Kevin Bonish Donation

Thank you to Kevin Bonish for his donation of sports and school memorabilia. The acquisitions committee is in the process of sorting and deciding what can be kept according to our mission statement and limited space.

I am quite excited by the photo record of one room school houses taken circa 1949 for Cupar School Unit #28.  Many if not most of these schools no longer exist.






We are fortunate to now have a record of 73 schools and one day we hope to find those that are missing.

MUSEUM SILHOUETTES

The silhouettes designed and constructed by Jim and Linda Adam have been restored by Mike Lorencz and Wes Bailey. Once again they grace the exterior of the museum.

WWI Display

This summer's special display on WWI has been completed and is now up at the museum.

 

After the summer many of the framed items will be kept in a binder for future reference

and accessible for future displays and research. Also of interest are numerous attestation

papers and letters from the front between 1914-1918 written by local soldiers serving overseas.

Cupar School Tour

Mrs. Wiers and her 27 kindergarten/Grade I students toured the museum June 25.

They were full of energy, yet very attentive.

 What is a school room without students.

Each student keeps a journal, so when they returned to school each had to note down 5 things they learned.

I was impressed with Mrs Wiers approach to our artifacts, linking them to items the children see in their daily lives. Such as a wall crank phone to an i phone or a chalk slate to an i pad.

Memory of Fallen WWI

This curtain still hangs in the Cupar Town Hall, a little worse for wear and many years of people smoking.  It was painted by L. Hazelaar in 1951.

Normandy 1944

Cupar has a connection to Normandy in the sacrifice of a number of young men.  I was able to find information on 2 of these men.

 

                                                                     

WWI postcards

Canadian soldiers in World War I spent many long hours in the trenches just waiting.

To help pass the time some soldiers like “Uncle Bill” did embroidery. This particular embroidered post card was sent July 10, 1917 from France.  Soldiers were not allowed to disclose their exact location. 

 Bill was engaged to Nellie, the Aunt of Edna Elliott ( age 4 ). Bill never returned from France.

Another kind of postcard was basically a form or fill in the blank style.

Archaeocaravan

The Archaeology Caravan arrived May 28^th at the Cupar Museum. Thanks to Loni and Maria for their wonderful presentations and hand on activities for the school children.

Each group had approximately a one hour session, so from 9:30 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. Kindergarten and grades 1, 2 , 3 , 6, 7, 8  or about 100 participated in bison spearing, artifacts identification and reassembling pottery shards.

After 3:00 p.m members of the public brought items for identification. 

MAS Conference Swift Current

Okay, yes I am a bit of a social butterfly. I love meeting people and flittering from place to place.

Eventually I wear out and head back into my cocoon.

If you ask me for “ the highlight “, only one, well I refuse, it's impossible.

My favourites:

Brenda Robinson's keynote speech stayed in my head the entire conference and kept me smiling.

Loved the musical group The Midnight Roses. They kept me toe tapping and awake beyond my bedtime which is early when I am ill.

The all day guided bus tour which included Hugh's running commentary of Swift Current and area was amazing. The 4 museums we visited: Mortlach, Morse, Herbert and Doc's Town were all different, but the volunteers were equally enthusiastic and hospitable to the 50 odd people who descended upon them.

Thank you to everyone who spent so much time making the entire conference memorable, including organizers, speakers and us who came enjoyed and left. P.S. Got my garden in before the rain.

Qu'Appelle Valley Network Meeting 3 May 2014

I look forward to attending the Qu'Appelle Valley Network meetings whenever I am free to go. I enjoy checking out the displays of the host museum, in this case Indian Head, of getting updates of network museum activites and of the mini workshops presented by MAS, in this case collection management.  Although brief these workshops are always informative. Our Network again received a grant from MAS for $600 and is putting it toward placemats featuring our network museums. Last year we did a brochure. We also had a tour of the Bell Barn after the meeting.

Qu'Appelle Valley Museums

2014 Calendar of Events : Look for posters in your community for these events
and those not yet scheduled.

May 24  –Bell Barn Indian Head – Lobster Supper

May 25  –Sunday Open House –Abernethy Museum

May 28  Cupar Museum Archaeocaravan Students 9am-3pm, Public 3-5pm

May 31 10am Wolseley Museum Auction

June 11  7pm –Dysart - Opening of new Sports Arena

June 21  Saturday, –Cupar Museum – Strawberry Social

July 1  –Motherwell Homestead –Free Admission

July 11  1:30pm –Dysart Museum High Tea

July 19  –Simple Fun Festival, Kronau

July 19  Saturday –Motherwell –Field to Fork Festival

August 9  Saturday, 1:30 –Dysart Museum Day

August 10  Sunday, –Indian Head Museum Open House

August 16 Saturday –Motherwell – Binding Festival

August 17 Sunday - Bell Barn Indian Head –Horse Fair

August 30 Saturday –Motherwell -Threshing Festival

September 28, Culture Days - Kronau

October 4 –Cupar - Harvest Lunch / Culture Day Expo

October 18 –Fall Fundraiser –Kronau

December 6 –Santa Store –Kronau

December 14 –Christmas Program - Kronau

Grant Sask Culture

On behalf of the Museum Board I would like to thank Sask Culture for awarding us a Sask Culture Museum Grant for 2014. Our Board and our many volunteers have spent countless hours in meetings, assisting with programming, fundraising, communication, research, social events, and up keep of our building and grounds. These monies are greatly appreciated and will be well used.

We also realize that Sask Culture support is also assisted by Saskatchewan Lotteries. Thank you.

Arthur Whiskin Photo

I would like to thank the Saskatchewan Military Museum in Regina for providing us with a digital copy of a photo of Arthur Whiskin from WWI. I was not aware that such elaborate photos existed.
It is hard to believe it was found at a garage sale.

 Unfortunately there is only one letter in the Cupar Herald from Arthur dated 14 Dec 1916. You can find it on my post entry for 16 Nov 2013. From what I have found it appears his brother Frank was the real letter writer.

Christmastide

The Cupar Cracker was a booklet published during WWII and intended to be sent to the soldiers overseas.  I thought at this time of year some of you may be interested in a sampling of what the clergy had to say. Christmastide Dec. 24 to Jan. 6

Christmas 1942

 Christmas 1943

Christmas Shopping

Here are a couple of samples of ads for Christmas shopping in Cupar.  Certainly there are fewer stores in comparison to the early years but you can still do Christmas shopping in Cupar.  Since the beginnings of Cupar the newspaper and editorials promoted the need to shop locally, the same is true today.

 Cupar Herald Dec 15 1910                                                                Cupar Herald Dec 2 1915

One of the innovative shopping ideas for today is the Cupar Library's Kid's Christmas shopping day. It is in it's third year.  People donate gifts and the children come and shop, many items are under $5.