Tuesday's Folklore Photos - The Trefoil Guild

Participants of the last presentation of the day.

Today’s Tuesday Folklore photos come from the Girl Guides of Canada’s 2016 National Trefoil Guild Gathering. The gathering took place at Memorial University from June 15th-19th. The opening ceremonies were held on Wednesday and there were workshops, and lectures on Thursday.

The Trefoil Guilds are found across Canada and are groups for active or retired Guiders aged 30 years and older who want to stay in involved with Girl Guides. If you would like to learn more about the Trefoil Guild listen to Dale’s interview with Pat Burton as part of the Living Heritage Podcast.

On Tuesday morning Dale emailed me to ask if I would be able to give 4 presentations of an hour and fifteen minutes at the Trefoil Guild’s gathering. Due to the weather on the coast of Labrador he was stuck in Makkovik at the Nunatsiavut Heritage Forum for longer than anticipated and he wouldn’t make it back in time.

My kind of event - folklore, basket making, and rug hooking all on one floor!

I spent most of Tuesday pulling together a presentation on Newfoundland and Labrador History and Folklore and Thursday morning I headed to the university to present to the Guiders. There were workshops on rug hooking and pillow tops, square dancing and basket making, as well as healthy habits and computer techniques.

I gave a brief overview of Newfoundland and Labrador history and then moved into the basics of folklore, forms of folklore practised in the province, who the Heritage Foundation is as well as some of the programs the Foundation offers. As a long-time (19 years!) Guider myself I finished the talk by discusses how forms of folklore can be found in guiding through ghost stories, camping tales, adapting songs to fit the guiding program, and spontaneously making up new verses for songs. It was a long day of presentations but the lovely women I met made it most enjoyable!

~Terra Barrett

Tuesday's Folklore Photos - Intangible Cultural Heritage Conference

Architecture or built heritage in Old Quebec.

Today’s Folklore Photos come from the International Conference on Intangible Cultural Heritage in Quebec City, QC. The conference was held at Laval University and brought together the Folklore Studies Association of Canada, the Canadian Network for Intangible Cultural Heritage, Canadian Society for Traditional Music, the Canada research Chair in Intangible Cultural Heritage, the Institute for Cultural Heritage of Laval University, and the Centre for Culture, Art and Society.

On Wednesday evening after a day of completing tape logs and metadata descriptions at the office I flew to Toronto and then on to Quebec City for the conference where a number of folklorists and heritage professionals were meeting and presenting papers on their work. Thursday was focused on Intangible Cultural Heritage (ICH) and there were presenters from across the country and beyond. There was a lot of discussion on UNESCO's 2003 Intangible Cultural Heritage Convention and what has happened in the ten years since the conference was ratified in 2006. Presenters from Belgium, Denmark and Norway described how their countries were working on ICH since ratifying the convention while presenters from Scotland, and Canada discussed their interest in ratifying the convention and moving forward with preserving ICH in their countries. Dale gave a presentation on the work of the Intangible Cultural Heritage Office since 2008 and focused on the Grey Sock project as an example of the work from the Heritage Foundation which celebrates, records, disseminates, and promotes ICH or the living heritage of the province.

The Huron-Wendat Museum in Wendake, QC.  Participants were treated to a tour of the museum and a banquet meal on Friday evening.

Friday, Saturday, and Sunday there were presentations from folklorists, ethnomusicologists, anthologists, and many other heritage professionals. Some presentations focused on what their institutions were working on while others presented a paper or specific concept or concern in heritage. On Saturday morning I presented a paper I had written on the Mummers Festival. It was called “Shagging with the Tradition: The St. John’s Mummers Festival” and looked at how the Mummers Festival has used Intangible Cultural Heritage to create community and increase tourism. It also traced mummering as a cultural symbol for the province since the 1960s until today.

Presenting the paper Shagging with the Tradition: The St John's Mummers Festival.  Photo by Ryan Davis.

