Saturday, March 31, 2012

Top four YouTube resources for oral history and folklore interviews

Over the past couple weeks, I've been doing a number of workshops introducing people to the art and techniques of doing oral history and folklore interviews. Along the way, I've shown a few YouTube videos to illustrate certain points.  For those of you who haven't been able to take in a workshop, I'm presenting my top four favourites below.

1) Why do Oral History?

The first is from the Minnesota Historical Society. Why is oral history important? What is oral history? How is it different than a simple interview? This is the first of a series of video podcasts prepared by the Society that addresses some of these issues.





2) How do you record an oral history interview?

Prepared by the East Midlands Oral History Archive based at the University of Leicester, I've used this video several times. I like how it presents the material in a "Do and Don't" fashion, which is great for a workshop.




3)  How do you get interesting answers?

In this video, Traditional Arts Indiana shares tips and suggestions for folklorists conducting fieldwork. The video discusses how to get complex answers instead of a yes/no response, an important trick for interviewers to know. I love the work that Traditional Arts Indiana is doing, and like the Minnesota Historical Society, they've produced a series of videos for folklore interviews.




4) What can I do with the information I collect?

This is one of my favourite YouTube videos that show what can be done with oral history material. Beautifully shot and edited, Jewish Care's Pearls of Wisdom campaign aims to highlight the value and importance of older people in today's ageing society. According to its YouTube page, it "challenges people, especially younger people, to alter their perceptions of this elder generation, presenting them as wise, funny and worthy of their attention."

Thursday, March 29, 2012

In which a folklorist develops a fondness for vinyl siding.


In the heritage community in Newfoundland and Labrador, the general consensus is as follows: Vinyl Bad; Wood Good. We've seen a lot of fabulous heritage buildings in the province covered up with vinyl, resulting in a loss of heritage character and fine wooden detailing. Vinyl, to some architectural historians anyway, is The Enemy.

For every rule, there is an exception.  Today I opened an email from librarian Beverly Warford to find some pictures of vinyl siding that made me squeal with folkloric excitement. Yes. You read that right.

One of the things I love most about intangible cultural heritage is that it is in a constant state of evolution. Culture is not static; it is ever-changing. People adapt to changing times and materials, constantly. This is as true now as it was in the historical period. As a folklorist, it means there is always something new for me to study.

Over the past few months, followers of the ICH blog will know that we've been working on a project to highlight basket making traditions. In a sense, the culture of basket making in Newfoundland and Labrador is one of innovation. Mi'kmaw basket makers in Newfoundland were influenced by mainland Mi'kmaq, who in turn had been influenced by European settlers, as well as Black Loyalist and freed slave basket makers working out of African traditions. Mill workers in Corner Brook, Grand Falls-Windsor and other towns took English and American style baskets and made them their own, utilizing local materials. Inuit grass basket makers in Labrador were possibly influenced by Moravian craft traditions. The list goes on.

Mill lunch baskets were primarily made of woven wood, quite often birch, but Newfoundlanders, being Newfoundlanders, got creative with the materials they used. Once plastic salt-beef buckets were introduced in the later half of the 20th century, craftsmen started to cut strips of plastic for weaving. Others broke down hockey sticks to get the wood they needed.

And in the community of Pleasantview, near Point Leamington, the late Mr. Herbert Brett started using vinyl siding. His son, Rick, also carried on the tradition for a short time.

Mr. Brett's lunch basket is very similar in style to the wooden lunch baskets made by other Central Newfoundland basket makers like Angus Gunn and Alfred Menchenton, with the same curved wooden handles and hinged wooden lid. But instead of the baskets being fully wooden, Brett cut up different coloured vinyl siding into strips to weave the sides of the baskets, making baskets in a variety of styles: lunch baskets, round baskets, picnic baskets, even Easter baskets. We'll be adding all of these to our basket collection on Memorial University's Digital Archives Initiative. But for now, here are a few samples, with thanks to Bev and the Brett/Stuckless family for sharing! Love it or hate it, you'll never look at vinyl siding the same way again.













