Thursday, July 28, 2016
"Sharing the Memories – stories of Harmon AFB" a huge success! Listen in here!
We had an amazing night last night sharing stories and memories at the CanAm Lodge here in Stephenville. I want to thank these three generous, funny, and knowledgeable men for giving their time and their tales: Bill Pilgrim (left), Ron Olson, and John F. Young (seated). We made a rough recording of the night, and you can listen in and hear them spin their yarns.
Thanks to Debra Coughlin for organizing and pulling together speakers, to Larry Bentley and the gentlemen of CanAm Lodge for hosting us all in their historic building, and to the audience that packed the room and then stuck around to share their own stories. It was a memorable night!
Download the mp3
Wednesday, July 27, 2016
Peeling Potatoes - Gary Danewood remembers KP Duty at Harmon AFB
Wednesday was a busy day for interviews at the Friendly Invasion 2016 celebrations in Stephenville! I started off the day interviewing Gary Danewood, pictured above with his wife Sharon. In this clip, Gary remembers peeling potatoes as part of his KP duties when first arriving in Stephenville.
Announcing The Friendly Invasion 2016's "Folklorist-in-Residence" in Stephenville
In the 1930s, Stephenville was primarily a French speaking farming village with a population of 500. But with the start of the the Second World War, that all changed. In April 1941, construction began on a deepwater port and adjacent air field, and by 1942 Stephenville had grown into a garrison town with an estimated population of 7,000.
It was an invasion, of sorts, but a friendly one, and Stephenville was home to the former Ernest Harmon Air Force Base from 1941to 1966.
2016 marks the 50th anniversary of the base closure, and the town is putting on a big celebration of its military and aviation history. I was delighted to be asked to participate, as the folklorist-in-residence for The Friendly Invasion 2016.
I'm in Stephenville all this week, observing, photographing, and conducting interviews with locals and visitors about their memories of Harmon AFB. My first scheduled interview is at 9am Wednesday morning, so stay tuned! I'll be blogging and tweeting about whatever I learn.
Wednesday night, I'll be acting as host and moderator for "Sharing the Memories – stories of Harmon AFB" at 8 pm at the CanAm Lodge. Tickets are available at the door (limited seating) and at the Dreamcatcher Lodge (709) 643-6655 (cash/debit/credit) and Debbie’s Video (cash/ATM). $3 pp
If you have a memory of Harmon AFB or Stephenville in the '40s, '50s or '60s (or know someone who does), and are willing to be interviewed, let me know! You can email me at ich@heritagefoundation.ca and we can chat by phone or in St John's after the event. Or if you are in Stephenville this week, you can track me down at the Dreamcatcher Lodge! We'll be putting all our interviews online as part of the Collective Memories project, on Memorial University's Digital Archive Initiative.
- Dale Jarvis
Monday, July 25, 2016
Trapped by the heels - a train derailment on the Bonavista Branch Line. #oralhistory
As part of our ongoing Collective Memories project to record the stories of Newfoundland and Labrador seniors, we've been doing some work with the Clarenville Heritage Society about railway memories.
On 21 July 2016, I had a chat with a couple old railroaders, Lindo Palmer and Baxter Tuck. They were full of stories, as you might expect! We'll post the full interview eventually, but in the meantime, have a listen to Baxter telling one of his father's stories, about the time the mailman was caught by the heels of his boots when a train derailed into a brook on the Bonavista branch line.
Photo Credit: A derailment on the Bonavista Branch Line.
The roadbed had grown soft, sending the cars into an uncontrolled
rocking motion which tipped them over. Railway Coastal Museum.
The roadbed had grown soft, sending the cars into an uncontrolled
rocking motion which tipped them over. Railway Coastal Museum.
Friday, July 22, 2016
#CollectiveMemories Roadtrip: Bonavista Peninsula
Pei and Michael measuring and drawing the inside of the Salvation Army Citadel. |
Sign inside the Salvation Army Citadel. |
The Salvation Army Citadel which was recently designated. |
Mortuary Chapel, Trinity, NL. |
Pei and I turnipped in Champney's West. |
Sarah Hiscock who was interview about the sinking of the Hazel Pearl. |
The Hookey house which was framed and finished in the 1930s. |
Details of Alonzo's work. |
Pile of Amy's quilts. |
View from St. Paul's Anglican School in Trinity, NL. |
The designation of the Loop is confined to the railroad tracks but it is pretty amazing to explore the abandoned park. |
Michael and Pei on our Fox Island hike. |
Port Union Heritage District. |
Michael and Pei measuring the Salvation Army Citadel. |
Alexander Mortuary Chapel of All Souls. |
One of the many designated homes in Bonavista. |
Stay tuned for some short video clips of Sarah Hiscock and Albert Hiscock's interviews!
~Terra Barrett
Thursday, July 21, 2016
Living Heritage Podcast Ep045 The Oral History Centre at the University of Winnipeg
Nolan Reilly has a long-standing interest in community history. He is a professor of history and former chair of the Department of History at the University of Winnipeg, as well as being the the co-founder and Co-Director of the Oral History Centre at the University of Winnipeg. The Oral History Centre was established in 2012, and develops and offers training in advanced digital recording technologies, digital storage, strategies for oral history research, archiving, and dissemination. It offers a program of local and international conferences, lecture series, workshops, and other events. We talk about Nolan’s trip to Newfoundland, genealogical research, the Oral History Centre, several of their projects, as well as how he started working with oral history.
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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.
Pics from Youth Heritage Night in Spaniard's Bay
Courtney, Emily, Thomas, and Stewart pose after a successful Youth Heritage Night at the Wes Gosse Heritage Museum in Spaniard's Bay. Local youth talked about their heritage projects, with a focus on local oral history, museum work, and involvement in the First World War Commemorations. Congrats to all!
