Students at Littledale #FolklorePhoto

Photo courtesy Sisters of Mercy.

St. Bride’s Academy, commonly known as Littledale, was purchased by the Sisters of Mercy and opened as a Catholic Girls Boarding School on August 20, 1884. This photo shows some of the students in their classroom at Littledale. The date of this photograph is unknown.

-Katie Harvey

#CollectiveMemories Monday - Shops of St. John's and Port Blandford with Linda Bennett

Sarah Greening (L) and Linda Bennett (R) in the basement of the Anglican Church in Port Blandford following a public memory mug up. Photo by Katie Harvey. 2017. 

On August 10, 2017, as part of the Collective Memories project, I interviewed Linda Bennett of St. John’s about growing up in town, convenience stores, shopping in downtown St. John’s, visiting Port Blandford, the shops of Port Blandford, and moving out from St. John’s to Port Blandford. This interview was also part of our Oral History Roadshow and sections of the interview were used in the booklet “Everything Was Wrapped in Brown Paper: The Old Shops of Port Blandford”.

In this interview Linda discusses Harvey’s Convenience which was owned and operated by her father who had a close connection with the Portuguese fisherman who docked in St. John’s harbour. Linda explains how her father became fluent in Portuguese and helped translate for the fishermen. She also describes heading to Port Blandford as a child and the old shops that were in the community at the time. She particularly remembered Hayley’s movie theatre and Pelley’s store where she could try on high heel shoes.

If you would like to listen to the full interview on Memorial University's Digital Archives Initiative click here or you can check out the pdf of our booklet on Port Blandford’s old shops click here.

~Terra Barrett

Mummers #FolklorePhoto

Courtesy of Yva Momatuik and John Eastcott, This Marvellous Terrible Place: Images of Newfoundland and Labrador(Camden East, Ontario: Camden House Publishing, ©1988) 137.

Mummering - also known as jannying, depending on what area of the island your in - is a longstanding tradition in Newfoundland. Mummering is a calendar custom that takes place around Christmas time, usually beginning on Boxing Day (or St. Stephen's Day). People dress up to conceal their identity and journey from house to house, hoping for a drop of rum and some Christmas cake. In this photo we have mummers from François South Coast of Newfoundland.

Have you ever gone mummering?

If you would like to know more about the controversial history of mummering, click here to listen to our podcast with Joy Fraser.

-Katie Harvey

#CollectiveMemories Monday - Christmas Memories with Joan Keating

Ron and Joan Keating.

On October 23, 2017, as part of the Collective Memories project, I interviewed Joan Keating of St. John’s. Joan was born in the 1940s and grew up on Cookstown Road and Kent Place in St. John’s. In this interview we discuss children’s games, local shops and stores, and of course Christmas memories. Listen to the clips below to hear Joan describe how her family would deliver Christmas present to family members by slide, and hear some of her recollections of the Water Street Christmas raffle.

If you would like to listen to the full clip click here to visit Memorial University’s Digital Archives Initiative.

How did you celebrate Christmas? Did you deliver presents by slide? Do you recall the Christmas raffle?

~Terra Barrett

A Month of Christmas Baking: Coconut Lemon Crumble Bars #FoodwaysFriday

Coconut Lemon Crumble Bars. Photo courtesy Rock Recipes.

This is the final post for the month of Christmas baking series. My freezer is filled with cookies and Christmas is only two days away!

These squares are a twist on the classic date square which we all know and love. Lemon is something I had never really associated with Christmastime, but other people have told me a cookie like this is a staple in their homes for the holidays. So here is the recipe (from Rock Recipes):

Ingredients

• 2 cups flour
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 2 cups dried coconut medium cut
• pinch salt
• 1 cup butter cut in small pieces

FOR THE LEMON FILLING

• 1/3 cup cake flour
• 1/3 cup corn starch
• 1 1/2 cups sugar
• 5 egg yolks slightly beaten
• Zest of 2 large or 3 small lemons, very finely chopped
• Juice of 2 large or 3 small lemons
• 2 cups water
• 3 tbsp butter
• pinch salt

