Postmortem Photographs: a long standing misconception

For the month of October I've decided to share examples of the terrifying, creepy or downright strange. Today I'll be sharing some information about postmortem photographs, also known as memento mori.

"Sleeping Beauty"
Courtesy of The Thanatos Archive

Postmortem photography was very common in the nineteenth century when death occurred in the home and was quite an ordinary part of life. In Newfoundland the tradition is said to have lasted into the mid-twentieth century. Today, the tradition of taking postmortem photographs has largely ceased, which most likely indicates a cultural shift, reflecting a general discomfort with death. Today these images are often viewed as vulgar or sensational. However, when placed in historical context, these photographs are a loving memorization of dead family members. Many of these photos, especially those of infants and children, were the only images ever taken of the departed, and therefore cherished deeply by grieving family members. 

"The Bride"
Courtesy of The Thanatos Archive

There is, however, one misconception about postmortem images that I would like to clear up, especially after this list of memento mori photographs was posted today on the popular entertainment website, Buzzfeed. This list includes many images of the presumably dead, some of which are standing upright.

Upon seeing many of these "standing copses" I became skeptical and started to do some digging. I got in touch with Jack Mord, owner of the Thanatos Archive near Seattle, Washington, and he happily cleared this up for me. The Thanatos Archive has an extensive collection of original nineteenth and early twentieth century postmortem and memorial photographs, dating as far back at the 1840s.  

http://img.gawkerassets.com/img/18khyokifify2jpg/ku-xlarge.jpg

Many people argue that the stand pictured above was used to prop up the dead for photographs. According to Mord, "You will never see a dead person simply standing, all by themselves, in the middle of a room supported by a stand. If there is a visible stand base in the photo, it’s guaranteed that they were alive." 

And why is this? Mord goes on to explain that, "those stands, like the one in the diagram, were simply posing stands. They were not made to support people’s weight in any way, and certainly not to hold up dead bodies."

Mord affirms that these stands had lightweight, adjustable arms and prongs on them that lightly touched the person’s body. The purpose of the stand was just to help a living person stay on mark and as still as possible for their portrait. 

There are cases where dead people have been posed standing up, but they are never stood up using common posing stands. As Mord explains, "if rigor mortis had set in, they would sometimes be photographed upright with other people supporting them, sometimes covered by, or behind blankets, or rarely, leaning back against a wall."

So how to do you know a faked "upright postmortem" image of a living person from the real and rare upright images of a corpse with rigor mortis? As Mord  describes, "when you do see these rare upright postmortem photos of people with rigor mortis, there is no doubt whatsoever they are dead – they look like stiff, dead corpses, usually with their eyes closed, not casually posed, healthy people."

"Mr. Colton"
Courtesy of The Thanatos Archive

Thank you to Jack Mord for helping with this post. If you are in the California area and are interested in postmortem photography, over 200 pieces from Mord's collection will be on exhibit at UC Fullerton from November 2 through December 12. 

Oh and if you were wondering about that list on Buzzfeed, according to Mord, numbers "3, 4, 8, 9, 10 and 12, are not postmortem images, and have been floating around for ages."

If you're from Newfoundland and Labrador and have any memento mori you would like to share, please email nicole@heritagefoundation.ca. 

-Nicole  

Finding Local Folklore at Ascension Collegiate, Bay Roberts

The ICH office, and the Bay Robert Cultural Foundation, are starting a project to document folk beliefs, superstitions, charms, and cures in the Bay Roberts area. We'll be doing a series of recorded interviews with locals, and we've also started a project with Level I students in Ms Welsh's English class at Ascension Collegiate.

We visited the school earlier this week, talking about local folklore and supernatural belief. We talked with the students about doing primary research, and going out and asking questions. To help them out, we developed a one-page questionnaire, for them to take home and use while interviewing parents, family members, friends, or neighbours.

We are heading back to Ascension on Friday morning to see what the students collected, and to help them write up some of their folklore findings.

Here are the questions the students are using:

1). Is there a place in your community that people say is haunted? ....a haunted cemetery, a haunted walkway, a haunted cliff or rock, a house, or other building? What are the ghostly stories connected to these places? 

2). When you were growing up, were there any places you were told not to go because the fairies would get you? Where was this and what are the stories you were told? 

3). What are the local stories about shipwrecks? ...buried treasures? What about ghost or weather lights seen on the water?

4). Are there any people who are believed to be witches in the community? Why do people think this? What kind of powers does this person have? 

5). Have you ever had a visit from the Old Hag while you were sleeping? What happened and do you believe that this experience was real or just a dream?

6). Do you know of any special charms, superstitions, cures or remedies that are used in your community?

If you know of a story like this from the Bay Roberts area, you can email lisa@heritagefoundation.ca.

Teachers, librarians or museums: you can download a pdf of these questions right here.

Newfoundland Folklorists in the Prairies

September was a busy month for at least some Newfoundland folklorists. Not only was I fully immersed in the amazing (and intensive) Qudi Vidi Fieldschool for incoming folklore graduate students, but I also traveled to Edmonton to help represent some of the HFNL's work at their annual Alberta Museums Association conference. The theme of this year's conference was Intangible Cultural Heritage and so who better to invite as keynote speaker than Dale Jarvis, ICH Development Officer for the province of Newfoundland and Labrador. In his talk, Dale offered the audience a look at the kinds of ICH work that we're doing here in Newfoundland. We also had two other Newfoundland folklorists in attendance: MA students Claire McDougall and Kristin Catherwood. It was very nice for us to sit back and reflect on everything we have achieved over the past year. It was also great to chat with people from across to country to learn about what kinds of programing is starting up in other provinces.

For my part in the conference, I facilitated a talk on digital storytelling and the different ways that oral historical information can be presented. In this session, I was able to share with participants a series of audio clips that I've collected about particular places, objects, buildings, traditions, and people. To help demonstrate how to begin an oral history interview, I invited Kristin Catherwood to sit and answer some questions about where she is from and why she decided to become a folklorist. Please feel free to listen to an excerpt of this interview where she discusses her love for the prairies and how it connects to her current studies. Given her passion, it's no wonder that she's now studying the vernacular architecture of Saskatchewan's historic farms for her MA thesis.

