Victorian Society of Alberta

What an excellent idea!

Dressing for winter in 1893 https://youtu.be/4tVHor3ZIig

"Here we come a wassailing among the leaves so green..."

The stove was the heart of the kitchen, heating the home and cooking meals. Sometimes premature animals were brought in and kept near its radiant heat until they were warmed up. The fine folks at Fort Steele demonstrate how they get their stove going. While they're using wood, coal was a very common fuel on the Prairies

From the wire. A cozy operators office in Ribstone Alberta 1957. While time has marched on there is much here that Victorian and Edwardian Telegraphers would immediately recognize. The sounder in its resonator on the left and the switchboard mounted on its standoff bracket on the right. A couple of interesting items are the enormous black machine on the wall that controlled the railway signal arms on the wall of the station outside, and the "mill" or typewriter sitting on the desk in front of the operator. The mill only had uppercase characters no lower case. While the telephone is being used the telegraph was still in operation as well.

Oranges were a great treat during the Victorian era, especially on the prairies. They also make a delightful decoration!

November 15-21 is Metis week.

In Remembrance of those who have served, Lest We Forget.

While Dawson City isn't in Alberta, it does have the architecture common to prairie towns in the late 1800's, early 1900's.

Christmas in High River, 1885

Today as we remember those who sacrificed themselves in service to Empire and in response to the commands of their Kings and countries. We must also remember that ALL the men and women who participated in WWI were "Victorians" and those who served in WWII were mostly "Edwardians". These two titanic conflicts changed the worlds of these people in unimaginable ways. Neither the Victorians or the Edwardians, as we tend to study and re-create them, remained when the smoke and dus...t settled. Not only did hundreds of thousands of them die, but the very cultural structures in which they had grown up were swept away. In 1914 a farmer in Western Canada, a fisherman on the coasts, a labourer in the factories of Eastern Canada, or a miner in the far north, went when their King called because that was what one did. 102 years ago when the guns fell silent at 11:00 AM on November 11th they did not know that everything had changed forever, but they hoped that at least war was done with. Alas their children found that was not true. There are none alive now who remember the world of WWI and few indeed that remember WWII. We owe it to them that we remember, we also owe their World, the Victorian and Edwardian World we celebrate, that it not be forgotten either. Lest we forget. God Save the Queen!

The humble apron