#CollectiveMemories Monday - Harold "Sparks" Squires, Wireless Operator

VA 10-56 "Sparks" [Harold Squires (telegraph operator)] and Adelie [penguin], Hope Bay. 1945. Courtesy of The Rooms Provincial Archives.  

In March, I digitized a series of cassette tape interviews from Admiralty House Museum and Archives. One of the interviews recently added to the Mount Pearl section of MUN's DAI was an interview with Harold Squires, a wireless operator who worked for the Marconi Company and traveled to the Antarctic on the S.S. Eagle. In the interview, Squires talks about life on the ship, his job, the other crew members, and his nickname "Sparks", One of the interesting stories Squires tells about the voyage, was how when the ship warmed up, the deck on the old sealing vessel oozed seal blubber. Squires also talks about working as a wireless operator at Cabot Tower and having to walk to work everyday.

To listen to this, and other interviews about Mount Pearl and the early days of radio in Newfoundland and Labrador, visit Memorial University Digital Archives Initiative.

Mount Pearl Interviews: Community and Radio History

One of the recent additions to the MUN Digital Archives, is a collection of audio interviews from the Admiralty House Communications Museum. The recordings can be divided into two different groupings, those conducted in 1990's and the early 2000's. The later interviews focus mainly on the development of Mount Pearl. We hear Don Hutchen's talks about the Lester Family History and the property that developed into Mount Pearl. Betty Thistle shares memories about spending summers in the area in the 1930's at her family summer home. Multiple interviews talk with residents who grew up in other communities and moved to Mount Pearl in the 1940's and 50's when it was just developing. They talk about what was available to the early residents, the roads, shops, and the lack of crime. Two interviews, with John Fuller and Frank Kennedy, talk about the SS Florizel. Steve Best talks about his experiences working with the railway, and Harold Squires talks about his work as a Marconi Operator.

The older interviews were conducted in the early 1990's by researcher and author Hector K.Swain. Swains interviews focus on the history of radio broadcasting in Newfoundland and Labrador, talking to important names in radio such as Joseph V. Butler, Oscar Hierlihy, Rab Carnell, Paul O'Neil, Michael Harrington, and others. The interviews talk about how different radio stations were set up, significant programs like "The Barrelman", religious broadcasting, and the social welfare effects of radio in the province.

Check out these interviews and others at the MUN Digital Archives

~ Kelly