Hidden in a basement, behind three locked and alarmed doors, you'll find the history of Burnaby, that is, if you were allowed entry. Massive brass cash registers, taxidermy and sinister-looking dentist chairs all from a bygone era are only the tip of the iceberg. The weird and wonderful artifacts in the basement of the Burnaby Village Museum are not accessible to the public, but recently the Burnaby NOW was allowed to explore this treasure trove, under the watchful eye of the museum's curator Lisa Codd.
"There's all kinds of treasures behind the scenes. A problem that most museums have is that we don't always get an opportunity to display the objects in our collection," says Codd.
Some of her favourite items in the museum's collection are clothing.
"Textiles are inherently fragile, they're susceptible to damage from light and changes to humidity," she notes. Because of this fragility, "You're more likely to see clothing in the basement than on display," Codd says.
However, textiles aren't the only things hidden in the basement. Open any drawer in this restricted wonderland, and you're likely to find something fascinating, like hair art - yes, that's right, hair art. In the Victorian era, it was common for people to save hair from their loved ones in order to create intricate and strangely beautiful (if not slightly creepy) pieces of art. What better way to remember a deceased loved one than to wear a flowery broach made of their hair.
For our first venture into the museum's basement, we decided to focus on winter clothing from the 1920s to the 1940s. Forget about fleece and water-proof breathable materials, the best way to keep warm while skating on Burnaby Lake (which frequently froze over back then) was to cover your hindenburg with natural fibers like wool and fur. This was a simpler time, long before groups like PETA existed, so strolling the promenade with your chums, draped in a fox scarf with its head, tail and feet still intact was perfectly acceptable, even enviable as fur was somewhat of a status symbol.
Alas, it's 2014, hair art is just plain weird and wearing a dead animal biting its own tail is just plain wrong. Times have changed but not in the basement of the Burnaby Village Museum.
