The Last Best West: RETURN TO MAIN MENU


Immigrants' possessions: Clothing




CMC S95-05578
 

A Scottish settler living in Winnipeg in 1871 bought this Paisley shawl for his wife while on a return visit to his homeland. Paisley shawls got their name from the Scottish town where they were mass-produced by nineteenth-century weavers. Their designs were adapted from handmade, beautifully-patterned Kashmiri woollen shawls, imported from India in the late eighteenth century. "Paisley" became the popular name for the exotic patterns and the shawls themselves.





A Bukovinian (Ukrainian) immigrant brought this shirt with her in 1912, when she came to Canada at the age of 21. The shirt is decorated with coloured floral bead-work on the front and sleeves. It was donated to the Museum by the immigrant's daughter.

 
CMC S90-4156





CMC S93-2351
 

Black beaver hats like this one were traditionally worn to church by Welsh women in the mid-nineteenth century, over white lace caps. This particular hat was a family treasure, brought to Canada by a Welsh family that moved to Ontario in 1912.



Back