Intangible cultural heritage in England and Scotland - guest talk April 6, 12:30pm @memorialU

"The perception of intangible cultural heritage in England and Scotland: a diverging heritage narrative in the United Kingdom"
Guest Lecture by Suzy Harrison
Wednesday, 6 April 2016
ED4051 - Education Building, Memorial University
12:30pm

Suzy Harrison (@SuzyHarrison76) is a second year PhD researcher at Nottingham Trent University, in the United Kingdom, and is funded through the AHRC Midlands3Cities Doctoral Training Programme. Her research analyses current attitudes towards intangible cultural heritage in England, and looks to reveal the challenges which it faces through closer examination of intangible heritage in the East Midlands. The research is also focusing on looking at opportunities to possibly adopt practices at a local or national level which may exist in other countries.

• Facebook event listing here. 

When Your Boy Comes Back To You - more WWI-era sheet music!

We posted last week about finding a copy of the 1916 First World War sheet music "The Sweethearts That We Left In Newfoundland" here in the Heritage Foundation of NL office.

This week, we bring you the second of our finds, a piece entitled "When Your Boy Comes Back To You" by Gordon V. Thompson, dated 1916, published by the Thompson Publishing Co, 75 Bay Street, Toronto.

The lyrics are as follows:

When Your Boy Comes Back To You

Keep the lamp of hope still brightly burning,
Till your boy comes back to you,
And although your heart may oft' be yearning
For one whose love is true,
Bear in mind the day he'll be returning,
So then, cheer up! don't be blue,
Ev'ry day you're far apart you grow dearer to his heart,
Till your boy comes back to you!

[Chorus]
When your boy comes back to you,
You will keep your promise true,
You will watch, you will wait by the old garden gate,
Till the regiment appears in view
Whey your boy comes back to you
And the bands are playing too,
Won't your heart be beating fast,
Just to welcome him at last?
When your boy comes back to you!

Don't forget to heed this word of warning,
It will mean so much to you,
Though it's dark tonight the sun at morning
Will shine with brighter hue
On the boys with glory all adorning,
You will share that glory too!
Wear a bright and sunny smile, tho' you wait a long, long while,
Till your boy comes back to you!

[Chorus]

Download  a pdf copy of the sheet music here.

Living Heritage Podcast Ep037 The Greenspond Historical Society and Archives

Linda White was born in St. John's, Newfoundland. She worked as a Registered Nurse in the United States and England before returning to Newfoundland to attend Memorial University. She completed a Bachelor of Arts (Honors) in History and a Master of Arts degree in History. In 1990 she began working in the Archives and Special Collections, Queen Elizabeth II Library, Memorial University. Presently she holds the position of Archivist there.

In this edition of the Living Heritage Podcast, Linda talks about why she started studying history, how she became an archivist, what she does at the MUN archives, and about Greenspond, NL. She talks about the aims of the Greenspond Historical Society and Archives, stories of connecting people all around the world, and the process she goes through editing the Greenspond Letter.

photo of the Greenspond Courthouse Registered  Heritage Structure
courtesy the Greenspond Historical Society Facebook Group

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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.

The Sweethearts That We Left In Newfoundland: First World War sheet music

It's spring cleaning time at the Heritage Foundation of NL, and look what we found!

"The Sweethearts That We Left In Newfoundland" is a piece of sheet music, with words and music by James J. Galway of St. John's, printed by the F.J. Lawson Company of NY, dated 1916.

The lyrics are as follows:


The Sweethearts That We Left In Newfoundland.

Tho' on the battlefield and waves we fight for Motherland,
We can't forget the sweethearts dear at home in Newfoundland,
The fondest thoughts revert each day and hearts with throbs expand,
When we recall the lov'd ones there in far off Newfoundland.

[Chorus]
We've seen bewitching maidens glance on us in Motherland,
And grasp'd the hands of fairest ones from Scotland's heather-land,
We've been entranc'd by Irish smiles with words of blarney grand,
Yet sweethearts none can conquer us but those in Newfoundland.

And now when battle thunder rolls as we the foe withstand,
We'll yield no truce to tyrants who would crush the Motherland,
But all the more we'll bravely fight with Britain's martial band,
When thinking of the sweethearts dear at home in Newfoundland

[Chorus]

Then when the crown of vict'ry rests on Britain's free old land,
We'll treat the transports decks again embark'd for Newfoundland,
To meet once more and grasp with joy in loving embrace grand,
The sweethearts that we left behind in dear old Newfoundland.

[Chorus]

You can download a pdf of the sheet music here.

