In a box in a backroom at City Hall, wrapped in tissue paper, there is a small wooden outhouse.

The sign on the edge of its roof reads “Klein’s Restaurant.” Another, just below, says “Bum’s and Creep’s House.” The door opens to reveal two toilet seats, side by side.

The model is a not-so-subtle joke aimed at former Calgary mayor Ralph Klein, and the infamous “eastern bums and creeps” line he came to be associated with.

It is also a very official joke. Since 1983 it has resided in the archives of the city’s corporate records, with the catalogue number A. 56 (32).

It is among hundreds, possibly thousands, of weird, wonderful, plain and mundane gifts given to the city over decades and now in the custody of its archives.

The two-inch high toilet is a standout. A passing glance over the registers for mayoral gifts — the city’s best records are for the Klein and Al Duerr years — reveals a long-established tradition of civic politeness and lack of imagination. Plaques, books, clocks and ornaments are favourites. Many of them were given to congratulate Calgary on being about to host, hosting, or having hosted the 1988 Winter Olympic Games.

Then there are the visiting delegations that got creative. Representatives of the city of Seoul, South Korea gifted Calgary a replica of the Chunma-Chong gold crown — a Korean royal treasure which dates from the fifth or sixth century A.D. In 1988 KLM Airlines bestowed a crystal pineapple on the city. The register does not explain why.

Archives became a somewhat reluctant repository for the stockpile of gifts. Many are kept in off-site storage. The city is now a little more discerning with what it accepts — if an item has little or no civic or historic value, the gift-giver will likely be directed elsewhere. The person who gave former mayor Al Duerr a poster display entitled “Inny Belly Buttons Rule” in 1993 may today fall into that category. So too the benefactor of a “Russian book with a picture of a bird on the front,” which a city employee took the trouble to note had “no value to the archives,” while entering it into the gift register.

“I think it’s good,” said Calgary historian Harry Sanders of the gift-giving records the city maintains.

“The act of receiving a gift and keeping it and showing that you value it. It’s reflective of the kinds of relationships that we’ve established. And it has a value of its own. There’s a unity to it.”

Some of the gifts also spoke to the history of Calgary itself, he said.

“Like the outhouse. These things have value in and of themselves. It adds a little variety. Just knowing that this is there gives you a little delight in your day.”

Sanders found city gifts could serve another purpose, too. An archivist with the city from 1990-95, he remembered at least one occasion when he arrived at work having forgotten to put on a tie. Ties were a go-to gift for civic exchanges and then mayor Al Duerr had received plenty. All dutifully recorded and stored in the archives.

“I ducked in the back and grabbed one of the mayor’s ties,” Sanders said.