Tag: Artefacts

typewriter keys
Archives, Museum, Our Stories

Amy’s Typewriter

Clayton McLain Memorial Museum

Amy Rowswell (née Stephens) purchased this Remington Portable No. 5 typewriter in 1942. At the time, she was a student at the Normal School in Saskatoon studying to be a teacher. After receiving her certificate, she returned to Rockhaven to teach at Baldwinton, where she met Jack Rowswell. They married in 1952. Amy and Jack farmed south of Baldwinton, had three children, and eventually retired to the Town of Cut Knife.

Amy passed away in June 2023 and her family has kindly donated numerous items of historical value to the Clayton McLain Memorial Museum. Many personal stories will be attached to this machine. After all, it had been a part of the family for more than 80 years. However, this machine is also valuable in that Amy’s story points us to other stories, too.

THE TYPEWRITER

The idea of the typewriter first appears in 1714 as a Machine for Transcribing Letters, then again in 1830 as a typographer, but it’s not until the mid-1870s, that the typewriter appears on the market. Philo Remington, gun manufacturer, had purchased the production rights from Sholes, Soulé, and Glidden in 1873. In 1874, the Remington No. 1 was in production. By 1942, when Amy purchased her machine, typewriters were everywhere.

Typewriters became commonplace in office settings but also in people’s homes. They transformed the way people composed and produced written content and facilitate the process of manuscript preparation, typing letters and drafting professional documents.

The History of the Typewriter

THE NORMAL SCHOOL

Normal Schools were teacher training facilities created and funded by provincial governments. These institutions were designed to address the increased need for elementary school educators in the newly established public education systems.

The term “normal” derived from France’s École normale supérieure of the 1790s, and implied that teaching methods used therein would become the norm for all schools within the government’s jurisdiction.

The Canadian Encyclopedia

ONE-ROOM SCHOOLS

The school at Baldwinton, SD #4762, was one of many hundreds of one-room schoolhouses built in Saskatchewan in the early days of settlement. As both population and educational expectations increased, one-room schools were replaced with larger buildings appropriate for separate grade levels and multiple teachers. Baldwinton was in operation from 1929 – 1965.

These buildings were respected as centers of learning; they hosted community events; they were recognized as the framework within which the community grew – for the years they remained open. 

Clayton McLain Memorial Museum
Amy Rowswell’s Remington Portable No. 5

~ Debbie M.

outdoor exhibit machinery
Museum, Our Stories

Except One Thing

Clayton McLain Memorial Museum

Angie has been working the summer seasons at the Clayton McLain Memorial Museum since 2016. She’s the Staff Supervisor, Tour Guide, Jack-of-all-Trades, and most importantly, Assistant Curator who catalogues as many artifacts as she can, each summer, in between all of the above tasks and responsibilities. We are extremely fortunate that she is happy to return to the museum year after year.

A few weeks ago, we were talking about visitors to the CMMM and their responses to the Heritage Village. Angie noted that one of the most frequent comments she hears is, “You’ve got EVERYTHING here!” And, Angie’s response is always, “Everything. Except one thing.” Of course, we all want to know what that one thing is, and Angie’s answer surprised me, too.

The answer is jeans. Not just any old jeans, though. Angie’s referring to an authentic pair of old bib overalls that have a direct connection to the area. She said, “just ask if anybody still has a pair of Grandpa’s old jeans tucked away somewhere.” Unfortunately, both Angie and I know it’s not quite that simple.

For anyone who has an item they’re considering giving / donating / passing along to the museum, the Acquisitions Committee follows a strict set of guidelines to determine if a particular item should be added to the CMMM collections.

Read more:

On the other hand, a pair of Grandpa’s old bib overalls HAS to be relevant to the history of the area, doesn’t it?

~ Debbie M.

Museum, Our Stories

The Reel Mower

Clayton McLain Memorial Museum

Outdoor exhibits at the Museum include farm equipment, different modes of transportation, and a wide variety of tools. Pictured below is a vintage lawn mower. If you’re a person ‘of a certain age’, you may have actually used a machine similar to this one in your youth.

The first lawn mower was invented in England, in the 1830s by Edwin Beard Budding. By the 1900s, mechanized mowers powered by gasoline were on the market. Rubber tires came on the scene in the mid-1930s and, in the beginning, were an optional purchase. Gasoline and electric powered lawn mowers have been the norm since the middle of the last century and the technology for this tool continues to evolve. Now in stores are battery powered machines and, believe it or not, the reel mower is making a comeback!

For more information about the museum grounds, click here.

~ Debbie M.