Living Heritage Podcast Ep036 The Mummers Festival with Ryan Davis

Ryan Davis has been running the Mummers Festival since 2009. He holds an MA in Folklore and a BA in Communication Studies. It was his interest in festivals, celebrations, and costuming that led him to mummering traditions. The Mummers Festival promotes the continuation and evolution of traditional arts and performance by encouraging active participation in mummering activities. The Mummers Festival helps to keep mummering alive and contemporary and adds to the population’s pride of place.

In this edition of the Living Heritage Podcast, Ryan talks about what mummers are and what they do, the beginnings of the Mummers Festival and how it has grown over seven years, the successes and challenges of running a festival, and what he hopes the festival will offer in the future.

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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.

The Memory Store: We found it in the back room and dusted it off...

The video for this week's the Memory Store was filmed in Trinity, NL inside Aunt Sarah’s Chocolate Shop. In this video Aunt Sarah explains the story behind the Welcome to Trinity sign displayed in her chocolate shop in Trinity, NL.

Watch the video below or click here to watch the video on YouTube.

Click here for more information about Trinity's Heritage Area.
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 Ep035 Towards an Encyclopedia of Local Knowledge

Pam Hall is an interdisciplinary artist, scholar, film-maker, and writer. Her visual art has been exhibited locally, nationally and internationally and is represented in many corporate, private and public collections, including the National Gallery of Canada. She has won national awards for her work as a designer in film (for Rare Birds) and as a children’s book illustrator( for Down by Jim Long’s Stage) and was recently inducted into the Fortis Hall of Honour at the Newfoundland and Labrador Arts Council Awards.

In this interview, we talk about her work creating and curating the Encyclopedia of Local Knowledge, which explores art as a form of making and moving knowledge and reveals many ways of knowing that are local, living, and still fruitfully in use. Recorded on 21 January 2016.

Explore the Encyclopedia

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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.

The cafe report:

What a success!

Yesterday, a group of heritage enthusiasts gathered together over coffee and pastries to talk shop about some of the vulnerable traditions, skills and knowledge(s) in Newfoundland and Labrador.

The questions we were trying to answer included:

(a) What does "living heritage" mean in 2016?

(b) What traditions/skills are at risk?
(c) Best techniques to safeguard intangible cultural heritage?

Questions begot questions so we decided to come up with a FAQ Report based on our conversations from yesterday morning. Be sure to check-back in next week to see what it's all about!

Knit Some Socks Knit-Along

On Saturday March 5th, despite the weather, we had around 45 lovely knitters join Christine LeGrow and Shirley Scott for an afternoon of knitting. Participants knitted traditional Newfoundland socks found in Operation Homespun which is produced by the Anna Templeton Centre and is available for purchase!

While participants were ribbing k2, p2, Christine read poems and excerpts from A Pair of Grey Socks: facts and fancies by Tryphena Soper Duley; Verses by Margaret Duley. The book was written in 1916 and was a perfect way to connect the knit-along with the 100th anniversary of the First World War. "A woman is knitting most all the day, a sock that shapes from a ball of grey, her fingers fly, and the needles click, fast grows the sock so soft an thick..." In the poem, white stripes on the grey sock "marks the socks for the slender youth who does his part for the cause of truth. The red is a sign for the hardy man, at the height of his strength in life's short span... blue in the sock is the medium size, the colour dear to sailors' wives. So in the grey socks red, white and blue form our colours so bright and true..."

Shirley Scott told us about the research she did for Canada Knits: Comfort in a Northern Land. The favourite story of the afternoon was Queen Elizabeth I encouraging the knitting industry. Shirley said after Queen Elizabeth I received her first pair of silk knitted socks she stated, "... indeed I like silk stockings so well, because they are so pleasant, fine and delicate, that henceforth I will wear no more cloth stockings."

After the ribbing of the sock, it was time for the leg of the sock which is composed by a simple stockinette stitch. Shirley and Christine showed examples of mistakes that can be made when knitting a sock. For example, the ribbing being too tight to fit your foot in or the foot of the sock being too big causing it to fold in your shoe!

Laughs were had and knowledge was shared! I had an e-mail from a participant saying she felt lost at the beginning but a wonderful lady next to her was extremely helpful and she has been working on her sock since. We also had someone text a photo to Christine who was knitting the pattern in Quebec at the same we were here in St. John's. We hoped the knit-along would do exactly this.

This Saturday is the last session! Christine and Shirley will be showing participants how to turn the heel and graft the toe. If you missed last week and are interested in coming this Saturday, send me an e-mail so I can send you the pattern for you to catch up -- stephanie@heritagefoundation.ca.