This table-top radio was manufactured for the Canadian Red Cross by the Electrohome company of Kitchener, Ontario.  It is from the Second World War, when nearly all of Electrohome’s production was for the war effort. The company supplied Canadian forces and the Red Cross with numerous electronics products, and Red Cross radios made their way to hospital wards and Red Cross Lodges.  

The lodges were spaces in Department of Veterans’ Affairs hospitals that could accommodate visitors, and provide opportunities for recuperating soldiers to relax and socialize.  The radio had become central to daily life since the end of the last war, and it is easy to imagine veterans and Red Cross personnel tuning in to the news, or listening to music on radios like this one.

"Electrohome supplied Canadian forces and the Red Cross with numerous electronics products during the war."

Radios have been important to the work the Red Cross does for emergency preparedness too.  The Canadian Red Cross participated in civil defence and disaster relief planning across Canada after the Second World War, and radios were included in preparedness kits.  This legacy lives on in the form of portable hand-crank radios available in Red Cross kits today.  Nowadays, these devices include USB ports for charging smartphones.