Follow Kristin's blog The Barn Hunter to find out all about her pursuit of folklore and barns all around the prairie province she calls home. Thanks Kristin, for sharing your story with us.

-Lisa

Tuesday's Folklore Photo: Pumpkins!

[799. Family] Boys Holding Pumpkin
circa 1920-1950
Courtesy of: United Church Archives - H.M. Dawe Photograph Collection

To celebrate the first day of October I focused on pumpkins for this Tuesday's folklore photo. At first I wanted to share an archival image of Newfoundlanders celebrating Halloween, but it seems these are few and far between. When I searched "pumpkins" on Memorial University's Digital Archive and came across these cute little guys, I couldn't resist sharing. These boys are absolutely beside themselves with excitement over this pumpkin!

Interestingly, it was once tradition in Newfoundland to carve turnips for Halloween rather than pumpkins. This is said to be a carry over from Celtic tradition. Pumpkins carved as jack-o-lanterns would not have been part of traditional Halloween festivals in Celtic Europe, since pumpkins are New World plants, but large turnips were hollowed out, carved with faces and placed in windows to ward off evil spirits.


If you happen to be growing your own pumpkins, you may find this advice from Ross Traverse helpful. This was originally published in Decks Awash, 1987.

Courtesy of:  Decks Awash, Vol. 16, no.01 (Jan-Feb 1897)

If you have an archival images of Newfoundlander's celebrating Halloween, please email Nicole at nicole@heritagefoundation.ca. We'd love to share them on the blog at the end of the month! :)

A Persian bonfire for a grey Newfoundland day

I'm in Corner Brook for a meeting sponsored by the Qalipu First Nation, and it is a dreary, grey day here on the west coast. I was delighted therefore to open my mailbox and find a note and photo from Shabnam Inanloo Dailoo, the Heritage and Community Engagement Adviser with Western Heritage in St. Albert, Alberta.

A native of Iran, Shabnam was one of the many people I had the pleasure of meeting at the Alberta Museums Association conference last week. She was intrigued by my mention of Bonfire Night traditions in Newfoundland, and asked me if I knew of the end-of-year bonfire traditions in Iran.

Happily, I was! A few years ago, as part of our Festival on Fire, we organized a talk between Dr. Philip Hiscock and Ebrahim Monajemi, comparing bonfire traditions in Newfoundland and Iran. You can listen to that interview on the Intangible Cultural Heritage Inventory for Newfoundland and Labrador.

Shabnam, who has done research on traditional Persian gardens, describes the photo as a "Persian fresco on the walls of Chehel Sotun Garden (40-column garden) from 17th century depicting the bonfire ceremony.... clearly an intangible cultural heritage associated with a cultural place in an artistic way."

An interview with CBC Central!

Yesterday, I was contacted and interviewed by Leigh Anne Power from CBC Central on the wells and springs project I've been working on here at the Heritage Foundation. Have a listen!

http://www.cbc.ca/centralmorning/episodes/2013/09/25/well-researched/

Also, if you have any stories, wells and springs, photos, or memories you would like to share with us, please contact me - I would love to hear more from you!

Contact me here: sarah@heritagefoundation.ca or 1 (709) 739-1892 ext. 7

Sharing stories of Quidi Vidi Village, Sunday, 7pm

This Sunday, graduate students from Memorial University’s Folklore Department will be sharing some of their fieldwork discoveries at a community gathering in Quidi Vidi. For the past three weeks, new folklore graduate students have been stationed in the village, as part of their graduate program requirements.

Students have been learning about a variety of different cultural documentation methods, all from a folkloristic perspective. They have learned how to use recording equipment and conduct oral history interviews, picked up photography tips from Newfoundland photographer Brian Ricks, and had instruction in how to draw floor plans of historic buildings. Along the way, they have interacted with locals, and gained insight into how folklorists really work in communities.

The students’ work is part of the “Folklore 6020: Field and Research Methods” course, aimed at teaching students how to document local culture and traditions, taught by instructor Dr. Gerald Pocius. The fieldschool program is a partnership between the Department of Folklore, the Quidi Vidi Village Foundation, the City of St. John’s, and the Heritage Foundation of NL’s Intangible Cultural Heritage (ICH) office.

“This is the second time we’ve partnered with Memorial University to run the folklore field school program,” says the foundation’s Dale Jarvis. “It is great for students to see how research happens outside of a classroom setting.”

Students will present their findings and research to the community at 7pm on Sunday, September 29th, at The Quidi Vidi Village Plantation, 10 Maple View Place, in Quidi Vidi. The event is free and open to the public.

(Photo: local resident China Snow being interviewed as part of a 

folklore class at The Plantation, photo by Lisa Wilson.)

Bite what you can chew: Project focus for your oral history or folklore project

I'm back in the office after spending the end of last week at the Alberta Museums Association's annual conference, where the theme this year was on Intangible Cultural Heritage, and I'm already back into the thick of things.

Conferences tend to revitalize me, and get me thinking about what it is we do here at the Heritage Foundation's ICH program. And being asked questions about what other people could do to pursue projects helps get me focussed on practical approaches.

So it was with delight today that I had a phone conversation with Madison Sharman, who I met briefly at the AMA conference (you can check out her art and photography page on facebook).  The organization she works with is embarking on an oral history project, and she had questions about where to start, and what to do with collected materials.

Many of her questions seemed very familiar, and are ones often asked by groups starting out doing some kind of ethnographic documentation project. So I gave her some of my thoughts, starting out with project focus.

I've seen a lot of community projects get bogged down quickly. They all start from a similar place: a sense that stories or traditions are under threat, and that a need to collect information from the community before it vanishes. It is a legitimate fear. One of the big reasons we do documentation work is to collect that sort of information whilst we can.  For that reason, and for other reasons, lots of groups or museums have started oral history collection projects.

But often they go nowhere.

