#ThrowbackThursday: Getting Creative

Royal Ontario Museum Michael Lee-Chin Crystal. Bloor Street Entrance.

Published

Categories

Art & Culture
Textiles & Fashion
Blog Post
Museum

Author

Staff Writer

Blog Post

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.


Facsimile of a page from Burnham's journal. See transcript below.

Transcript:
Wednesday - September 8th.

Preparators did the lighting upstairs to-day. It's wonderful the way it brings everything to life. The horses got into place and the blankets hung up there. Labels are all getting covered with plexiglas & stands made for other labels. Supports are being made for the rope barriers.

Facsimile of a page from Burnham's journal. See transcript below.

Transcript:
Mostym made & put in place the bars to hold the rope barriers.

Harry up the ladder

and Ivan getting creative with the lighting upstairs. It must have been about 110° near the roof.

Bill Renison & Frank.

Don’t miss a thing

Get the latest information on exhibitions, programs, and ROM research delivered straight to your inbox.