Monday, March 26, 2012

Capturing Craft Photo Contest deadline is March 30th. #nlcraft


The Craft Council of Newfoundland and Labrador invites people across the province to participate in a special craft event as part of their 40th Anniversary celebrations. The Capturing Craft Photo Contest is a province-wide event encouraging the public to take a photo of their favourite craft item, local craft shop or a craft they're making themselves and share it with the Craft Council.

Deadline for entries is 4pm, March 30th, 2012.

Says spokesperson Jennifer Barnable, "Craft is everywhere in Newfoundland and Labrador. Every household has it, whether it's the coffee mug you use in the morning, the scarf you wear on a wintry day, the art on your walls, or the mat you put your boots on. We encourage people across the province to share their love of craft with us as we celebrate craft."

Photos with brief descriptive captions can be e-mailed, Facebooked or Tweeted to the Craft Council until March 30th. Four fine craft prizes will be announced on April 2nd. For full contest details and rules are outlined at http://www.craftcouncil.nl.ca/news/capturing-craft-photo-contest/

Sunday, March 25, 2012

Take a peek inside a Newfoundland mill worker's lunch basket.

"You would never go into another man's lunch basket."

It was a refrain we've heard more than a few times over the past few weeks from current and retired mill workers from Corner Brook to Grand Falls-Windsor. Lunch baskets were not something you would poke around inside, certainly not without the owner's permission. Doing so wasn't just considered rude; it could lead to blows if you were not careful.

This afternoon we hosted the second of our Tea 'n' Baskets events, with today's workshop taking place at the Mount Peyton Hotel in Grand Falls-Windsor. It was a great success, with lots of baskets, and lots of public sharing of memories and stories.

On this occasion, we were allowed to take a look inside the baskets, and indeed, people were delighted to let us do so. A couple folks went to the trouble of packing a lunch, wrapped up in what were known as "samples" - the ends of paper that men would take home from the mill.  I was even lucky enough to be given a bottle of moose by Mr Dave Peddle.

So have a peek below at what's inside a mill worker's lunch basket. Some are full, some are empty, but they each tell a story. Keep your hands off the moose, though, unless you are looking for a scrap. That's mine.







Saturday, March 24, 2012

Meeting Mr. Menchenton, Norris Arm basket maker


One of the interesting parts of the research we've been doing on baskets and basket makers is getting to know more about the real men and women behind the baskets.  Here in Grand Falls-Windsor, we've learned about basket makers like Angus Gunn and Everett Janes, and this week, we met the daughter of Mr. Alfred Menchenton.

Alfred Menchenton was a name we'd come across before, and we even have one of his baskets already documented on Memorial University's Digital Archive Initiative (DAI). He was a jack-of-all trades: a woodsman, a carpenter, a builder of logging camps, model-maker, and a prolific crafter of lunch baskets for workers at the mill in Grand Falls.

In the September/October edition of "The Rounder" for 1981, reporter Glen Fiztpatrick wrote, "Over the past couple of years, Mr. Menchenton has become an expert. He made 250 baskets last year and sold them all and could have sold more if the time was available to make them."

The same reporter had found Mr. Menchenton's baskets in the Grand Falls tourist chalet, and had gone looking for the creator. He tracked him down at his shed in Norris Arm North.

"He was in the process of preparing the long narrow strips of birch and pine which were hung along the walls, in readiness to be made into baskets later this winter," wrote Fitzpatrick. "His equipment included an electric table saw and an electric planer, necessities, he said, to produce the smooth strips used to construct the sides. He assembled the saw himself, building the table in which it was placed, and bought the planer second hand."