It was a beautiful weekend in Quebec City which finished with a declaration of interest in ICH in Canada and a wish for the country to ratify UNESCO’s convention on Intangible Cultural Heritage in order to preserve and promote the ICH of the country as a whole.

Laurier Turgeon and Dale Jarvis reading the declaration on ICH.

~Terra Barrett

Folklore Photo - Help identify this Spaniard's Bay landmark.

I got an email yesterday with the attached photo taken Saturday, 7 May 2016, asking if I knew anything about this structure. It is a cairn of stones near Spaniard's Bay, located on the ridge straight back from the Harbour Grace marina (does this make it more Harbour Grace South? or Bryant's Cove?)

I have a bit of a weak spot for cairns and marks, and have written a blog post about the American Man in Cupids, which can be found about a 20 minute drive from Spaniard's Bay.  This one seems a bit different, more square in shape than the round cairn of rocks that is the American Man.

So, Conception Bay people: if you know anything about this collection of stones, let me know. What is it called? Who built it? How old is it? What was it used for?

Comment below, or email me at ich@heritagefoundation.ca.

photo courtesy Paul Brazil.

Rare photos of the Forest Road Cemetery Lych Gate and Mortuary Chapel #nlheritage

Followers of the ICH Blog may remember that I have been interested in lych gates, a very specific type of gate that was found at the entrance of Anglican churchyards and cemeteries. You can read more about the history of lych gates in the Occasional Paper #004.

In it, I talk about one of the province's vanished lych gates, the one which once stood in the Forest Road Cemetery.  I knew it had existed, and it is clearly shown on aerial photos and insurance maps, but I had never seen the building before.

Thanks to some detective work by Professor Frederick R. Smith, and the kindness of Mr. Arthur King, we now have this photographic gem - a photo of the gate before its demolition, likely taken sometime circa 1950-1952.

The lych gate is very similar to English examples, and has some similarities to the rebuilt lych gate at Bonavista. It features a sharply gabled roof, with slight bellcurved eaves, Maltese cross motifs, and at least two painted inscriptions, though the photo is just out of focus enough to make it difficult to identify the scripture being quoted (the word "resurrection" seems to be the second word). The woman in the photo is a Mrs. Butt, of the nearby Collier's Lane.

Mr King writes:

Here are some old Forest Road Cemetery photos I scanned from originals supplied by Mrs. Barbara Fry (Heale), a daughter of Victor Heale, caretaker circa 1948-59 . The family lived in the caretaker house on the cemetery. Photos of the entrance gate and old chapel are included. A daughter Elizabeth Heale, shown in the photo, was born in 1942---the photo with her was probably taken between 1950-52. The age of the old chapel photo is uncertain, but probably much before that time---it probably was taken by a commercial photographer such as Holloway as there is an inscription which was his style.

The Church of England Mortuary Chapel photo was said to have come from "The Archives" -- we are uncertain which one. If you have any information on these photos, if you have a theory on the most likely scripture being used on the lych gate, or have any other old photos of the Forest Road Cemetery, please comment below, or contact me at ich@heritagefoundation.ca.

- Dale Jarvis

Tuesday's Folklore Photo - A Trinity Potato Garden

Happy Tuesday! For this week's Folklore Photo, a lovely view of a potato garden in flower in Trinity, Trinity Bay.

I have been assisting the Agricultural History Society of NL with some of their files, soon to be uploaded to the Digital Archives Initiative, under the "Knowledge and Practices Concerning Nature and the Universe" section of the ICH Inventory. This is one of the photos in their collection that will be included.

The photo was undated and unnamed, but that is the Hiscock House there in the background, now a provincial historic site.  I love the wood stacked up behind the garden, as well.  The photo was used in a panel prepared by the Agricultural History Society circa 2008, but the photo might be older. If you recognize it, email me at ich@heritagefoundation.ca or leave a comment below!

