Help wanted - The Cultural History of Jam Jams, Billy Boots, and Pineapple Crush

Purity Jam Jams, Billy Boot garbage bags, and Pineapple Crush pop have become iconic Newfoundland products, with unique ties to Newfoundland history and culture.

Morgan Murray at The Scope is trying to unravel/uncover/figure out the history of the cultural significance of these products in NL, e.g. how and why they have become so popular, and the important political, historical, and social factors that have made them, and kept them so.

If you have any information, theories, insights, or wild guesses about any of these products, please contact Morgan at morgan@thescope.ca.

Make and Break Festival, Heritage Plaques, UNESCO and Bay Roberts

It has been a busy few months for the ICH office at the Heritage Foundation of Newfoundland and Labrador (HFNL), and we are gearing up for a very busy summer.  In this edition of the Intangible Cultural Heritage Update, there are a few big announcements, including the accreditation of the Heritage Foundation of Newfoundland and Labrador by UNESCO, and the launch of our 2012 Folklife Festival, which this year will take place in Bonavista on August 4th, with a celebration of Newfoundland’s iconic make and break boat engine. We also go looking for supernatural stories and local songs in Bay Roberts, and gather information about HFNL's historic plaque program.

Download the newsletter in pdf format.

A 1950s trout basket, bought on Water Street, St. John's.

I couple days ago, I got an email from Leslie (Les) Winsor, of Mount Pearl. He had seen some of my posts about the basket research we were doing, and had a trouting basket to share.

Les's father Francis (Frank) was from Central Street, his father before him from Carbonear. Les didn't have a lot of information on where the basket originated. It was probably bought in the late 1940s or early 1950s at the Sports Shop on Water Street, one of the few places to buy that type of equipment, according to Les.

If you know anything about this type of basket, or have a memory of buying one on Water Street, email me at ich@heritagefoundation.ca

The Riddle of the Newfoundland and Labrador Fish Stage

The Newfoundland Historic Trust is holding its Annual General Meeting
Tuesday, April 17, 2012
7:00 pm
Hava Java Upstairs, Water Street

Followed by a presentation by Dr. Gerald Pocius
"The Riddle of the Newfoundland and Labrador Fish Stage"
7:30pm

Dr. Pocius is University Research Professor at Memorial University of Newfoundland, where he has taught since 1977. Among his many accomplishments, he has recently been named a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada. By looking at how everyday things are used Dr. Pocius has produced studies both sensitive and rigorous, earning him international standing as a scholar. His publications include A Place to Belong, Textile Traditions of Eastern Newfoundland, and A Field Guide to the Vernacular Architecture of St-Pierre et Miquelon.

All are welcome to attend - Please feel free to circulate

Deborah O'Rielly
Executive Director, Newfoundland Historic Trust
www.historictrust.ca
709.739.7870 Tel. 709.739.5413 Fax

Photo of Pete Porter's Stage, Change Islands, courtesy HFNL

"Nurse, you gotta come!" - An oral history for International Women's Day

This photograph from the collection of the Medical Services Branch of the Department of National Health and Welfare shows a nursing sister and a lay nurse caring for patients at St. Clare’s Mercy Hospital in St. John’s, Newfoundland, around 1955.  © Health Canada. Library and Archives Canada, Department of National Health and Welfare Fonds, e002504629

In cooperation with the School of Nursing, and Memorial's Digital Archives Initiative, we've been placing a series of oral history interviews with Newfoundland nurses online.

Today being International Women's Day, we're showcasing one of those interviews, featuring former nurse Gwen LeGrow discussing nursing practices in Newfoundland. In it, she talks about being called away on her wedding night to attend to a birth, and other adventures associated with being a district nurse in rural Newfoundland, as well as a great story about surviving a V2 bombing in England during World War II.

If you've got half an hour, take a listen. Nurse LeGrow is an excellent storyteller, and her stories are full of passion, humour and an obvious love for the people who she served as a rural nurse in La Scie, as a midwife, and as a staff nurse at the Janeway Hospital.

• Interview here on the DAI
• The Development of Nursing in NL

Baskets, Belbin's, The Battery, and more.

In this month's edition of the Intangible Cultural Heritage Update for Newfoundland and Labrador, we go looking for traditional basket makers; Mel Squarey interviews Chris Belbin about the history of Belbin's Grocery; a new cell phone oral history project is launched in The Battery; and Tales of Town returns to The Rooms Theatre, with memories of Christmas past.

