It is official! The new Living Heritage Podcast is up and running, and ready for a listen!
Living Heritage is about people who are engaged in the heritage and culture sector, from museum professionals and archivists, to tradition bearers and craftspeople - all those who keep heritage alive at the community level. We talk about their work, their passions, and the day-to-day safeguarding of culture and tradition.
Ep. 001 - Christine LeGrow - Spindrift Handknits
Christine LeGrow is the owner of Spindrift Handknits. Christine was born and raised here and has a keen interest in the people, places and things that make this island of Newfoundland unique. In this interview, Christine talks about learning knitting skills, traditions related to craft, patterns, socks and trigger mitts, sources of wool, and her wishes for the future of heritage in Newfoundland.
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The Living Heritage Podcast is about people who are engaged in the heritage and culture sector, from museum professionals and archivists, to tradition bearers and craftspeople - all those who keep history alive at the community level. The show is a partnership between HeritageNL and CHMR Radio. Theme music is Rythme Gitan by Latché Swing.
This week’s Memory Store video is filmed in the Bishop’s Library where the Basilica houses a museum and archives. Anne Walsh, treasurer of the Basilica Museum and Historical Committee, describes the Bishop’s Library which was the first public library in Newfoundland and Labrador.
Watch the video below or click here to watch the video on YouTube.
Click here for more information about the building's history and architectural style.
If you missed our initial post explaining the concept of the Memory Store clip here to go back to our first blog post with the introduction video or check out our YouTube channel at ICH NL.
Stay tuned for more short stories about historic places in the province, in the form of short oral history interviews conducted with the people who care about those places and if you have a personal memory about a historic place in Newfoundland and Labrador, and want to add your voice to the Memory Store project, let us know at ich@heritagefoundation.ca, terra@heritagefoundation.ca or 739-1892 ex. 5.
Today’s Tuesday Folklore photos are of Mr. Joshua Young demonstrating how to “run” a birch broom. Last Thursday afternoon after a successful first interview for the radio show/podcast Living Heritage with Christine Legrow, Dale and I took a trip to Mount Pearl to talk with a gentleman who grew up in Grey River on the South-West Coast of Newfoundland near Burgeo. Mr. Young learned how to make birch brooms from his family members and continues to teach his grandchildren how to make the brooms today.
Mr. Young explained the different between white and red birch trees and how to find the right piece of wood to carve into a broom. While explaining and discussing broom making Mr. Young made a small birch broom in under an hour as a simple example of how to make a birch broom. He sent us back to the office with the sample he made as well as one of his larger brooms which he wasn’t completely satisfied with due to the crook in the handle. The broom now hangs on the wall in our office and is the first thing you see when you step inside.
Mr. Young also makes model wooden boats and explained his process of crafting and painting these as well. It was an excellent afternoon and I hope I am able to join Dale when he goes back in August for a more hands on demonstration of broom making.
There Was No Pavement Then: Memories of Growing Up in Petty Harbour-Maddox Cove
Thursday, July 9th, 2015
7:00 pm
Watershed Café, Petty Harbour.
“There was no pavement then, it was all dirt road and we would play in the schoolyard,” remembers Betty Cheeseman. “We would draw out the hopscotch with our sticks in the sand and we had lots of time and lots of fun.”
Cheeseman was one of several current and former residents of Petty Harbour-Maddox Cove who took part in the 2014 Petty Harbour-Maddox Cove oral history project. Their memories and stories are part of a booklet “There Was No Pavement Then: Memories of Growing Up in Petty Harbour-Maddox Cove,” edited by Memorial University folklore graduate student, Terra Barrett.
“The booklet focuses on growing up in the community, the children’s games played in the area, folk beliefs, seasonal activities, and community events,” says Barrett, currently a public folklore intern with the Intangible Cultural Heritage office of the Heritage Foundation of NL. “The booklet contains transcribed excerpts and portraits of community members, comical local stories, and memories about fishing for tomcods and cutting cod’s tongues.”
The booklet was laid out and designed by local graphic designer and artist Graham Blair, and was funded by the Heritage Foundation of Newfoundland and Labrador and the Helen Creighton Folklore Society.
The Heritage Foundation of NL will be hosting a booklet launch at the new Watershed Café, in Petty Harbour, on Thursday, July 9th, 2015, at 7 pm. The Watershed Cafe is the blue building, right on the harbour front, three buildings up from the convenience store. All are welcome!
Light snacks, coffee and tea will be available for purchase.