- Dale Jarvis

Tuesday's Folklore Photo - Booklet Launch

Participants of the Petty Harbour-Maddox Cove booklet There Was No Pavement Then with editor Terra Barrett.
Left to right: Betty Cheeseman, Ann Payne, Mary Heffernan, Mary Kieley, Jimmy Kieley, Mike Hearn, Terra Barrett, Gordy Doyle, Ron Doyle, Yvonne Collinson, Marguerite Weir, and Phyllis Weir.

Today's folklore photos come from the launch of There Was No Pavement Then from last Thursday evening. The booklet launch took place in the Watershed Cafe on the waterfront of Petty Harbour. Watershed is a new cafe which opened in June 2015 and it was the perfect place to hold the launch. During last summer's Arts and Heritage Festival in Petty Harbour-Maddox Cove Dale and I set up a Memory Store in the Watershed cafe (although it was little more than a disused shed at the time). It was fitting to be back in the cafe for the launch of the booklet.

Inside the Watershed Cafe

Jack and Gertrude Walsh with Terra Barrett

Roughly 50 people turned out to celebrate the launch of the booklet, to hear some speeches, listen to a reading from the booklet, and celebrate with free tea, coffee, and cake. Copies went quickly and due to its popularity we did a reprint with a limited number of copies available so if you were interested in a copy and didn’t manage to grab one at the launch you can send me an email at terra@heritagefoundation.ca or check out the full pdf of the booklet online.

Left to right: Dale Jarvis, Terra Barrett, Jillian Gould and Frank Crews

It was a great turnout and a fantastic way to end a great project! I’d like to send out another huge thank you to everyone who came out to the launch and in particular the participants of the project whose stories make up the booklet.

-Terra

Tuesday's Folklore Photo: Birch Brooms In Our Midst

Today’s Tuesday Folklore photos are of Mr. Joshua Young demonstrating how to “run” a birch broom. Last Thursday afternoon after a successful first interview for the radio show/podcast Living Heritage with Christine Legrow, Dale and I took a trip to Mount Pearl to talk with a gentleman who grew up in Grey River on the South-West Coast of Newfoundland near Burgeo. Mr. Young learned how to make birch brooms from his family members and continues to teach his grandchildren how to make the brooms today.

Mr. Young explained the different between white and red birch trees and how to find the right piece of wood to carve into a broom. While explaining and discussing broom making Mr. Young made a small birch broom in under an hour as a simple example of how to make a birch broom. He sent us back to the office with the sample he made as well as one of his larger brooms which he wasn’t completely satisfied with due to the crook in the handle. The broom now hangs on the wall in our office and is the first thing you see when you step inside.

Mr. Young also makes model wooden boats and explained his process of crafting and painting these as well. It was an excellent afternoon and I hope I am able to join Dale when he goes back in August for a more hands on demonstration of broom making.

-Terra

Tuesday's Folklore Photo - Heritage Video Screening

I spent Monday morning attending the Association of Newfoundland and Labrador Archives' annual general meeting and today's folklore photo was one I snapped quickly during yesterday's meeting.  I was invited as a representative from the ICH Office as ANLA and the Heritage Foundation are partners and sister heritage organizations.

It was interesting to learn a little more about the organization and to hear some of the triumphs and challenges the organization has achieved and overcome in the past year and where they want to take the organization in the coming year.  One thing which ANLA has been promoting recently are their online webinars so be sure to check out their website for upcoming workshops!

The picture above is from the presentation which occurred during the lunchbreak.  Jenny Higgins from the Newfoundland and Labrador Heritage Website introduced a series of short films which she has been working on recently.  The videos were on difficult subjects and were incredibly moving.  One touched on the 1914 sealing disaster, another on the great fire of 1892 and the last on the battle of Beaumont Hamel.  Check out some of the videos on their website and stay tuned for more.

-Terra

Folklore Photo - The Hole In the Floor and Adolphus's Wake

This week's folklore photo might not look like much, but it comes with a great story, and is a very good example of how intangible cultural heritage and our built heritage are intertwined. 

We've been working on an oral history of the Jenkins House in Durrell, Twillingate, which was owned for a portion of its history by Adolphus and Lucretia Jenkins. 

