Dale Jarvis (l) talks to Cliff Reid (r) about the land settlement patterns in Reidville
In August 2016, we conducted an oral history interview with Clifford Reid about the history of Reidville, near Deer Lake in the Humber Valley region.
In the interview, we talk about his family history; his grandparents William Thomas Reid and MaryAnn Major, the first settlers of Reidville; how Reidville and Junction Brook began; the development and locations of lots of land in the area,and about his memories of Reidville as a child in the 1950’s and 60’s.
The interview contains a lot of great information about logging, sawmills, woods work, and the tramway railway constructed by the loggers and the Newfoundland Pulp and Paper company, as well as a great story about Cliff's aunt going into labour and giving birth in a canoe!
The recording is archived on Memorial University's Digital Archives Initiative. Listen to it here!
The following four films are the final batch of reels I have digitized for the Grand Falls-Windsor Heritage Society. They show various aspects of life in the area, with a mix of spliced together clips alternating colour film with black and white. The children and families shown in the reels are likely relatives of the photographer, Albert Hillier who had 4 siblings, and 19 nieces and nephews. I also wonder if his wife Enid is in the footage. Hopefully those who knew Albert will be able to identify some of these people in his life.
This first film starts by showing one of the Church Lads Brigade camps. Like one of our previous C.L.B reels, it shows some sort of silly parade with the adult C.L.B. members marching while wearing paper hats and carrying a flag made from a pair of white pants. Again, I am wonder if this was a tradition C.L.B. camps in general, or was it specific to this camp. The reel then changes to black and white (the scenes have been spliced together) and we see two women, a baby, and a young boy on a beach, and then in the back seat of a car. The next scene shows the young boy, and another older boy eating bread while sitting on the rocky beach, they are joined by a man who poses with the boy in front of the camera.
The next reel is a similar mix of colour film and black and white, what looks to be from different years. It starts showing a group of shirtless men outside drinking from a jug. Do you recognize the house in the background? We then see one of these men holding a puppy. The reel cuts to a game of football in front of the same house, likely with the same group of men. Then there is a scene showing a C.L.B event near a church. This clip is not very clear but you can see some of the buildings in the area. The reel then changes to colour, and appears to be much later footage. A young girl with brunette braids is on a boat and sticks her tongue out to the camera. Is she one of Hillier's nieces? The film cuts again to a man outside carrying a sack and a truck carries lumber in the background. A baby in a yellow beret sits in a pram looking at the camera. The last scene is black and white, very briefly showing a man standing next to a tripod setup, and what looks like a large pot over a fire.
Next is a short 30 second reel that shows men in a grassy area surrounded by trees, playing football and tackling each other. The same house that was in the background of the last film, can be seen in this one.
The final film of this collection, begins with a child in a red coat playing in the snow. In the background there is writing in the snow, most of which I cannot read but I do see the date 1945. The same child is then seen being walked in a stroller along a paved road. The reel cuts to a dark scene indoors, possibly with the same child, along with some adults. The child looks like they maybe playing with a camera. The reel then shows men outside in the winter, and various scenes of the Grand Falls-Windsor Mill and the dam.
Whether or not you have connections with the area, I hope you have enjoyed viewing these films. If you recognize any of the locations or people in these films, please email kelly@heritagefoundation.ca
"King of All Birds": a public forum about NL wren traditions
“Up with the kettle and down with the pan And give us a penny to bury the wren”
The wren is just one of several Christmastime house-visiting traditions that continues in Newfoundland and Labrador today. Typically, children or adults will visit homes within their community carrying around an effigy of a small bird—the wren. Upon visiting a home, they usually recite a poem declaring the wren the “King of All Birds” and may offer some kind of performance, be it song, joke, or recitation. Often the host will offer up food, drink, or money for the visit. Unlike other house-visiting traditions, there are no disguises involved.
On December 14th, 2016, the final night of the 2016 Mummers Festival, festival coordinator Ryan Davis hosted a public forum on wren traditions at The Rooms. The forum starts with introductory remarks by Davis, and then folklorist and storyteller Dale Jarvis shares the legend of the wren and moderates a discussion with Bev Kane of Renews and Dennis Flynn of Colliers, two people keep the wren alive in Newfoundland. Listen in, and learn about the history of the wren tradition and how it’s happening today.
In the interview, Bev Kane notes a variant version of the wren legend, posed as a battle between two legendary cities: Half a Loaf, and Windy Gap. Her written version is posted below, with a transcript after.
