What's happening in the world of Intangible Cultural Heritage, Newfoundland and Labrador

In this month's edition of the Intangible Cultural Heritage Update for Newfoundland and Labrador: the Heritage Foundation of Newfoundland and Labrador is hiring a researcher to work on a project with the Department of Folklore to research wells, springs and traditional knowledge about water sources; Tolson Rendell of Heart's Content shears his sheep; marine engine enthusiasts are invited to a meeting about Newfoundland's iconic make and break engines; we start work on our folklore and oral history project in Quidi Vidi, St. John's; Nicole Penney returns from ICH workshops in South East Bight; designers are sought for the design of a helicopter memorial; and ICH Development Officer Dale Jarvis looks back on the past year of ICH policy work and programming at the HFNL office.

You can download the newsletter in PDF or other formats from:

https://archive.org/details/Ichupdate044small

Historic Plaque Program: LSPU Hall

For many years, the Heritage Foundation of Newfoundland and Labrador has been placing historic plaques on registered heritage structures throughout the province. Over the years, some of these plaques have gone missing, are out of date or have fallen into disrepair. Over the past year we have been identifying which structures need plaques. We recently received our first order of shiny new bronze plaques and the first one we gave out was to the LSPU Hall.

LSPU Hall staff posing with their brand new bronze plaque
 (L-R): Suzanne Mullett, Peter Rompkey and Katie Butler Major

Like many other buildings in downtown St. John's, the LSPU Hall currently stands on a site that has a history stretching back hundreds of years. In the case of this building, the use of the site traces back to 1789 when it was the location of the first Congregationalist Church in Newfoundland. Several of the structures built on the site were destroyed by fire over the decades. The current building was constructed between 1923 and 1926 after it was destroyed by fire in 1922.




-Nicole

The Summer Mummers

A typical day in the ICH office!

This past Monday, some of us at the Heritage Foundation took part in a television shoot for a CBC crew out of Quebec, doing a piece on Newfoundland.  You have to guess for yourselves who is who in the picture above.

Intangible Cultural Heritage: Digitization Workshop

Museum Association of Newfoundland and Labrador

9:00 – 4:00 Tuesday, 25 June 2013 

Location: MANL Offices; 

15 Hallett Crescent St. John’s, NL 

This workshop is part of our Intangible Cultural Heritage (ICH) series.  ICH is also known as “living heritage” and it encompasses many traditions, practices and customs.  These include the stories we tell, the family events we celebrate, the songs we sing, our healing traditions, the foods we eat and cultural practices.   There are many ways of documenting ICH that should be considered when safeguarding the living heritage of a group or community. Some documentation methods might include taking photographs of people, places, architecture, and cultural objects, such as tools and costumes. For audio, this means doing recorded interviews to collect stories, memories, songs, beliefs, and descriptions of how to make crafts or how to perform certain customs and traditions. You can also use video recorders to document cultural activities and performances, conduct interviews, or to show how a place looks and operates.

Existing collections of ICH held by museums and archives are likely in many formats, but quite often have not been digitized for proper storage or exhibition. This workshop aims to guide museums, individuals or organizations in digitizing their existing collections.  These skills will help museums to meet standards around safeguarding of ICH collections, making collections accessible to the public, and ensuring the long-term preservation of ICH material.  This is an elective course with MANL’s certificate in museum studies program.

Instructor: Dale Jarvis, Intangible Cultural Heritage Officer, and Lisa Wilson, Heritage Districts Officer; Heritage Foundation of Newfoundland and Labrador
Enrolment Limits: Maximum of 15

Registration fees:  $70 for MANL members,   $95 for non-members

Registration Deadline: June 18, 2013

Space is limited!!  Reserve your seat early!!!

Financial assistance for transportation costs is available for MANL members: please contact the MANL office for more information. You may also visit www.museums.ca to find out more about the Canadian Museums Association Travel Bursary. For further information, please contact the MANL:

manl@nf.aibn.com ¨  Ph 709-722-9034 ¨  Fax: 709-722-9035

Cancellations received less than 5 days in advance are not eligible for refunds.

Participants who do not attend remain responsible for full payment.

Reunited Photographs: Tennis on the Avenue

It is a well-known fact that there was once a tennis court behind the Bay Roberts cable station. This court was built and maintained by the Western Union in order to provide some leisure and entertainment to their staff. Below are two photographs of people waiting to play tennis, and each came to us from different sources. When we put them together, it was a surprise for us to see that they were almost identical, but not quite --  you can see that one was taken just after the other. It's likely that they had the same photographer, believed to be Mr. Robert Mercer, former cable employee and avenue resident. We wonder how the two photographs got separated but are happy to reunite them. Can you spot the differences? And which do you think was taken first?

