Artifact of the Week - Glitzy necklace

This week’s featured artifact is a necklace with rhinestones or red glass pieces. This lovely, sparkly necklace was donated to the Museum by Diane Gayton.

Diane worked at the Museum as the curator from 1998 to 2004. Diane was a hobby seamstress who maintained a craft business while also working at the Museum. Diane and her husband Gerald had a farm adjoining the homestead that Gerald’s parents worked.

This glitzy and glamourous necklace showcases the style of the 1960s. It also brings to mind the gift giving associated with the most romantic holiday of the year: Valentine's Day. Giving jewelry to your sweetheart for Valentine’s Day became popular in the 1980s, when the diamond industry got involved in gift giving traditions.

This necklace is on display for the month of February, as part of our Valentine’s exhibit. 

PRMA 03.04.19

Artifact of the Week -1945 Valentine

Sent from the worst of times with the best of sentiments: little is known about this Valentine which was produced by the Salvation Army in 1945, and presumably sold to soldiers to send to their sweethearts back home.

PRMA, 00.023.250

This example bears the interior message, “to a very good friend with all good wishes –Jimmie” and a religious poem about parted lovers. The identity of Jimmie, his dear friend, and his fate in the war is lost to history. The front of the card bears a cartoon image of two cupids running an arrow through a heart. The card was found among the belongings of Peace River Resident Patricia Fishburne and donated to the museum in 2000.

PRMA, 00.023.250

Come see this item in person and many others featured in the Peace River Museum’s Valentine’s Day Cabinet Display, on now until the end of February.

Artifact of the Week - Black Magic Chocolate Box

We are less than a month away from the heart-filled and romantic holiday known as Valentine’s Day. As we approach this lover’s day, the Museum thought it would be nice to showcase a series of objects related to Valentine’s Day, starting with a Black Magic chocolate box. I am sorry to say, there are no chocolates left, but the box is still beautiful.

This iconic black and red box was donated to the Museum in 2009 by Colleen Hay (nee Pratt). Colleen’s parents, George and Vivian, owned and operated the Orange Crush bottling plant in Peace River until 1963 when they sold the business.

Chocolate, from its first documented instances through to modern times, has always been popular. The Mesoamerican peoples are the first to have enjoyed this food and made it into a bitter beverage, often with froth. When it reached the Europeans, they added sweeteners and turned it into the familiar bars and candies that we still enjoy today.

In the 1860s, chocolate became popularized and affordable for the masses. Previously it had only been available to those of nobility or rank due to its high cost. Very soon after it became affordable to all, it also became a traditional Valentine’s Day gift, perhaps because of its reported aphrodisiac qualities.

The Museum currently has a Valentine’s Day display in our Peace River Gallery. We invite you to visit us and experience the historic aspects of this most wonderful day.