Saturday, February 5, 2022

Folklore Photos: Trinity Restoration Project

Today’s Folklore Photos come from the Trinity Restoration Project collection currently in the works of being digitized and uploaded to Memorial University’s Digital Archives Initiative. Trinity, a community located in Trinity Bay, has a long history associated with fishing beginning with the migratory fishery. This led the community and its surrounding areas to become important fishing and mercantile communities, eventually leading to settlement starting in the eighteenth century. There have been many projects in the community carried out to preserve and restore its cultural heritage, such as the Trinity Restoration Project. This project featured the restoration of dozens of buildings, primarily household dwellings, throughout the community in 1979 and into the early 1980s. These Folklore Photos highlight just one of the many building restorations under this project.




These scanned polaroid photographs are of an abandoned two-and-a-half storey residential building originally owned by a gentlemen documented as Mr. R. Tibbs. The date of construction is unknown, however in 1979, the structure was owned by Peter Blodgett. The Trinity Restoration Project provided the opportunity to restore this property from its state pictured above in 1979 where the once vibrant paint was fading and the front doors and windows were all boarded up.


A lot of work needed to be done! In 1980, the original roof shingles were removed and replaced. Similarly, the old clapboards were replaced and given a new coat of paint. This building is one of the several dozen that underwent varying degrees of restoration thanks to the Trinity Restoration Project.


The scanned polaroid photographs from the Trinity Restoration Project are in the process of being uploaded to Memorial University of Newfoundland’s Digital Archives Initiative (DAI). The full collection uploaded thus far is available online at:


https://collections.mun.ca/digital/collection/ich_en/search/searchterm/Trinity/field/subcol/mode/all/conn/and/cosuppress/.

Friday, February 4, 2022

Living Heritage Podcast Ep212 Craft at Risk and Mentor-Apprentice Program with Dale Jarvis and Lara Maynard

 

Dale Jarvis and Lara Maynard at dry stone wall workshop in Brigus.
Photo by Harnum Photography. September 2021.

In this episode of the Living Heritage Podcast we talk with Dale Jarvis and Lara Maynard of Heritage NL about the 2021 Craft at Risk List, and the Mentor-Apprentice Program. We learn the background of the projects, some of the issues that face traditional craft, and what Heritage NL is doing to ensure the transmission of traditional knowledge and skills. We also learn a little about the nine Mentor-Apprentice pairs who are currently involved with the program.

Dale holds a BSc in Anthropology/Archaeology from Trent University, and a MA in Folklore from Memorial University. For many years he oversaw Heritage NL’s Intangible Cultural Heritage Office which helps communities to safeguard their traditional culture. Dale has contributed as a board member and volunteer to many local arts and heritage organizations. Former newspaper columnist, and author of several books, he is a tireless promoter of local traditions.

Lara studied English and Folklore at Memorial University and has been working or volunteering for local or provincial heritage organizations and initiatives for 20 years. A former Municipal Outreach Officer with Heritage NL, she is back on board to help deliver heritage skills training around the province.

If you want more information on the Craft at Risk List or the Mentor-Apprentice Program please visit our website for all the details: heritagecraft.ca

Our next deadline for Mentor-Apprentice Program application is February 10, 2022


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Living Heritage 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.


Friday, January 28, 2022

Living Heritage Podcast Ep211 Creating Period Clothing with Linda Badcock

Ladies having tea outside the Hiscock House.
Left to right Historic Sites staff: Linda Badcock, Joan Kane, Sheila Vokey, and Donna Vey.
Credits: Provincial Historic Sites

In this episode of the Living Heritage Podcast we talk with Linda Badcock about making period costumes, sourcing materials and patterns, the skills needed to pipe or sew cartridge pleats, and how she learned these skills.

Linda retired after close to twenty years as a Historic Sites Officer with Provincial Historic Sites. One of her passions during this time was creating realistic period costumes for several sites across the province. We also touch briefly on millinery or hat making which is listed on Heritage NL’s Craft at Risk list.

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Living Heritage 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.

Wednesday, January 26, 2022

A Hudson Bay Company building, a historic community lodge, and two family homes: meet NL's latest heritage properties.

Heritage NL designates four properties as Registered Heritage Structures


Four historic properties in Cartwright, Pouch Cove, Fortune Harbour, and Summerside have been awarded heritage designation by Heritage NL.  The designations include a Hudson Bay Company building, a historic community lodge, and two family homes. 




The Cartwright Hudson’s Bay Company Staff House was built in 1926 for staff of the HBC under district manager (William) Ralph Parsons (1881-1956). Parsons, a native of Bay Roberts, began as an apprentice clerk with the HBC  in Cartwright at the age of 19 and soon rose through the firm’s ranks. The Staff House is believed to have been built by a crew from Coley’s Point, led by a Greenland, who had previously built a school in nearby Muddy Bay. In addition to staff and visitors of the Hudson’s Bay Company, the Staff House was home to a Newfoundland Ranger and his wife in the late 1930s.  During World War II the house was rented by the Royal Canadian Air Force for $15 per month, during which time two towers were erected on either side for use in aerial navigation.