I think one of the big reasons for this is that organizations simply try to collect too much stuff all at once. In haste to collect everything they can, they end up with a morass of audio or video recordings and notes, with no clear focus or thematic similarity. In collecting everything, they've ended up with information that doesn't have a clear purpose, or eventual use. And often, it ends up sitting in a box, under someone's desk, forgotten.

Sometimes, the people they collect from, their informants,  are uncertain what is expected from them. While they have stories and memories to share, some aren't sure where to start with their stories while being interviewed.

Much of this can be solved by having a clear set of goals, and setting a very specific project scope, with targeted questions. Initially, some community groups resist this, in their goal of wanting to collect as much as they can before it vanishes. I always encourage groups to start small, work on a meaningful project, that results in a clear final product that they can share back with the community.

Think about why you want to do the project, and what you hope to end up with when the project is completed. Instead of doing a project on the history of your town, maybe pick one street, or one shop, or one park. Instead of doing a project on women's work in general, look at one particular craft or occupation or tradition bearer. Don't be afraid to start small, or stop when you think the amount of data you have collected is getting too large to process. Once you finish a project, and have something to show for it, you can always do another project! I much prefer seeing a couple small projects finished, than one unwieldy, behemoth of a project that is never ended.

A finished, understandable,  and accessible project means that when you go forward looking to do another project, you can show what you've done. This way, you, your group, future collaborators, partners, informants, and, importantly, funders, know what you are capable of.

Want some tips on things to think about before you start a project? Check out our project planning checklist! Download it, share it with your group, print it off, and make notes on it. You don't need to fill out every block on the checklist, but hopefully it will give you a better sense of the scope of the project you are embarking on, before you end up with a box of recordings stuck under your desk and piles of unfinished paperwork.

Those are my thoughts! Thanks, Maddy!

Got a question about starting a folklore or oral history project for your town? Email me at ich@heritagefoundation.ca or call 1-888-739-1892 ext 2.

- Dale Jarvis

Tuesday's Folklore Photo: This is Mr. TB Germ

Educational booklet published by the Newfoundland Tuberculosis Association.
Ca. 1950 

Throughout the 19th and early 20th centuries, Newfoundland had a very high rate of tuberculosis infection and death, much higher than that of Canada, Great Britain or the United States. Several factors contributed to the spread of  TB in Newfoundland and Labrador. One was the custom of large families spending a lot of time in the kitchen, especially in winter, when all would gather to socialize and stay warm. A person with active TB would then expose their family and visitors to the disease.  A monotonous diet that lacked fresh food and important nutrients also weakened immune systems and left Newfoundlanders vulnerable to the disease. Tuberculosis was also difficult to detect until it became active and at this point was much more difficult to treat. Also, severe isolation in Newfoundland and Labrador meant there was little or no access to medical services and to top it off,  there was little understanding of the causes and prevention of TB. 

Educational booklet published by the Newfoundland Tuberculosis Association.
Ca. 1950 

The Newfoundland Tuberculosis Association, a dedicated anti-TB group founded in 1944 by Ted Meany, released publications to educate the community about the spread and prevention of the disease. The booklet featured in today's folklore photo was published by the association ca. 1950. 

Educational booklet published by the Newfoundland Tuberculosis Association.
Ca. 1950 

Tuberculosis continued to be a leading cause of death in Newfoundland and Labrador well into the 20th century, only being overtaken by heart disease and cancer in the 1950s. From 1901-1975, just under 32,000 people died of TB in Newfoundland. Often the victims were males aged 15 to 45, the wage earners of their families, so the social and economic costs of TB were great. It wasn't until the 1970s, with advances in pharmaceuticals, living conditions and through the efforts of the Newfoundland Tuberculosis Association, that Tuberculosis was defeated.

Click here to read the full booklet! 

-Nicole 

Boatbuilder and tradition bearer Henry Vokey to receive honorary doctorate of laws

The Corner Brook session of fall convocation of Memorial University will take place at the Arts and Culture Centre on Friday, Oct. 4. Master boat builder Henry Vokey will receive an honorary doctor of laws degree.

Henry Vokey has been surrounded by boats his entire life. He began building boats at age 12 when he constructed a six-foot model in the now-resettled outport village of Little Harbour in Smith Sound, Trinity Bay. At age 25 he began to take a serious interest in building boats as a means of survival and, after moving to Trinity in 1964, his business flourished.

During the 1970s Henry Vokey and Sons Shipbuilding employed close to 40 people. He has been active in the construction of more than 1,000 seafaring wooden vessels ranging from a 12-foot rodney to 65-foot draggers. The varieties include trap skiffs, sailboats, dories, schooners and numerous small-scale models.

Through the years there have been many changes where boat building is concerned, most notably the introduction of steel and Fibreglas models of fishing vessels. Despite these changes, Mr. Vokey remained determined to do as he always had done: he had spent so many years working with wood and had no desire to change to any other material.

In 2008 Mr. Vokey announced he would build one last schooner. He started in 2009 and the 44-foot double-masted wooden schooner named Leah Caroline was launched three years later in Trinity Bay. Named after his great-granddaughter Leah and his late wife Caroline, the schooner is still enjoyed by Mr. Vokey and his friends and family.

In 2007 Mr. Vokey received the Order of Newfoundland and Labrador. In 2008 he was awarded honorary life membership in Newfoundland and Labrador’s Wooden Boat Museum and in 2012 was inducted into the Atlantic Canada Marine Industries Hall of Fame.

A significant contributor to the cultural traditions of our province, Henry Vokey will receive an honorary doctor of laws degree during the Corner Brook session of convocation at 10 a.m. on Friday, Oct. 4.

Thanks to Jim Wellman, Editor, Navigator Magazine, and Beverley King, Project Manager, Wooden Boat Museum of Newfoundland and Labrador, for sending this note my way. - Dale

Henry Glassie: Irish Music and Stories, Oct 2nd

The Rooms

7pm
October 2nd, 2013

Henry Glassie: Irish Music and Stories
From the markets of Istanbul to the back roads of Ireland,  renowned folklorist Henry Glassie has spent a lifetime studying material culture and the process of creation. Join us as he talks about his groundbreaking work with Irish music and stories.

