BP Museum opens for the season
- Details
- Published on Thursday, June 4, 2015
By Lea Heschuk
Curator, Beautiful Plains Museum
Hello! My name is Lea Heschuk and I am the curator of the Beautiful Plains Museum again this year. I am excited to be back and am looking forward to another great season here at the museum!
We are redoing the floor in the basement this summer, so the basement will be closed for the season. However, we still have lots to see on our main floor, upstairs and in our railway car which opened last summer.
We have also been busy creating a new display on the main floor called “A Woman’s Work is Never Done”. This new display illustrates the life of the housewife from the late 1800s to 1940s.
The expression “a woman’s work is never done” truly conveys the life of the early housewife. Women always had their hands full. Whether it was sewing, baking, doing laundry, tending to chickens and cows, or looking after their children, there was always something to be done.
Laundry was one of the most time consuming tasks for women on the prairies in the early 1900s. Most early dwellings on the prairies did not have running water, so water had to be hauled from the nearest water source, which in some cases was a fairly long distance away. During the winter, women melted snow and ice on their wood stoves in order to get water. When the water was finished heating on the stove with the soap dissolved, they would scrub each item of clothing on the scrub board one at a time.
Once the dirt and stains were removed, the item of clothing would be wrung, rinsed and hung on the clothesline to dry. In the winter, most housewives let the clothes freeze dry on the clothesline and then brought the clothes inside to thaw and iron.
Between doing the laundry, women still had to cook meals, complete their daily chores and look after their children. So next time you feel like complaining about having to do laundry, think about the first women on the prairies who did not have the luxury of the washing machines and dryers that we have now.
I encourage you to visit the museum to see for yourself the challenges of housewives from the late 1800s to 1940s. We also have many other exhibits to see, including the Log Cabin, Jewelry and Watch-making Store, General Store, Post Office, Medical Hall, Children’s Room, Wedding Room, Fashion Room, Chapel and Railway Exhibit.
Feel free to stop by anytime during our business hours. In May and June: 9 am to 5pm Monday to Friday and in July and August: 9 am to 5 pm Monday to Friday and 1 pm to 5 pm Saturday, Sunday and statutory holidays. Call 204-476-3896 if you’d like to book a tour. The museum is located at 91 Hamilton Street in the former CNR station.