Download the newsletter in pdf format

#SocialMedia #sjtweetup @newmanvaults for @culturedays

A tweetup and panel on social media, the arts, and culture in St. John’s

Friday, September 30th, 6:30 pm

Newman Wine Vaults Provincial Historic Site

436 Water Street,

St. John’s, Newfoundland

What is a Tweetup?
A tweetup is an event where people who Twitter come together to meet in person. At a tweetup you meet the people you might only otherwise know virtually. A tweetup is a great opportunity to connect with people in your online network. There have been a few tweetup events organized for St. John’s so far, with meeting places as varied as a local restaurant and a local beach.

What is Culture Days?
Culture Days is a collaborative pan-Canadian volunteer movement to raise the awareness, accessibility, participation and engagement of all Canadians in the arts and cultural life of their communities. Annual, Canada-wide Culture Days events feature free, hands-on, interactive activities that invite the public to participate “behind the scenes,” to discover the world of artists, creators, historians, architects, curators, and designers at work in their community.

What’s happening in the Newman Wine Vaults?
On Friday, September 30th, the Heritage Foundation of Newfoundland and Labrador, and the Newfoundland Historic Trust, will be hosting a St. John’s Tweetup event at the Newman Wine Vaults Provincial Historic Site on Water Street as part of Culture Days. It is a chance for anyone to learn more about how social media is being used in the arts and culture sector in St. John’s, and to meet those people face-to-face that you’ve only ever talked to in 140 character tweets. As part of the event, folklorist Dale Jarvis will moderate a panel discussion with people in the cultural sector on the role of social media in local arts, how it is working, and where it is going.

Panelists TBA in a future posting!

• RSVP on Twtvite
• Visit the Culture Days Event Listing

6-hour marathon telling of Jack Tales now online

Earlier this year, the St. John's Storytelling Festival hosted an event called "Jack Cycle" at The Ship Pub. That 6-hour marathon telling of Jack Tales is now online at www.jackcycle.ca, with full videos of each performer.

As the Cycle website relates, "Jack Tales encapsulate elements of the Newfoundland character that have evolved over five centuries: courage, cleverness, generosity, handiness, hardiness, honesty, humility, naïveté, wit, and a general belief in the impossible (amongst other traits). In the stories, Jack comes to represent the Newfoundland character."

And so, the stories include not only traditional Newfoundland folktales, told by the likes of Anita Best and Andy Jones, but also cultural commentary on Newfoundland identity by speakers including Richard Cashin, and Ryan Cleary.

"We hope this will be a resource," says organizer Chris Brookes, "so please pass on the URL to anyone interested."

Root Cellars, Repatriation of Remains, and Heritage Windows - ICH Update

In this edition of the Intangible Cultural Heritage Update for Newfoundland and Labrador: notes on the 3rd Annual Folklife Festival, Seeds to Supper; Crystal Braye digs in to the Root Cellar Project; we learn why the Food Security Network thinks that Root Cellars Rock; Torngâsok Cultural Centre archaeologist Jamie Brake documents a 1927 incident involving anthropologist William Duncan Strong and the second Rawson-MacMillan Subarctic Expedition, and the 2011 repatriation of the remains of 22 Inuit from the Field Museum in Chicago; and Melissa Squarey reports on tradition bearer James "Jim" Youden, a heritage carpenter and window maker who is the recipient of the Newfoundland Historic Trust’s 2011 Southcott Award for Heritage Craftsperson.

Download the pdf

ICH Culture Days Podcast - Come All Ye, Second Verse

As part of Culture Days 2010, folklorist Dale Jarvis leads an artist's talk about "Come All Ye - Second Verse", a light-hearted portrait of Newfoundland folk music. Interview is with printmaker and musician Caroline Clarke, and woodwork and mixed media artist Pam Dorey. Recorded in front of a live audience on Friday, September 24, 2010 at the Devon House, Craft Council of Newfoundland and Labrador, 59 Duckworth Street, St. John's.

