"Down in the Sands: Boyhood Memories of Salmon Cove" Booklet Launch

Please join the Heritage Foundation of Newfoundland and Labrador, in partnership with the Salmon Cove Future Development Association, in launching Down in the Sands: Boyhood Memories of Salmon Cove on Tuesday, December 12 at 2:00pm at the Salmon Cove Community Centre (SCPC Fire Department) on Main Road. Copies of the booklet will be available at the event. We hope to see you there!

Old Shops of Port Blandford and Folk Cures and Practical Magic Booklet Launches

Katie Harvey discussing "Everything was Wrapped in Brown Paper" in Port Blandford.

The past few weeks have been busy ones at the ICH Office. We've been working on several projects including our two latest booklets which have recently launched. On Thursday, October 12th, Katie and I hit the road to Port Blandford with one of the latest booklets in the Oral History Roadshow series. “Everything Was Wrapped in Brown Paper: The Old Shops of Port Blandford” is the third booklet in the Oral History Roadshow Series produced by the Heritage Foundation. This booklet focuses on the old shops of Port Blandford, and people’s memories associated with these places.

Participants Sarah Greening and Linda Bennett reading the book. 

The booklet developed as a result of conversations with Calvin Efford of the Port Blandford Heritage Society and a public event held in August 2017. This event focused on the shops in the community. There were over forty shops in the town from the late 1800s to the early 2000s. Over the course of a couple of days in August we did some interviews with community members who worked or shopped in the stores. These interviews were combined with background research done by the Port Blandford Heritage Society and the community's summer Green Team as well as photos from the community.

On Tuesday October 17th, Dale and I along with our summer student Andrea McGuire headed out to Spaniard's Bay for the launch of the second booklet in the Oral History Roadshow series, "Folk Cures and Practical Magic". This booklet was focused in Spaniard's Bay but also includes a couple of stories from seniors who were interviewed during the summer as part of the Collective Memories project. It includes sections of charming warts, and curing toothaches as well as memories of the midwives and doctors in the 1940s, 1950s, 1960s, and 1970s.

Andrea McGuire and Terra Barrett with some of the participants interviewed for the Folk Cures and Practical Magic book.

This booklet was the result of a roadshow event held in Spaniard's Bay in July 2017 that focused on home remedies like poultices for infections or practical magic such as removing a stye with a gold ring. Andrea McGuire and I completed interviews with community members who attended this Oral History Night and the Spaniard's Bay Heritage Society's summer student, Thomas Lane, completed a series of interviews with identified community members.

Judy Symonds reading one of her excerpts from the book.

Both launches were quite successful and the popular booklets are being sold by each Heritage Society. The Heritage Foundation will also place a PDF version online in the next few weeks which can be accessed and downloaded for free. 

If you would like to know more information about how your community can get involved in the Oral History Roadshow call Terra at 1-888-739-1892 ex. 5 or email terra@heritagefoundation.ca or Dale ex. 2 and ich@heritagefoundation.ca

~Terra Barrett

Oral History Roadshow - Salmon Cove Memories

Dorothy Smith fonds Salmon Cove, Conception Bay Fonds MG 179, Item VA 22-53 [summer 1943]
Courtesy of The Rooms

Oral History Roadshow - Salmon Cove Memories

Did you grow up in Salmon Cove? Do you remember bucking barrels for bonfire night? Do you recall sliding in the winter or playing on the beach in the summer? Do you have old photos of Salmon Cove? The Heritage Foundation NL, in partnership with community members in Salmon Cove, wants to know!

We’ll be hosting a Salmon Cove Oral History Event at the Salmon Cove Community Centre (SCPC Fire Department) on Main Road on Wednesday, October 11th, 2017 at 10am.

“We are looking for anyone connected to Salmon Cove with stories of growing up in the community,” says Heritage Foundation folklorist Dale Jarvis. “If you have memories or photographs of the community of Salmon Cove, we would love to hear from you.”

The Salmon Cove Memories Oral History Event is part of the Foundation’s Oral History Roadshow. This project is an initiative of the Intangible Cultural Heritage Office of the HFNL made possible with assistance from the New Horizons for Seniors program. The Oral History Night Roadshow will see researchers travel from community to community, hosting a series of Oral History Nights, open-mic storytelling sessions led and inspired by seniors in that community.

Come for a cup of tea, a bite to eat, and share a memory or two about growing up in Salmon Cove. If you have old photos, bring them along!

For more information please contact Terra Barrett with the Heritage Foundation toll free at 1-888-739-1892 ext. 5 or email terra@heritagefoundation.ca

“Folklore Lives Here!” - A storytelling night in Bay Roberts

Do you remember the spot where teenagers went for their first kiss, where fairies marched, or the rock haunted by the woman in white? Have you collected water from brooks or picked berries from a marsh? What was the best place for playing hockey?

A group of Memorial University folklore students, along with the Heritage Foundation of NL and the town of Bay Roberts, wants to know!

“We are looking for people’s memories about local places, neighbourhoods, swimming holes, skating ponds, and old paths,” says the foundation’s folklorist, Dale Jarvis.

Jarvis, and a group of Memorial University folklore students, will be hosting “Folklore Lives Here” at the SUF Lodge, Bay Roberts, on Thursday, September 14th, 2017 at 7:00pm.

The event is an informal story sharing session for students to meet local residents and seniors, where people can gather, have a cup of tea, and share memories of growing up in Bay Roberts.

The folklore students are part of Memorial University Folklore Department’s Graduate Field School. Students will be living, studying, and researching in the area for three weeks, where they will receive training in folklore interviews, and will work together as a team to document the folklife of Bay Roberts.

The information gathered will be used by the students to create a booklet about the folklore and historic places and neighbourhoods of Bay Roberts.

Come for a cup of tea, share a memory or two about a special place in Bay Roberts. If you have old photos of your favourite place, bring them along!

For more information please contact Dale Jarvis with the Heritage Foundation toll free at 1-888-739-1892 ext. 2 or email ich@heritagefoundation.ca.

“Folklore Lives Here!” - A storytelling night in Bay Roberts
SUF Lodge, Patterson Street, Bay Roberts
Thursday, September 14th, 2017 at 7:00pm.

#OralHistoryRoadshow - Port Blandford

Oral history event on local stores. Photo by Katie Harvey. 2017

On Wednesday afternoon Katie and I headed out to Port Blandford to meet with the Conservation Corps' Port Blandford Green Team and Calvin Efford with the Port Blandford Heritage Society. Calvin contacted the Heritage Foundation about having the Oral History Roadshow come to Port Blandford. The Heritage Society suggested we focus on the stores in the community as there have been over twenty stores in the community through the years, and many local people have memories of both shopping and working in these general stores, convenience shops, and grocery stores.

Thursday morning we met with the green team and provided an overview of how to do oral history interviews including consent, recording equipment, questions to ask, and how to process the material once the recording has been done. Following this meeting Katie and I interviewed two women in the community about their experience with stores in the community.

In the afternoon we held the public oral history event where twenty five people came out to share their memories of local stores like Roland Greening's (later Wanda's), Powell's, Pelley's, and other small stores. There were stories about the charge system, how everything was noted by hand, and memories of the delivery service first by horse and cart and then by vehicle.

Following the afternoon event Katie and I interviewed five community members about their stories and memories of working and shopping in Port Blandford. We are still looking for memories of the stores in Port Blandford so if you have one let me know by calling 1-888-739-1892 ex. 5 or emailing terra@heritagefoundation.ca