Admission is Free, but seating is limited.
The Rooms
9 Bonaventure Avenue
St. John's, NL A1C 5P9
www.therooms.ca

Water Sources Closer to Home

When the wells and springs project first began, I was getting contacted from all over the province, and planning amazing day trips to different communities to be shown sometimes upwards of 10 wells in a day, and chatting with multiple people. Over the last several weeks, I have started reaching out to contacts that are a little more local. Although I live in St. John’s, it has been a little more difficult to find wells, springs, and people to meet that remember a time when you didn’t just turn on a tap. But I’ve made some new friends, with some great stories to share from a little closer to home.

A few weeks ago I made a trek out to the MUN Botanical Gardens, and met with Christine, who showed me around their property. This area of the city has gone through multiple changes over the years, and has hidden within it several wells and springs. The wishing well, closest to the main building, used to service a house owned by Wilt Butler. It was used for water until the pipes were crushed and it became unusable, and after serving as a wishing well for a while it was eventually was covered over due to vandalism. Christine also showed me an open spring along a 200 year-old section of Oxen Pond road originally used for carts that has been integrated into the Botanical Gardens pathways. This spring was across the road from Albert Clarke’s cottage, and he and his wife accessed this spring with a bucket. There are two more wells belonging to cottages now gone on the property that are slightly more hidden from view, and so I plan on going back to the gardens soon to find them.

Last week, I made a short trip out to Portugal Cove St. Philips. I first met up with Michael Murray, who owns and operates Murray’s Gardening Centre on family land. He told me an amazing story about his ancestors, who were some of the first people to settle in the area, and showed me a spring that they found in a hillside and dug out to create a wellhouse. Michael told me he believes the well is from the early 1800’s, and was discovered by his family – and with the few landmarks in the vicinity named after the Murray family, it isn’t hard to believe. It has since been sealed up for safety reasons, and is no longer in use.

I also went to meet up with Edna and Edgar Spurrell in St. Philip’s. The house they live in is close to a century old, and has always been a part of Edgar’s family – he has lived there since he was born in the late 1930s. Edgar dug the well 40 years ago on his own, about 240 feet away from the house up the hill, and the well itself is about 6 feet deep, which feeds into the house via gravity. Up until last year they have never had a problem with the water, and both Edna and Edgar describe it as being both cold and clear. Unfortunately, some nearby construction seems to have affected the water table that feeds their well, and they have been relying on rainwater and water supplies from Edna’s sister since May. Hopefully the city can provide them with some help, and Edna has promised to keep me updated as to what is going on with them.

Just this past Wednesday I went up to Shea Heights to meet with a wonderfully cheery woman named Shirley Holden. Shirley had a great well tradition to share with me that I had not heard about yet – taking special occasion photos around their well. She even shared a great family photo from 1961 with me, and even though I used it a few days ago for the Tuesday Folklore Photo, I have to share it again. Shirley told me how the well outside of Vicker’s general store was a popular place for Christmas ad Easter picture taking, because they would decorate the front window to fit the holiday, and it made the perfect backdrop for the pictures. You can read a little more about our meeting here.

Having more opportunities to do interviews and talk to people has been a great learning and growing experience. For me, it’s a way to understand research and history from a different perspective than I’m used to as an archaeologist; for the project, it’s a way to give meaning and life to the wells and springs we’ve visited; and for the men and women I’ve had the privilege to be able to speak with, it’s a way to make sure their memories and traditions are preserved for future generations to enjoy, remember, and continue.

If you have any stories to share about sharing wells, drinking from springs, or taking photos with wells as the centrepiece, please let us at the Heritage Foundation know! You can email me at sarah@heritagefoundation.ca, or call 739-1892 ext 7.

Tuesday Folklore Photo: Posing Pretty on a Well

So yes, technically it's Wednesday, but I had to slightly delay the folklore photo this week because of a really exciting meeting I had this morning. I went out to Shea Heights to meet Shirley Holden, who contacted the Folklore office about a tradition she remembers surrounding taking special occasion photos.

Shirley told me this morning that when she was growing up in Shea Heights wells represented a gathering place - kids would hang out on the well and meet up to decide where to play, and workmen would eat sitting on the general store well while waiting for a ride back to work. One really interesting tradition she told me about was taking photos on a well for a special occasion. The photo above is of Shirley (bottom) with her older sister Rita (top left) and her mother Anne (top right) sitting on their family well for a photo, which was taken around 1961.

Shirley remembers always gathering to take photos on the well for anything special: birthdays, Easter, or even Christmas, especially outside of the Vicker's general store window on their well out front of the property. "They put all the decorations and the lights and the little houses [in the window] and so that was your big background; everybody would go and sit on the Vicker's well and get their picture taken ... and it wasn't only us, it was a lot of people that went and sat on the well and got their pictures taken".

Later this week there will be a more detailed recap of some interesting people I have been lucky enough to meet the last couple weeks, including Shirley!

If you have any wells or springs stories to share, please contact me at either Sarah@heritagefoundation.ca or 739-1892 ext. 7

A trip to Indian Rock, Petty Harbour

I've been doing a little bit of digging into the folklore surrounding this glacial erratic in Petty Harbour, Newfoundland. Locally, it is known as Indian Rock, Injun Rock, and Engine Rock. Based on a historic photograph in the Centre for Newfoundland Studies, Indian Rock is probably the historic name, with "Injun" and then "Engine" being later reinterpretations of the name.

It is also referred to in a couple places as a logan stone, from an old English or Cornish word meaning to rock back and forth.  The earliest reference to Indian Rock as a logan stone is from William Grey's Sketches of Newfoundland and Labrador, (Ipswich, England: S. H. Cowell, Anastatic Press, 1858). Accompanying a sketch of Petty Harbour, Grey writes,

"On the hill opposite the church is a curious rock, which Druidical antiquaries would call a Logan stone."

