From Christmas carols to magic lantern shows, Christmas at the Poor House 1914 took visitors at the Wellington County Museum and Archives back to an earlier era of innocence.
Program coordinator Libby Walker explained “a lot of our events this year are dealing with the 100th anniversary of the start of World War I.
“Our major exhibit in the exhibit hall was Death and the County Soldier – telling real stories of individuals who died in the war, the circumstances and how it affected their families at home.”
Walker said staff came across a News article from January 1915 describing Christmas events at the poor house in December 1914. She noted in 1914 Belgium was overrun by Germany and, “Canadians and others in the British Empire rallied to create relief packages – even before the creation of soldier comfort packages, because at this point Canadian soldiers were not yet overseas.”
“Many people across the world thought the war would be over by Christmas,” but instead it got worse, she said.
“If you look at this in context, this was the last Christmas of pure innocence,” Walker said. “It inspired us to really go back to basics and look at what a Christmas party for a place like this would have been in 1914.” She said The Not So Grand Players were contacted and the group came up with a program of music from the era.
Crafts available for young and old followed the same theme, as did refreshments offered during the event – including fruitcake, Christmas pudding and shortbread – “all standard fare for this part of Ontario 100 years ago.”
To make it really festive, since the 1915 article referred to a stereoscopic show, staff made use of its magic lantern slides to create a show – not only of the slides, but how the magic lantern operated.
“It was very simple, very traditional and we think people enjoyed it,” said Walker.