Here is the story, transcribed:
The King of the Birds
Years ago there were two cities named Half a Loaf and Windy Gap. Half a Loaf had the eagle and the people were always saying that they had the best bird to fly, but Windy Gap kept saying that they had the smartest bird to fly and it was the wren. The two groups decided to hold a contest to prove who was right, but first the citizens of Windy Gap had to go in the forest and catch a wren. This didn’t take long for them to catch a wren, so the two cities decided that on the day after Christmas, St. Stephen’s Day, they would let the two birds fly up in the air as far as they could. The people knew that which ever bird went the highest they would know when the birds came back: If a bird only went a short distance its wings would be dry, if it went higher its wings would be wet and if it went much higher there would be frost on its wings.
On St. Stephen’s day the two birds took to flight, no doubt the Eagle went much faster, the small wren took its time but kept the Eagle in sight. After a while the Eagle got tired and started to slow down. The wren started to gain on it but the Eagle kept on going, and he was not looking out for the Wren. The wren was so smart and so small and so light in weight that it pitched on the Eagle’s back and the Eagle did not know it.
When the Eagle got really tired he had to turn back. Now the wren was feeling good after a free ride, he left the Eagle and flew much higher.
When they got back to earth the people got some surprise when they saw the Eagle had wet wings but the smart little wren had the frost on his wings so from that day to this, the wren was called “The King of the birds”.
When I started to work on digitizing the 8mm reels from the Grand Falls-Windsor Heritage Society, I expected to see formal community events and home videos with families and children. Among the mix of Church Lads Brigade reels and other footage from the Grand Falls-Windsor area, were four films that showed house parties were people were drinking alcohol, laughing, and playing pranks. These four films show a wonderful side of the personalities of these people and a relaxed party atmosphere that you usually do not see.
When I first set up the projector, the first reel that I played was black and white footage from the late 1940's showing a house full of people sitting around drinking and joking with the camera. After watching all the reels, this is still my favorite. Two men performed some sort of ritual alternating between bowing to a crate of liquor bottles and taking sips from their drinking glasses. A man in a hat and an Anglican clerical collar reads from a book. He is later seen asleep with his arms crossed and a sign reading "not dead but interred" laid on his chest. Another man wearing round glasses, a hat, and a fake beard, sticks out his stomach to portray a character. The photographer, Albert Hillier, was a member of the Northcliffe Drama Club for 52 years, and while they are not performing in the footage, you can clearly see that his group of friends had a theatrical persuasion. I am curious to know if the man dressed as an Anglican priest, was an actual priest or was he in costume.
This reel also contained scenes apart from the house party. We see young boys playing outside with a toy car and a set of wheels. There is a woman in an apron looking out a window and making gestures to the camera. Two men are outside with a car and truck with a logo on the drivers side door. Another woman joins the men and they dance before the reel ends. Do you recognize the houses in this area?
The next film is very dark, but there is a lot of laughter in there. The footage starts upside down, which may be a hint that this was filmed towards the end of a party. While it is dark and out of focus in parts, there are some good shots of peoples faces, so some may be recognizable.
In the last set of reels I shared, there was one film that showed title cards relating to the footage he shot, some of which we have. The next film has eight title cards, though some words are out of frame. One title, that we don't have the relating film, reads "Guilty: Sergt. LeMoine Sews Lieut. Lane's Coat Sleeve." Another, which may help identify one of the individuals says "A Corner Brook Photographer." These title cards are followed by a short clip showing a small gathering. The party takes place in the same house as some of the other reels, and a man pours the guests drinks from a jug.
The final reel in this set once again shows a house party with people sitting around talking and drinking, while a man is playing guitar. We then see a sleeping guest with a doll laid next to him, and another man stands over him reading from a book. I would love to hear what he is reading, maybe funeral or marriage rites? We then see three men in standing in front of the camera. The man in the center holds a funnel to his mouth while the other two pour in liquid. The guests pass around a balance toy and joke with each other. The camera returns to the sleeping man, who now has the balance toy stood up on his chest. The camera pans down to his feet and he is now wearing women's shoes. Next the camera shows a women setting down plates on a table full of food and desserts. The camera pans around the room to show the guests standing around eating, drinking, and having a good time. Although the footage is dark, in this film and the previous, there appears to be a projector set up on one of the tables, which makes me think that this may be Albert Hillier's home.