Over thirty years later, Mr Menchenton is no longer with us. But his daughter and her husband drove us out to that same shed, and there, untouched, was the scene as the reporter had described it. All his tools were still in place, and pieces cut out, ready to make a new basket. Strips of wood were fixed into a form to provide the curve needed for basket ends and handles.  The table saw he built was still sitting inside the door, and the walls were festooned with tools, jigs, pieces of wood, and the snowshoes he had also apparently been adept at creating. One expected Mr. Menchenton himself to walk in, and pick up his work where he had left off.

Mr. Menchenton won't be about our Tea 'n' Baskets event tomorrow at the Mount Peyton Hotel in Grand Falls-Windsor, where we are inviting owners of baskets to come, show, and tell about their histories. Even though he won't be there, we are hoping some of his baskets will be.










Tuesday, March 20, 2012

Sun kinks and moose on the tracks! Clayton Tipple remembers Newfoundland train derailments


We went off this morning to interview Mr Clayton Tipple about his lunch basket, and ended up having a great discussion about his life on the Newfoundland railway.  The full interview will be posted on Memorial's Digital Archives Initiative, but for now you can listen to a short clip where Mr Tipple remembers a noteworthy train derailment near Flat Bay, and talks about the various things (like "sun kinks" and moose) which would cause a derailment.






Photo by Nicole Penney.

Cape Breton Mi'kmaw elder Margaret Pelletier on the Spirit of Basket Weaving







"I think with me, there is a spirit within me that makes the basket. I always told my mother that. It's like I can make the basket, I'm just the physical form. You probably feel like that if you are a basket weaver. You are just the physical form that is there, but you have to have that spirit within you that moves your hands and makes the basket, and you're not actually making it yourself. And I think if we had more people that felt like that, I think we'd have so many basket weavers. But I really would like to increase as many basket weavers as we could, because it is really such a fine art, and it is so nice to do."

 - Clip from an interview with Margaret (Margie) Pelletier, a Mi'kmaw elder and basket maker from Cape Breton, Nova Scotia, Canada. Recorded at Grenfell Campus, Memorial University, Corner Brook, Newfoundland, Canada, on 17 March 2012 by Dale Jarvis.


Monday, March 19, 2012

Mr Roy Oke's Baskets, Corner Brook, Newfoundland


A photo of Mr. Roy Oke, retired millwright, Corner Brook, circa 1980s, with his mill lunch basket under his arm, carried the traditional way men would carry their lunch baskets. This was Mr Oke's second basket, which he purchased for $15 from a man from Humbermouth. His previous basket, with a fully woven bottom, had started to wear out, so he bought this second basket, which had a wooden base. More photos below, including folklore co-op student Nicole Penney posing with Mr Oke's daughter, Paula Price.




ICH Roadtrip Day 3 - A Corner Brook Mill Recitation by Terry Penney


Yesterday was the first of our two "Tea 'n' Baskets" events, where we invite owners of traditional mill lunch baskets to come out and share their stories.  One of the participants was Mr Terry Penney, who brought along a vintage mill lunch basket (which he still uses to carry his lunch).  Mr Penney also shared a recitation he wrote, entitled "Continuous Production." Give it a listen!

Sunday, March 18, 2012

Celebrating Grand Falls-Windsor’s Mill Lunch Baskets



In Newfoundland and Labrador traditionally-made baskets come in many shapes, sizes and styles and can be crafted from a variety of materials. Central Newfoundland has the mill lunch basket. While the origin of this distinctive two-handled splint style lunch basket is unknown, some workers began the tradition of crafting their own, and the lunch basket became a firm part of mill culture.

“It was a regular sight to see men walking to work carrying large woven lunch baskets, laden with home cooked food. Whether they be rectangular or oval, made from juniper, birch, or even steel, these baskets were a symbol of hard work and financial security,” says Dale Jarvis, a folklorist with the Heritage Foundation of Newfoundland and Labrador (HFNL). “Mill lunch baskets were once so popular nearly every pulp and paper mill worker in Newfoundland used one to bring hot meals to work.”