According to oral history, Lucretia contracted tuberculosis and suffered in the home for many years with the disease. She was confined to her bedroom while her daughter Leah Jenkins cared for her, surprisingly Leah never contracted the disease herself. While Lucretia was sick her husband Adolphus passed away. Adolphus was waked in the home, which was tradition at the time. Bedridden and unable to leave the upstairs of the house, Lucretia still wanted to see her husband one last time. The family decided, instead of trying to bring her downstairs they would saw a hole in the floor by the side of her bed so she could rest and still be able to see her husband, so that is what they did. Today, the cut in the floor is still recognizable by the newer boards that fill where the hole once was. 

Corey Sharpe remembers his Grandmother Leah recounting the story;

“Well, I tell you about that now. I never told anybody about it before. When father passed away, they waked him downstairs. So Lucretia was bed ridden upstairs with TB and separated from the family. She wanted to see her husband while they had him waked. So what they did, instead of bring her downstairs, they cut a hole in the floor so she could look down from her bed and see him. So the floors are to stay like that.”

You can download the full oral history report on the Jenkins House in PDF format here.

- Dale Jarvis

Folklore Photo - Gertrude and Leah Jenkins, Twillingate, 1930s

This Tuesday in our folklore photo segment, we've got a gem from Corey Sharpe, of Grand Falls-Windsor, who owns and has restored the Jenkins House Registered Heritage Structure in Blow Me Down, Durrell, Twillingate.

The photo shows his great aunt Amelia "Gertie" Gertrude (Jenkins) Hamlyn and her sister, his grandmother, Leah (Jenkins) Sharpe, thought to have been taken sometime in the early 1930s, positioned in front of the Jenkins House.  Gertrude was born in 1919, Leah was born in 1925, and today is her 90th birthday! Happy Birthday, Leah!

You can read and listen to the interview I did with Corey about the house here.

- Dale Jarvis

Tuesday's Folklore Photo - Gosine's Grocery Store, Portugal Cove-St. Philip's

This week's folklore photo is of the former Gosine's Store, in Portugal Cove- St. Philip's. Katie Harvey, one of our youth speakers at our upcoming Youth Heritage Forum, collected the photo during her work as heritage researcher for the town.

Katie writes,

"This is a photograph of Gosine's Grocery Store which was located at 25 Hardings Hill in the 1950s. It was a two storey grocery store. The house that is in its location now is brand new, so unfortunately there is no trace of this store left."

The photo will be part of a collection of photographs and interviews from Portugal Cove- St. Philips, soon to be added to Memorial University's Digital Archives Initiative.

Tuesday's Folklore Photo: Facey's Taxi Stand, Twillingate

It's been a while since we posted one of our Folklore Photos. So here is a gem, from Twillingate, showing the Facey's Taxi Stand.

The date on this is uncertain. I'm sure someone out there can offer some suggestions, either a Twillingate native, or a expert on vintage automobiles! If you have thoughts, email me at ich@heritagefoundation.ca.

Update 11 Feb 2015:

Helen White writes: ' The date of this picture I would assume would be 1931 or 32. The stand was owned by my Grandfather, Silas Facey who is the gentleman in the picture, the little boy is his grandson Walter Facey. Silas Facey died August 25th 1935 at age 69. He also owned the Tinsmith Shop across the road from the Stand."

Back to School, Back in the Day

During the month of September I always think of the teachers and students who head back indoors for the fall as they go back to school. It has been a few weeks for students in Newfoundland, but in British Columbia the first day has been delayed due to a labour dispute and consequential teacher's strike.

Yesterday, just as this conflict was finally resolved, I came across these wonderful class photographs from the 1940s of young pupils in Rocky Harbour, Newfoundland. The top photograph is a grade 2 class, and the bottom is grade 1. Right now I am thinking about all the young kids who are just starting school for the first time, and the teachers in B.C. who've had a late start to their teaching year.

I wonder what it was like to be a student back then. Or a teacher for that matter...some of these kids look like trouble.

