Get Involved! Youth Heritage Forum 2016 #YHNL2016

Last March, youth from across Newfoundland and Labrador gathered at The Lantern in St. John’s. They came together from different professional backgrounds and different communities from across Newfoundland and Labrador to talk about one thing – the role of Youth in the heritage sector.

It’s time to start planning for our Forum this year! We are having a meeting for next Wednesday, January 20th, 2016, 7pm, at the office of the Heritage Foundation of Newfoundland and Labrador in St. John’s to start making plans for the Youth Heritage Forum 2016.

We want your ideas, your feedback, and to build a team to run the event.

If you want to be involved, please RSVP to youthheritagenl@gmail.com, or send us a message on our Facebook page:www.facebook.com/YouthHeritageNL.

Not in St. John’s? Don’t worry! We can arrange a Google Hangout or something similar to make you part of the conversation.

Looking forward to hearing from you all!

https://youthheritagenl.wordpress.com/…/get-involved-youth…/

Living Heritage Podcast Ep025 Charis Cotter on Kids, Writing, and Local History

Charis Cotter is an award-winning children’s writer, actor, and storyteller who has worked extensively in schools telling Newfoundland ghost stories and encouraging students to collect local ghost stories from their communities. In 2013 she published The Ghosts of Baccalieu, a book of traditional ghost stories by students from Tricon Elementary in Bay de Verde. Her latest storytelling presentation, The Ghosts of Grates Cove, is an hour of ghost stories from one of the most haunted places in Newfoundland, Conception Bay North.

We discuss Charis’s work as an author, how she teaches children facts through games and fun, school programs, and ghost stories.

A Little Introduction

Pairs of knitted socks, ca. 1915
Source: Heritage Newfoundland and Labrador http://goo.gl/tH95Wj

Hello everyone!

My name is Stephanie Micikyan (pronounced mi-chee-key-an – it’s a tough one I know!) and I am the new Intangible Cultural Heritage Intern. Today is my first day and I thought I’d fill you in on what I’ll be working on over the next few months.

First and foremost I will be working on the Grey Sock Project to commemorate the 100th anniversary of World War I. The project revolves around the Women’s Patriotic Association (WPA) whose volunteers produced 62,685 socks (For more information on the WPA see: http://goo.gl/tH95Wj). Collaborating with the City of St. John’s, we will be looking for knitters to knit socks and scarves to donate to those in need in the spirit of the WPA.

I will also be assisting with programs to teach and share knitting knowledge and skills. Information can be found in the St. John’s City Guide (http://goo.gl/ktW77e). We are hoping to also have workshops for different skill levels.

If you knit or know someone who would be interested in knitting socks or scarves for donation, do not hesitate to e-mail me at stephanie@heritagefoundation.ca! Please feel free to e-mail me with any other inquiries.

I hope this gets you excited for what’s to come! Stay tuned as there will be updates on these programs and projects!

- Stephanie

The Memory Store: And we've got our gargoyle...

This week’s Memory Store video is a clip of Elisabeth Laverty from the Anglican Cathedral of St. John the Baptist. Elisabeth tells the story behind the gargoyle which was gifted to the Anglican Cathedral of St. John the Baptist by the Dean of St. Augustine’s Priory Church in Bristol, England in order to follow John Cabot to Newfoundland.

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

Living Heritage Podcast Ep024 The Playwright and History, with Robert Chafe

Robert Chafe is a playwright based in St. John’s, whose work has been seen across Canada, the UK, Australia and in the United States. He is the author of seventeen stage scripts and co-author of another eight. He was shortlisted for the Governor General’s Award for Drama for Tempting Providence and Butler’s Marsh in 2004, and won the award for Afterimage in 2010.  He has been writer in residence at Artistic Fraud, Playwrights Atlantic Resource Centre, Playwrights Workshop Montreal, Forest Forge Theatre, (Hampshire, UK), and Memorial University of Newfoundland, and a guest instructor at Memorial University of Newfoundland, Sir Wilfred Grenfell College, and The National Theatre School of Canada.  On this episode, we talk about how Robert began writing plays, how to write about history and local characters. We also discuss several of Robert’s plays, the research behind them, and the community response to them.

 

Merry Christmas: A Mummer Media Roundup!

Merry Christmas to you, one and all!

The 2015 Mummers Festival got a lot of attention this year, and I wanted to pull some of the media coverage together in one place.

Newfoundland's annual Mummers Festival aims to revive a centuries-old Christmas tradition
The Globe and Mail

Making Mummeries
The Telegram

‘Any mummers ‘lowed in?’ Keeping a Christmas tradition alive in Newfoundland.
Yahoo News

St. John's 2015 Mummer's Parade
YouTube

Photo by Darren Calabrese for The Globe and Mail. Christine Legrow wears a lampshade and doily on her head.

Living Heritage Podcast Ep023 Spaniard’s Bay Heritage with Dianne Carr

Dianne Carr (nee Vokey) is a Spaniard's Bay native who recently "resettled" in the community after retiring from teaching. Diane became involved with Spaniard's Bay Heritage Society two years ago. Her father was one of the founding members of the society and she decided she would like to carry on his legacy and give back to the community by getting involved with the summer programming and helping to promote the small museum. We discuss Dianne’s memories of growing up in Spaniard’s Bay, her love of and passion for heritage, and her work with the Spaniard’s Bay Heritage Society including their heritage walks and the community museum.

Can you help identify this mystery artefact? We're stumped! #nlheritage

Do you have any idea what this is? Earlier this week, a public works employee with the Town of Portugal Cove-St. Philips found this round silver piece while putting in a stop sign. It was turned over to Julie Pomeroy, the town's heritage officer, to identify, but there are no markings.

Thoughts? Theories? Leave a comment below, or email Julie at Julie.Pomeroy@pcsp.ca.

Living Heritage Podcast Ep022 Community Oral History Projects with Terra Barrett

Terra Barrett is a folklore masters student at Memorial University who holds a BA in Folklore/French from Memorial University and is currently completing her M.A. in public and applied folklore. Terra is completing a workterm with the Heritage Foundation of Newfoundland and Labrador as part of her M.A. program. Her research interests include foodways, customs, material culture and public folklore. In this episode, we discuss Terra’s oral history work in Petty Harbour-Maddox Cove, how to conduct oral history interviews, how to put together a booklet and host a launch, and Terra reads several excerpts from the booklet.