Collections
The Tremain Collection
Gwen Tremain Runyard of California, USA donated a collection of northern clothing, models and crafts that was acquired by her parents, while they were living in the Northwest Territories (NWT) in the early part of the 20th century. Between 1914-1919, Gwen’s parents, Reverend Walter Spencer Tremain and Lottie Tremain lived in several NWT communities, including Hay River, Fort Norman (now Tulita) and Fort Simpson. Spencer Tremain was with the Anglican Diocese of the Mackenzie River and Lottie Tremain was a teacher and photographer. They brought a baby son, Lance, with them to the North. Their daughter, Lottie Winifred (Winnie) was born in 1916 in Fort Norman, and died in Fort Simpson in 1918. In the 1920s, the family moved to New Zealand where the donor was born. Gwen writes in her memoirs that before her parents left the NWT, people gave them many beautiful gifts to take with them. Through her parent’s memories and regard for the time they spent in the NWT, Gwen inherited a feeling for the people, places and time embodied by these treasured family objects. As a child many thousand of miles away, Gwen remembers that she “used to bring out all those glorious works of art and play with them, but I was always careful not to harm them as they were, even then, so precious and so beautiful”. She says her dream was that the items would return to the North so that young people could see them. We don’t know the names of the people who made these objects, but perhaps someone will recognize a particular style and we can learn more. Almost a century later, we are very lucky to see these pieces. Quotes found in the image captions are from email correspondence, and two manuscripts written by Gwen Tremain Runyard: Photographs: Susan Irving |
Click on the images to enlarge; use the |
