Local Inventions
Southern Alberta has been a hub for ingenuity over the years. Charles Noble will be a familiar name to many in the region; in 1935 he invented the “Noble blade” to minimize disturbance to the soil and prevent erosion. Less well known, perhaps, is Otto Wobick, another farmer who tinkered with ways to kill weeds and thistle in his fields while leaving a stubble layer on the soil. In 1933 Wobick designed and named the “Paul Bunyon Cultivator” and had it built by Barons Blacksmith. The one-of-a-kind implement was never patented, although Wobick used it on his own farm.
Andrew Briosi was another inventor who must be mentioned because of the volume of machines he designed in the 1940s and 50s. Briosi was an irrigation farmer who spent his free time looking for ways to make farming easier. He is best known for his sugar beet lifter, which modernized sugar beet harvesting; but he also invented machines to “vacuum” grasshoppers off of farm crops and golf balls from the driving range.
Southern Albertan women have also put their minds to work in solving everyday problems. Alberta Stubbs of Lethbridge invented a folding cup in 1920. According to the patent documents, Stubbs envisioned a neat and compact cup that “can be readily carried in the vest pocket, or in a lady’s purse.” Chloe Davies, mother of six children, came up with a design for a portable urinal in 1921. She suggested the device could be used “by women and children when travelling, and without inconvenience to the user.” Decades later, in 1973, Catherine Jackimszyk invented a mop squeezer and pail designed to “reduce the drudgery ordinarily attendant with this type of work.”
As these examples show, southern Albertans have been resourceful in improving what was available to them—or creating what was not.
Past issues of the Lethbridge Herald have long served as an encyclopedia of community life, a Who’s Who of Southwest Alberta. However, not everyone was fairly represented. In the Galt Museum’s archives are images of Blackfoot people once featured in the newspaper without identification, leaving their stories untold. The 1,000 Faces Project was designed to bridge this gap by recovering and preserving their names in archival records.
Beginning as two humble columns in 1910, “Miladi” was a women’s section in the Lethbridge Herald, which quickly grew to a whole page later in the year. “Miladi” included everything from personal happenings to sewing patterns to Aunt Sal’s Handy Hints, which was an advice and information column written by Sara Nelson.
Photography and journalism have a long history in Lethbridge, dating back to the Lethbridge Herald’s first publication in 1906. Herald photographers have played a crucial role in narrating the city’s stories through their visual storytelling. More recently, the industry has gone through significant changes with the emergence of social media and various news channels.
Journaling is a great way to decompress, remember a great day, or spill some gossip. While you might hide your diary under your bed, these three journals are a part of the Galt Museum Archives. Take a glimpse into the lives of others as they log their year, trips, and even workplace drama.
In addition to Survivors of the Indian Residential School (IRS), survivors of other colonial school systems the Canadian government initiated and implemented for over a century and a half also deserve recognition. As a member of the Kainai (Blood Tribe) of the Blackfoot Confederacy in Treaty 7 territory in Alberta, Tiffany Prete’s research has involved analyzing the educational policies behind the IRS and other colonial schooling models.
The legacy of Evan Gushul extends throughout southern Alberta. As the son of Ukrainian immigrants, Evan grew up with a profound appreciation for his Ukrainian roots. The Gushul children attended music lessons, Ukrainian language classes, and Ukrainian dance classes, with his parents instilling in him the values of hard work and perseverance. Throughout his life, Evan applied these lessons, forging a storied career of his own.
As Southern Alberta’s only queer-mandated theatre company, Theatre Outré, has spent the last decade carving out space for a thriving alternative scene in the prairies. Now, we celebrate them for their iconic boundary-pushing theatrical productions, eccentric events, and unwavering devotion to Southern Alberta’s 2SLGBTQ+ community.
Though easily the most common form of body modification, the history of piercings often proves as subtle as the jewelry itself. Archaeological records suggest that humans have been piercing themselves for at least 5,000 years, often starting with the earlobe. Cultures worldwide have long used piercings to denote social characteristics or sacred rites.
Few constants exist in the ever-changing world of high school. Perhaps none have proven as nostalgically valuable as the portraits, signatures, and memories found in a high school yearbook. Much of Lethbridge’s own high school history sits in its shelves full of these volumes, dating as far back as 1922!
We might all have that one family member who can magically repurpose old fabrics into warm quilts. Some assume that making a quilt is simple, but the process is quite lengthy. Quilters must plan out their design, pin cloth together, and sew through many layers of fabric. The Galt Museum & Archives has a large collection of quilts. Within this collection are five quilts by Katherina Betts that were donated by her son Ed and daughter-in-law Gloria Betts.