The Pouch Cove Clifton Lodge (Society of United Fishermen’s Lodge #46) has the distinction of being the only SUF lodge built in the district of Cape St. Francis. The Lodge was founded in 1900 and named after James A. Clift, the Grand Master of the Grand Lodge in St. John’s.  The existing building was constructed from 1924 to 1926 to replace the original lodge that was opened in Pouch Cove in 1900. In addition to voluntary labour and donated building materials, its original construction cost was $700!  In addition to SUF meetings the building hosted Women’s Sewing Circle events, political meetings, trap berth draws, concerts, wedding receptions, soup suppers, dances, movie showings, and various other community meetings, social gatherings, celebrations and events, until the mid 1970s.  



Gillespie/Ballard House in Fortune Harbour was likely built for the Gillespie family sometime between 1830, when the first Gillespie (Mary Gilasby) was recorded in Fortune Harbour, and 1850. The house was purchased by Nellie Ballard, a native of the now-abandoned community of Fleury’s Bight, and has remained in the Ballard family for three generations. The Gillespie/Ballard House is an excellent surviving example of a true “second generation” style of saltbox. Houses of this type resemble earlier saltboxes in form but are generally larger in both footprint and height. On the rear, a continuous roof slope descends from the peak to a one-storey linny. 




Loder Homestead was first settled by John and Mary Ann Loder around 1850 when the couple moved their growing family from the area of Gilliams/Meadows to become Summerside’s first permanent residents. After some success in fishing, sawing, and boatbuilding the family built the present house in the 1860s or 1870s. By the 1930s, the Loders acted as general merchants for the area, and the house was continuously occupied by the family until the mid-1990s.


“The buildings that are designated are important parts of our history,” says Dr. Lisa Daly, Chair of Heritage NL. “They reflect multiple parts of our culture, such as mercantile histories, the fishery, and community partnerships and organizations, demonstrating varied architectural styles that reflect this place, our people, culture, and environment.”

Heritage NL was established in 1984 to preserve one of the most visible dimensions of Newfoundland and Labrador culture - its architectural heritage. Heritage NL designates buildings and other structures as Registered Heritage Structures and may provide grants for the purpose of preservation and restoration of such structures.


 

Monday, January 24, 2022

Saving Traditional Skills in the Tri Town Area and surrounding communities in partnership with the Great Northern Peninsula Community Place Corporation

 If you know of someone crafty or with know-how of traditional skills in the Port au Choix region, a local group wants to meet them!


The Great Northern Peninsula Community Place Corporation and Heritage NL are working together to make a list of people with traditional skills and know-how in the Tri-Town (Hawkes Bay, Port Saunders, and Port au Choix) area. 


Everyone from boatbuilders to basket weavers are wanted. Already, the project has identified people in the area who are willing to share skills around sewing, knitting, crochet work, and net making and mending.


“Every year, there seems to be fewer people who know how to make traditional crafts,” says folklorist Dale Jarvis, Heritage NL’s Executive Director. “This is an exciting local project that we are happy to support, to see who is still in the area with the knowledge of how to make the tools, objects, and crafts of yesteryear.”


The project is the idea of the new GNP Community Place, a community center located on the main street of Port au Choix NL, set up to help build on community strengths and assets. Overlooking the harbour, this community heritage building will offer a safe, accessible place for people from all over the Great Northern Peninsula to gather to participate in inter-generational health and wellness initiatives.


Local researcher Destiny Penney has been hired to interview local crafters and seniors, and to compile a list of people in the region who are willing to share their skills. For more information, or to nominate someone with local knowledge, email destinyy.penney@gmail.com.


The project is jointly funded by Heritage NL and ICOMOS Canada’s Youth in Heritage Program.



Pictured: Cutting wood in Port aux Choix. Photo courtesy of Decks Awash Photographs, Memorial University Archives and Special Collections.


Friday, January 21, 2022

Living Heritage Podcast Ep210 Revitalization of St. Paul’s Anglican Cemetery with Ian Morris and Kevin Toope

Updated war memorial in St. Paul's Anglican Cemetery. November 2021.
Photo courtesy of Trinity Historical Society.


In this episode of the Living Heritage Podcast we talk with Ian Morris and Kevin Toope of the Trinity Historical Society about the work of the society, their adopt a headstone project, and their research and revitalization plans for the St. Paul’s Anglican Cemetery. We also hear some of their favourite stories from their research, and their own connections to the cemetery.

The Trinity Historical Society preserves and promotes the history of Trinity, through the acquisition and preservation of artifacts and archives, and through the promotion and acquisition of historic properties. The Trinity Historical Society was organized in 1966. Originally the Trinity Historic Sites Committee, it was formed on February 7, 1964 to gather information on the history of Trinity and to preserve it for future generations. In 1971 it was incorporated under the laws of Newfoundland and it is a registered Charitable Organization.

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Living Heritage 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.

Thursday, January 13, 2022

A new home for the 1892 Meneely and Co. foundry bell from Ireland's Eye, Trinity Bay.

