Museums are about more than just collecting things—what we really collect are stories. That’s why we recently acquired the rather plain looking desk pictured here.
The desk is a bit small by today’s standards--five feet, or 1.5 meters long. It might remind you of the kind of teacher’s desk that stood at the front of every grade school classroom (at least in the 1970s and early ‘80s, when I was in grade school myself). It’s solid wood, likely oak, from around the turn of the 20th Century—and otherwise looks rather unremarkable.
But, this was a lawyer’s desk. Specifically, it’s the desk of Ivan C. Rand, of the firm Laidlaw, Blanchard & Rand, Medicine Hat. Rand himself was from New Brunswick, and graduated from Harvard Law School in 1912. That same year, he, like a good number of other people, headed to Medicine Hat, “the smokeless Pittsburgh of the west,” to make his fortune in the city that was a booming manufacturing centre due to its huge reserves of cheap natural gas. Unfortunately, his timing wasn’t great; Medicine Hat’s boom went bust by 1914; world war, drought and depression followed.
Rand stuck it out in Medicine Hat longer than a lot of other people, though. He continued to practice law here, at this very desk, until 1920, when he returned to New Brunswick (leaving the desk behind). He did well for himself—named Attorney General of New Brunswick in 1924, and served as a member of New Brunswick’s Legislative Assembly. In 1943, he was appointed to the Supreme Court of Canada, and developed the “Rand Formula,” a cornerstone of Canadian labour law, in 1945. Following World War Two, he was on the United Nations Special Committee on Palestine, chaired a Royal Commission on improper stock trading, and was the first dean of the law school of the University of Western Ontario. He was made a Companion of the Order of Canada shortly before his death in 1969.
So, Rand wasn’t a native Hatter, didn’t stick around town all that long, and all of his major accomplishments were made elsewhere. But, Medicine Hat is where he first practiced law, which laid the foundation for his illustrious career. More importantly, though, this piece represents all those who brought their hopes and dreams to Medicine Hat during the boom years of 1908 through 1913, only to leave again when the ‘Hat fell on hard times.
So much more than just a plain, old, small desk….
The desk is a bit small by today’s standards--five feet, or 1.5 meters long. It might remind you of the kind of teacher’s desk that stood at the front of every grade school classroom (at least in the 1970s and early ‘80s, when I was in grade school myself). It’s solid wood, likely oak, from around the turn of the 20th Century—and otherwise looks rather unremarkable.
But, this was a lawyer’s desk. Specifically, it’s the desk of Ivan C. Rand, of the firm Laidlaw, Blanchard & Rand, Medicine Hat. Rand himself was from New Brunswick, and graduated from Harvard Law School in 1912. That same year, he, like a good number of other people, headed to Medicine Hat, “the smokeless Pittsburgh of the west,” to make his fortune in the city that was a booming manufacturing centre due to its huge reserves of cheap natural gas. Unfortunately, his timing wasn’t great; Medicine Hat’s boom went bust by 1914; world war, drought and depression followed.
Rand stuck it out in Medicine Hat longer than a lot of other people, though. He continued to practice law here, at this very desk, until 1920, when he returned to New Brunswick (leaving the desk behind). He did well for himself—named Attorney General of New Brunswick in 1924, and served as a member of New Brunswick’s Legislative Assembly. In 1943, he was appointed to the Supreme Court of Canada, and developed the “Rand Formula,” a cornerstone of Canadian labour law, in 1945. Following World War Two, he was on the United Nations Special Committee on Palestine, chaired a Royal Commission on improper stock trading, and was the first dean of the law school of the University of Western Ontario. He was made a Companion of the Order of Canada shortly before his death in 1969.
So, Rand wasn’t a native Hatter, didn’t stick around town all that long, and all of his major accomplishments were made elsewhere. But, Medicine Hat is where he first practiced law, which laid the foundation for his illustrious career. More importantly, though, this piece represents all those who brought their hopes and dreams to Medicine Hat during the boom years of 1908 through 1913, only to leave again when the ‘Hat fell on hard times.
So much more than just a plain, old, small desk….
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