We have been working on a new project, and it is launching today!
“Living Heritage” is a production of CHMR Radio 93.5 FM at Memorial University, in collaboration with the Intangible Cultural Heritage Office of the Heritage Foundation of Newfoundland and Labrador.
Living Heritage is about people who are engaged in the heritage and culture sector, from museum professionals and archivists, to tradition bearers and craftspeople - all those who keep heritage alive at the community level. We talk about their work, their passions, and the day-to-day safeguarding of culture and tradition.
Our first show airs today on CHMR at 6:00pm. You can tune in and listen to our interview with Christine LeGrow, local knitter and owner of Spindrift Handknits, as we talk knitting, craft production, and the importance of maintaining local tradition.
Living Heritage will be a regular weekly program on CHMR, broadcasting every Thursday at 6:00pm. It will also be a podcast published biweekly, and will be available through iTunes. When our first episode is ready, we will let you know here, and give you information on how you can subscribe.
In the meantime, tune in tonight! Thanks to Christine to being an easy first guest!
If you think your heritage organization or project might be a good fit for our show, email us at ich@heritagefoundation.ca.
This week’s Memory Store video is a clip of Elisabeth Laverty from the Anglican Cathedral of St. John the Baptist. Elisabeth explains the story of the only surviving stained glass window prior to the great fire of 1892. Elisabeth also mentioned the way large stained glass would have been shipped during the time period – in barrels of molasses!
Watch the video below or click here to watch the video on YouTube.
Click here for more information about the building's history and architectural style.
If you missed our initial post explaining the concept of the Memory Store clip here to go back to our first blog post with the introduction video or check out our YouTube channel at ICH NL.
Stay tuned for more short stories about historic places in the province, in the form of short oral history interviews conducted with the people who care about those places and if you have a personal memory about a historic place in Newfoundland and Labrador, and want to add your voice to the Memory Store project, let us know at ich@heritagefoundation.ca, terra@heritagefoundation.ca or 739-1892 ex. 5.
I spent Monday morning attending the Association of Newfoundland and Labrador Archives' annual general meeting and today's folklore photo was one I snapped quickly during yesterday's meeting. I was invited as a representative from the ICH Office as ANLA and the Heritage Foundation are partners and sister heritage organizations.
It was interesting to learn a little more about the organization and to hear some of the triumphs and challenges the organization has achieved and overcome in the past year and where they want to take the organization in the coming year. One thing which ANLA has been promoting recently are their online webinars so be sure to check out their website for upcoming workshops!
The picture above is from the presentation which occurred during the lunchbreak. Jenny Higgins from the Newfoundland and Labrador Heritage Website introduced a series of short films which she has been working on recently. The videos were on difficult subjects and were incredibly moving. One touched on the 1914 sealing disaster, another on the great fire of 1892 and the last on the battle of Beaumont Hamel. Check out some of the videos on their website and stay tuned for more.
On Monday, June 29th, I was tasked with handing out the 11th Annual Leida Finlayson Memorial Scholarship as part of the NL Historic Trust's annual Southcott Awards, and saying a few words about Leida. Here is the text of that short speech.
Ladies and gentlemen, distinguished guests, award winners, it is my privilege tonight to speak on and present the 2015 Leida Finlayson Memorial Scholarship. Robyn Pike asked me if I would come and say a few words about Leida and the scholarship that bears her name. I am very happy to do this, and I think it is a very appropriate thing. We are in the business of preserving heritage, and I am delighted to be asked to act as the bearer of memory and witness to our own organizational history.
I suspect that some of you here tonight didn’t know Leida Finlayson, who was the first general manager of the Newfoundland Historic Trust.
I was wondering how I might, in the exactly three minutes that Robyn has allotted me, to give you a sense of a person’s life.
I met Leida in what was, in retrospect, a typically Leida way. We met by letter. Letters today are rare and precious things, and of all the people I know, it is fitting that Leida is the only person in my circle of acquaintances that I met by way of a carefully and delightfully worded piece of correspondence. I regret that I don’t have that letter, but I still remember it. She was witty, clever, and engaging. In one word, she was charming, even on paper.
Indeed, I think that was one of Leida’s greatest gifts: she was absolutely charming, possessed of the ability to make pretty much anyone fall in love with her. If her time with us had been longer, she would have made a perfect diplomat.