We had a grand chat yesterday with Mr. Garland Bailey about one of our Registered Heritage Structures, St. Luke’s Anglican Church in Old Bonaventure. Garland and his local committee are working on a plan to see the building find new life in the community. 

One plan is to see the re-use of a historic bell, from the old church in the now resettled community of Ireland's Eye, Trinity Bay.  The bell was cast at the Meneely and Co. foundry at Troy, NY in 1892. 

We've written about the interesting history of the Meneely foundry in an earlier blog post, and there are several Meneely bells in churches across the province. This one is interesting as it shows it was donated/paid for by the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel, and lists the two churchwardens of the day.

It's great to see one being saved, and we will be following the Old Bonaventure project as it unfolds. Photos of the bell below, with an archival image of what the old St. George's Church in Ireland's Eye looked like circa 1950.






St. George's Anglican Church, Ireland's Eye, c1950, Maritime History Archive, PF-317.855



Wednesday, January 12, 2022

Saving Endangered Crafts across Newfoundland and Labrador: Introducing Heritage NL's Mentor-Apprentice Participants




Colourful wooden boat created by Newfoundland artist Jerome Canning.


From boatbuilding to bark tanning, traditional skills at risk of being lost in Newfoundland and Labrador just got a boost from Heritage NL.


Nine projects from all across the province that pair a learner with an experienced craftsperson have been given the green light by Heritage NL, the provincial agency that deals with historic places and living heritage. 


The Heritage NL Mentor-Apprentice Program is a one-on-one immersion program that provides funding up to $10,000 to support the teaching of endangered crafts and skills from an established mentor to an apprentice craftsperson or tradesperson. 


“The traditional craft sector is an important part of our contemporary economy, especially in rural areas,” says folklorist Dale Jarvis, Executive Director of Heritage NL. “We are excited to support these tradition bearers and entrepreneurs in learning and promoting skills and crafts that otherwise might fade away.”


The participants will have a year to work together, teaching and learning a variety of skills including weaving, making traditional Labrador clothing, and manufacturing Uilleann (Irish) bagpipes. There are two more opportunities for people interested in traditional skills to apply to the program, February 10 and April 10, 2022, with more information online at heritagenl.ca. 


This program is supported by the Labour Market Partnerships program, Department of Immigration, Skills and Labour, Government of Newfoundland and Labrador.


The approved mentor/apprentice projects are as follows:


Labrador duffle work, (a pure wool fabric originally used for blankets and coats).

Mentor Joyce Lee, Red Bay,  with apprentice Miranda Rumbolt, Mary’s Harbour.  


Rodney punt design and construction

Mentor Jerome Canning, St. John’s, with apprentice Chris Hogan, St. John’s.


Bark tanning 

Mentor Susan Furneaux, Conception Harbour, with apprentice Nicole Travers, Lark Harbour.


Uilleann (Irish) bagpipe making

Mentor Neil O'Grady, Carbonear, with apprentice Robert Brown. 


Wild food processing and preserving

Mentor Lori McCarthy, St. John’s with apprentice Tina White, Mount Pearl.


Labrador cossack (dickie) making

Mentor Charlene Rumbolt, Mary’s Harbour, with apprentice Katie Lee, Red Bay.


Weaving skills

Mentor Stephanie Stoker, St. John’s, with apprentice Chantelle Evans, Makkovik;

and

Mentor Megan Samms, Katalisk / Codroy Valley, with apprentice Jane Walker, Bonavista;

and

Mentor Jessica McDonald, St. John’s, with apprentice Christian Dauble, St. John’s.



For more information or photos, contact:


Dale Jarvis

Heritage NL

dale@heritagenl.ca

https://heritagenl.ca/programs/craft-at-risk/ 


Take a look at some of the beautiful work our apprentices have made. More details on our Mentor-Apprentice program to come!



A beaded shield. Bark Tanning work created by apprentice Nicole Travers.



Storage of Japanese Knotweed - a Foodways preservation technique credited to apprentice Tina White.


Goose Eye Weaving by apprentice Chantelle Evans.


Duffle work courtesy of mentor Joyce Lee.


On the loom - Weaving in process by apprentice Chantelle Evans.


Linen weaving by mentor Stephanie Stoker.


Mentor Susan Furneaux's "Small Landscape" bark tanning.


Apprentice Jane Walker's first completed woven scarf.


A woven baby blanket by apprentice Christian Dauble.


Tuesday, January 11, 2022

Wessex Lecture “The Welfare Officer: The Life and Work of Welfare Officers during the First Decade after Confederation with Canada ”



Larry Peckford has put together a history and personal story of the work of Welfare Officers in the first decade of post-confederation Newfoundland and Labrador. Drawing on his own family experiences and the minutes of meetings of senior executives, departmental annual reports and publications, Larry chronicles an interesting period in the evolution of social services delivery in those early years. Included are the stories of the men and women who provided departmental leadership in recruitment, training and development and, most importantly, placing a focus on those Welfare Officers who endured the hardships of delivering an essential service to a new province after confederation with Canada.

The event will be held on Facebook Live and Zoom at 7:30 pm on January 12th 2022, via the following links: