Tuesday's Folklore Photo: English Picnic Baskets

A woven basket owned by Neal Wells of Grand Falls-Windsor

A woven basket owned by Patricia Mchuge of Grand Falls-Windsor

Last year the Intangible Cultural Heritage Office undertook a collection project focused on basket making in this province. We documented several basket styles, including what we believe to be two English picnic baskets. Beyond that we know very little about these baskets and would like to figure out exactly what they are woven from. We suspect the baskets to be made of willow, as this is a very common material used by English basket makers. Also, both these baskets seem to constructed using the randing weave, which is a common style of English willow weaving.

If you happen to have any idea what these baskets are made of  please get in touch with the Intangible Cultural Heritage Office, we'd love to hear from you! Contact Nicole at 1-888-739-1892 ex.6 or email at nicole@heritagefoundation.ca 

Bay Roberts Heritage District Plans

Yesterday evening Dale Jarvis and I traveled to Bay Roberts to join the local Heritage Advisory Committee for one of their monthly meetings. On the agenda was a topic that I have a vested interest in: The Bay Roberts Heritage District plan. The planning for district has been in the works for quite some time and will ultimately involve the official designation of Cable Avenue in Bay Roberts as a heritage district. This street is lined with houses that were built around 1913 by the Western Union cable company as accommodations for their staff. You will also see several large chestnut trees that were planted in 1915, just after the buildings were completed.

Over the next few months I will be collecting oral histories with residents who have either lived on this street or have some personal connection to this unique architectural district. Ultimately, the fieldwork I am doing will be put towards a special exhibit for the 100th year anniversary of the cable station in Bay Roberts.

The above image was taken in 1913 and shows the construction of Cable Ave. It is from the online  archival collection: The Cable Story--Bay Roberts Virtual Museum (provided by Bay Roberts Heritage Society Inc). Please contact me if you know anyone who has lived on Cable Avenue or has any stories to share about these buildings.

lisa@heritagefoundation.ca
709-739-1892 ext.3

-Lisa

12 tips for a better oral history or folklore interview

Nervous about your first oral history or folklore interview? It's OK, I'm here to help! Here are some tips and tricks to get you ready. And if you want, you can download this as a one-page PDF for handy reference.


1. If you haven't done any oral history interviewing before, think first about a focus or theme for your project.  Ask yourself, “Why am I doing this interview? What information do I want to get?”

2. Think about the type of interview you wish to do.  Life History Interviews focus on the life history of a person and the changes they may have experienced;  Topic Interviews collect information about a specific subject, workplace, skill or occupation.

3. Do an informal “pre-interview.”  Be clear with your “informant” - the person you are interviewing - that the interview is being recorded, and what it will be used for. Have a discussion in advance about the type of information of interest to you.

4. In general, have a list of topics in mind you want to cover in the interview, rather than a set list of questions. You might have some written starting questions to begin with, but then shift to your topic list and be flexible.

5. Start off with some easy questions, such as short biographical questions about name, date of birth, parents and the like. This gives you good identifying information at the start of the interview, and helps relax your informant. You can ask more detailed or personal questions after you both settle into the conversation.

6. Ask questions one at a time. If your question has two or three parts, ask them separately.

7. Ask open-ended questions that require more than a "yes" or "no" answer. Questions that start with “how” or “why” get you more interesting answers.

8. Use plain, straightforward words and avoid leading questions. Rather than asking “I suppose life as a fisherman was hard?”, ask “Can you describe what life was like for a fisherman?”

9. Ask follow-up questions. Then ask some more! If something is unclear, ask for clarification.

10. Don’t be afraid to ask questions to which you think you already know the answers. You might get suprising answers!

11. Be a good listener, and refrain from talking too much yourself. Use body language, nodding, and smiling to encourage your informant. Let them know, visually, that you are interested.

12. Don't let periods of silence fluster you. Just wait and don’t rush the interview. Sometimes people need a moment to complete their thoughts. If you are silent, chances are your informant will fill the gap by saying something more about the question you asked last.

• Have questions about questions? Ask your friendly neighbourhood folklorist, Dale Jarvis, at ich@heritagefoundation.ca

Tuesday's Folklore Photo: Russian Gzhel Folkcraft Hand Crank Coffee Mill

 

 

 

Photo taken by Christina Robarts Jan. 28, 2013

 

 

As part of the interviews conducted for the "Newfiki" project I have been documenting objects that immigrants coming to Canada have brought with them from their home country. The above photo is a picture of a porcelain hand crank coffee grinder mounted on the cabinet in the kitchen of O.V, in St. John's, NL. The top portion is decorated in the Gzhel style which is recognizable by its characteristic blue-and-white colour scheme.

Hunting Hogboons and Detecting Trows: Kids search out the supernatural

I had two meetings today about future folklore projects in Conception Bay, one in Bay Roberts and the other in Cupids. Perhaps unsurprisingly, talk of the fairies came up in both. Conception Bay is rich in fairy lore, and there seems to be a growing interest in communities in the area in documenting and celebrating these traditions.

While in Cupids, I mentioned two fairylore projects from across the pond, one from Shetland and the other from Orkney. I first heard about the Shetland project from storyteller Davy Cooper when he visited Newfoundland a few years back. The Shetland Museum and Archives had created a Trowie Knowe, the house of a "trow" - a type of small, ugly supernatural creature like a troll. They had also created a "Trow Detector" - a steampunkish looking device for alerting museum goers to nearly trows.

