Digital Museums Canada Investment - The Early Lebanese Community in Newfoundland

Photo of Melin and Marion Noah and family in the doorway of their New Gower Street grocery store. Courtesy of City of St. John's Archives

Heritage NL's exhibition proposal for The Early Lebanese Community in Newfoundland receives funding as part of Digital Museums Canada's 2022 investments. Stay tuned as we create this digital exhibition over the next year. 

The Early Lebanese Community in Newfoundland
Heritage NL
The Lebanese community has a long history in the province of Newfoundland and Labrador that is not often commemorated. This virtual exhibit delves deeper into the story behind many well-known local businesses across the province, exploring how one group of immigrants built a unique sense of place while retaining cultural ties to its ancestral homeland.

Heritage NL has produced three exhibitions funded by Digital Museums Canada:
2019 - Remembering the Merchants of Main Street, Windsor
2020 - Carved by the Sea: Heritage Places of Bay Roberts, Newfoundland
2022 - Heritage Underground - A History of Root Cellars in Newfoundland and Labrador

Press Release shared from Digital Museums Canada:

We’re pleased to announce that 19 new projects submitted as part of the 2022 call for proposals were approved for investment.

“The recipients of funding from the 2022 Call for Proposals represent a wide range of compelling subjects from organizations all over Canada,” said Leah Resnick, Director of Digital Museums Canada. “We look forward to working with these organizations to build their digital capacity and bring their projects to life.”

 “Through Digital Museums Canada, the Canadian Museum of History is pleased to honour its commitment to communities across the country in sharing diverse online stories, accessible to all,” said Caroline Dromaguet, President and CEO of the Canadian Museum of History.

Topics covered in this year’s new digital projects include:

• Diaspora: Montréal Jewish Community (QC); Lebanese community in Newfoundland and Labrador
• Community History: Early coal mining in the Bow Valley (AB); Lithuanian immigrants and the War of 1812 (ON); a community festival in Saint-Eustache (QC); the impact of the SS Atlantic shipwreck (NS)
• Art and Architecture: Inuit art (MB); Winnipeg modernist architecture (MB); NFT artmaking (ON); Franco-Ontarian illustrators (ON); Acadian stained glass (NB)
• Women: Women in medical illustration (QC); women journalists in the early 20th century (QC)

In all, DMC received 39 proposals for the Medium and Large investment streams, and 20 proposals for the Small stream from museums and heritage organizations across the country. Projects were selected through a competitive process by an arm’s-length advisory committee.

See the full list:
Approved Projects

Eligible organizations are invited to apply during the next Call for Proposals, which opens on Thursday, June 15, 2023. For more information, please visit the DMC website.

Commemorations Ceremony and Book Launch: The Lebanese Business Community - April 4th, 2023

For immediate release

St. John’s, NL
March 27, 2023

Join Heritage NL at The Lantern, 35 Barnes Road, St. John’s on Tuesday, April 4th at 7:00 pm, as we celebrate the newest addition to our Provincial Historic Commemorations Program – The Establishment of the Lebanese Business Community in Newfoundland.

Newfoundland and Labrador is home to a diversity of cultures and ethnicities, but little attention has been given to how non-European identities have contributed to our province. “Beginning with their arrival in the late 19th century, Lebanese immigrants established a successful business community here. This Provincial Commemoration recognizes the efforts of these Lebanese-Newfoundlanders to build businesses and establish a unique sense of place,” says Heritage NL’s chair, Dr. Lisa Daly.

In addition to the Provincial Historic Commemoration, Heritage NL also announces the launch of The Establishment of the Lebanese Business Community in Newfoundland. This book features chapters on well-known Lebanese business owners, discusses the early arrival of Lebanese immigrant families in Corner Brook, and maps the Lebanese business community of St. John’s from 1898-1936. Several transcripts of oral history interviews are included and the book features over 150 photos of early Lebanese businesses and families.

The event is free and tickets can be found on EventBrite at https://www.eventbrite.ca/o/heritage-nl-11970018677.

Heritage NL is a provincial crown agency with a mandate to stimulate an understanding of and an appreciation for the architectural heritage and intangible cultural heritage of Newfoundland and Labrador.