This name for the rock was referenced in an article by folklorist Philip Hiscock in 1998 (Downhomer, 11.5 pp 18-19) and then later by popular Newfoundland author Jack Fitzgerald in 2009 (Remarkable Stories of Newfoundland, Creative Publishers, pp 3-5).

I'd love to know anything people remember about this rock, particularly about the origin of the name Indian Rock. If you have a memory or a story, email me at ich@heritagefoundation.ca.

- Dale Jarvis

Thrown blood and stolen luck - a Newfoundland superstition

Recently, I came across this quote linking blood and luck:

"The settlers had many superstitions and were obsessed by a belief in the presence of ghosts. It was common to hear of a man, who, while rowing across the harbor, had seen a phantom French ship, with many soldiers aboard, also crossing. Others had seen an Indian ghost following them from one settlement to another. Their superstitions were legion and I shall mention only one. During the seal hunt if a successful hunter saw anybody throwing blood out of his boat into the boat of another, a fight was sure to follow because the hunter believed that his luck was being stolen."

- from J. Morgan, "Recollections of Harbour Deep," September 1957, page 5, Atlantic Guardian Vol 14, no 9

Has anyone come across this folk belief before? If so, drop me a line at ich@heritagefoundation.ca.

- Dale Jarvis

Folklore, fieldwork, and forgotten cemeteries

 

In the 2013 August/September issue of the Intangible Cultural Heritage Update: students start the Folklore 6020 field school in Quidi Vidi; the Heritage Foundation of Newfoundland and Labrador launches its most recent publication, on lych-gates in Newfoundland; archaeologist Sarah Ingram gives an update on the wells and springs project; Nicole Penney reports on digitizing the Baccalieu Trail Heritage Corporation Oral History Collection; we have a report on HFNL's recent tombstone rubbing workshop; and notes on a little-known cemetery in Clarke's Beach, Conception Bay.

Contributors: Dale Jarvis, Nicole Penney, Lisa Wilson, Sarah Ingram, Claire McDougall. Photo of the Isaac Snow grave marker by Claire McDougall.

The newsletter is available online as a pdf document. 

Doors Open St. John's returns for 2013

Guest blog post by Christina Robarts

September 7-8 from 10am-4pm

It’s that time of year once again for the annual Doors Open event. Every year various sites around the city of St. John’s open their doors to visitors free of charge. For those who don’t know Doors Open is a unique opportunity for citizens and visitors to the province to celebrate our heritage through the exploration of some of our hidden historical, architectural and cultural gems. Doors open events are community-wide, open-hours events which provide the public access to architecturally, historically or culturally significant or interesting properties, free of charge, within a given time frame. The places and spaces included may be those which normally charge fees, or are not usually open to or promoted to the public.

This year we have 16 returning favourites and 3 new sites:

16 returning favourites

• The Newman Wine Vaults
• Robin Hood Bay Waste Management Facility
• James J. O’Mara Pharmacy Museum, Apothecary Hall
• Basilica of St. John the Baptist and Basilica Museum
• The Anglican Cathedral of St. John the Baptist
• Clovelly Stables Community
• Art Gallery at the Refugee and Immigrant Advisory Council
• Central Fire Station
• Crow’s Nest Officers’ Club
• Quidi Vidi Plantation and Craft Incubator
• Quidi Vidi Brewery
• The Railway Coastal Museum
• The YMCA of Northeast Avalon
• St. John’s Farmers’ Market
• Winterholme Heritage Inn and Spa
• Suncor Energy Fluvarium

3 Sites participating for the first time

• The Peter Lewis Gallery
• Logy Bay-Middle Cove-Outer Cove Museum
• FarOut Fitness

Admission is FREE to all sites. For more details about times and days of participating sites please visit www.doorsopendays.com , Like Doors Open Days on Facebook or @DoorsOpenDaysNL on Twitter or on Instagram @DoorsOpenNL.

You can also email Christina Robarts, Doors Open Days 2013 Coordinator at doorsopendays@gmail.com

This event is sponsored by: CBC, The Telegram, Newfoundland Historic Trust, City of St. John’s, Heritage Foundation of Newfoundland and Labrador, Canadian Heritage, and Heritage Canada Foundation.

Tuesday's Folklore Photo: That's one dirty old...shut your mouth!

When I happen to have a boil up with folks from away I can't help but point at the kettle on the fire, lean in close and whisper mischievously, "Do you know what we call that in Newfoundland"?

They, of course, say "no" and I giggle like a child who just learned about beaver architecture, the actual name for a female dog and donkey synonyms all in one glorious afternoon.

I blurt out, "It's called a slut!", while thinking, "please ask me why it's called that, please ask me why it's called that."

The inevitable question follows and I practically explode.

"Because they're fast and dirty"!!

I sit back then, far more proud than I should be of this awful one-liner. Who do I think I am? Henny Youngman?

But I can't help myself so I giggle and ask, "Do you know what we call dandelions here"?

Job Posting - Educational Assistant at The Rooms

LOCATION: Education and Public Programming Unit, The Rooms Corporation of
Newfoundland and Labrador, 9 Bonaventure Avenue, St. John’s, NL

DUTIES: Expressions of interest are invited from qualified individuals for
the position of a part-time Educational Assistant to provide support to the
Program Coordinator in the delivery of the Chevron Open Minds at The Rooms
program. Functions will include the delivery of group tours and related
education programs and workshops, meeting and greeting of Open Minds school
groups, setting up of learning materials and classroom space and responding
to student, teacher and volunteer queries. The Educational Assistant will
assist in the development of new programs and the ongoing evaluation of
program effectiveness and efficiency. Reporting to the Manager of
Education and Public Programming Unit, the educational assistant will also
perform related work as required. Employment is 19 hours per week, from
mid-September to mid-June.

QUALIFICATIONS: The Educational Assistant must possess strong communication
and interpersonal skills and experience in the delivery of interpretation
and/or educational programs. Successful applicants must have good knowledge
of museum/art gallery/ archives operations, background knowledge of
Newfoundland and Labrador history and culture, and the ability to adapt and
deliver hands-on education programs to a range of groups. These
qualifications would normally be acquired through successful completion of
the Heritage Interpreter Certificate, MANL Certificate Course, supplemented
by completion of university courses in history, archaeology, art history,
archival studies, biology, education, geography, or folklore. Equivalent
combinations of education and experience may be considered.