I am delighted that the awards presentation tonight is back in the Newman Wine Vaults Provincial Historic Site, because I have great memories of Leida here in this space, long before there was anything as glamorous here as plumbing, or electricity, or even a floor. She swept in here before the restoration was even complete, and set about organizing a series of fund-raising teas, one of the first public events held here in the vaults, which were very popular, even in the darkness and dust.
Leida shone in those types of events. She had an old-fashioned glamour, and loved any excuse to dress up. She loved high heels, long gloves, and makeup. She wore fabulous hats. These were things which were something of a mystery to her parents, Duncan and Renee, who had been part of the back-to-the land hippie movement of the 1960s and 1970s. Leida was more high-fashion than homespun. Duncan swears they weren’t really hippies, but as Leida said, at that time, in the rural Newfoundland where she spent her girlhood, “a little hippie went a long way.”
While her fashion sense was different from her parents, she shared many of their ideals.
She wrote political commentary, was intensely interested in history, heritage, politics, and social justice. She was smart, passionate, and interested in the world.
When Leida passed away in 2003, we established a scholarship in her memory. It was determined that the scholarship would be directed to a Memorial University student of history or political studies, two of Leida’s passions, and that it would be presented annually as part of the Trust's Southcott Awards.
I am very pleased tonight to present the Leida Finlayson Memorial Scholarship to Sarah Hannon, one of our community’s next generation of smart, passionate young women. Congratulations Sarah on your academic work, and on behalf of the Trust, I commend you and encourage you in your pursuit of excellence. And on behalf of Leida, I would also encourage you to take every opportunity you have to wear a fabulous hat.
Sarah, if you would come forward, I would love to present you with the Leida Finlayson Memorial Scholarship.
If your first language is English, and you have a spare hour, a group of linguists at Memorial University wants your time -- and they are willing to pay for it!
Participants are needed for a study on speech perception and production. Participants will listen to speech samples and answer questions about them. Participants will also be asked to read some words and phrases aloud. These readings will be recorded and analyzed.
Participants will be paid $10 for their time. Participation should take about an hour. To participate, you must speak English as your first language.
Guest blog post by Heather Elliott Hi everyone! My name is Heather and I am the newly selected representative for Youth Heritage NL on CCUNESCO’s Youth Advisory Group (YAG). Earlier this month I was fortunate enough to travel to Ottawa, Ontario to attend CCUNESCO’s Annual General Meeting. It was an incredible experience and I’m more than happy to tell you all about it.
YAG exists as a way to bring the youth voice to CCUNESCO. This was my first time attending a conference of this size, so I really wasn’t sure what to expect. Once I arrived at the YAG meeting (held the day before the official AGM) and started meeting my fellow Yaggers, I was put immediately at ease. The group was made up of diverse and dynamic individual, with doctors, nurses, teachers, museum types (like myself), human rights advocates, biosphere professionals and more all seated around the same table. Over the course of the morning we discussed topics ranging from sustainable development to global citizenship, and talked about how we wanted to see youth used within CCUNESCO. It was a fantastic opportunity to not only hear about what everyone else was working on across the country, but to share the work that Youth Heritage NL is hoping to do as we continue to grow.
Over the following two days I was able to attend the official CCUNESCO AGM, and continued to meet inspiring people from across the nation. Everyone had come together to discuss the importance of UNESCO and their values within Canada, and how we can all work together to bring those values to our own communities. I left the experience feeling optimistic, excited and determined. I am really looking forward to returning next year and once again representing Youth Heritage NL at CCUNESCO.
Youth Heritage NL now has a blog online, where I’ve posted a much more detailed account of my experience at the AGM. If you’re interested, please feel free to head over and check it out! If you have any questions, you can feel free to contact me at youthheritagenl@gmail.com.
This week's Memory Store video is filmed in the Anna Templeton Centre at 214 Duckworth Street in St. John's. Beverly Barbour the Anna Templeton Centre executive director describes the history of the building, how it came to be the Anna Templeton Centre and why it was named after Miss Templeton.
Click here for more information about the building's history and architectural style.
If you missed our initial post explaining the concept of the Memory Store clip here to go back to our first blog post with the introduction video or check out our YouTube channel at ICH NL.
Stay tuned for more short stories about historic places in the province, in the form of short oral history interviews conducted with the people who care about those places and if you have a personal memory about a historic place in Newfoundland and Labrador, and want to add your voice to the Memory Store project, let us know at ich@heritagefoundation.ca, terra@heritagefoundation.ca or 739-1892 ex. 5.
This week's folklore photo might not look like much, but it comes with a great story, and is a very good example of how intangible cultural heritage and our built heritage are intertwined.