Special thanks to Charlie Payne of Winterhouse Brook, and the Town of Woody Point, for donating these photographs to the MUN's Digital Archives Initiative. Over the next few weeks a collection of close to 500 photos like the ones above will be made accessible online. I will post links to the collection as the work gets done.

-Lisa

Tuesday’s Folklore Photo - Food Fishery

Courtesy of MUN`s Digital Archives Initiative

Today’s folklore photo is a photo of freshly caught cod being processed in Quidi Vidi during the food fishery. This picture was taken by folklore student Christine Blythe during the folklore field school in the fall of 2013.

I managed to get out on the water over the weekend and I figured this would be an appropriate photo given the ongoing food fishery. The fishery is open until August 10 and opens again September 20 to the 28.

Do you participate in the food fishery? Have you been out yet the year? Did you catch anything? Let us know in the comments below!

Bonus photo:

Breakfast is served!

Here is a picture of the lovely breakfast I was graciously served – including the freshly caught cod tongues and britches seen in the upper left hand corner.

Tuesday’s Folklore Photo - Flakes and Fish

Thomas Ruck fonds
VA 45-1; Petty Harbour in the 1860s
Photo: Courtesy of The Rooms

Today’s folklore photos are pictures of the flakes, stages and stores of Petty Harbour’s past. Throughout my interviews in Petty Harbour a major change that has been mentioned has been the change in the fishery.  The move from making fish to catching crab has meant a shift in the physical landscape of the harbour.  

Petty Cove [Petty Harbour]
VA 143-18 [between 1892 and 1904]
Photo: Courtesy of The Rooms

The loss of the fish flakes from the island rooms has been mentioned in a number of interviews as has the shift in the fishery.  Several of my informants have memories of the responsibilities of making fish and cutting tongues for the fishermen.  

Mike Hearn

Mike Hearn described walking into the Goulds to sell the cod tongues 10₵ a dozen as opposed to selling the tongues for 10₵ a pound in Petty Harbour.  He also mentioned making flickers out of his mother’s old cotton reels filled with lead in order to catch tom cods in the harbour.        

Petty Harbour VA 15a-43.1
Newfoundland Tourist Development Board photograph collection
Newfoundland Views Photographs
Photo: Courtesy of The Rooms

The lack of children involved with the fishery today has caught the attention of people in Petty Harbour and a non profit organization called Fishing for Success has been established.  Check out their website and facebook page as they reintroduce fishing knowledge to the children of Petty Harbour Maddox Cove and beyond.

Tuesday's Folklore Photo: A Collection of Conversations

Today's folklore photo is actually a collection of photos from the past week.  It has been a busy week with the Heritage Foundation.  Last Tuesday was the cemetery clean-up and since then I've been kept busy with interviews!

Ron Doyle

On Wednesday I interviewed Ron Doyle about growing up in Petty Harbour, the changes it has seen and the influence of music on his life and in the community.  Ron described the musical influence of his family and in particular his father, the recitations and songs they would perform and how he began playing at community concerts, formed a band and all the good that came out of the concerts.

Gordy Doyle

Thursday I had two interviews.  The first interview in the morning was with Gordy Doyle and focused on growing up in Petty Harbour, working as a fisherman, the changes in the equipment and methods of fishing and the stories and practical jokes that come with the job.  Gordy also touched on the camaraderie between fisher people and how they would support one another when launching boats and gather together in the twine stores to work and talk.

Cyril Whitten

Thursday afternoon I met Cyril Whitten in his cottage in Saint Luke's.  Cyril's friends stopped in to
have a boil up and put some freshly caught lobsters on the stove.  Cyril and I discussed his life in Petty Harbour, the games he played as a child, his memories of the community concerts, fishing in the community and his time as Mayor.  Cyril contacted me and said he would like to meet again and said he had much more to say about Petty Harbour.  I'm looking forward to interviewing Cyril again this week.

With my feed of lobster.