The Orkney project allowed kids to search out evidence of a similar type of creature, a hogboon, a mound-dwelling creature tied to particular families. The hogboon hunt was part of a one day workshop where participants used newly learnt archaeological skills like surveying, map making, photography, and collecting and documenting artefacts. You can check out the video of the kids on their hunt on Vimeo. The story in the piece is told by Orkadian storyteller Tom Muir.

Rousay Summer Club Survey from Mark Jenkins on Vimeo.

The Paranormal in Heart's Content

As a folklorist, it isn't every day that you get to hear a good ghost or fairy story, but then on some days, people will tell you two or three. Doing fieldwork for the Heart's Content heritage district this past Wednesday, a few residents shared some of what they know about the paranormal in Heart's Content. Art Cumby had a wonderful fairy story to share, along with a photograph of himself hanging out with the other boys he knew as a child. You'll find him standing up, wearing a striped shirt. He and his friend Art Button (also wearing a striped shirt) were just 11 years old when this happened to them:

Gina Balsom, on the other hand, has been working as an interpreter at the Cable Station historic site for several years. She explained that while she has never had any strange experiences or feelings in the old building, a few visitors certainly have. Here is what Gina had to say about working in a supposedly haunted space:

Thanks to Art and Gina for sharing their stories. In fact, I'm always looking for a good ghost or fairy story. If you know of any from the Heart's Content or Bay Roberts (my next heritage district destination), please drop me a line at lisa@heritagefoundation.ca.

-Lisa

Help us, universe, we need this type of headset. Ideas?

Hi all,

We have an antiquated (heritage?) phone system in our office, and we need to find a headset we can use with it.

The phones do NOT have a standard mini headset jack, they have an old fashioned phone jack port like this:

None of the usual places you'd buy phone/computer equipment in town sell headsets that fit these anymore. I'm looking for something that might look like this, with a headphone plug instead of a mini jack:

Anyone seen one of these lying around somewhere, or for sale in St. John's? If you have, email me at ich@heritagefoundation.ca 

The Arnold's Cove Water Truck, circa 1970

I mentioned in an earlier blog entry that we've been working with some local heritage enthusiasts in Arnold's Cove on a project to map out the legacy of resettlement in that community. We'll be running some community training over the next little bit, showing people how to create a Google map of some of their photos and stories.

The area of interest in Arnold's Cove contains over 70 buildings which were floated into the community during the resettlement period. The local heritage committee has located most of these on a paper map, and we'll be showing them how to transfer some of their collected information into a digital format which they can share online.

I drove out to Arnold's Cove this morning to plan out our workshop, and local volunteer Edna Penney showed me some of their historic material on the theme of resettlement.

The photo above is one of hundreds they've amassed. It was taken around March 1970, and shows one of the houses which was brought into Arnold's Cove. When the houses first arrived, many of them were not yet hooked up to town water, so the town had a water truck (pictured above) which delivered water to those dwellings.

If you have a memory of the Arnold's Cove water truck, or know any of the people in the photo, you can email me (Dale Jarvis) at ich@heritagefoundation.ca

Intangible Cultural Heritage Symposium in Alberta, Sept 2013

New Partnership with the Canadian Commission for UNESCO

The Alberta Museums Association (AMA) is pleased to announce an exciting new partnership with the Canadian Commission for UNESCO (CCU) to present the AMA’s 2013 Conference, which will explore the concept of Intangible Cultural Heritage (ICH).

The Convention for the Safeguarding of Intangible Cultural Heritage defines five general topic areas of ICH:

(a) oral traditions and expressions, including language as a vehicle of the intangible cultural heritage;
(b) performing arts;
(c) social practices, rituals and festive events;
(d) knowledge and practices concerning nature and the universe;
(e) traditional craftsmanship.[i]

Together, we aim to raise awareness about ICH and to provide the Alberta museum community with the opportunity to start thinking about what role they play to foster and preserve ICH. A coordinated partnership between the AMA and CCU will utilize the capacity of each organization to expand the audience and level of understanding for ICH and its role in creating a sense of cultural belonging.

Intangible Cultural Heritage Symposium
September 19, 2013

Presented by the AMA and CCU, the 2013 Pre-Conference Symposium will be dedicated to the exploration of Intangible Cultural Heritage (ICH) from a theoretical perspective. The ICH Symposium will help to foster the discussion around the importance of culture in our society. The one-day event will feature presentations by recognized experts in the ICH field. This innovative and inspiring opportunity will positively impact the museum community by bringing together museums, academia and practitioners to examine issues around ICH; thereby contributing to the social, cultural, and educational fabric of our communities as well as increasing awareness of ICH practices.

[i] UNESCO, “General Provisions: Article 2.2 – Definitions,” Text of the Convention for the Safeguarding of Intangible Cultural Heritage (Accessed 5 November 2012).

Contact:

Carrie Ann Lunde, BA, MA
Communications Lead
Alberta Museums Association

Suite 404, 10408.124 Street
Edmonton, Alberta T5N 1R5
P: 780.424.2626 x. 244
F: 780.425.1679
E: clunde@museums.ab.ca
W: www.museums.ab.ca