2019.12

Unknown

1950s

Souvenir Brisé Hand Fan, 1950
Made in Italy
Plastic, Paper, Rayon Fabric
This is a plastic souvenir Brisé fan with 9 identical off-white pierced blades topped with circular photographic stickers of locations and activities in New Brunswick adhered to the top of each blade. From left to right stickers depict lobster captor, lobster fisherman, a dragger, Pointe-du-Chêne, Rocks at Hopewell Cape , Petitchodiac River, Moncton City Hospital, and Magnetic Hill. The blades are connected with a thin, red rayon ribbon threaded through them below the stickers. Below the ribbon are blades pierced with designs depicting birds, hearts and scrollwork with a red plastic rivet and loop.
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This fan was donated by Caroline Moller '57. This fan had belonged to the donor's Aunt, Marion Fairchild Mayberry who collected fans while traveling with her husband.
2019.12.4

New Brunswick, Nova Scotia was one of the most popular vacation destination spots in the 1950s. The brisé souvenir fan from the Lasell Fashion Collection features geographic and cultural highlights of this Canadian province. Places such as Pointe-du-Chêne, the Rocks at Hopewell Cape, the Petitcodiac River, and Magnetic Hill are depicted through colorful images made more visually striking against a white background. Magnetic Hill was of particular interest known for its strange geographic formation where tourists experienced a phenomenon while driving in their cars. After the car completes a specific downhill stretch, the driver puts the car in neutral and it will move back uphill or appear to do so an optical illusion. Due to the heightened activity at Magnet Hill, souvenir shops began to pop up where hand fans became a popular keepsake to share travel experiences and maintain memories.