#CollectiveMemories Monday - Barry Porter, Lighthouse Keeper

In 2009, as part of a presentation to the Museum Association of NL, I did a sample oral history interview with former lighthouse keeper Barry Porter.  In this short interview, Barry discusses his life as a lighthouse keeper, where he worked, the characteristics of the lights, a typical work day, the fog horn system, and the difference between manned and unmanned lighthouses.

Listen to the interview here on Memorial University's Digital Archive Initiative.

Photo: Aerial view of Long Point Lighthouse in 1991, courtesy Canadian Coast Guard

Living Heritage Podcast Ep076 Project Kindness with Hasan Hai

Hasan Hai is a father and transplanted mainlander who's spent nearly seven years in NL; however, he is just approaching his first 'towniversary'. Previously he had lived in Clarenville and Marystown. In the last year he’s been heavily invested in community development through a group he formed called Project Kindness , and most recently the NL Beard and Moustache Club which focuses both on appreciating facial hair and giving back to the community. He also tosses axes on the side. We chat about Islamophobia, dealing with confirmation biases, diversity, kindness and building community, with a few axes thrown in, so to speak, and a little bit about beards!

Listen on the Digital Archive:

http://collections.mun.ca/cdm/singleitem/collection/ich_oral/id/718/rec/1

#FoodwaysFriday - Breadboxes: Are they useful or do they just collect crumbs?

I'm moving into a new spot and I recently came across this breadbox on an online antique buy and sell page and purchased it because I loved the colours. I grew up with a breadbox but haven't seen one in some time so I wanted to ask our followers are breadboxes useful today? Do they keep your bread fresh?

Breadboxes or bread bins store bread and other baked goods to keep them fresh. They can be made of wood, pottery, or metal. Breadboxes aim to keep bread at room temperature, let the bread "breathe" to prevent mold, and protect against pests.

There is also a bit of folklore about the breadbox and you may have heard the expression "Is it bigger than a breadbox?". This expression is thought to have originated with Steve Allen on the game show What's My Line on January 18, 1953. You can see a clip of the show where Steve Allen first compared a product to the size of the breadbox.

So let us know - are breadboxes useful? Or do they just collect crumbs?

~Terra Barrett

A history-packed edition of the Heritage Update for May/June 2017.

In this month's Heritage Update:

• The Oral History Roadshow is hitting the streets;
• Digitization of the 35mm slide collection from the Portugal Cove-St. Philip’s Archives;
• Commemorating the St. John’s Great Fire of 1892;
• The Goats of New Perlican;
• A call for Modern memories;
• Hooked rugs in Cupids;
• Recognizing the Legacy of World War Two on Our Province’s Built Landscape; and,
• Finding the profit in heritage.

Also, an invite to our Historic Places & Folklore of Bay Roberts event on June 8th, 7pm, at the Shearstown Community Centre, Bay Roberts.

Download the pdf of the newsletter

Photo: Ambrose and Maude Squires of St. Philip’s,
standing in front of a yellow house, July 4th, 1962.
Allen and Pearl Squires Fonds (028) courtesy of the
Portugal Cove-St. Philip’s Archives. 

“I fished all these ponds, winter and summer" - Interview with Moses Tucker

Portugal Cove-St. Philip's Memory Mug Up

Moses Tucker, interviewed by Monique McGrath

Born and raised in St. Philip’s, Moses Tucker is a staple member in the community of Portugal Cove. Following his first run as mayor in 1978, he spent 15 years working various positions on the City Council board. After some time away from politics due to other work responsibilities, Mr. Tucker was encouraged by members of the community to run for mayor a second time, which he gladly agreed to do. With deep roots going back several generations, Mr. Tucker carries with him a strong sense of dedication and loyalty for the people of Portugal Cove.

Mr. Tucker has a passion for waterways: he loves to know where water comes from and where it goes to. A retired civil engineering technologist, he is a local expert on ponds, lakes and rivers on the Avalon Peninsula. In 1968 he helped install one of the main water lines running along Portugal Cove Road, which is still used to this day. Mr. Tucker knows how the community’s drinking water is treated, which pond it comes from, and where it is flowing.

“Our water right here comes from Bay Bulls. All of Portugal Cove and St. Philip’s, Paradise and Conception Bay South, our water supply comes from Bay Bulls Big Pond which is on the way down Southern Shore. It’s great water, actually super water! This is a development that was a necessity because of the growth of St. John’s. Windsor Lake couldn’t supply all the water that was needed for the growth of the city.”

Mr. Tucker’s interest in lakes and ponds goes beyond the scope of drinking water; he knows where are all the best fishing spots. Good luck trying to get that information out of him! What he is openly willing to share, however, is how rainbow trout found its way in most of the ponds and rivers in the Portugal Cove community.

“I fished all these ponds, winter and summer. Some of these ponds have been actually seeded with rainbow trout that were brought in from Ontario back in the eighteen hundreds. Little tiny things, there are thousands out there. They’re aggressive too, they eat on local worms. But once you catch them, you put them in the boat, they die quickly. But the trouts that are native, what we call speckle trout, they don’t fight as much as the rainbow trout. But when you bring them into the boat, one can be there for up to an hour before he dies.”