In true Newfoundland hospitality I was invited to stay for a feed of lobster with Cyril and his friends' Dennis Madden, Peter Squires, Richard Murphy and his cousin Muriel Andrews.  When I left they insisted I take a meal of freshly caught and cooked lobster home with me.  This was definitely a highlight of my week and a great example of Newfoundlander's warmth and generosity.

Betty Cheeseman

Monday's interview was with Betty Cheeseman and Betty had vivid memories of her time in Petty
Harbour.  Betty described growing up in a musical family with a mother who played the accordion and a father who danced.  She also described being in the community plays, listening to the concerts and the intensity of the card games played in the community.

I'm looking forward to meeting and interviewing more people from Petty Harbour as well as working on the interviews I have already completed. The interviews need tape logs and all the necessary metadata so they can be published on MUN's DAI. If you have memories of growing up in Petty Harbour please contact me at terra@heritagefoundation.ca or (709) 739-1892.

Folklore Photo - Painting the Jenkins House, Twillingate

I have been working on compiling an oral history of the Jenkins House in Blow Me Down, Durrell, Twillingate. The above photo is of the house at the end of its restoration project. Here, owner Corey Sharpe talks about how he selected the colour for the house, in consultation with George Chalker, HFNL's Executive Director:

So colour was another thing. What are we going to put on it for colour? I can remember it always being white. So I said, “I’m not a big fan of white. White’s everywhere. It’s not even a colour, in my opinion. But anyway, it did look nice on the house and stuff.” So I said … I spoke to George Chalker, and he said, “Well, take a look at those heritage colours that we had Templeton’s do for us.” I said, “Yeah, I’ll do that.” 

So I picked out a colour. I think it was Dory Buff or something like that. Am I going to drastically change the colour of the house, or what am I going to do? So the siding, the local siding, had been replaced on the house in different places on the house over time. It was never all stripped and replaced. I could do one side one year, then 15, 20 years later they probably did a patch on the other side, whatever. So anyway, I got down to a patch that was original to the house. It had the cut nails, and I said, “What colours were on that house?” So I slowly scraped the paint down. When I got down to the last colour, apart from say the red ocher-ish stain that they had on it, that was the colour. It was almost like exact. That just made up my mind right there. So that’s the colour we painted the house.

Photos courtesy Corey Sharpe.

Folklore Photo - Engine Rock, Petty Harbour, Newfoundland

This week's folklore photo is of Engine Rock (or Indian Rock, depending upon who you ask), overlooking the town of Petty Harbour.  I've written about this rock before, and I'm still interested in knowing more about any stories associated with it, and I'm especially curious about where the name comes from.

I was in Petty Harbour last week, with some colleagues from the Wooden Boat Museum of NL. We're looking into a possible intangible cultural heritage project there later this year, so stay tuned to this blog for more details!

- Dale

Tuesday Folklore Photo: Stormy Old St. John's

I feel like this happens every year - we think we are out of the woods with winter and that spring is on our doorstep, when suddenly another big storm hits! I've been fooled a couple times this year already. This trend, unfortunately, is nothing new, and something that St. John's has been dealing with for decades. Newfoundlanders have become very adept at dealing with the harsh weather, and sometimes need to rely on back up plans for transportation when your regular vehicle just couldn't cut it.

This weeks folklore photo is of New Gower Street from 1925 - and as you can see, even this young man riding on his trusty Tauntaun is having a tough time with the winter weather! Tauntauns were used as pack animals, and also served as patrol mounts when the Rebel Alliance's vehicles couldn't deal with the cold weather. I could have certainly used one this past winter!


(Just kidding - only a little April Fool's fun! This photo actually comes from the Tumblr Old Timey St. John's - you should check it out - it's incredible!)

Folklore Photo - Heritage Lighthouse in Heart's Content

I wrote the other day about how we took a group of public folklore grad students out to Heart's Content.  Today is folklore photo day, so here is that group of students, in front of the Heart's Content Lighthouse. The lighthouse was constructed in 1901, and is a Recognized Federal Heritage Building.

You can read more about the lighthouse here and on the Canadian Register of Historic Places.

- photos by Dale Jarvis