We've been working on an oral history of the Jenkins House in Durrell, Twillingate, which was owned for a portion of its history by Adolphus and Lucretia Jenkins.
According to oral history, Lucretia contracted tuberculosis and suffered in the home for many years with the disease. She was confined to her bedroom while her daughter Leah Jenkins cared for her, surprisingly Leah never contracted the disease herself. While Lucretia was sick her husband Adolphus passed away. Adolphus was waked in the home, which was tradition at the time. Bedridden and unable to leave the upstairs of the house, Lucretia still wanted to see her husband one last time. The family decided, instead of trying to bring her downstairs they would saw a hole in the floor by the side of her bed so she could rest and still be able to see her husband, so that is what they did. Today, the cut in the floor is still recognizable by the newer boards that fill where the hole once was.
Corey Sharpe remembers his Grandmother Leah recounting the story;
“Well, I tell you about that now. I never told anybody about it before. When father passed away, they waked him downstairs. So Lucretia was bed ridden upstairs with TB and separated from the family. She wanted to see her husband while they had him waked. So what they did, instead of bring her downstairs, they cut a hole in the floor so she could look down from her bed and see him. So the floors are to stay like that.”
You can download the full oral history report on the Jenkins House in PDF format here.
Guest blog post by Wanda Garrett, Southwest Arm Historical Society
Come and step back into time at the first annual Heritage Day of Southwest Arm Historical Society on Saturday, June 27th at the Lions Club in Hodge’s Cove, Trinity Bay. Doors open at 2:00 p.m. and the admission is free!
Museum for the Day
From 2:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m., view the museum items that are on display for the afternoon. There could be everything from school yearbooks to vintage cast sad irons to a model or mould used to construct a punt. View and touch some of the many items that your ancestors used every day. You may be aware of most of the items but there could be some that you haven’t seen before or even know their purpose.
You might see items such as these two Maritime Archaic tools that were found at Heart’s Ease – a slate knife blade and a stone celt (axe). These items are approximately 4000 years old.
or you might see pottery inkwells that were found when the pond was drained at Heart’s Ease Beach in 1990….
or maybe a complete kit for loading bullets…
or items your grandmother or great-grandmother used around the house such as this sad iron or chopper…
The possibilities are endless so don’t miss out!
Share your ‘Old’ Photos
The Southwest Arm Historical Society will also take this opportunity to collect photos for their website. There will be a couple of computers and scanners set up at the Lions Club in the afternoon to scan your photos while you view the items in the ‘museum for the day.’ Be sure to bring along your photos of people and places of Southwest Arm and we will scan and return them to you before you are ready to leave.
Home-made Soup for Supper
What event in Newfoundland and Labrador would be complete without a little food? Join us for some homemade soup and sandwiches between 5:00 p.m. and 6:00 p.m. – cost just $5.00 each.
‘Old-time’ Square Dance
And a little entertainment to round out the day! We will finish off our Heritage Day with an ‘old-time’ square dance. Don’t know how to square-dance! No problem; a number of square-dance pros will demonstrate how it is done and then offer you an opportunity to give it a try. Sound like fun? The square dance will start at 7:00 p.m. with local live music (accordion and guitar) – must be 19 years and older – cost only $5.00 each.
I’m currently typing the notes from the Asset Mapping
workshop Dale led in Champney’s West and I came across the song Johnny
Poker. It is noted as a traditional song
that people would sing when they pulled boats up. Sometimes people would pull back on the boat
so they could hear the Johnny Poker song.
The version which is written in the notes is:
“To my jolly poker
We will start this heavy joker
Haul boy haul” [everybody pulls]
The notes say there are 4-5 versions of the song. I did a quick search and came across a
version by Stuffed Squid set to music. I’ve
added the video here and you can check out the page with the lyrics and some
background information here.
Do you know a version of Johnny Poker? Let us know in the comments or send an
email to terra@heritagefoundation.ca
The Twitterati/Blogatrixes @WillowCWinsham and @DeeDeeChainey have started up a new hashtag for those of us that love folklore and mythology: #FolkloreThursday, and an attendant Twitter account, appropriately enough, named @FolkloreThurs. As Willow notes on her blog:
During the last year of writing here at The Witch, the Weird, and The Wonderful, I've noticed two things. One is the never-ending supply of fascinating tales and intriguing images out there to share. The other is how many fabulous like-minded folks there are about, with fabulous blog posts and tales just waiting to be shared.
