File consists of a white ribbon, and a club logo for the Girls' Sunshine Flower Club of Banff drawn in pencil on white linen fabric [n.d. and 1922]; three news clippings from 1935, and one from ca. 1941; two unsigned tags/labels for the club; a letter sent to The Girls' Sunshine Flower Club of Banf…
2 cm of textual records (7 items ; 21.5 x 28 cm or smaller -- 2 minute books ; 21 x 34.5 cm and 18 x 23 cm)
History / Biographical
The Dionne Quintuplets [Annette, Emilie, Yvonne, Cecile and Marie Dionne] were born on May 28, 1934 to Oliva and Elzire Dionne in Corbeil, Ontario. The five identical sisters were kept in The Dafoe Hospital for the Dionne Quintuplets from 1935, under the care of Dr. Allan Roy Defoe. As children, the quintuplets became a massively popular tourist attraction and were used as poster children for a variety of brands and products. A public tourist site, "Quintland", was constructed near their birthplace, and for years the quintuplets were observed by visitors through one-way glass windows. One of the quintuplets, Emilie, died from a seizure at the age of 20. As of May 2019, two of the sisters are still alive: Annette and Cecile.
Scope & Content
File consists of a white ribbon, and a club logo for the Girls' Sunshine Flower Club of Banff drawn in pencil on white linen fabric [n.d. and 1922]; three news clippings from 1935, and one from ca. 1941; two unsigned tags/labels for the club; a letter sent to The Girls' Sunshine Flower Club of Banff from The Dafoe Hospital for the Dionne Quintuplets in 1935; and two books of meeting minutes or the club. Clippings pertain to fundraising by the Girls' Sunshine Flower Club towards cancer research held during Silver Jubilee celebrations [for King George V] in Banff, and an annual Halloween tea event. Letter expresses thanks for a gift for the Dionne Quintuplets sent by the Flower Club, signed by Dr. Allan Roy Dafoe. One book of meeting minutes, dated 1940-1941, also contains meeting attendance logs at back for years 1940 - 1949. Second, larger meeting minutes book contains notes for years 1933 - 1940, as well as list of secretaries of the club for each respective year inside the cover.
Notes
Minutes book with entries from 1940 - 1949 has been placed in subseries B: 1921 - 1945 [and not subseries C: 1946 - 1970] as the vast majority of content in the minutes book is from 1940 - 1941.
Maud Kidney listed as President of the Girls' Sunshine Flower Club in records for 15 consecutive years [1933 - 1947]
Two minutes books are kept in separate file folder from rest of items for conservation reasons
Letter from A. R. Dafoe separated with acid-free barrier to prevent cross-contamination of dark coloured cover pages of minute books
Related Material
A 1963 news clipping pertaining to a reunion of the Girls' Sunshine Flower Club in Banff and 5 pages of notes/correspondence pertaining to the club, ca. 1960 - 1965, located in file M74 / IV / C / 1 and 2
Scrapbook is divided into sections with tabs labelled: Canadian, Britain, American, and Foreign. Scrapbook consists of newspaper clippings related to the Dionne Quints; political subjects; royalty and royal families in England, India, Denmark and Norway; celebrities and film stars; and sports: box…
Scrapbook is divided into sections with tabs labelled: Canadian, Britain, American, and Foreign. Scrapbook consists of newspaper clippings related to the Dionne Quints; political subjects; royalty and royal families in England, India, Denmark and Norway; celebrities and film stars; and sports: boxing, Joe Louis, football, billiards, tennis, baseball, horseracing, the Simpson sisters, and rodeo events.