I hope you enjoyed this look at house parties in the late 1940's. Do you recognize any of the individuals or locations in these films? Contact me by email kelly@heritagefoundation.ca
Emily Hope is an artist, researcher, and founder of the Wild Man Appreciation Society, a civil society and personal museum dedicated to the promotion and preservation of tales of the Wild Man. Emily was born and raised in Aurora, Ontario, and college-educated at Thompson Rivers University in Kamloops, British Columbia, where she earned a BFA in 2012. Emily lives in Kamloops with her husband, Cory, and their daughter, Molly. During the week you can find her at the Kamloops Art Gallery where she works as the Education and Public Programs Director.
We chat about about the origins of the Wild Man Appreciation Society, Emily’s work as an artist and collector, the origins of the Wild Man archetype and pre-Lenten masking traditions, Black Peter, Santa, the interplay between pagan faiths and Christianity, her research on traditions in Romania and wild man parade and house-visiting traditions there, gender roles and cross-dressing in masking customs, photography and curating exhibits on Wild Men, and her visit to Newfoundland to better understand mummering traditions, and similarities between the festivities in Romania and Newfoundland traditions.
How many people will have similar stockings hanging on the mantle for Christmas? This photo of a handmade knitted Christmas stocking was collected by Lisa Wilson in 2010 while conducting an oral history interview with Eliza Genge of Anchor Point.
In October, I began working on digitizing Nineteen 8mm film reels from the Grand Falls-Windsor Heritage Society. Without labels or a way to view the reels, the contents of the films was a mystery to the Society so they sent them along to us to have digitized. The films are now ready to be shared and I hope with your help we will be able to identify some of the individuals or locations in the films. The films have a variety of topics, but the bulk of the collection show formal events and camps of the Church Lads Brigade. The Church Lads Brigade has had a major presence all over the province, and while these reels are of the Western Division, they are a good example of the activities of the C.L.B as a whole. The films are interesting not just for those connected with the C.L.B, but for anyone who was involved in other groups that went on similar camping trips.
This first film was previously posted, but I was able to record a clearer copy so I decided to share it again. The reel shows a C.L.B. Parade with band that march towards an Anglican church. At the church there is an inside service as well as an outdoor event with many people in attendance. This is one of the few C.L.B. reels which showed a formal event.
Next we see what looks to be an open air church service conducted by the cadets of the C.L.B camp. Their families look on, visiting the camp for the day. This reel also shows some other camp activities, as well as title cards. There are fourteen titles, created by the filmmaker Albert Hillier, that may relate to this reel or others in the collection. They identify that at least some of the camps had taken place in South Brook, and one was identified as filmed in 1947.
Another reel that was previously posted shows various C.L.B scenes. I was able to reattach a broken section adding 4 minutes on to the film, as well as improving the quality. The reel showed various camp activities including swimming and sports as well as local events at the Grand Falls War Memorial and the railway station.
Unfortunately none of these films have sound, and in the following film the sound would be an important part of the event. The footage is dark, filmed at dusk while a music group with a female lead is playing for the camp. The campers can be seen dancing between the tents, having fun with a night of music.
The next film identifies the camping group as the Church Lads Brigade Western Division, and at least this particular camping trip took place in South Brook in 1947. It shows a formal event and some footage of the camp grounds including a C.L.B crest with the division, location, and year laid out in white stones. I hope this information will help to identify some of the people in the films.
While the image of the C.L.B is often thought of as uniforms and parades, this film shows some foolish behavior by the adults at the camp, starting with some sort of silly march where they all pull up one pant leg and march around the campsite. I am curious to know if this was a unique event or some tradition at the camps. Next is a meal scene, with all adults and a priest sitting at the head of the table. The mood is jovial, with members making faces at each other and the camera, and one man wearing a fake nose. We then see an informal wrestling match, and the boys line up to go swimming. The last scene in this reel shows the adults joking around and hitting each other with a strap.
The adults at camp can also be seen in the following film playing baseball and getting ready for a swim. They pose in front of a sign that reads "Our Summer Resort" and lists rules for the camp site. I believe this is also located in South Brook. We also see a female camp visitor laughing and joking with the men. This visitor seems to be in some connection with a inspection and parade that takes place at the camp and ends the reel.
The next film is a good example of everyday camp life. It shows the serious side with a camp inspection, there are various clips involving food and eating, We see how the campers bathed, and some recreation activities like baseball and boxing.
The campers also had to deal with the elements, in this case rain and the flooded camp. We can see that the tents have been raised off the ground and both the men and boys are working in a line to bail out puddles of water. It is not just necessary work, but they can be seen having fun as well, throwing a bucket of water towards the camera and tossing the bucket in the air back to the beginning of the line.
