A wicker baby scale used by a beloved and tireless Collingwood nurse in the early 1900s is being put in the spot light this month during a friendly competition between the region's museums.
The Simcoe County March Madness artifact showdown is entering the third and final round with just two artifacts left on the competition floor: the wicker baby scale used by Nurse Ethel Dawson, and the oldest known OPP patrol vehicle, a 1931 Henderson KL motorcycle, which is kept at the OPP Museum.
Eight Simcoe County museums entered the competition, and they've been narrowed down to the top two.
The weigh scale entered by the Collingwood Museum is part of the Nurse Dawson story. Also referred to as the Collingwood Florence Nightingale, Dawson was a nurse in town from 1900 to the 1950s, during which time she delivered more than 2,000 babies. She also helped coordinate the local medical response to the Spanish Flu pandemic, worked as a school nurse, and held a clinic at All Saints' Anglican Church for mothers and children. You can read more about her here.
The museum created a brief video for each round of the competition, saving a tidbit of information about Nurse Dawson's community spirit for the final round.
The competition is being decided based on public votes. The final round of voting started today and will go 'till March 24 at 4:30 p.m. Visit experience.simcoe.ca/sumac to watch the round three video and vote for your favourite artifact.
If you missed the first two rounds, the Collingwood Museum’s video submissions can be found on www.collingwood.ca/museum. Each video contains new information about Nurse Dawson’s legacy