To celebrate that history, the Heritage Foundation is organising a series of events around the tradition of basket making in Newfoundland.

On Sunday, March 25th from 1-3pm at the Mount Peyton Hotel, Grand Falls Windsor, HFNL will be hosting an event called “Tea ‘n’ Baskets”. This free event is an opportunity for those who still have mill lunch baskets to come out and show your basket and share your memories. Bring your basket, refreshments provided. HFNL staff will be on hand to photograph mill baskets, to become part of an educational website.

Jarvis will also be leading a public workshop on oral history while in Grand Falls-Windsor, intended to give a background on how to conduct research interviews. It will give people a chance to try their hand at creating interview questions and conducting an interview. The workshop will take place Saturday, March 24th, at the Mount Peyton Hotel.

HFNL’s Intangible Cultural Heritage program was created to celebrate, record, and promote our living heritage and help to build bridges between diverse cultural groups within and outside Newfoundland and Labrador.

For more information, or to register for the workshop, contact Dale Jarvis at 709-685-3444, or email ichprograms@gmail.com








Tea 'n' Baskets today in Corner Brook! Bring your mill basket, we'll bring the tea.



Today, Sunday, March 18th from 1-3pm at the Glynmill Inn, Corner Brook, HFNL will be hosting an event called “Tea ‘n’ Baskets”. This event is an opportunity for those who still have mill lunch baskets to come out and show your basket and share your memories. 


Bring your basket, we’ll provide the refreshments! HFNL staff will be on hand to photograph mill baskets, to become part of an educational website.

ICH Roadtrip Day 2 - Baskets and more baskets!


Day 2 - Corner Brook

We had a day full of baskets and interviews. Nicole Penney did two interviews in the morning, one on a fabulous Mi'kmaw storage basket, and one on a mill basket. Then we headed off to the NL Emporium, who had a fantastic selection of mill baskets (some shown above), root baskets, ash baskets and even Labrador grasswork.

Last night we held our public symposium on traditional basket making, "Rooted In Tradition," with local basket makers Eileen Murphy and Helge Gillard, and visiting Nova Scotia elders Della Mcguire and Margie Pelletier. We had a fantastic session, and then Della and Margie showed the crowd the baskets they've been working on with local aboriginal women.

We've got hundreds of photos, lots of great audio, and hopefully some video that we'll be posting once we are back in St. John's. Stay tuned.

Today is the first of our "Tea 'n' Baskets" events, at the Glynmill in Corner Brook, where we are inviting people with mill baskets to come, share stories, and have their baskets photographed for Memorial's Digital Archives Initiative ICH collection.

Saturday, March 17, 2012

13th annual Sharing Our Cultures event celebrates Newfoundland and Labrador's cultural diversity


The public is invited to the 13th official opening ceremonies of Sharing our Cultures - À la découverte de nos cultures, from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m., Sunday, March 18, at The Rooms in St. John’s. Admission to Sharing Our Cultures is FREE but regular fees apply for The Rooms’ exhibits. The other two days – March 19 and 20 – are open ONLY to the media and to students who have registered.

This event highlights the International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination and the province’s Multiculturalism Week (March 18-24). The theme this year is “sharing our languages”/«partager nos langues».

Mr. Les Linklater, Assistant Deputy Minister of Citizenship and Immigration Canada, will bring greetings during the ceremonies. The guest speaker is Mr. Remzi Cej, past participant of Sharing Our Cultures, a Rhodes Scholar, and current Chair of the Human Rights Commission.

Two of the young authors, from Labrador and the West Coast, will read their stories in Cultural Con‘txt’ in English and French, respectively. Cultural Con‘txt’, the latest initiative of Sharing our Cultures, is a publication of stories by students from around the province. There will also be performances by the Mi’kmaq Dancers and Drummers, World Voices choir, and students from Natuashish and Colombia.

From March 19 to 20, about 1,200 Grade Six students from St. John’s, Dunville, and Chapel Arm will visit this unique educational event and engage in bilingual cultural activities, interact with host students, and learn languages from around the world.