Photograph provided by V. Williams (London, Ontario), whose husband Brian was raised on Cable Avenue.

Photograph provided by the Bay Roberts Historical Society Inc., part of their larger cable-related collection.

If you know anything about these photographs, like the names of people in the tennis line, or if there are any more images in the series, I'd love to hear from you: lisa@heritagefoundation.ca.

-Lisa

Job Posting: Traditional Water Sources Survey Fieldworker

Traditional Water Sources Survey Fieldworker

Memorial’s Department of Folklore and the Heritage Foundation of Newfoundland and Labrador are hiring a researcher to work on their “Traditional Knowledge of Springs and Wells in the St. John's Area” project. The project is designed to map locational information and to collect oral histories about wells, springs and natural water sources within the St. John's Area. It will research the location and associated knowledge of springs, wells, water diviners, spouts, wishing wells, rag wells, traditional knowledge about water purity and cleanliness, techniques to prevent fouling of water sources, and traditional values around drinking water. This research will focus on three main concepts related to water sources and traditional management of those resources: geospatial knowledge about the resource; knowledge about use and management of the resources; and local values about those resources.

The applicant must have excellent oral and written communication skills; be curious, outgoing and willing to talk to property owners and local informants; have experience in conducting folklore or oral history interviews; and have training (preferably at the graduate level) in Folklore, Archaeology, Cultural Geography, History or another related field. Valid driver’s licence and use of automobile, and previous experience with a heritage organization is an asset. Someone willing to get wet and dirty is a bonus!

Work will be based out of the offices of the Heritage Foundation of Newfoundland and Labrador, St. John’s, and will begin as soon as possible after the closing date for applications, running approximately through July to October 2013.

Please send cv and cover letter to:

Philip Hiscock, Department of Folklore
Memorial University of Newfoundland
St John’s NL A1B 3X8

or by email to philip@mun.ca

Applications should be submitted before Friday 21 June 2013.

Tuesday's Folklore Photo: Riding the Rails

This is a picture of my great grandmother, Ethel Peddle (nee Ivany), taken circa 1927-1933. Her father was a roadmaster with the Newfoundland Railway and she would ride the rails with him from time to time. Originally from Bloomfield, Bonavista Bay, Ethel loved the opportunity to go clothes shopping in Clarenville or St. John's on these trips. This snap was taken in Clarenville when my great grandmother was in her late teens to early twenties.

-Nicole

Bay Roberts Oral History Clips

In 1913, the Western Union Telegraph Company began constructing the homes on this street to accommodate their cable staff. So, this year marks the 100th birthday of Cable Avenue in Bay Roberts. To help mark this anniversary, I've been collecting oral histories with current and former residents of the street, as well as former employees of the Western Union. As we've mentioned before, some of this research will be up for temporary exhibition at the Road to Yesterday Museum. It will not only explore the cable operations of Western Union, but the architectural and family history of the street as well. Our display will be ready for viewing sometime this month and we'll keep you posted with dates for the official opening party that will take place later in the summer. In the meantime, please take a listen to a few audio clips from our collection.

Eileen Starr, former resident of Cable Avenue and daughter of Western Union employee Fred Starr, tells the story of when their family home burned down on the avenue in 1960.

Bart Kennedy, former employee of Western Union, explains how the cable station operated.

To browse a larger collection of audio clips, please visit our youtube channel.   There are some great stories up that we are eager to share.


-Lisa

May bushes in Torbay and Middle Cove

One of the great, if now somewhat fading, traditions in Newfoundland is that of the May Bush. A few days ago, former HFNL staffer Lara Maynard sent me two pictures she had taken this month. The photo above, with the house in the background, is from Torbay. The one below is from Middle Cove.

May bushes have a long tradition, but are rarely seen today, so I'm delighted that people are still putting them up. A few years back, Lara wrote a description of May bushes for a little publication we did entitled "What is ICH?" and which is reprinted here:

“When I was a primary or elementary school kid at a Catholic school, each May students wore blue ribbons pinned to their clothes in honour of the Blessed Virgin Mary. Blue ribbons showed up around our neighbourhoods, too, on May bushes – saplings with most of their branches cut off, except for the few left around the top with the ribbons on them. This tradition can be traced back to the ancient Celts, who used maypoles or boughs as part of springtime rituals and to bring good luck, especially for agriculture. The Christian Church adopted May as a month for the devotion of Mary, and the custom appears to have evolved to fit in there. The people I know who still put up May bushes in recent years seem to do it out of a combination of religion and tradition.” 

If you know of May bush in your community, take a photo and email it to me at ich@heritagefoundation.ca

- Dale