Download the podcast as a MP3 at:
http://www.archive.org/download/ComeAllYe-SecondVerse/ComeAllYe_podcast.mp3

Listen to streaming audio or download other formats at:
http://www.archive.org/details/ComeAllYe-SecondVerse

CultureDays talk Friday, Sept 24 with Caroline Clarke, Cara Kansala & Pam Dorey

As part of Culture Days 2010, join folklorist Dale Jarvis as he leads an artist’s talk about “Come All Ye – Second Verse”, a light-hearted portrait of Newfoundland folk music through the prints of Caroline Clarke and the woodwork and mixed media creations of Cara Kansala and Pam Dorey.

Caroline Clarke is a St. John's based printmaker and musician who draws much of her inspiration from the local community, especially the camaraderie that develops around the sharing of music. Clarke has shown her work in solo and group exhibits in the Craft Council Gallery. In 2008 she had an exhibition of prints—with a musical theme—in the Main Gallery with Cara Kansala and Pam Dorey – “Come All Ye”. In 2010, these three artists are revisiting this theme in “Come All Ye – Second Verse” continuing to have fun with their art and the music that inspires them.

Cara Kansala and Pam Dorey founded Cara’s Joy in St. John’s in 2003, and relocated to Upper Island Cove, Conception Bay, in 2005. The pair work full time from their home studio/workshop, where they fashion their colourful, humorous pictures/collages from a variety of materials including wood, wire, and twine, hand-painted fabric, and crocheted clothing.

Artist talk begins at 6pm Friday, September 24, at the Devon House, Craft Council of Newfoundland and Labrador, 59 Duckworth Street, St. John’s. For more information call (709) 753-2749 or email info@craftcouncil.nl.ca

Image shown: “St. John’s Waltz”, hand tinted linocut by Caroline Clarke.

Help identify the 1937 Bay Roberts Roverines Hockey Team

Does anyone know the names of the ladies on the Bay Roberts Roverines Hockey Team, who were provincial champions in 1937? Margaret Ayad is looking for these women's names for the interpretive panels for Bay Roberts Railway Station.

Got any thoughts? Comment here, or email me at ich@heritagefoundation.ca

Newfies, Newfoundlanders and the Politics of Naming

This week's edition of The Scope has an intriguing discussion about the word "Newfie" and what it means in today's society. It includes commentary by people you've probably heard of like author Ray Guy and Kevin Blackmore, aka Buddy Wasisname, as well as by some you may not have heard of, like Mayor Priscilla Corcoran Mooney of Branch, and comic book artist Wallace Ryan.

You can follow the debate at:

http://thescope.ca/2009/04/newfie-e-mail-responses/

and here:

http://thescope.ca/2009/04/newfie-panel-discussion/


From the Dictionary of Newfoundland English

newfie n also newf, newfy BERREY (1942) 52, 385, 734 ~ 'New Foundland,' 'a Newfoundlander,' 'a Newfoundland seaman'; DC 1, 2 (1945-1958); O Sup2 (1942-). A native-born inhabitant of Newfoundland; NEWFOUNDLANDER; sometimes used locally in imitation of Americans and mainland Canadians. Also attrib, and comb newfyjohn(s): St John's.

1945 Atlantic Guardian Jan, p. 16 Then he found out that the 'Newfies,' as the islanders are sometimes called by one another and by the Americans, refer to supper as 'tea.' 1949 DULEY 11 Now he felt dispossessed, crowded on his own streets, mowed down by the ever-increasing numbers of dun-coloured, army vehicles. The strangers were strutting, becoming the 'big-shots,' They looked down their noses at the natives. They were disdainful of a hard old heritage. They began to call the towns-folk 'the Newfies' and like Queen Victoria, the Newfoundlanders were not amused. 1952 Atlantic Advocate Mar, p. 49 He is a strong advocate of the horse and waggon, home-made bread and 'Newfie screech.' 1976 Daily News 22 Jan, p. 3 Anyone who knows anything might be inclined to the conclusion that [he] is just another stunned Newf. 1978 WHALLEY 4 St John's, a mean ironbound slot for a navigator to find in foul weather or in bad visibility, yet a snug haven for so many ships in the long struggle with the dangers of the North Atlantic and 'the violence of the enemy' that 'Newfy-John's' was a name as much to be conjured with as the Murmansk Run or the Rose Garden. 1977 Evening Telegram 24 Nov, p. 8 The Crowsnest is mentioned often ... as an officers' club where the men spent many happy hours while docked in 'Newfyjohn,' the name [used] to refer to St John's.