General Information

Serial #

N/A

Part Number

1

Total Parts

1

AKA

N/A

Patents

N/A

General Description

WOODEN HANDLES, TRAY LIP & RIM/ TIN TRAY/ METAL PATCH & NAILS

Dimensions

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

Length

71.0 cm

Width

142.6 cm

Height

9.0 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 Oscar Paquet of L'Île-d'Orléans. Mr. Paquet sold an estimated 39 items to Mr. Barbeau for 150.00 dollars. 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 Ile de Orleans 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 11 as number 249 under Oscar Paquet’s name as “Winnowing fan for millet seed” 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 millet fan, distinguishable by the sieve embedded in the fan.

Area Notes

Unknown

Details

Markings

HANDWRITTEN IN BLACK MARKER ON WINNOWING TRAY LIP READS: 'X-538 4.3'

Missing

From CA of 07/30/1997 by Sue Warren: No - Complete

Finish

UNFINISHED GREY/BROWN WOOD/ RUSTRY BROWN METAL PIECES

Decoration

N/A