Canada In A Box Analysis

I chose to do the Canada In A Box exhibit because it stood out to me compared to the other exhibits. This exhibit is about cigar containers that provide insight to Canadian history from 1883 to 1935. I did not know what a cigar container was or why it would have any significance to be put up for display in an exhibit before the online tour. I was intrigued to learn about why they were so popular and how information could be found by the images found on the containers, whatever objects that still remained in the containers, and the brand and origin of the companies that manufactured the containers. As I stated earlier this exhibit is about cigar containers, which are simply containers that cigars were sold in between 1883 and 1935. The exhibit
The layout is simple with interactive elements and follows their specific theme well. The overall point of this exhibit is to provide examples of how people were able to show their interests through the images on their cigar containers and also the items that may have been left inside them. One problem I had with the exhibit was the absence of information for some of the artifacts because I feel that more historical information and reasoning to go along with the pictures of these cigar containers would be beneficial to the exhibit. That being said, the introduction video shows this exhibits curator, Sheldon Posen, describes one of the containers that they had acquired and describes how that one container sparked the drive for the exhibit itself. He goes on to explain how he recognized the image on the container of “Jumbo” the elephant and his trainer, which was the elephant that popularised the word jumbo as being used for something or someone that is big or huge, and it provided the location of St. Thomas, Ontario as well. Sheldon Posen then went on to research the connection between Jumbo and St. Thomas, Ontario and found that Jumbo died in St. Thomas, Ontario on it’s way to a circus along a railroad with his trainer and another elephant . Jumbo noticed on oncoming train and tried to protect his trainer and fellow
Canadian cigar makers took influence from Cuban cigar makers to revive the character as “Punch”, which had the interest of children and adults, on their boxes to create interest from English consumers while also providing a character that had some fame in Canada as well. From this artifact we are able to see how a simple cartoon character on these cigars was used to market the cigars to a broader market showing the economic effect of these symbols and the similarities of marketing now and in the past. All this historical information is able to presented through the images and labelling on the exterior of one cigar container which is why it helps contribute to the goal of this exhibit along with the hundreds of thousands of other cigar