So, if you have something appropriately fabulous and folkloristic to share on social media, tag it with #FolkloreThursday each week, and join in the conversation.
The week's Memory Store video comes to us from the Annex Gallery
on the second floor of Devon House. Executive director of the Craft
Council of Newfoundland and Labrador, Anne Manuel, explains some of
the highlights or things that have made the space special over the Craft
Council's twenty plus years in the building.
Clickherefor
more information about the building's history and architectural style. If you
missed our initial post explaining the concept of the Memory Store cliphereto go
back to our first blog post with the introduction video or check out our
YouTube channel atICH NL.
Stay tuned for more short
stories about historic places in the province, in the form of short oral
history interviews conducted with the people who care about those places and if
you have a personal memory about a historic place in Newfoundland and Labrador,
and want to add your voice to the Memory Store project, let us know at ich@heritagefoundation.ca, terra@heritagefoundation.ca or
739-1892 ex. 5.
The photo shows his great aunt Amelia "Gertie" Gertrude (Jenkins) Hamlyn and her sister, his grandmother, Leah (Jenkins) Sharpe, thought to have been taken sometime in the early 1930s, positioned in front of the Jenkins House. Gertrude was born in 1919, Leah was born in 1925, and today is her 90th birthday! Happy Birthday, Leah!
You can read and listen to the interview I did with Corey about the house here.
Ready to map the living treasures of the community
It’s been a whirlwind two days of work here in Champney’sWest. Dale and I headed out Thursday
morning for a weekend of oral history interviews, asset mapping, and an oral
history workshop. On Thursday evening
there was a public asset mapping workshop held in Champney’s West to see what
heritage means to the people of the community.
There were three tables of locals with a moderator taking notes on the
community’s cultural organization, creative cultural industries, spaces and
facilities, festivals and events, cultural heritage sites, natural heritage and
intangible cultural heritage.
Discussing the community's cultural assets
Checking out the map of Champney West's living treasures
After the community brainstormed the important cultural assets of the community
the residents received a recipe card and were asked to think of a living
treasure in the community. Living
treasure just means someone in the community who is knowledgeable about a
particular topic or skill and why they are important. The residents then mapped these local
treasures on a map of Champney’s West.
After the map was completed everyone enjoyed a little lunch and cup of
tea before heading home for the evening.
Friday morning and afternoon Dale and I interviewed two older residents of the community
brothers Ben and Roy Hiscock. Both
brothers were great storytellers and told stories about growing up in the
community, local shipwrecks, memories from the Second World War, and jokes from
local characters. Be on the lookout for
clips of these two interviews!
Checking out Elliston, the root cellar capital of the world!
Don Johnson and I outside one of Ellison's many root cellars
Between the interviews with Ben and Roy we also headed out to Elliston to talk
with Don Johnson from Tourism Elliston to do a short interview on root cellars
in the root cellar capital of the world.
Don showed us a couple of cellars and explained their importance to the
community in the past and to the present community. He explained their upcoming festivals and
took us out to see the puffin site and the new sealers memorial.
The Sealers Memorial in Elliston
Puffin site in Elliston
After a lovely supper at the Bonavista Social Club we were back in Champney’s
West for the first coffee house of the season.
It was a great evening with live music, jokes, stories and another small
lunch. After lunch we were in for a
special treat as local characters Martha and Bertha put on a skit. They discussed the “h’asset mapping” and the ‘eritage
of the community. They even mentioned
the out of town folklorist who wrote a book on mummering. This is when it got interesting as Bertha bet
Martha he couldn't even mummer. Let’s
just say a nice bit of dress up and dancing ensued! Check out the pictures below!
Local fiddler
Martha, Dale Jarvis and Bertha
Plankin er down!
Thanks to Champney’s West for a great two days!
Today we've got a couple more interviews and an oral history workshop in
Port Union.
Our colleagues over at Memorial University's Digital Archives Initiative are constantly uploading new documents to their already impressive collection of archival material.
Recently added was a fabulous short pamphlet entitled "Purse Seines to Lobster Pots" by F.H. Wooding, published in 1952 by the Department of Fisheries of Canada, and printed by the fabulously-named Edmond Cloutier, King's Printer and Controller of Stationery.
The booklet is from the Marine Institute Collections, 20 pages long, and provides an introduction to everything from British Columbia herring, to ice-fishing on the Prairies, to the fisheries of the Atlantic Coast. It includes some great photos of the era, including the Newfoundlanders with the cod trap, above, and the scene of men launching dories somewhere off the Atlantic coast, below.
