General Information

Serial #

N/A

Part Number

1

Total Parts

1

AKA

N/A

Patents

N/A

General Description

WOODEN WINNOW/ METAL PATCHES & STRAPS ON WINNOW/ METAL NAILS/ METAL WIRE

Dimensions

Note: These reflect the general size for storage and are not necessarily representative of the object's true dimensions.

Length

85.0 cm

Width

145.2 cm

Height

22.8 cm

Thickness

N/A

Weight

N/A

Diameter

N/A

Volume

N/A

Lexicon

Group

Agriculture

Category

Crop processing

Sub-Category

N/A

Manufacturer

AKA

Unknown

Country

Unknown

State/Province

Unknown

City

Unknown

Context

Country

Canada

State/Province

Quebec

Period

Unknown

Canada

This winnowing tray was collected by ethnographer Marius Barbeau in the summer of 1936. It was bought from Joseph Coté of St. Pierre, L'Île-d'Orléans. Mr. Coté sold an estimated 133 items to Mr. Barbeau for 280.00 dollars. Notes on the object in Barbeau’s inventory states as follows: “Fan (winnowing fan)”. Two fans were collected by Barbeau, a general fan and a millet fan; this is the general fan. Marius Barbeau was a renowned Canadian ethnographer and folklorist in the first half of the 20th century known for his work on Indigenous groups and collections of songs and stories. In 1936 and 1937 Barbeau travelled to Île-d'Orléans and other locales near Quebec City and bought hundreds of agricultural and domestic artifacts for a museum first developed by the Department of Agriculture in 1920. The former Department of Agriculture museum was located on the same site as the current Agriculture and Food Museum on the Experimental Farm property. Source: Listed on page 10 as number 230 under Joseph Cote’s name as “Fan (winnowing fan)” in the document “Artefacts_Min Agriculture Ottawa 1936” from the Canadian Museum of History’s archival fond entitled the Marius Barbeau fonds. Entreprise link: http://opentext/OTCS/llisapi.dll/link/6642150 This research was performed by volunteer Denise Steeves in November-December 2019.

Function

Winnowing trays are a human-powered technology that separates grain from the chaff. A worker would use this tool by scooping up grain and tossing it into the air.

Technical

Winnowing trays are an old technology that predate mechanical separation by threshers. Two fans were collected by Barbeau, a general fan and a millet fan; this is the general-usage fan, distinguishable from the millet tray by the embedded sieve.

Area Notes

Unknown

Details

Markings

HANDWRITTEN IN BLACK MARKER ON WINNOW TRAY IS: 'X-433 4.2'

Missing

None apparent.

Finish

WOOD IS UNFINISHED BUT HAS A GLOSS OR PATINA FROM USE/ WINNOW IS MEDIUM BROWN WITH WATER STAINS/ METAL PATCHES & STRAPS ARE BLACK/ BENT OVER NAILS VISIBLE ON TRAY & HANDLES

Decoration

N/A