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For Further Information Contact:

Andrea O’Brien
andrea@heritagenl.ca
1-888-739-1892 ext 4

Provincial Historic Commemorations Ceremony and Book Launch: The Lebanese Business Community in Newfoundland

Join us in person at The Lantern on Tuesday, April 4th at 7:00 pm, as Heritage NL celebrates the newest addition to our Provincial Historic Commemorations Program - The Lebanese Business Community in Newfoundland.

Newfoundland and Labrador is home to a diversity of cultures and ethnicities, but little attention has been given to how non-European identities have contributed to our province. Beginning with their arrival in the late 19th century, Lebanese immigrants established a successful business community here. This Provincial Commemoration recognizes the efforts of these Lebanese-Newfoundlanders to build businesses and establish a unique sense of place.

In addition to the Provincial Historic Commemoration, Heritage NL would like to announce the launch of “The Establishment of the Lebanese Business Community in Newfoundland and Labrador”. This book features chapters on well-known Lebanese business owners, discusses the early arrival of Lebanese immigrant families in Corner Brook, and maps the Lebanese business community of St. John’s from 1898-1936. Several transcripts of oral history interviews are included and the book features over 150 photos of early Lebanese businesses and families.

While the books will not be available for sale at the event we will have copies to review. If you would like to purchase a book please order online through Lulu: www.hfnl.ca

Grab your free ticket for the event today! Click here.

Living Heritage Podcast Ep225 Lebanese Memories and Music with Terri Andrews

Large Lebanese community photo. Ella Andrews on the far left. Photo courtesy of Terri Andrews.

In this episode we talk with Terri Andrews. Terri’s grandmother was Ella (née Michael) Andrews and her grandfather was Albert Andrews. Both were born in Hadath El Jebbeh, Lebanon. Today we talk about the Andrews family, and Lebanese bands and music. Terri also shares some recollections of the Lebanese community on New Gower Street, St. John’s, NL.

### Living Heritage is about people who are engaged in the heritage and culture sector, from museum professionals and archivists, to tradition bearers and craftspeople - all those who keep history alive at the community level. The show is a partnership between HeritageNL and CHMR Radio.

Theme music is Rythme Gitan by Latché Swing.

Living Heritage Podcast Ep199 Growing up as a Lebanese Newfoundlander

Folklorist Wyatt H. Shibley interviews retired local politician Lorraine Michael about what it was like growing up with Lebanese roots in downtown St. John’s.

https://anchor.fm/living-heritage/episodes/Ep199-Growing-up-as-a-Lebanese-Newfoundlander-epl2lu

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Living Heritage is about people who are engaged in the heritage and culture sector, from museum
professionals and archivists, to tradition bearers and craftspeople - all those who keep history alive at the
community level. The show is a partnership between HeritageNL and CHMR Radio.
Theme music is Rythme Gitan by Latché Swing.

Folklorist looking to interview Lebanese Newfoundlanders.

Tooton's The Kodak Store, Water Street, St. John's. Photo from Facebook via Anthony M. Tooton.
The company was founded in 1905 as the "Parisian Photographic Studio"
by his great-grandfather Anthony Maurice Tooton (1886–1971) in St. John's.
Tooton immigrated from Damascus in 1903 after studying photography in Paris.

Newfoundland is home to an over century-old Lebanese community, representing some of the earliest non-European immigrants to settle on the island. Many of the descendants of these immigrants, who arrived in Newfoundland between the late 1800s and early 1900s, still live in the Province and identify with their Lebanese heritage.

Despite this, there is relatively little public visibility of this diaspora in Newfoundland today. Privately, however, many members of the Lebanese diaspora still practice elements of the folk culture of their ancestors.

Folklore graduate student, and third-generation Lebanese-American, Wyatt Hirschfeld Shibley is working on a project called “Cedar Roots on Pine Clad Hills: the folklore of Lebanese Newfoundlanders." His project focuses on the ways in which Lebanese Newfoundlanders use folklore to construct and/or maintain their ethnic identity.

"As this research pertains to a group that has been living in Newfoundland for several generations," says Shibley, "a further focus will be placed on the narratives Lebanese Newfoundlanders tell about themselves, and the way they remember their collective past. My goal is to understand and present the lives of Lebanese Newfoundlanders from an insider’s perspective, in hopes of deepening the understanding of this diaspora and Newfoundland’s ethnic history."

If you have family memories you are willing to share as part of the project, or if you know someone who might be a good interview candidate, you can contact the researcher directly at wjs167@mun.ca or call (709)-770-6800.