The final film in this set is a short clip showing the more serious side of the Church Lads Brigade, with all members in uniform and lined up for an inspection
I hope you enjoyed viewing these films, I look forward to posting the remaining nine soon. If you recognize any locations or people in these films, please contact kelly@heritagefoundation.ca.
Bruce Templeton’s journey with Santa has taken three phases so far. In 1978, he was asked to "play Santa." he was an actor. In 1982, he held the hand of a dying child whose last words were "Santa, Santa." Then he became Santa. And in the last few years, he has met St. Nicholas who has joined them on their visits. Bruce has joined Santa in the parades for 37 years and they have 50 visits each year in less than 30 days. Their last visit is to the Janeway on Christmas Eve where Santa holds the newest newborn born on Christmas Eve.
In this podcast we discuss Bruce’s journey with Santa, becoming a Knight of St. Nicholas, the history and myth of St. Nicholas, the work of Mrs. Claus, the Flight to the North Pole, the Santa Claus Parade, the Teddy Bear Project, and some of his favourite stories throughout his time with Santa Claus.
The wren is just one of several Christmastime house-visiting traditions that continues here today. Typically, children or adults will visit homes within their community carrying around an effigy of a small bird—the wren. Upon visiting a home, they usually recite a poem declaring the wren the “King of All Birds” and may offer some kind of performance, be it song, joke, or recitation.
Join us for the last event of the Mummers Festival on Wednesday, Dec. 14 from 7:00 to 8:30pm at The Rooms. In this public forum, meet some of the people who are keeping this tradition alive in Newfoundland & Labrador. Come learn about the history of the wren tradition and how it’s happening today. For more information visit mummersfestival.ca
While scanning slides from the St. Lawrence Historical Advisory Committee, two photos of a tuckamore tree sparked my interest. The tree stands in manicured field, wrapped in a colourful pennant banner. After some quick research, I found that the tree has been given the name The Umbrella Tree, because of its unique shape.
One of the first results that show up when searching the St. Lawrence Umbrella Tree, is a 2014 article by Paul Herridge in The Southern Gazette. The article talks about the importance of the tree to those in the St. Lawrence area and their concerns for The Umbrella Tree's health. The reporter stated that provincial forestry officials had inspected the tree and had estimated it only had two years of life left.
Do you know the status of this tuckamore tree? What makes this tree important to the community? Do you have any memories of The Umbrella Tree? Email kelly@heritagefoundation.ca
At our last meeting with the Grand Falls-Windsor Heritage Society, they brought out three prints they want to identify. The photographs show what looks to be copper (or similar) relief art panels. They show three different aspects of logging work. While they look very familiar to me, we have not been able to place the. Do you know where these pieces are or were displayed? Comment or email kelly@heritagefoundation.ca
Monday Nights 7pm-9pm January 9th - January 30th, 2017
Calling all budding folklorists and armchair historians! This workshop is open to anyone with an interest in local history, culture and folklore, and who wishes to learn more about safeguarding our cultural heritage through the medium of oral histories.
The course will give a background on conducting research interviews in the field. It will provide an overview of the methodology and explore the practical matters of creating, designing, and executing effective oral history research projects, project planning, interview questions, ethical issues, and recording equipment.
Over the four week course, participants will conduct an interview, prepare archival metadata, and work collaboratively to create a finished oral history project.
The workshop will be taught by folklorist Dale Jarvis, the Intangible Cultural Heritage Development Officer for the province of Newfoundland and Labrador. He has been working for the Heritage Foundation of Newfoundland and Labrador since 1996, and holds a BSc in Anthropology/Archaeology from Trent University, and a MA in Folklore from Memorial University.
Participants will need to bring their own laptop/tablet, all other materials provided. If you have your own digital recording device (tablet, iPhone, mp3 recorder, etc) you are encouraged to bring it, but it is not required.
Workshop fee: $100 (preregistration required, limited to 10 participants) Location: Newman Building, 1 Springdale Street, St. John’s Online registration here
Mummers Parade Day. 4 Events. 1 Great time! Shake out those long johns and borrow your Aunt’s size 42 bra. We’re calling all mummers to the Mummers Parade! Join us at Bishop Feild Elementary (46 Bond Street) in St. John’s at 2:00pm on Saturday, December 10th to march in the parade wearing your best mummer gear.
The Parade will line up at 1:45pm and leave the school at 2:00 pm.
