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Noisy, brightly coloured, parakeets were once native to North America and some may even have visited what is now Canada! In 1615, Samuel de Champlain was so fascinated by the appearance of a bird that may have been a Carolina Parakeet that he followed it and ended up lost in the woods for three days! Canadian archaeologists have found artifacts that were made to resemble parrots and Carolina Parakeet bones were discovered at a 1100-1200 A.D. London, Ontario, site. With their noisy demeaner and bright green, yellow and red plumage, these 30 cm/12” tall birds naturally attracted attention. Some admired their feathers (which they desired to adorn their hats) while others mistakenly believed they damaged crops. Together with habitat destruction, these and other factors led to the extinction of the Carolina Parakeet by the early 1900s. Based on original art by Chester A. Reed (1876-1912).

Lucile Ltd., a London house of fashion established in 1893, was the creation of a woman who grew up on a farm near Guelph, Ontario (1863 - 1935). With filmy dresses and enormous hats adored equally by royalty and celebrities like Canadian actress Mary Pickford, Lucile startled and improvised her way to enormous success. Branches soon opened in Paris, New York and Chicago. In 1912, Lucile and her husband, Sir Duff Gordon, were among the fortunate few to survive the sinking of the Titanic near the coast of Newfoundland when it hit an iceberg during her maiden voyage. The inspiration for this design was an antique cast iron trivet. Much early such metalwork, with which Lady Duff Gordon would have been very familiar, was typically both beautiful and functional.

Did you know that waterways were to the people of the past what roads and highways are to us today? Canada borders on three oceans and encompasses almost 800,000 km² of freshwater including numerous lakes and rivers. The fact that many of these waterways are interconnected allows people, now as in the past, to travel great distances without roads. The canoes in this image were drawn by F. W. Waugh (1872-1924), an ethnologist, artist and photographer who mysteriously disappeared in Montreal while returning home to Ottawa from a research expedition to Sept-Îles, Québec.

Did you know that Canada's name means village in the language of a nation of Iroquoian-speakers who once lived in large villages along the St. Lawrence River? The inspiration for this design is a decorative motif often used by female potters who lived in these villages. If you visit museums in Ontario and Quebec, you are likely to see exhibits showcasing their work!