The booklet also includes a series of great line drawings, such as the illustration of an Atlantic coast sardine weir, shown below.
Ferryland [VA 41-21] 1929 Newfoundland Tourist Development photograph collection Views of Newfoundland by W.R. MacAskil, Halifax, N.S. Photo: Courtesy of The Rooms Provincial Archives
Today's folklore photo is of a shipwreck in Ferryland. I am currently listening to a number of interviews completed in the Cape Race region of the Southern Shore. I am writing up tape logs for these interview and one reoccurring theme in the interviews are memories of ship wrecks. There are a number of stories about men saving the people from shipwrecks. One story in particular is about the Brave Joe Perry who saved a number of men by tying a rope around his waist and being lowered over the side of a cliff and hauled back up with a passenger by the men of the surrounding communities.
Another idea surrounding shipwrecks which is repeated is the practice of wrecking. For anyone who doesn't know the term wrecking refers to the practice of removing valuables from shipwrecks which have landed close to shore. One particular story which stands out is of a wrecked ship which was full of pork. The men of the community came home with chunks of meat for their family's supper after that particular wreck.
Have you heard any stories about shipwrecks? What about the practise of wrecking? If so leave a comment below or shoot us an email at terra@heritagefoundation.ca
Job Posting: Museum Association AssistantDuration: Full time until March 31st 2016
The Museum Association of Newfoundland and Labrador (MANL) is a not for profit, registered charitable organization that supports our membership and museums throughout Newfoundland and Labrador.
Job Description
The Museum Association Assistant will work with the Executive Director in reviewing the organizational records of the Museum Association. The Assistant will be responsible for reviewing membership information and updating it on the MANL website. The Museum Association Assistant will also assist with planning, organizing and delivering our Annual General Meeting and training programs. The person reports to the Executive Director and works with committees of the Association to fulfill the goals of the Association.
The areas of responsibility include but are not limited to:
• Digitizing of records of the Association • Establish and maintain information related to members • Reviewing organization documents for retention • Assist in the development of membership database • Reevaluation and organization of reference library • Produce a regular newsletter and maintain the Association’s website • Assist with Annual General Meeting and training programs • Support the Board of Directors and committees of the Association, special projects and meetings as required • Some travel required must have a valid driver’s license and access to a vehicle • Other related duties as required.
Qualifications
The successful candidate will have demonstrated relevant experience. Must meet the criteria for the Graduate Employment Program, having graduated from a post-secondary program within the past two years. Must have experience with Microsoft Office programs such as Word and Excel; and possess excellent communications and organization skills. Knowledge of the museums, records management, light bookkeeping archives and heritage sector would be an asset. Completion of MANL and ANLA training would be an asset. The successful applicant must demonstrate the ability to work with others in an office environment. The successful candidate must present a certificate of conduct upon request.
Deadline for applications:
June11th, 2015, 3:00 pm
Applications may be forwarded by email only to: kflynn@nf.aibn.com
MANL thanks all applicants for their interest; however only those selected for an interview will be contacted.
Hi everyone this is Terra again. I just wanted to introduce you to my main project this summer with the Heritage Foundation of Newfoundland and Labrador: "The Memory Store". The research for the Memory Store includes doing short video clips with people about the stories surrounding historic places. This means part of my summer job is checking out historic sites in and around St. John’s and listening to the stories about them. The video clips of these stories are part of the Memory Store which is a virtual spot where we can find stories about local places.
The Memory Store is part of the HFNL’s goal to foster a greater appreciation of historic places, by making the stories about these sites more accessible to the general public. The HFNL is working to document the architectural history and the associated stories of Newfoundland and Labrador’s historic places, in and around the St. John’s region. This research project will form part of a permanent collection with Memorial University of Newfoundland’s Digital Archives Initiative.
The following videos are the first in the series which will be posted every second Wednesday. In the first video folklorist and ICH development officer, Dale Jarvis, explains the idea behind the memory store. While in the second Gary Green, past president of the Crow’s Nest Officer Club, tells the story of the second fire escape in the Crow’s Nest placed there during the Second World War. Garry says although the first escape may look like nautical decoration it was put in place as a functional fire escape. Make sure to check out this link to learn more about the Crow's Nest Officer's Club as a historic site!