SALARY: $23/hour

Please forward you resume to:
The Rooms, P.O. Box 1800, Stn. C, St. John’s, NL A1C 5P9
Attention: Gillian Davidge or email gilliandavidge@therooms.ca

DEADLINE FOR APPLCIATIONS: September 10, 2013

Structures on Bonavista Peninsula to receive heritage plaques

On Tuesday, August 27, at St. Luke’s Anglican Church in Old Bonaventure, the Heritage Foundation of Newfoundland and Labrador (HFNL), will unveil a series of plaques recognizing the designation of Registered Heritage Structures on the Bonavista Peninsula.

“Registered Heritage Structures are buildings which are representative of a special time and place,” says Frank Crews, Chairperson, HFNL. “Above all, a heritage structure of provincial significance must have significant historical interest and architectural design.”

The structures include Archibald Christian House (Trinity), Edwin and Priscilla Miller House (New Bonaventure), Evelley House (Trinity East), St. Luke’s Anglican Church (Old Bonaventure) and Monk’s House (King’s Cove).

Attending the ceremony is Trinity area MHA; Ross Wiseman, Municipality of Trinity Bight; along with officials from HFNL and the Trinity Historical Society Foundation and citizens from Trinity and surrounding communities.

“The designation of these buildings represents an important part of our province’s heritage,” explains Crews. “The preservation of the built heritage and culture of the peninsula has made it one of the most notable heritage regions in the province.”

Individuals interested in having a structure recognized as a Registered Heritage Structure can find more information online at www.heritagefoundation.ca or by calling 1-888-739-1892.

August 27, 2013
2:00 pm
St. Luke’s Anglican Church, Old Bonaventure.

The plaque ceremony will commence at 2pm, with refreshments afterwards. Join us and help celebrate the unique built heritage of the region. The event is free and open to the public.

Archibald Christian House 
http://www.heritagefoundation.ca/property-search/property-details-page.aspx?id=57

Edwin and Priscilla Miller House
http://www.heritagefoundation.ca/property-search/property-details-page.aspx?id=1677

Evelly House 
http://www.heritagefoundation.ca/property-search/property-details-page.aspx?id=138

St. Luke's Anglican Church 
http://www.heritagefoundation.ca/property-search/property-details-page.aspx?id=246

Monk's House
http://www.heritagefoundation.ca/property-search/property-details-page.aspx?id=289

Archaeology and Wells

Archaeologists thrive on finding the refuse of the past. By uncovering the remnants of meals, household items, clothing and daily life, we can try and better understand the culture we are studying, which is done through document research, surveying, excavation, and analysis. For an archaeologist, the less disturbed a site is when we arrive to do an analysis, the better the information we can collect. Excavation is all about relationships: how the different artifacts relate to the site, and how they relate to each other. 

Water has always been an important resource, and any archaeological excavation will either find a place where water was found and collected nearby, or where a well was dug or a spring was used. As a historical archaeologist, I know several 16th and 17th century sites in Newfoundland had wells, or have documentation associated with them that comments on how clean and pure the local water was. Wells hold the opportunity to not only hide within them a rich collection of archaeological artifacts, but the majority also have these artifacts still layered in the order they were deposited, allowing the archaeologist to understand changes through time much more clearly.

Ferryland, Newfoundland has at least two wells associated with the site: one that dates to the late 17th century, and one that was uncovered a few field seasons ago. While only preliminary reports are available on the newest find, Dr. Barry Gaulton from the MUN Archaeology department, the lead archaeologist at Ferryland, was able to share details about the Ferryland well.

“It was stone lined, 25 feet deep, built upon a wooden curb (found at the base of the well), and dates to the late 17th century. An elderly man from the community (Wilfred Costello, now deceased) who told Jim [Tuck] in 1994 about the location of the well … Wilfred’s grandfather told him about the well when Wilfred was only a young boy. Even at this time (about 80 years ago) the well was no longer visible, and there was certainly no trace of it on the landscape in the 1990’s”.

Photo from the Colony of Avalon Foundation (website http://www.heritage.nf.ca/avalon/arch/planters_well-2.html)

Wilfred came to Jim Tuck, the then lead archaeologist on the site, with a story that he had been told by his grandfather of an abandoned well on the Downs; “how a young boy had accidentally [fallen] into this old abandoned well and drowned. The residents of Ferryland at the time (probably late 1800’s) retrieved the boy and filled in the well with large rocks so no one else would be hurt. The archaeological evidence certainly corroborates this story. The well was [rapidly] filled from top to bottom with rocks and some 19th century debris”.

The Ford’s well in Cupids, Newfoundland, was once a simple spring coming out of the rocks, but now is surrounded with a cement base and has a recycled stop sign fashioned as a cover. William Gilbert, the head archaeologist on the Cupids plantation, believed that the brewhouse of John Guy was in close proximity to it, and although past survey work did not reveal its location, it could still be hidden closer to the shore for future excavations to uncover. Future excavations could be dictated based on interpreting this spring as an important element of the early site layout.

There is also a wellhouse in behind the current Cupids archaeological dig, where the plantation house sits. It has been sealed for safety reasons, and has not been excavated yet, though Bill does hope he can get to it in the future. An untouched well is a great situation for refuse. For one, once a well has served its purpose and is no longer used, it is likely that a community will use it to get rid of garbage, and so many wells have layers of preserved refuse from past residents. Secondly, the layers are less disturbed than those on the surface, as the natural processes and human activity that affect surface artifacts do not affect the artifacts preserved in a well. Unfortunately, Bill has yet to find the time or the funding to schedule the well excavation, and so it remains untouched for the future.

