First World War uniform donated to Lethbridge museum after it was found in theatre basement

Major Alexander Boswell Stafford was born in Nova Scotia in 1877 before moving to Lethbridge, Alta.

A significant historical artifact is now in the hands of the Galt Museum & Archives in Lethbridge, after it was found in a local theatre basement.

Elaine Jagielski, president of the 98-year-old amateur theatre group Lethbridge Playgoers, said it all started in 2017.

“When the (Yates Memorial Centre) was going to be undergoing renovations, everything had to be cleared out,” she explained.

“These sorts of items, you know military uniforms, or anything along those lines we thought might have some significance for someone.”

More than 100 items were relocated from the Playgoers’ collection to experts at the Galt, who found one piece of particular interest: Mayor A.B. Stafford’s World War One uniform.

“We do know military material is often marked either with a name or a service number and so that’s what we focused in on as we took items out,” explained museum collections technician Kevin MacLean.

“It was my colleague Kirstan Schamuhn who took the initiative to look under a piece of (tape) in a place that I may not have looked myself, to see that Major Stafford had his name (at the back) of his collar.”

“We just didn’t expect to find something so significant in the basement of the Yates theatre in 2021.”