If you don’t have a disguise, come to the Rig Up starting at 1:00pm at Bishop Feild Elementary to find a disguise on the spot. Find the perfect tea cozy hat, fashion the perfect lace veil, or turn your clothes inside out.
Also happening at 1:00pm at Bishop Feild, the Pot ‘n’ Pan Kitchen Jam teaches mummers some simple rhythms to bang out during the Parade. Bring your pots, pans and ugly sticks. Learn some beats then hit the streets!
A hard-stepping Mummers Scuff ‘n’ Scoff will follow the Parade from 3:00 to 4:00pm back at Bishop Feild with live musical performances by “Russells in the Corner” and traditional dance lessons from the Mistress of Misrule! We’ll also have a drop of Purity and some sweets on hand.
In case of bad weather, the Mummers Parade day events will be held at the same times on Sunday, December 11th. Notice of postponement will be made 9:00am on Saturday Dec. 10th. Go to mummersfestival.ca for more information.
Amelia Reimer is a Cultural Support Worker for the St. John’s Native Friendship Centre. She is a proud Métis woman originally from the Pacific Northwest, but has made her home in St. John’s for the past 4 years. For the past 23 years, she has worked with and served a wide variety of Aboriginal communities across North America. With the Native Friendship Centre, she has taken on the national Faceless Dolls project – tracking and honouring Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women in Newfoundland and Labrador while increasing public awareness through media, speaking, and events. She volunteers her time with a variety of community organizations, including serving on the Board of Directors for the St. John’s Status of Women Council.
In this podcast, we discuss the services of the St. John’s Native Friendship Centre, the Faceless Dolls Project, In Her Name vigil, reconciliation, and Amelia’s work with the Centre and volunteering with the Status of Women Council.
Canadian National Train in Harbour Grace. Photo from the Town's website.
On Sunday evening the Heritage Foundation along with the Town of Harbour Grace hosted the Railway Memories and Story Swap. Although we didn't come across any photos of the railway station that evening we did hear some great stories and were told there are a couple of photos in the local museum's collection. If you or anyone you know has photos of the Harbour Grace Railway station or the Conception Bay North railway more generally please get in touch at terra@heritagefoundation.ca as we are still on the hunt for photographs!
We arranged a follow up interview with Pat Collins who had excellent stories about his time working on the railway. He told us about a old railway station in Riverhead, Harbour Grace and suggested several people we get in touch with for more stories.
Pat also described his fear and embarrassment when he fell asleep during an overnight shift on the Main Line and awoke to the sound of a work train coming through. In his confusion he thought it was a passenger train which was not supposed to come through on the tracks at that time. He put the call over the radio to stop the train but was laughed off the radio instead. Pat was told to go back to sleep and was informed it was a freight train coming through in the early morning and there was nothing to worry about!
I have had the pleasure to be given the task of digitizing slides from the St. Lawrence Historical Advisory Committee. The boxes contained 141 slides, likely taken around the late 1990s or early 2000s by a unidentified photographer. They show a variety of businesses, historic sites, and important natural landmarks in the St. Lawrence area. Along with the slides of natural and built St. Lawrence sites was one photograph of a person, a woman in a red sweater and holding a piece of rope, who looks to be sitting in the grass at the edge of a beach. Do you recognize this woman or the photograph? If so contact Kelly by email kelly@heritagefoundation.ca or by phone at 1-888-739-1892
UPDATE: Thank you to everyone who has contacted us to identify this woman as Philomena Quirke!
Earlier this year, I had the good fortune to be the folklorist-in-residence for the Friendly Invasion 2016, a commemoration of the 50th anniversary of the closing of Harmon Air Force Base in Stephenville.
Over a few days, I conducted a pile of oral history interviews, most of which you can listen to here. I met a lot of people over those few short days, but one of the gentlemen who stood out was John F. Young, who was born in 1927. He was one of those many Americans who had come up to Newfoundland and lived and worked at Harmon AFB.
John was one of our participants in the incredibly successful "Sharing the Memories – stories of Harmon AFB" event we held at the Can-Am Lodge. John told stories about coming to Harmon in those early years, and his humour was one of the highlights of the evening. I've blogged about that event before, where you can listen to the full recording of the event.
I was able to sit down with John and do a longer one-on-one oral history interview with him. Over the course of an hour, we talked about his early life, coming to Stephenville, meeting his wife in Newfoundland, his work with the weather service, the Cuban missile crisis, and his love for hunting and fishing in Newfoundland.
That entire interview has been placed online on Memorial University's Digital Archives Initiative, and if you have an hour, give it a listen or download the mp3 here.