Stories like how the location of the Ferryland well was found, or how interest was sparked in the Ford’s well in Cupids that lead archaeologists to a potential feature no longer visible on the ground surface really demonstrate how important and valuable oral histories can be as a contribution to archaeology. These passed on stories and legends show how both folklore and archaeology can work hand in hand to understand and preserve the past. It’s something that I love about archaeology; combining the past and the present together to gain a better understanding of the landscape, and incorporating the community and the local tradition into my analysis to find something not readily visible from the surface. Wells especially are a great resource, and one that can easily become hidden from the ground; sometimes these types of stories are the only way they can be found!

If you have any wells, springs or water memories that you would like to share, please reach out! You can email me at Sarah@heritagefoundation.ca, or call me at 739-1892 ext. 7

Tuesday's Folklore Photo: Berry Combs

Update: I was informed that the item below is not a berry comb but actually a dory bailer, used to scoop out water from a boat. The bailer is also known as a a piggin, peggin, spudgel, spudget, spudgin or spudgy.  It looks a lot like a berry comb, but that's what I love about this job, you learn something new all the time! :D  

Around this time every year I love to go berry picking. I pick mostly blueberries and find something very satisfying about gathering my own food, especially when it's free. Don't get me wrong, I love a good strawberry U-Pick, but around here you don't have to go far to find a barren or boggy area full of blueberries. Berry picking can be hard on the back, so to make the work faster people have used berry combs, like the one pictured below.

Dory Bailer: Located in the Woody Island Museum

That berry comb above is actually missing the comb part, so I borrowed a picture of a complete one, featured below.This one is similar to the one used in Newfoundland, but was used by a man who lived on the southern shore of Lake Washington in Seattle.

Here are a few terms used in Newfoundland and Labrador related to berry picking:

berry box: wooden box used by pickers to carry harvest of partridge- and blueberries.
T 1-631 We used to go berry picking and take berry boxes, forty or fifty, a couple of us together. We'd fill them.

berry duff: a boiled or steamed pudding with wild berries as an ingredient.
1966 HORWOOD 19 Blueberry pudding, loaded with luscious fruit, boiled in a cloth, and popped open, fresh from the pot and dripping with purple juice, on the kitchen table. 

berry crop: the harvest of wild berries: 1976 Daily News 14 July, p. 2 Berry crops are blooming early this year and the director of the soils and crops division with the department of forestry and agriculture, is expecting a good season. 'Blueberries, partridge berries and bakeapples are already in bloom,' he said.

 

Va 94-36.1; Berry Picking: Women and Children Berry Picking on a Hill [193-]
Courtesy of The Rooms Provincial Archives  

berry ocky: home-made drink of wild berries, esp partridge berries, or jam and water; cp OCKY. 

berry ground: elevated, unwooded stretch of land or 'barren' producing wild berries. See also GROUND.

berry note: buyer's receipt issued to picker for quantity of berries received.
1972 MURRAY 261 Those who sold berries were given a 'berry note' indicating the amount of berries 'shipped' and the price per gallon. The value of the note had to be 'taken up' in goods in the store where the berries were shipped.
 

VA 15D-20.2. Man Berry-Picking, Portland Creek, NL [ca 1940-49]
Courtesy of The Rooms Provincial Archives. 

-Nicole

An afternoon well spent

On Friday, Sarah and I drove out to Carbonear for another well hunting expedition. There we met with Florence Button, who had kindly offered to show us around for the afternoon, and Jim Fitzpatrick, a local resident with knowledge of several water sources in the area. The four of us then headed to the tiny community of Flatrock, just east of Carbonear, where we were joined by Stan Deering. As a lifelong resident of the area, he was a fount of information about water, and much more.

Image painted by Stan Deering.

Stan showed us a variety of water sources. He took us to a shallow spring-fed well, with a metal liner, which once provided water to four homes. The houses are gone, but there is still water in the well. He also showed us two hand-dug, rock-lined wells: the first was 50-60 years old and has dried up and been filled in; the second was at least 75 years old and is still in use. Finally he showed us a spot on his property where water had been collecting naturally. He recently dug and lined a shallow basin to better contain it.

Shades of the Past Museum.

This last structure is a part of the ever-evolving museum that Stan runs with his wife, Loretta. Shades of the Past is a truly local museum (https://www.facebook.com/ShadesOfThePastMuseum). It houses a collection of photographs dating back to the early twentieth century, historical reconstructions of the surrounding area, drawn by Mr. Deering, and a wide selection of artifacts used for day-to-day life. There are several components to the museum apart from the dedicated photo gallery, rooms that have been lovingly put together as vignettes of a different time. We were lucky enough to have a tour of the museum, including a root cellar which Stan is currently in the process of building.

Stan Deering's root cellar.

After we parted ways with Stan, Jim took us over to the property in Carbonear where he grew up, the Fitzpatrick family home, which is now owned by Jim’s brother, Bernard, and his sister-in-law, Irene. The property was interesting for several reasons. We saw our second root cellar of the day, and it was a thing of beauty (in my view).

The well on the property was also lovely. Bernard constructed the current well house a couple of years ago. The well itself was much, much older than that. Jim and Bernard said that it was dug by their great grandfather or their great-great grandfather, and could have been there close to 200 years. It is fed by six underground springs and has never run dry. Neighbours used to come draw their water from the well in dry years. Bernard said that he has noticed a change in water flow in the past few years, which he believes to be a result of a subdivision that has been built up nearby. The well was also interesting to me in that it contained a trout. The well’s current resident – the in-house janitor, if you will – has been there for about ten years now. Sadly, he was a bit camera shy.

We had a wonderful and informative afternoon, thanks to the lovely individuals who shared their time and knowledge with us. Sarah and I both left feeling that we had barely scratched the surface and hoping to return to the Carbonear area very soon.

Sarah is still looking to hear from people about their wells, springs, and water memories.

If you have memories you’d like to share, she would love to speak with you. You can reach her at sarah@heritagefoundation.ca, or call 1 (709) 739-1892 ext. 7.