Instructions

1. TO MAKE THE LEMON FILLING combine the corn starch, salt, cake flour, sugar and water in a medium saucepan.
2. Cook over medium-low heat until the mixture thickens, stirring constantly. Remove from heat.
3. Pour about 1/2 cup of the thickened mixture over the beaten egg yolks and whisk together quickly. This tempers the egg yolks so that they do not scramble.
4. Pour this mixture back into the pot and whisk it in quickly. Return the pot to the heat and stir constantly for a few minutes until the mixture is thick and evenly smooth.
5. Whisk in the lemon juice and zest and remove from the heat.
6. Finally whisk in the butter and set aside to cool while you prepare the crumble mixture.
7. FOR THE CRUMBLE mix together the flour, sugar, baking powder, coconut and salt.
8. Using your hands or a pastry blender cut in the butter until the it is completely incorporated into the dry ingredients.
9. Press half of the crumb mixture into the bottom of a 9 x 13 inch well greased baking pan. Pour the lemon filling evenly over the bottom crumbs. Gently sprinkle the remaining crumbs over the lemon filling and press down gently.
10. Bake in a 350 degree F oven for 40 - 45 minutes or until light golden brown in color. Cool completely in the pan before cutting into squares and serving.

Recipe Notes

If you plan to freeze these cookie bars, for all crumble type cookies, I always thaw them on a wire cake rack and never in a closed container. There's a lot of humidity in some freezers that gets trapped inside and can start to make baked goods soggy as they thaw. My method always avoids that problem for me.

Enjoy and have a very Merry Christmas!

-Katie Harvey

Hauling Wood in Newfoundland #FolklorePhoto

Hauling Wood, ca. 1907-1928. Photographer unknown. Photo courtesy of the Maritime History Archive.

Harvesting wood for the winter was imperative to the survival of Newfoundlanders in the past. Everyone had a woodstove, and that was how you kept warm in the winter months. In the early twentieth-century logs were hauled from the woods by horse drawn sled (as seen in this photo).

Do you have memories of cutting or hauling wood?

-Katie Harvey

#CollectiveMemories Monday - Stories of Port Blandford's Old Shops and Former Schools

Reg Penney in the Anglican Church in Port Blandford. 2017. Photo by Terra Barrett.

On August 10, 2017, as part of the Collective Memories project, I interviewed Reg Penney about growing up in Hant’s Harbour, moving to Port Blandford, his teaching career, the stores and shops of Port Blandford, and his time as mayor. This interview was also part of our Oral History Roadshow and sections of the interview were used in the booklet “Everything Was Wrapped in Brown Paper: The Old Shops of Port Blandford”. 

If you would like to listen to the full interview on Memorial University's Digital Archives Initiative click here or you can check out the pdf of our booklet on Port Blandford’s old shops here.


~Terra Barrett

A Month of Christmas Baking: Dark Fruitcake #FoodwaysFriday

Photo courtesy Newfoundland.ws

Fruitcake was a staple at Christmas time for my family. There was always a couple pieces in the freezer year-round, leftover from Christmas. Fruitcake was a topic that arose at the Heritage Foundation's recent Mummers Memory Mug-Up. Participants discussed how at Christmastime there was always dark fruitcake and light fruitcake. It was a treat that mummers would receive from their hosts when visiting from house to house.

Here is the recipe for a dark fruitcake, sure to please any guests, including mummers, over the holidays (from Newfoundland.ws):

Ingredients:
2 cups brown sugar
2 cups hot water
1/2 cup butter
3/4 cup dates, chopped
1 box raisins
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp allspice
1/2 tsp cloves
1/2 tsp mace
1/4 tsp nutmeg
1 beaten egg
2 tsp baking soda
2 1/2 cups flour
1 cup chopped cherries
1 cup mixed fruit
1 capful rum or brandy
1 capful lemon almond extract
1 capful vanilla

In a large saucepan, combine brown sugar, hot water, butter, chopped dates, raisins, cinnamon, allspice, cloves, mace, nutmeg. Bring to boil for 5 minutes. Remove from heat; let cool. Add egg, baking soda, flour, cherries, mixed fruit, rum, lemon almond extract and vanilla. Combine together. Place in 9 or 10 inch greased tube pan at 300F for 2 hours.

Do you have any memories of fruitcake?

-Katie Harvey

Salmon Cove Booklet Launch

Booklet contributors with editor at the booklet launch. Left to right: Jim Parsons, Don Case, Katie Harvey, Berk Reynolds, Art Kelloway. Photo courtesy The Compass. 

On Tuesday I travelled to Salmon Cove to launch the latest booklet in our Oral History Roadshow Series titled Down in the Sands: Boyhood Memories of Salmon Cove. This is the fourth booklet in this series and it focuses on the memories of five men who grew up in Salmon Cove. The booklet was well-received, and copies are flying off the shelves. 

If you would like to download a PDF copy of the booklet, click here.

-Katie Harvey