Can you help solve the mitt mystery of Long Beach, Trinity Bay? #nlheritage

I recently got an intriguing email from Wanda Garrett of the Southwest Arm Historical Society, concerning a pair of children's mitts dug up by her father. Wanda writes:

A few years ago, my father dug up two children's mitts on his land in Long Beach. I am trying to find out some historical information about the mitts - how old they are, etc.

The mitts appear to be children's mitts as they are small. They are two different sizes. It appears that the mitts were dipped in some type of solution to make them waterproof - maybe linseed oil?

The land where the mitts were found is now owned by my parents but it used to belong to my grandparents. When my parents took over the land, my grandparents' home was in bad shape and falling down so they had it bulldozed and buried on the land. We don't know if the mitts were in the house when it was bulldozed or not. My grandparents purchased the land and house in the '50s. The original owners of the land lived there from 1873-1961. 

I asked my mother (who is 81) if she remembers seeing these mitts before but she does not. I also asked her brothers, who are a little younger than her, and they also do not remember them. Therefore I am thinking they belonged to the people who owned the house and land before my grandparents. When they sold the house to my grandparents, they left some belongings in a back room upstairs. These mitts may have been among their items.

Have you seen or worn mitts like this? If you have, send me an email at ich@heritagefoundation.ca, or leave a comment below.

- Dale Jarvis

Living Heritage Podcast Ep006 Public Folklore with Jillian Gould

Jillian Gould is an assistant professor in the Department of Folklore at Memorial University. In the public sector she was a museum educator in New York City, and has worked with museums and archives in Toronto, Ottawa, and St. John's. On this episode, Dale Jarvis talks with Jillian about egg rolls and egg creams, fish and chips, public programming and festivals, and the public folklore program at Memorial University.

Notes from the road - St. Matthew's Presbyterian Church, Grand Falls-Windsor

I'm in Grand Falls today, helping sort out some oral history collections with the Grand Falls-Windsor Historical Society (more on that in a future post).

Before I left St. John's, Margaret Scott with St. Matthew's Presbyterian Church heard that I was going to be visiting Grand Falls, and tracked me down. They have a collection of historical documents they want to do something with, so I met with them today, and had a brief chat about their materials and the possibility of doing some digitization work, and potentially some oral history recording around the life and history of the church and congregation.

Today, there are about twenty active members of the congregation, which holds a service once a month. The church is one of the oldest buildings in Grand Falls, and was the first municipally designated heritage building for the town, officially recognized as such on October 11, 2005. It is the only Presbyterian church in Newfoundland outside of St. John's.

St. Matthew's Presbyterian Church is listed on the Canadian Register of Historic Places, which notes that the building was constructed in 1910, and is the last remaining original church structure in Grand Falls. It is a fine example of a small, country-style church in an urban setting. It has some Gothic Revival style elements, such as multi-paned, Gothic arched windows, as used in similar small churches in Newfoundland and Labrador. It is currently undergoing some repair work.

The building has undergone a number of changes over the years.  The interior of the church was redone in the 1950s, and has been largely untouched since.

The church has a number of interesting archival items documenting the construction and changes to the church over the years, including a copy of the original construction blueprints and photos of the building at various stages, including the one below showing the church before renovations.

Other photos in the collection document church suppers, youth events, women's groups, and special events such as the dinner below, held between 1-2 April 1951.

I am looking forward to seeing more of the St. Matthew's archival material, and wish them success with their preservation efforts!

- Dale Jarvis

 

Saving Stories: Podcasts, Workshops, and Community Booklets

In this edition of the Intangible Cultural Heritage Update for July and August 2015, we announce the launch of the Living Heritage Podcast, give a review of the Saving our Stories workshop held in Corner Brook, and provide some tips for communities wanting to create a short oral history or local folklore booklet.

Download the newsletter as a pdf

Living Heritage Podcast Ep005 Museum Gift Shops with Kelly Jones

Kelly Jones has worked in the world of retail for the past 30 years as a sales associate, manager, merchandiser, and owner. Currently, she is on a contract for The Rooms Gift Shop, as Buyer and Product Development officer. She is also still involved in theatre and film on a small scale, having been a professional stage manager for 10 years. On this episode of Living Heritage, Terra Barrett chats with Kelly about the business side of running a successful museum gift shop. They talk about challenges faced by museum gift shops, how to link products to gallery exhibits, balancing the themes of collections with sales products, developing product for the Christopher Pratt exhibit, working with artists, popular price points for items, and tips for marketing your shop using social media.

The Memory Store: The walls came down and we were back to square one...

This week’s Memory Store video is a clip of Elisabeth Laverty from the Anglican Cathedral of St. John the Baptist. Elisabeth describes the construction of the Anglican Cathedral of St. John the Baptist and the destruction caused by the 1892 fire.

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

Stick out your thumb: hitching for stories from Newfoundland and Nova Scotia

Andrea McGuire, a folklore graduate student at Memorial University, is currently seeking interviews with past and present hitchhikers in Newfoundland and Nova Scotia. She is collecting stories from people who used to hitchhike, people who hitchhike in rural communities, people who hitchhike nationally/internationally, and drivers who pick up hitchhikers. Each interview will take approximately one hour, and will be drawn on for Andrea’s master’s thesis. Do you have a hitchhiking story to share? Get in touch with Andrea by phone at 709-771-2216, or via email at c33alm@mun.ca. She would love to hear from you!

The proposal for this research has been reviewed by the Interdisciplinary Committee on Ethics in Human Research and found to be in compliance with Memorial University’s ethics policy. If you have ethical concerns about the research, such as the way you have been treated or your rights as a participant, you may contact the Chairperson of the ICEHR at icehr@mun.ca or by telephone at 709-864-2861.

Living Heritage Podcast Ep004 Shipwrecks and Social Media with Heather Elliott

On Episode 004 of the Living Heritage Podcast, we talk shipwrecks and social media with Heather Elliott.

Heather Elliott has an educational background in anthropology and museum management. Her passion for maritime history inspired her to create her own blog, www.originalshipster.com. Through it, she tells stories of ships and shipwrecks from across Canada. In this interview, we talk of ships and the sea, and share tips for navigating the waters of social media.

Conception Bay Museum and the Anglican Church Assistance Association brass band

On Sunday, 2 August 2015, I had the pleasure of attending the Conception Bay Museum Founders' Day activities, to celebrate the establishment of the Conception Bay Museum on the 40th Anniversary of its official opening.

Former Heritage Foundation of NL chair Shane O'Dea spoke on the history of the museum and its place in the development of heritage in the region, a commemorative plaque was unveiled, the women of Coughlan United Church prepared War (Trench) Cakes from a WWI recipe, lemonade was imbibed, and the entire event was opened and closed in style by the gentlemen (and one lady) of the Upper Island Cove Anglican Church Assistance Association (ACAA) brass band.

The ACAA band is unique in Newfoundland, one of our oldest continually-running bands in the province, and over the past century has developed its own unique musical notation system. They played several selections, including the Ode to Newfoundland, which you can listen to here.