Over the past few months, his daughter Tracy has been giving me updates on John's condition. He hadn't been well at the time of our interview, but his doctor had given him clearance to make one final trip to Newfoundland. Tracy wrote that she had been inspired by our oral history work to do some of her own, and had been getting John to tell her some of his stories.
I got a text from Tracy Saturday night to tell me that John had passed away. I only met him a couple times over that week in Stephenville this summer, but he stands out in my memory of that celebration. I was honoured to have spent some time with him and to have been given the chance to record some of his stories.
A memorial and Military Honors ceremony will be held on December 10, 2016, at 2:00pm in Valdosta, Georgia. You can read John's obituary here, or if you enjoyed listening to his tales, you can make a donation to the National Audubon Society or the Disabled American Veterans Association in his memory.
Terra Barrett, Dale Jarvis, and Kelly Drover in the Old Mill in Glovertown.
This week as part of the Collective Memories Project Dale, Kelly, and I travelled to Grand Falls-Windsor to meet with their heritage society. On the drive out we made a quick stop to the Old Mill in Glovertown. After learning a bit more about the site and the urban legend it has encouraged we wanted to take a look at the building itself. The mill is situated on a side road relatively close to the main road through town but if you didn’t know the mill was there you could bypass it completely. The abandoned mill is covered in graffiti from different decades with some graffiti referencing the red eyes urban legend. It was an interesting but eerie spot to visit and learn more about.
Members of the Grand Falls-Windsor Heritage Society and Dale Jarvis and Terra Barrett of the Heritage Foundation. Photo by Kelly Drover.
After our short detour we met up with the GFW Heritage Society in their office on High Street. This meeting was a follow up on the work I did in Grand Falls-Windsor in September on the memories and merchants of Main Street in Windsor. The photographs and interviews are being edited into a booklet for the community however the ICH Office also wanted to do something a little bit different so we met with the society to discuss the booklet launch and the possibility of doing a pop-up exhibition in the New Year. We tentatively decided on the last weekend in February for the launch and exhibit and are looking forward to the event!
Razor, stropper, brick, bottle, and tobacco from Stewart's Grocery.
While in the community we also completed an oral history interview with Brian Reid and photographed some of the artefacts housed by the society. We also returned digital copies of the Merchants of Main Street interviews which can be found online here. If your community has material you would like help digitized or would like to start an oral history project of your own feel free to contact terra@heritagefoundation.ca or call toll free 1-888-739-1892 ex. 5.
Debbie O'Rielly is Coordinator for Volunteer Mount Pearl (VMP), an office created in 2014 by the Mount Pearl Sport Alliance. VMP was established to address the volunteer needs of community groups in the Mount Pearl area, and to act as a hub to connect volunteers and the groups that need them. Debbie does community outreach with seniors, youth and all those in between. She provides volunteer related news and shares volunteer job details on her website, through social media and in a quarterly newsletter. We talk about the work and objectives of Volunteer Mount Pearl, retaining and recruiting volunteers, using social media, linking youth with seniors, bread and raspberry jam making workshops, the Art of Storytelling project, and community gardens.
Harbour Grace Railway Station. Photo by Michael Philpott.
Did you work in the building or on the railway line? Do you know someone or have a family member who did? Do you have memories of taking the train? Do you have old photos or items associated with the Harbour Grace Railway Station? The Heritage Foundation NL, in partnership with the Town of Harbour Grace, wants to know!
We’ll be hosting a Railway Memories Photo and Story Swap in the in the Danny Cleary Harbour Grace Community Centre, 1 Cee Bee’s Way, Harbour Grace on Sunday December 4, 2016 at 7:30pm.
“We are looking for anyone connected to the Newfoundland Railway in Conception Bay North including labourers, station agents, telegraphers, and flagmen, as well as locals with memories of railway travel.” says the foundation’s folklorist Dale Jarvis. “If you have memories or photographs of the Newfoundland railway, we would love to hear from you.”
The oral history project is part of the foundation’s Collective Memories Project. This project is an initiative of the Intangible Cultural Heritage Office of the Heritage Foundation of Newfoundland and Labrador, with funding provided by the Department of Children, Seniors, and Social Development. The Collective Memories Project invites seniors to record their stories and memories for sharing.
Come for a cup of tea, and bring photos, calendars, timetables, tickets, objects to show off. This information will be used in the restoration of the train station. There will be a scanning station there to digitize or photograph everything that people bring, so you can take your originals home with you. The information gathered will be used to help restore and celebrate the old railway station in Harbour Grace.
