[BCMA] Arms and the men - Male mannequins wanted

Mon Dec 13 12:25:36 PST 2010

The Seaforth Highlanders of Canada Museum and Archives in Vancouver is also looking for "a few good men" in decent poses. 
* must not have "lost their heads" (all or in part), 
* must not be playing golf 
* must not be slouching on a chair with legs spread wide (after all they may end up wearing kilts in our museum) 
* must have "short" hair not wavy bulky styled "hair" (solid is fine - not worried about wigs) Bald is OK too as we have hats and helmets. 
In other words, typical of older mannequins (1930s-1960s) in the standard upright position. 
We are choosers, not beggars.

Ditto for teenage boy mannequins which are acceptable as our soldiers were often smaller, 18 or 19 years old (sometimes as young as 16) and we also have Royal Canadian Army Cadets (ages 12 to 18) and their uniforms are small. Yes, we have and have had females serve in the unit but we have no female uniforms at this time. We can repaint the mannequins and do minor repairs. We do not use the stands as I have seen too many rare boots and pants ruined by people making holes for the rod to fit into the foot or calf. 

We especially need a 3 to 5-piece male mannequin (one piece body and two arms with hands) as I have obtained from the Army much of the kit of Capt. Trevor Greene from our regiment who was hit on the head with an axe in Afghanistan in 2006 while meeting with village elders. He survived, lives in Nanaimo and is making amazing progress but still has a long way to go. The present mannequin (two piece main body) on display cannot take the weight of the flak jacket, so that has to be displayed at the feet of the mannequin - and I still have to add the inert grenades, rifle magazines etc.  

We can also use some more male torsos on stands as we have lots of uniforms. 

I am back as Curator for the third time having started the museum 38 years ago in 1972. We used to have more mannequins that I had scrounged from Woodward's but after being away from the museum for years, I noticed that some of the mannequins were no longer there, nor was the 100% complete 1970s Combat uniform that I had donated. I asked about them and was finally told that years ago, Captain "X" had taken one or more of the mannequins with uniforms on them out to the grenade range and had used them for target practice ... and you thought you had problems with moths and Board members! 

Please pardon my paranoia about locking things up! 

Of course, I have also had to deal with the disposal of a live 2" mortar bomb that I found unaccessioned and on display. Life is not boring in military museums. 

Colin MacGregor Stevens,
Curator,
Seaforth Highlanders of Canada Museum and Archives (Est. 1972)
An official Canadian Forces Museum
seaforthmuseum at gmail.com 

also

Manager,
New Westminster Museum and Archives,
302 Royal Avenue,
New Westminster, BC,
V3L 1H7, Canada

Phone Office:    604-527-4639
Work Cellular :  604-830-6965
Fax:                    604-527-4641
E-mail: cstevens at newwestcity.ca 
Web Site: www.newwestminster.ca 
Normal work week: Sun-Thurs 9-5, OFF Fri-Sat.

The New Westminster Museum and Archives (NWMA) consists of:
   * City's Museum (est. 1950)
   * City's Archives
   * Irving House (built 1865)
   * Maintenance of the Samson V Maritime Museum (paddlewheel ship built 1937; museum since 1984) 

-----Original Message-----
From: Moderated BCMA subscriber listserv. [mailto:bcma at lists.vvv.com] 
Sent: Saturday, December 11, 2010 10:52 AM
To: bcma at lists.vvv.com
Subject: Re: [BCMA] Arms and the men

Our Summerland Museum is desperately in need of any available mannequins . 
So please keep us in mind.
thanks
Sharon Stone, Administrator
Summerland Museum
tel: 250-494-9395
fax: 250-494-9326
www.summerlandmuseum.org

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Moderated BCMA subscriber listserv." <bcma at lists.vvv.com>
To: <bcma at lists.vvv.com>
Sent: Thursday, December 09, 2010 8:54 PM
Subject: Re: [BCMA] Arms and the men

1)  Someone just dropped off a right arm in my office this afternoon.   Give
a call and we will see if it fits your need.

2)  The Lloydminster Museum used to have an exhibit of six military
uniforms, each apparently donated by a Board member, and therefore each
required to be displayed.    While visiting the place, I rounded a corner
and saw the dioramic group of department store mannequin soldiers standing
smilingly there with their tidy uniforms.   Included in the group was one
proud upright soldier with no legs.   The pants were rolled up and the torso
was completely uniformed.   I immediately thought it was to represent an
amputee, and thought it a rather bold and clever display.   Later, in
speaking with the curator, I learned that the museum only had five complete
mannequins and several parts donated from the local HBC store, and that the
six board members could not decide whose uniform would not be shown.    They
just decided not to notice the fact that legs were missing on one, and were
simply proud to see all the symbolic uniforms on display

Cuyler
MMBC
Victoria

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Moderated BCMA subscriber listserv." <bcma at lists.vvv.com>
To: <bcma at lists.vvv.com>
Sent: Thursday, December 09, 2010 2:01 PM
Subject: [BCMA] Arms and the men

Greetings -

Our museum needs a set of old-fashioned department store mannequin arms, you
know - a left and a right arm.
Pardon the pun, but this is a call to arms to all museums...
We'll pay shipping etc.

Clare Sharpe
Administrative Assistant/Webmaster/Volunteer Coordinator |Assistant
Administratif/Webmaster/Coordonnateur Volontaire
CFB Esquimalt Naval & Military Museum | Musée naval et militaire, Base des
Forces canadiennes Esquimalt
Victoria, BC V9A 7N2
Clare.Sharpe at forces.gc.ca
Telephone | Téléphone 250-363-4312/ Facsimile | Télécopieur 250-363-4252
www.navalandmilitarymuseum.org

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