Stay tuned for more short stories about historic places in the province, in the form of short oral history interviews conducted with the people who care about those places and if you have a personal memory about a historic place in Newfoundland and Labrador, and want to add your voice to the Memory Store project, let us know at ich@heritagefoundation.ca, terra@heritagefoundation.ca or 739-1892 ex. 5.
ICH development officer and members of the Witless Bay heritage committee.
Left to right: Peter, Kevin, Dale, Bonnie, Mary.
This morning Dale and I drove out to beautiful Witless Bay
on the Southern Shore to meet with several members of the heritage
committee. In a couple of weeks time on
June 23rd the Heritage Foundation of Newfoundland and Labrador and
the Witless Bay heritage committee are partnering with Memorial University for the
second year to do a cemetery clean up as part of MUN’s Make Midterm Matter. This year students from MUN will have the
opportunity to spend the day out of the classroom and in the graveyard engaging
with the community while gaining volunteer experience.
View from the Witless Bay cemetery.
Cemeteries are an interesting part of our past with many stories to tell,
however, older cemeteries are often forgotten and fall into disrepair. Taking care of cemeteries in this province is
difficult with a climate which is rough on the gravestones. However, looking after these gravestones is
important as they often offer information which is not found elsewhere. In order to show the students some of the
information which can be learned from the graves we will be doing a couple of gravestone
rubbings. Dale will also discuss the
significance of the gravestone symbols and how reading these symbols can give
us information about the people who are buried in the graveyard.
Several symbols are displayed on this gravestone in the cemetery.
A cross, an anchor, a harp, a plant and a sacred heart.
The students will be working together to clear brush, mow grass, paint and fix
fences, clear garbage and generally tend to the cemetery grounds. The Witless Bay heritage committee is looking
to restore the graveyard to its former glory and any and all volunteers are
welcome. If you are interested in
volunteering and wondering how you can become involved send me an email at terra@heritagefoundation.ca
Saving Our Stories - An Introduction to Community Oral History with folklorist Dale Jarvis.
A free workshop organized by the Sir William F Coaker Heritage Foundation, Champney's West Heritage Group, and the Heritage Foundation of Newfoundland and Labrador. This workshop is open to anyone with an interest in local history, culture and folklore. It is intended to give a background on how to conduct research interviews, and will give people a chance to try their hand at creating interview questions and to explore the world of oral history! It is free to attend, but you need to register in advance.
Saturday, June 13th, 2015, 1:00pm - 4:00pm Factory/Advocate Building, Port Union, NL
Thursday, June 11th, 2015 7pm – 9 pm Recreation Hall, Jack’s Hill Champney’s West
This June, residents of Champney’s West will start to map out what their heritage means to them, with a little help from folklorist Dale Jarvis.
In Newfoundland and Labrador, our living heritage is rich and diverse. It includes ballad singing, snowshoe-making, accordion playing, knitting, Christmas mummering, berry picking, boat building, and much more. We tell stories, make clothes, shear sheep, and spin yarn. We have a complex knowledge of place, the seasons, and the movements and patterns of animals from moose to cod fish. If we lose these important parts of our living heritage (what we call Intangible Cultural Heritage or ICH), we will also lose important resources that can keep our communities going culturally, economically and socially. But where do we start?
Communities decide which traditions are important to document. Sometimes these traditions are threatened; sometimes particular elders or tradition-bearers will be highlighted. Other communities may record important traditions of everyday life. One first step is "asset mapping" - the process of collecting, recording, and analyzing local information in order to describe the cultural resources, networks, links and patterns of the community. Cultural asset mapping provides an inventory of key cultural resources that can be utilized for future development in the community.
Dale Jarvis, the ICH Development Officer with the Heritage Foundation of Newfoundland and Labrador, will be leading a community conversation about historic places, trails, old stories, place names, traditions, and local knowledge. Come for a cup of tea, and tell us what matters to you in Champney’s West. It will be a free and fun community workshop, sponsored by the Champney's West Heritage Group Inc.
Children Playing Circle Games VA 93-50 International Grenfell Association photograph collection Photo: Courtesy of The Rooms
While researching children’s ring games last week I came across a game which I had never heard before. The game “Sailing in the Boat (Ship) Till the Tide Runs High” is found in three sources on Memorial University’s DAI. It is first found in a fictional short story written in 1950 and published in the Atlantic Guardian in which the youth of the community Come Again Harbour play a ring game to the tune: Sailing in the ship ‘til the tide runs high,
Waiting for the pretty girls to come by and by, […] Choose your partner now today,
Give her a kiss and send her on her way. The other two sources mention the game being played in a community hall in Lumsden and the song being sung at the third annual Newfoundland picnic in Lynwood City Park, California in 1956.