This project is supported by Citizenship and Immigration Canada; Office of Immigration and Multiculturalism; The Rooms Corporation; Department of Education; Eastern School District; École des Grands-Vents; CBC Radio-Canada; Memorial University, and Newfoundland and Labrador Teachers’ Association.

For more information please contact: Lloydetta Quaicoe, Project Coordinator (709) 727-2372

ICH Roadtrip Day 1 - Freezing rain, delays, and pearls of wisdom

We started off the ICH road trip with delays in St. John's. Arriving at the airport at 6am, everything was delayed due to freezing rain and slippery runways. Three hours later, we were in the air, heading to a sunny, warm, gorgeous Deer Lake.

We had the first of our oral history and folklore interviewing workshops, at Glynmill Inn, and I was pleased with how it went. Everyone raised thoughtful questions, and we had some interesting discussions around informed consent, and how to make an interview a welcoming, comfortable experience.

We also talked about asking open-ended questions, and how sometimes simple, open questions can return astonishing results. As an example, I showed the class this video, which asks seniors to share their most valuable life lessons.





Tonight, we have our event "Rooted in History" where we talk with some of Newfoundland and Nova Scotia's iconic basket makers. See you there!

Friday, March 16, 2012

And we're off! The ICH roadshow en route to Deer Lake and Corner Brook


We're now officially on the road. Public folklore intern Nicole Penney and I are heading to Deer Lake, for the first of our interviews on traditional mill baskets, then heading to Corner Brook for a workshop this afternoon on oral history and folklore interviewing.

If you'd like to join us this afternoon, the workshop still has openings, just come on down to the Glynmill Inn. Workshop starts at 1pm.

Wednesday, March 14, 2012

Aboriginal Cultural Heritage Program 2012 - Grants for safeguarding aboriginal culture

Applications are now being accepted for projects that support Aboriginal initiatives safeguarding traditions and culture. This could include language; traditional knowledge and skills; storytelling, music, games and other pastimes; knowledge of the landscape; customs, cultural practices and beliefs; food customs; and living off the land.

The program deadline is April 15. Proposals could involve any of the following:
  • Documenting and inventorying cultural traditions 
  • Passing on cultural knowledge through teaching, demonstrations, publications, websites and other educational and awareness-raising activities 
  • Recognizing and celebrating traditions, and those with traditional skills, through awards and special events 
  • Identifying and supporting cultural enterprises that employ aspects of traditional culture (for example, craft production and cultural tourism) 
  • Professional Development for cultural workers, educators and knowledge holders 
Established Aboriginal organizations in Newfoundland and Labrador with a cultural focus are eligible to apply. Professionals (Aboriginal artisans, cultural workers and educators) can apply for professional skills development if they have a demonstrated background in culture and have community support.

For further information, please contact Lucy Alway at lucyalway@gov.nl.ca or call: (709) 729-1409. Guidelines are available on the website: http://www.tcr.gov.nl.ca/tcr/heritage/aboriginal_cultural_heritage_program.html

Supported projects include documenting stone Inuksuit in Labrador; developing a Mi’kmaq Medicinal Walk; and offering traditional teachings to Mi’kmaq children in Bay St. George. For a list projects supported since 2008, please visit the website: http://www.tcr.gov.nl.ca/tcr/heritage/supported_projects/index.html .



In the summer of 2011, the Mi’kmaq Youth Mentorship program in Flat Bay provided traditional activities and teachings to 112 children between the ages of two and twelve.



In August 2009, twenty large banners were hung in a variety of sites within the community of Sheshatsuit, including the new school, the old school and the water tower. In addition, banners were hung around the town of Happy Valley-Goose Bay, including at the airport and the military base. This project has helped to initiate discussions among the Innu of how to use photography and videos to revitalize Innu culture.