-Claire McDougall

A day of water in Cupids, Newfoundland

Last week Dale, Claire, Nicole and myself travelled out to Cupids, Newfoundland to meet up with some friends and talk about water sources. We left Nicole for the morning at the Cupids Legacy Centre to teach her Pillow Top Workshop, and the rest of us met up with Peter Laracy, the General Manager of the Legacy Centre. He showed us around Cupids for the majority of the day, and we started our tour with his own well. His property has had a well on it since 1918, and the well went through several facelifts, first in 1965 and then in 1978. It is now expertly housed, and includes insulation and a pump for a year round water guarantee! Peter even invited me back at the end of the summer to help him clean his well - I can't wait!

We then went to meet Vernon 'Bucky' Whelan, and he had quite a few stories to share. Bucky first showed us an old spring that had been cemented in near his property. This spring has been around for as long as anyone in the community can remember, and in fact was once thought to have been a source of water for John Guy and a brewhouse in the seventeenth century. Bucky also showed us where a barrel well used to be on his property, and told us about a spring that filled near the back of his property and used to be used for horses. He also had some great memories to share, about how important water is, the cold and pure taste of springs, and carrying water with hoops in turns. It was a treat!

We next went to meet Christine Fowler, a relative of Peter, who had an amazing traditional, almost kitschy looking well house with some delicious well water hidden underneath. We've seen quite a few of these around Newfoundland as lawn art pieces, but this is the first well I've seen actually housed underneath one. I love the traditional, simple design to these wellhouses - these are what I think of when I think wells! We also went and saw her brother's well next door, which was one of the deepest I've seen so far (242 inches!) and more modern, with PVC lining and a metal pitched roof. Before leaving we got to pet his pony in the backyard - adorable.

We then went on a bit of a hike out into Greenland, where Peter knew of a long forgotten spring. Peter told us that there were once houses out in this area, but in the 1940's the last few households moved into where the modern town now is. This round well looks to be like a closed in spring, shallow and completely lined with rocks. It was great to see such a secluded spot for a well, and really made me think about how many more were hiding out in the Greenland woodlands.

On our way back to the Legacy Centre, Peter ran into his friend Ross Dawe, who had a great old car and three different water sources on his property, including two wells and one spring that he used in dry times. We also stopped and chatted with Lloyd Kane, who had an old well nestled behind a gorgeous honeysuckle tree that hadn't been used in decades. While the well was nothing spectacular, the tree hanging over it, nestled in a green backyard, really seemed almost magical.

Once back at the Legacy Centre, we said goodbye to Peter, grabbed Nicole, and went to the Cupids archaeological site to have a chat with William Gilbert, the lead archaeologist. He told us about an attempt at an archaeological dig near the spring we had been shown  earlier by Bucky, and that even though nothing was found, Bill still believes that the brewhouse that John Guy had in his colony was over there. He also showed us a well in the back of the Cupids plantation house that has yet to be excavated. There are busy up there on the dig in Cupids, so we were very thankful for the tour!

After a delicious lunch we headed out to see one final spring, out along the Bay Roberts heritage trail. This spring has been closed in with rocks, and is right off the trail path. While I probably wouldn't recommend drinking from it, it's a great spot for Fido to get a sip while out on the trails. As you can tell, it was a great spot with an incredible view.

We got to see a lot of wells, and talk to a lot of people - it really put a spring in my step!

I am still looking to hear from people about their wells, springs, and water memories: what does water mean to you, how have you sued it, and what do you remember about it? I would love to have a chat with you!

You can reach me at Sarah@heritagefoundation.ca, or call 1 (709) 739-1892 ext. 7

Tuesday's Folklore Photo

IN MEMORY OF JOHN BUTT

WHO DIED HAPPY IN THE LORD

11th MAY 1842

AGED 58 YEARS

He was the first person buried in this cemetery on Sunday 15th

By Rev. J. Snowball

Who preached a sermon for the occasion the same evening.

"Be ye also ready: for in such an hour as ye think not the Son of man cameth"

St. Matthew 24

This headstone is located in the old General Protestant Cemetery in St. John's. Later this month the HFNL will be holding a headstone rubbing workshop in this very cemetery, and discussing the different ways of preserving the information (genealogical details, epitaphs etc.) on historic headstones. Details about this workshop will be released in the next few days. Please stay tuned!!

-Lisa

A Grand Day for a Celebration

A crowd of Bay Roberts residents gather to celebrate Cable Avenue's 100th birthday.

Last Friday afternoon the HFNL with help from the Town of Bay Roberts and the Bay Roberts Heritage Committee held a public plaque presentation and cake cutting ceremony at the Western Union Cable Station.  It was a successful event as we officially recognized Cable Avenue as a Registered Heritage District while celebrating its 100th birthday. Past and current residents of the district gathered under the shade of the iconic chestnut trees to hear speeches and reminisce about life on the Avenue. The cake was unveiled and cut by Randy Collins, a long-time homeowner on the Avenue, and contributor to the "100 Years of Cable Avenue" display at the Road to Yesterday Museum.

Special thanks to Marilyn Dawe, Eric and Betty Jerrett (and the Bay Roberts Heritage Society Inc.), Mayor Phillip Wood, and M.H.A. Glenn Littlejohn for all of their support in the planning of this community event. 

Some current and former residents of Cable Avenue come together at the community celebration.

Glenn Littlejohn (centre) presents a Heritage Foundation plaque to Eric Jerrett (left) and Mayor Wood (right) on behalf of the province to commemorate the restoration of the Western Union Cable Station (ca. 1913).

-Lisa

ICH office accepts The Scope's 2013 #PhotoChallengeNL

Recently, St. John's arts and culture newspaper The Scope challenged readers to participate in a photo project, taking a different photo or video every day for the month of August.  You can read more about the challenge here:

http://thescope.ca/photochallengenl/take-the-2013-photochallengenl

The Intangible Cultural Heritage office is onboard! And because we love a good folklore photo, we'll take the challenge to the next level: all our photos will follow the daily suggestions, AND be on a folklore/intangible cultural heritage theme. 

We'll be posting our folklore-themed photos on Instagram, with The Scope's suggested hashtag  #photochallengenl and our own #ich_nl (that's our Twitter handle, btw).