I did a quick google search to see what I could come up with and I came across a couple of references to the ring game with more complete versions of the song. The following version is from Otto Tucker and is found in Newfoundland author Robin McGrath’s book All In Together:Sailing in the boat ’til the tide runs high, Sailing in the boat ’til the collar flags fly, Sailing in the boat ’til the tide runs high, Waiting for the pretty girls to come by and by. Choose your partner now today, Choose, oh choose her right away, I don’t care what the old folks say. Oh what a horrible choice you’ve made, And she can no longer stay. Since she can no longer stay, Give her a kiss and send her away.
There are a number of versions with different lyrics. Here is William Wells Newell’s version from his book Games and Songs of American Children: Sailing in the boat when the tide runs high,[x3]
Waiting for the pretty girl to come by'm by.
Here she comes, so fresh and fair,
Sky-blue eyes and curly hair,
Rosy in cheek, dimple in her chin,
Say, young man, but you can't come in.
Rose in the garden for you young, man,[x2]
Rose in the garden, get it if you can,
But take care not a frost-bitten one.
Choose your partner, stay till day, [x3]
And don't never mind what the old folks say!
Old folks say 'tis the very best way, [x3]
To court all night and sleep all day.
Folklorist Emelyn E. Gardner references the following version from the Michigan area in her article Some Play-party Games in Michigan written in 1920:
Sailing in the boat when the tide runs high, [x3]
Waiting for a pretty girl to come by and by.
Oars in the boat, and it won't go round [x3]
Till you kiss the pretty girl that you just found.
Do you have memory of this song? Have you ever played the game yourself? Which version did you sing? Let us know where you are from, what song you sung or game you played. Send an email to terra@heritagefoundation.ca.
I’ll leave you with the following YouTube clip I found of “Sailing in the Boat” sung by Elizabeth Austin and a group of women in Old Bight, Cat Island, Bahamas recorded by Alan Lomax and Mary Barnicle in 1935.
It has been a while since we've posted a folklore photo. So today I posted a picture taken a couple of years ago at my pop's cabin. I had a hard time finding a photo which related to Newfoundland weather lore although I came across lots of sources about Newfoundland weather on the DAI.
Last week's snow and everyone's complaints about St. John's having snow in May made me think of the folk belief that May snow had special properties. Both folklorist Dale Jarvis and archivist Larry Dohey have written about it in their blogs. You can click here for Dale's post and here for Larry's for more information.
Today I figured I would ask the question: What beliefs do you know about the weather?
I posted the picture of the sunset with the red sky because as a child I always heard the rhyme:
Red sky at night,
Sailor's delight,
Red sky in morning,
Sailor's take warning.
What are some of the other ways to foretell the weather? Do you know any other warnings?
I've always heard of galing cats predicting a storm. Do you know any other animals who can predict the weather?
EDIT: Here are two beliefs sent in by Berk Reynolds originally from Salmon Cove, Conception Bay North: 1. Animals, particularly goats coming home from the hills before a storm in summer (or when you wouldn't expect them)
2. Whatever the prevailing wind direction is at noon on Good Friday so it will be for the summer
The Pasadena Heritage Society – NL is seeking an enthusiastic, outgoing and organized individual to act as a Heritage Assistant to deliver a number of tasks related to preserving and promoting the heritage of the Town of Pasadena.
Location: Town of Pasadena Rate of Pay: $10.25/hour; 35 hours/week (some evening and weekend work required) Duration: 7 weeks
Tasks: Heritage inventory and cataloguing Oral histories including interviewing residents and transcribing for use on website Organize and facilitate heritage awareness activities including a presence at Pasadena Strawberry Days Other duties as assigned
Qualifications: Basic computer skills Ability to work independently Excellent oral and written communication skills An interest in the heritage of Newfoundland and Labrador, and a commitment to its preservation, preferably augmented by courses in Newfoundland and Labrador history, folklore, historical geography, religious history Some background in oral history practice would be an asset
To submit an application, please email your resume and cover letter to pasadenaheritage@outlook.com. All interested applicants are encouraged to apply however preference may be given to post-secondary applicants. Applicants must be residents of Pasadena (or surrounding communities in the Humber Valley) and a current student who is intending to return to studies in September. The incumbent will work out of the Town Hall and will take direction from the Heritage Society board of directors via a work plan. This is a great opportunity to get experience in the heritage sector.