340 of them goals"
  

     "The burly right winger build is the recommended brick out-house on skates"

The souvenir programme goes on for 16 pages with accolades and exploits, to and of a great local hockey player.

Links:

Photo: https://basininstitute.org/search/details.html?id=13339

Stats:  http://www.hockeydb.com/ihdb/stats/pdisplay.php?pid=12542

Curling

On display - Canadian "Diamond D" curling champ, Ina Hansen's sweater

This is the sweater worn by Ina Hansen when she, along with Ada Callas, Isabel Leith, and May Shaw, as representatives of British Columbia, won the Canadian Diamond D Curling Championship in 1964.

The sweater, made by the White Ram Knitting Company of Calgary, Alberta, is as it was when acquired by the Museum, with Mrs. Hansen's personally collected pins from her many bonspiels and tournaments.

Here is a photo of her in this sweater, when the team were runner's up in 1963 (Columbia Basin Institute of Regional History).

Also on display in the Museum, is Mrs. Hansen's sweater from her win as Canadian Seniors Champion in 1973, along with Ada Calles and May Shaw, again, and Barbara Weir.

.... AND many more artifacts!