Object Record
Images
Metadata
Object ID # |
2011.068.001 |
Object Name |
Card, Souvenir |
Title |
1917 Embroidered Insert for a Souvenir Postcard |
Lexicon category |
8: Communication Artifact |
Date |
1917 |
Made |
Unknown |
Place of Origin |
France |
Description |
Colourful, hand-embroidered silk souvenir of France. The sheer white fabric is embroidered with "1917", and each part of each number is decorated with the flag of a 1917 ally nation: Great Britain (1), Belgium (left side of 9), France (right side of 9), the United States of America (1), Serbia/Montenegro (left side of 7) and Portugal (right side of 7). Below this, "Souvenir de France" is worked in mauve silk thread. There are also three pink and pale green flower motifs. |
Makers mark |
None |
Provenance |
Made in France. Dates to 1917. Belonged to Kenneth Russell McKay, a Canadian soldier who served overseas in France and Belgium. He was originally from the Annan / Leith area, Sydenham Township, Grey County. He was born on December 29, 1897. He enlisted in Owen Sound, Grey County on February 1, 1916, with the 147th Grey Overseas Battalion. He served in England and France, and was demobilized in Toronto on March 28, 1919. After the war, he moved out west, and became an educator and politician. He was the only member of his family to not be buried in Leith. Found inside his copy of "The Book of Praise" (1918), where he used it as a bookmark. Last owned by Donna McKay-Mills of Owen Sound. |
Collection |
Folk Art Collection |
Material |
Cloth/Embroidery Thread/Silk/Dye |
Dimensions |
W-4.134 L-2.165 inches |
Found |
Owen Sound, Grey County |
People |
McKay, Kenneth Russell |
Subjects |
World War I (First World War/The Great War) Embroidery Postcards |
Search Terms |
Vimy Ridge 147th Grey Battalion 4th Canadian Mounted Rifles Regiment Annan (Dunedin) |
Function |
This embroidered "1917" piece appears to have been hand-embroidered by a French civilian during the First World War. A great many silk embroidered inserts were made by French women that were put into souvenir thin cardboard postcards that Canadian soldiers sent home to Canada. This insert was also later used as a bookmark in a Canadian veteran's THE BOOK OF PRAISE in the post-war period. |