Mr. Tucker carries with him countless memories of growing up and building his life on the Avalon Peninsula, from going to school, to skating in the winter, to swimming in the summer. In closing this interview he shares a memories from his first time serving as Mayor of Portugal Cove, when he was required to create a prayer:

“When you do incorporation you have to create a prayer. You have to write a prayer to the lieutenant governor in council, and that still exists to this day. In order to petition something from the Queen or the Queen’s representative, it has to be done in the form of a prayer. That was probably one of the most difficult things I’ve ever had to do, because I’ve been involved with the church and the church choir since I’m 15 years old. And one of the clergymen we had back then was a strict man as far as what you could and couldn’t do. Kids weren’t allowed to bow. Girls curtsied and boys had to salute. You could only bow to one, he said, to God. Now for me to create a prayer to somebody that wasn’t God, that was way beyond what I was taught. It was a struggle to do it. When it was explained to me that this is a format that has nothing to do with prayers and God, I said alright, I can do it.”

When asked about the future of the Portugal Cove community, Mayor Tucker is very optimistic that the town will maintain its rural character all thanks to one very important geographical element in this area:

“I think its going to maintain a lot of the rural character. We have so much coastline, and we have this wonderful thing called Windsor Lake which creates a marvelous buffer from the city of St. John’s. We’re 10 minutes from the biggest shopping center in Newfoundland Labrador — the Avalon Mall, but the city will not come in and build and occupy around Windsor Lake. That’s the watershed, that’s the water supply. That gives us the opportunity here to lay back, and take it easy!”

This interview was conducted as part of a Collective Memories Mug Up project conducted by Memorial University students enrolled in FOLK 6740: Public Folklore, Winter 2017. If you would like to listen to the full interview click here. 

Do you remember being sent to the store as a child? #Folklorephoto

028.03.193 Four unidentified children in front of  Broad Cove with a jar of mustard pickles.
Photo courtesy of Portugal Cove-St. Philip's Archives.

The above photo shows four unidentified children in front of Broad Cove in St. Philip's, who look like they may have just come from a stop at a local store. One little girl holds a jar of mustard pickles, another has something in her hand, maybe a chocolate bar? Do you have memories of your parents sending you to the store as a child? How far did you walk? What did you have to pick up?

~ Kelly

#CollectiveMemories Monday - Main Street Fashion

Cohen's. Photo courtesy of GFWHS.

On September 23, 2016, as part of the Collective Memories project, I interviewed Yvonne Courtney of Grand Falls-Windsor about growing up in Grand Falls, shopping on Main Street, the merchants and business owners, the various cultures on Main Street, and social events in Grand Falls-Windsor.

In this interview Yvonne describes the fashion of the 1950s and 1960s and shopping on Main Street. Describing Cohen's on Main Street Yvonne remembered:
Cohen’s had elegance right off the magazine covers. They had changed the shop completely. When you walked up those steps on the left hand side and entered the world of Cohen’s fashion you were just blown away. Everything was gorgeous. There were velvet coats or fur coats, fur-lined coats, there were hats like you had never seen before, there were shoes that were really today’s shoes with a clutch purse to match and the clothing was just gloriously beautiful and there was carpet on the floor and the dressing rooms were snazzier. Everything about Cohen’s was just snazzy, totally snazzy and big floor length mirrors, 2 or 3 of them in a row. You could stand there and see everything and you could stand there and just admire putting on a coat or whatever. Cohen’s really had a fashion sense that was a cut above. Cohen’s had a way of presenting it that was in a league of its own.

Click here to hear the full interview and leanr more about shopping on Main Street and the fashion of the 1950s and 1960s.

~Terra Barrett

#FoodwaysFriday - Sealing Vessel Memories

Unidentified sealing vessel in ice. PF-323.048. Donor: John Connors, 1998.
Maritime History Archive - International Grenfell Association Lantern Slides.

When we discuss foodways of Newfoundland and Labrador the first food that often comes to mind is the codfish. Cod has played a major role in everything from the province’s economy to its culture. It is featured in many traditional dishes however it is not the only food tradition in the province. Seafood and fish, caribou, seal, sea birds, berries, root vegetables, and imported products such as molasses and tin milk all play a part in the province’s food traditions. In celebration of the diverse foods harvested, grown, cooked, and eaten in Newfoundland and Labrador we will be doing a #FoodwaysFriday feature on the ICH Blog.

This week we are featuring an interview with Mr. Mark Johnson of Little Catalina. It was recorded in 1999 in Port Union for the Sir William F. Coaker Heritage Foundation and digitized by the Heritage Foundation of Newfoundland and Labrador. The interview focuses on Mr. Johnson’s work experience and his time in the seal fishery.

Mr. Johnson shares stories about his time as a wheel master on several sealing vessels, memories of hunting on the ice, and the conditions of the sealing vessels as well as stories about William Coaker and Port Union, boat building, cod fishing on the Labrador, sailing, and World War Two. This audio interview also includes a full transcript which is key word searchable.

