Mystery 'hat' stumps staff at Fredericton museum, who seek help identifying it
A summer project of cataloguing textile artifacts has a Fredericton museum stumped: one item is not what it appears to be on paper.
"We are doing a major project with our textiles collection, going through every object we have that relates to textiles so that we can better identify them," said Holly Gallant, the collections manager for the Fredericton Region Museum.
Recently, they came across a woven item.
"We found the 'hat' yesterday, and we just thought it was a very unusual object, and even though all of our documentation says hat, we just were like it doesn't necessarily look like a hat," she said.
They don't have a lot of information on the unusual item.
"It was donated to the museum in June of 1966 by a woman named Ellen Thorburn, who was from Stanley, and she was actually a nurse during the Second World War. She was a hospital ship nurse so she actually did nine crossings of the Atlantic," Gallant said.
But the owner didn't leave much information about the artifact itself, and she passed away in the early 90s.
They're hoping social media can solve the case.
"There's been a couple responses, there was a really interesting result somebody linked us to a museum in Australia that looked like it had a similar object I haven't had a chance to really look, just at the photos like 'oh yeah' I definitely see the similarities,'" she said.
It wouldn't be the first time.
"A quilt actually that somebody donated was actually a Red Cross victory quilt and it had gotten separated from its paper work and we posted it and within a couple minutes we had his information and we were able to contact him and put that information into context which is so vital," Gallant said.
For now, the item remains a mystery, unless you know more.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
More than 115 cases of eye damage reported in Ontario after solar eclipse
More than 115 people who viewed the solar eclipse in Ontario earlier this month experienced eye damage after the event, according to eye doctors in the province.
Last letters of pioneering climber who died on Everest reveal dark side of mountaineering
George Mallory is renowned for being one of the first British mountaineers to attempt to scale the dizzying heights of Mount Everest during the 1920s. Nearly a century later, newly digitized letters shed light on Mallory’s hopes and fears about ascending Everest.
Toxic testing standoff: Family leaves house over air quality
A Sherwood Park family says their new house is uninhabitable. The McNaughton's say they were forced to leave the house after living there for only a week because contaminants inside made it difficult to breathe.
Decoy bear used to catch man who illegally killed a grizzly, B.C. conservation officers say
A man has been handed a lengthy hunting ban and fined thousands of dollars for illegally killing a grizzly bear, B.C. conservation officers say.
Sophie Gregoire Trudeau on navigating post-political life, co-parenting and freedom
Sophie Gregoire Trudeau says there is 'still so much love' between her and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, as they navigate their post-separation relationship co-parenting their three children.
An emergency slide falls off a Delta Air Lines plane, forcing pilots to return to JFK in New York
An emergency slide fell off a Delta Air Lines jetliner shortly after takeoff Friday from New York, and pilots who felt a vibration in the plane circled back to land safely at JFK Airport.
B.C. seeks ban on public drug use, dialing back decriminalization
The B.C. NDP has asked the federal government to recriminalize public drug use, marking a major shift in the province's approach to addressing the deadly overdose crisis.
'I was scared': Ontario man's car repossessed after missing two repair loan payments
An Ontario man who took out a loan to pay for auto repairs said his car was repossessed after he missed two payments.
First court appearance for boy and girl charged in death of Halifax 16-year-old
A girl and a boy, both 14 years old, made their first appearance today in a Halifax courtroom, where they each face a second-degree murder charge in the stabbing death of a 16-year-old high school student.