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 or Natalie Austin with the Town of Harbour Grace at 709-596-3042 or email natalieaustin@hrgrace.ca. Click here for the Facebook event.
97-243 GFWHS.
Goodyear Taxi Service, circa 1909, located at the Grand Falls Station (Windsor), was operated by Josiah Goodyear.
It boasted of 8-10 horse drawn “Victorias”, with upholstered seats for passengers.
This weeks Folklore Photo comes from the Grand Falls-Windsor Heritage Society and is circa 1909. The photo is of Goodyear Taxi Service located at the Grand Falls Station (Windsor). This Taxi Service was operated by Josiah Goodyear and boasted 8-10 horse drawn “Victorias” with upholstered seats for passengers. Roy Oldford of Grand Falls-Windsor remembered similar horse and carts being used by Stewart's to deliver groceries to the community in the 1950s.
This photo is one of the images from the Heritage Society which will be featured in an upcoming booklet on the merchants of Main Street based on oral history interviews completed in Windsor in September. Tomorrow afternoon we are meeting with the Heritage Society to discuss a pop up exhibit to go along with launch of the booklet in the coming new year.
The booklet will focus on the merchants from the bigger well known stores such as Cohen's, Riff's, and Stewart's to the buses (or taxis) which lined Main Street and provided transportation between the towns of Windsor and Grand Falls. Several people described the buses which would run between Main Street in Windsor and High Street in Grand Falls and even delivered lunches to the mill workers.
Included below is a short audio clip from Roy Oldford who grew up in Windsor. In this clip Roy talks about the popularity of the buses and also tells a humorous story about using his friend's father's bus to earn a bit of pocket change when they were teenagers.
In celebration of the return of the Mummers Festival on November 26th, we are rebroadcasting one of our previous podcasts, an interview with Ryan Davis, the mummer-in-charge of the festival!
Ryan Davis has been running the Mummers Festival since 2009. He holds an MA in Folklore and a BA in Communication Studies. It was his interest in festivals, celebrations, and costuming that led him to mummering traditions. The Mummers Festival promotes the continuation and evolution of traditional arts and performance by encouraging active participation in mummering activities. The Mummers Festival helps to keep mummering alive and contemporary and adds to the population’s pride of place.
In this edition of the Living Heritage Podcast, Ryan talks about what mummers are and what they do, the beginnings of the Mummers Festival and how it has grown over seven years, the successes and challenges of running a festival, and what he hopes the festival will offer in the future.
This weeks Folklore Photo is a still taken from one of the 8mm reels that came to us from the Grand Falls-Windsor Heritage Society. This particular film features an event taking place at the railway station in Grand Falls-Windsor. While the date and particulars of the event are unidentified, it is an example of the goings-on that took place around train stations in our province. The film shows a train pulling up to the Grand Falls station, which is decorated with Union Jacks. Crowds are gathered around the station, waiting to see the visiting dignitary step out of the train car. The visitors arrive, step from the train and are greeted with handshakes and photos before they are whisked away in waiting cars.
A train pulling up to the Grand Falls Railway Station
Stay tuned for the full reels to be posted soon! If you can identify the visitors or any other individuals in the film, please email me at kelly@heritagefoundation.ca
Left to Right: Roy Hiscock, Ben Hiscock, Minnie Hiscock, Albert Hiscock, and Sarah Hiscock.
On Tuesday afternoon the Heritage Foundation and the Champney’s West Heritage Group Inc. launched the booklet The Story of the Spar: An Oral History of the Hazel Pearl. The booklet launch took place in the Ella Freeman Heritage House in Champney’s West, Bonavista Peninsula. There were twenty community members who came out for the launch including four of the people who were interviewed about the wreck of the Hazel Pearl. The Heritage House provided tea, coffee, and some treats for everyone to enjoy.
The Story of the Spar: An Oral History of the Hazel Pearl is the second booklet in the Collective Memories Series produced by the Heritage Foundation. This booklet focuses on the Hazel Pearl shipwreck and includes archival research, field recording measurements of the spar, and oral history interview transcripts. The interviews were completed by Terra Barrett and Dale Jarvis, the measurements and drawing of the spar by Michael Philpott and Li Xingpei, background research by Sarah Hannon, and the booklet was edited by Heather Elliott.
As stated in The Sailor’s Word-Book:
Li Xingpei measuring the spar in July 2016.
