#ThrowbackThursday: Endurance Test

In September, 1971, the ROM opened the landmark exhibition Keep Me Warm One Night, a kaleidoscopic display of over 500 pieces of Canadian handweaving. It was the culmination of decades of pioneering research and collecting by the ROM curatorial powerhouse duo 'Burnham and Burnham’, aka Dorothy K. Burnham and Harold B. Burnham.

To kick off the one-year count down to the ROM’s conference, Cloth Cultures (November 10-12, 2017), which will commemorate Dorothy Burnham’s many legacies, and to mark Canada’s approaching 2017 Sesquicentennial, we will be posting bi-weekly excerpts from Dorothy’s journal of Keep Me Warm One Night. We hope you will enjoy this unofficial glimpse into the bygone days of the ROM, and into the pioneering days of textile studies.

Transcript:
Friday, September 10th

This is the day that we have been aiming at having everything finished up, and we have almost made it. They worked on the lighting in the Armour Gallery. It was very difficult but looks well. The carpenters had a lot of fussy work covering the final labels with plexiglas. Nora finished typing them late in the day so some will have to be put up on Monday. It was decided that the big curved wall would be better red with white letters than white with red so it had to be repainted & the lettering will have to go on on Monday. Cleaning up & tidying has been going on all day& is well on. Odd jobs otherwise Harold had the touring committee of the Women all morning - they'll be giving tours every day

The heat has broken a bit but no cool air has made its way into Exhibition Hall yet - it's been a real endurance test

Transcript:
Harold with the Touring Committee

Bill