If you want to learn more about Mr. Mark Johnson’s working life click here to read the transcript!

Share your stories and knowledge of food with the hashtag #FoodwaysFriday.

~Terra Barrett

"Some Thousand Miles Apart, and a War On." The WWII Letters of Allen Squires and Pearl Morcombe, Portugal Cove-St. Philip's

Allen Squires in uniform (028.02.02).  Detail of one of the many letters he wrote to Pearl Morcombe.

In April I had the pleasure to work on a collection for the Town of Portugal Cove-St. Philip's, organizing the Allen and Pearl Squires fonds. The couple made a financial donation to the town in the 1980's to establish the community library, and with that donation came a box with some of the couples possessions, 35mm slides, war medals, and stacks of letters written during the second world war. When I first opened up the box, the stacks of beautifully handwritten letters, immediately peaked my interests.

Stacks of correspondence from the Allen and Pearl Squires Fonds, Portugal Cove-St. Philip's

The letters were all sent to Pearl Morcombe of Melrose, Massachusetts during the Second World War. Pearl corresponded with fifteen different people, family and friends who talked about their own lives and life during WW2. A large portion of the correspondence is from Allen Squires of St. Philip's, who had known Pearl years before, and had reconnected as penpals when Allen's sister Edna Tucker sent Pearl his address. Pearls mother was from St. Philip's, so Pearl already had some connection with the area, and Allan often wrote about the area, telling Pearl she should visit. They wrote about the war and their homes and families. He often talks about everyday life at war, the food they ate, where they slept, and their entertainment. While stationed in England, Allen wrote in a letter on March 13th 1941:

Souvenir sent by Allen to Pearl, Sept. 15, 1940 

"If Hitler thinks he will brake the moral of the British people, he is making a big mistake. There's a little girl drives a van in every morning about 10 o'clock, with coffee and buns for the boys. The other morning she came in and told me she was up all night. I asked her what the trouble was, and she said there was about thirty fire bombs dropped in her back yard that night. So she said she worked on them all night with the men and helped to put them out, and still she was on the job at nine in the morning with her little van, with buns and coffee for the boys. I told her she ought to get a medal and she just laughed about it. I never saw people with such wonderful pluck. They are really marvelous. If there is any holes in our socks, they will take them and darn them, or if we want anything done, they are quiet willing to do it. They post all our letters. I don't think I shall ever forget them."

Through out his letters, Allen often talks about the women he meets at war, and tells Pearl she should find herself a boyfriend. As they continue to write to each other, and their relationship grows, Allen's writing becomes more romantic and he talks of their future together. On April 24th 1942 Allen wrote:

"I am living in hopes that some day I will be able to make you my little wife and we can live happy for the remainder of our life. That may sound funny. Some thousand miles apart, and a war on, but such things can happen." 

028.02.01 Allen and Emma Squires. Courtesy of
the Portugal Cove-St. Philip's Archives.

Pearl also receives letters from other people, including those related to Allen and from Portugal Cove-St. Philip's. She writes to Allen's sister Edna Tucker, and his brother Leslie Squires who moved to the USA for work. There are letters from Edna's son Jacob J. Tucker who first writes when he is 16 and a member of the 1st St. Philip's Troop Boy Scouts and leader of the Boy Scouts orchestra in St. Philip's. He eventually goes to live with Pearl in Massachusetts for his health and seeking opportunity. Allen's mother Emma Squires writes to Pearl, primarily when she has not heard from her son and to ask if Pearl has received any letters. Emma Squires emotional letters are those of a worried mother, wondering if the war will ever end, and her sadness over the death of her husband Gus Squires. Most of her letters are steeped in melancholy, including one letter from September 26th 1944:

"Just as I am writing this I look [through] my window at such a lovely sunset, I never saw before. Just like a picture as it shined on the church just by my house, its red roof and all white. It made me feel so sad. And when I see anything looking so lovely it makes me think of things very sad. Well Dear, what do you think of the dread full time is going on now. I suppose this is the finishing of most of our Dear ones. I am thinking there isn't many of them going to be left by the time it's finished. I guess they will be most all thru with it all. I was in hopes of my Dear boy coming some time, but since this hard time have started I am feeling pretty bad at it all."


In one of the last letters, a August 14th 1945 letter forwarded to Pearl from Leslie Squires, Emma Squires writes about the end of the war and news that Allen is returning home to Newfoundland. She once again describes the view out her window, but this time with the joy and relief:

"The church bell is ringing now and Bell Island is all a light guns firing." 

028.03.201 View of St. Philip's Church and Bell Island. Taken by Allen and Pearl Squires August 10th 1962
Photograph courtesy of the Portugal Cove-St. Philip's Archives.

For more information on the Portugal Cove-St. Philip's Archives, contact the Town of Portugal Cove-St. Philip's Heritage Programs and Services Coordinator Julie Pomeroy.

~ Kelly