Wednesday, July 20, 2016
Heart's Content Graveyard Mapping Workshop and Cemetery Clean Up
Guest blog post by Celeste Billung-Meyer a Folklore student working with the Heritage Foundation this summer:
Last Saturday (July 16 th , 2016), I attended the Graveyard Mapping Workshop and Clean Up in Heart’s Content. It was an event co-organized by the Heritage Foundation and Youth Heritage in order to help Heart’s Content get ready for their 150th anniversary of the first successful landing of a trans Atlantic cable.
Last Saturday (July 16 th , 2016), I attended the Graveyard Mapping Workshop and Clean Up in Heart’s Content. It was an event co-organized by the Heritage Foundation and Youth Heritage in order to help Heart’s Content get ready for their 150th anniversary of the first successful landing of a trans Atlantic cable.
We had a fantastic turn out! The majority of our volunteers gathered at the Heritage Foundation for 9 am, where we got on a bus and drove to Heart’s Content. When we arrived and met up with the rest of the volunteers, the weather looked dubious; however, much to our delight, within the hour the sun came out and the day ended up being gorgeous and warm!
Practising gravestone rubbing. |
Cemetery cleanup. |
Dale and Sarah demonstrating how to map the graveyard. |
Michael drawing out the map. |
The rest of the group followed Dale on a walk around the cemetery and he explained the meaning behind the symbols on some of the graves!
Dale giving a tour of the cemetery symbols. |
Photo of our wonderful volunteers and the progress of the graveyard! |
Learning about Heart's Content's history. |
Tuesday, July 19, 2016
"That was hard on us" - Remembrances from 20th-century Grand Falls-Windsor
I came across a little gem today while reading oral interview transcripts about growing up in Grand Falls-Windsor in the 20th century. In this excerpt, Obadiah Gill describes the trouble with getting to see a dentist in the town, and recalls one man who went to the blacksmith to have his tooth pulled:
“You know, he’d put the needle in and it would deaden it a little bit you know. But then you had the pain in your tooth...I heard of a fellow up in the lumber woods one time, got the blacksmith to take his pliers and tickle his tooth, horse pliers.” (Obadiah was interviewed on April 6, 1999)
Some of the excerpts from these interviews are just great - funny, interesting, old-timey stuff that is charming and affirming in its simplicity - but these moments are at times juxtaposed against stories of heartbreak. Most of the senior interviewees have something to say about life in GFW during the second world war. Beatrice Healey describes what it was like to live in town with soldiers everywhere:
“I was living in Windsor then. It was pretty bad. You had to put down your dark green blinds nighttime, we had blackouts. Soldiers everywhere. I was stopped on the street several times when I was bringing water from...the next door neighbour had a well and he said, “I’ll take your buckets!” and I said, “No, you won’t.” Ah...anyway a couple soldiers took the buckets from me cause I just lived down the road on Main Street. It was very tough for a while.”
“A fellow by the name of Mr. Gill, he went away to the war. He came in the house that morning he was leaving and he said to my husband, Phil. “Phil I’m leaving this evening, I wants ya to have a drink with me.” He sat down and had a drink. He went...he went away and he was killed. He was gone about three months, I guess when we got word that he was killed, he was only about 26 years old, he wasn’t very old. That was hard on us.” (Beatrice was interviewed on July 22nd, 1999)
A glimmer of light in a dark remembrance is Beatrice Healey’s stubborn insistence on carrying the buckets herself. She knew she could be stopped at any time, but she wasn’t going to let that keep her off the streets. She was going to haul that water.
“A fellow by the name of Mr. Gill, he went away to the war. He came in the house that morning he was leaving and he said to my husband, Phil. “Phil I’m leaving this evening, I wants ya to have a drink with me.” He sat down and had a drink. He went...he went away and he was killed. He was gone about three months, I guess when we got word that he was killed, he was only about 26 years old, he wasn’t very old. That was hard on us.” (Beatrice was interviewed on July 22nd, 1999)
A glimmer of light in a dark remembrance is Beatrice Healey’s stubborn insistence on carrying the buckets herself. She knew she could be stopped at any time, but she wasn’t going to let that keep her off the streets. She was going to haul that water.
Though there is a great disparity in the gravity of these remembrances - a trip to the blacksmith to have a tooth out and the reality of war - both speak to the strength of the people of Grand Falls-Windsor. The oral history transcripts and tapes will be added to the community collection on Memorial University’s Digital Archive Initiative, as part of our ongoing Collective Memories Project.
The Collective Memories Project is an initiative which will invite seniors to record their stories and memories for archiving and sharing. It is a project of the Intangible Cultural Heritage Office of the Heritage Foundation of Newfoundland and Labrador (HFNL), the Provincial Advisory Council on Aging and Seniors, the Interdepartmental Working Group on Aging and Seniors, and is funded through the Department of Seniors Wellness and Social Development. Collective Memories is looking for community partners to help make existing oral history collections more accessible to the general public, and can help communities start up new oral history projects to interview local seniors. For more information on how you or your community organization can get involved, email terra@heritagefoundation.ca or call (709) 739-1892, ext. 5.
Link to GFW oral history collection:
http://collections.mun.ca/cdm/search/collection/ich_cn/searchterm/Grand%20Falls-Windsor/field/subcol/mode/all/conn/and/cosuppress/
Link to GFW oral history collection:
http://collections.mun.ca/cdm/search/collection/ich_cn/searchterm/Grand%20Falls-Windsor/field/subcol/mode/all/conn/and/cosuppress/
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