The spar which sits outside the Heritage House was once a part of the Hazel Pearl. This spar was part what sparked the interest in the story of the Hazel Pearl and was accidentally brought ashore by fisherman Wayne Freeman when it became tangled in his capelin seine several summers back.
If you want to learn more about the spar or the Hazel Pearl you can head to collections.mun.ca to hear the full interviews or you can check out PDF version of the booklet here!
The Hazel Pearl booklet is part of the foundation’s Collective Memories Project. This project is an initiative of the Intangible Cultural Heritage Office of the Heritage Foundation of Newfoundland and Labrador, with funding provided by the Department of Children, Seniors, and Social Development. The Collective Memories Project invites seniors to record their stories and memories for sharing.
Anna Kearney Guigné is an independent folklorist and adjunct professor affiliated with Memorial University of Newfoundland’s ethnomusicology program. An historian at heart, Kearney Guigné has extensively written about twentieth-century folksong collectors and collecting practices. Kearney Guigné also explores the wide range of influences that continue to shape our rich musical tradition including such popular media as newspapers, broadsides, songsters, and radio programs, vinyl recordings.
This November, Anna will release her fourth major publication The Forgotten Songs of the Newfoundland Outports: As Taken from Kenneth Peacock’s Field Collection, 1951-1961. We talk about the life, fieldwork, and legacy of Kenneth Peacock, and the work of selecting songs for publication in this new book.
When driving through St. Lawrence a large concrete crucifix can be seen from the road, standing tall among the headstones in St. Cecilia Roman Catholic Cemetery. While we were in St. Lawrence Dale interviewed Thérèse Slaney about her life, and she talked proudly about her husband Herb, an engineer who designed the cross.
The cross in St. Cecilia Roman Catholic Cemetery
After the interview, Thérèse showed us some of Herbs beautiful technical drawings, some of the cross and others of the St. Lawrence Grotto which he also designed.
Herb Slaney's technical drawing of the cross
In the following clip you can listen to Thérèse Slaney talk about the work Herb did on the cross.
Terra Barrett and Kelly Drover with the material to be digitized!
Last Thursday Dale, Kelly and I took a drive down the Burin Peninsula to meet with the St. Lawrence Historical Advisory Committee. When we arrived on Thursday afternoon we stopped in to their office in the town hall where we sorted through the material they needed digitized. We ended up taking 20 VHS, 21 CDs and DVDs, 4 cassettes, 4 Kodak slide carousels filled with slides and a small box of assorted slides. This material will be digitized over the next little while and will certainly keep Kelly busy. After this successful visit we drove to Burin in order to take a couple of photos of the designated buildings in the community. We also stopped in to the Heritage Café for a delicious supper.
Public meeting on oral history projects.
In the evening we met with community members in the St. Lawrence Public Library in order to discuss how to do an oral history project. Dale gave an introduction to oral history interviewing including how to focus the interview, reasons to conduct an informal “pre-interview” and the sort of questions to ask. We also ran through the basics of consent forms and how to process the material once you collect it. This included an explanation of tape logs and suggestions of ways to use the material such as booklets, audio clips, etc.
ThérèseSlaney and Dale Jarvis.
Reviewing Herb Slaney's plans.
The following morning we had an interview with Thérèse Slaney about growing up in St. Pierre, her move to St. Lawrence and marriage to Herb Slaney, a description of the first autopsy performed in the community and its importance to miners, an explanation of how the tradition of Mardi Gras started in St. Lawrence, and her husband Herb’s work engineering the cross and grotto in the community. Thérèse was a wonderful woman to chat with and described delicious French foods over a cup a tea in her kitchen.
After our interview with Therese we had a look at the community’s grotto and cross engineered by Herb Slaney and visited a couple of graveyards. Our last stop on the drive back to St. John’s was to the community of Petite Forte to photograph another designated building and take a look at the beautiful harbour. All in all a very successful trip to the Burin Peninsula!
Gaze in wonder at our high-tech digitization suite, converting micro-cassette tapes to WAV format recordings!
Our Collective Memories project is embarking on a new partnership with the Admiralty House Communications Museum to digitize its oral history collection, largely collected in the early 2000s. Here, we are digitizing an interview conducted January 16, 2001 with Steve Best, conducted by Lisa Abbott. The interview focuses on Steve's childhood memories of growing up in Gambo and later working for the Newfoundland Railway as a telegrapher. There is some focus as well on his memories of Mount Pearl in the 1970s.
We will be working with the fabulous Carla Watson at the Museum to place the collection online as part of Memorial University's Digital Archives Initiative. Stay tuned!