Tuesday, March 13, 2012

Graveyard Mystery: photos of unusual tin grave markers from Bonavista Bay, Newfoundland.

In this month's edition of the ICH Update newsletter, Patrick Carroll wrote about a set of unusual tin gravemarkers from Bonavista Bay.  I wanted to include more detailed photos here of the markers, because they are unlike anything I've seen before in Newfoundland and Labrador. 

The origins of these are a bit of a mystery, and both Patrick and I would love to know more about them. If you've come across something like this in your travels, let me know at ich@heritagefoundation.ca  or leave a comment below.

You can read Pat's full article on the grave markers in pdf here.













Wooden Baskets, Tin Grave Markers, and Steam Whistles


In the March 2012 edition of the Intangible Cultural Heritage Update for Newfoundland and Labrador: we announce workshops on oral history and folklore interviewing in Corner Brook and Grand Falls-Windsor; a public lecture on Acadian and Mi'kmaw basketry; an unusual tin grave marker from Bonavista Bay; and a research project on the Corner Brook mill whistle.

Contributions by Dale Jarvis, Nicole Penney, Patrick Carroll and Janice Tulk.

Download the PDF

More photos of tin grave markers here

Rooted In History: The Tradition of Acadian and Mi’kmaw Basketry



Saturday, March 17, 2012
7pm
Arts and Science building, Room 379
Grenfell College


In Newfoundland and Labrador traditionally-made baskets come in many shapes, sizes and styles and can be crafted from a variety of materials. On the west and south coasts of Newfoundland, traditions included Acadian and Mi’kmaw style baskets.

“Baskets once served a very utilitarian role in the province, used for carrying items such as fish, potatoes, eggs and berries,” says Dale Jarvis, a folklorist with the Heritage Foundation of Newfoundland and Labrador (HFNL).

To celebrate that history, the Heritage Foundation is organizing a public talk around the tradition of basket making.

On Saturday, March 17th, at Grenfell College in Corner Brook, HFNL will be hosting a special talk and presentation on Mi'kmaw and Acadian spruce root and ash baskets, with visiting Mi’kmaw elders Margaret Pelletier and Della Maguire, traditional ash basket makers from Nova Scotia, and Newfoundland basket makers Eileen Murphy and Helga Gillard.

The talk will take place from 7-9pm in the Arts and Science building, Room 379, Grenfell College.

Margaret Pelletier was born on the Waycobah First Nation in Cape Breton, Nova Scotia. Basket weaving has always been a part of her life for as long as she can remember. As a child, Pelletier helped make baskets as a source of income to help support her family. At the age of 18, she entered nursing school in Sydney, NS and three years later started a career as a nurse. Pelletier joined the Maine Basket Maker’s Alliance as a board member which caused her to begin thinking about basket making as a fine art.Throughout the next 20 years, basket and quill work became a hobby for Pelletier, who enjoys creating one of a kind works of art. The natural materials vary in color and texture and Pelletier does the weaving free hand without the use of molds. Her baskets are woven with black ash splints, decorated with curlique designs, and are finished with braided sweet grass. As each basket is delicately woven, each piece takes its place as part of a unique creation made up of intricate designs and artistic forms.

Della Maguire is of First Nation’s Mi’kmaq ancestry and grew up in a home of constant basket making. Her parents Abe and Rita Smith were known as the finest Mi'kmaq basket-making team in Nova Scotia. Unfortunately, she was not part of that process, as watching her parents making baskets seemed to her 'just a part of life' and never once did she realize that their basket making was a cultural form of art. Upon retiring in 2006, Maguire took part in a basket-making workshop and soon realized this was something she needed to pursue. She has taken the art of basket making very seriously and spends her time trying to improve with each basket. Maguire is passing down her skills to her grand-daughters,as she believes it is her duty to continue learning and honing her skills and to share this valuable cultural art. In 2011 she received a grant from Canada Council of the Arts to enhance her skills and currently teaches the craft through workshops of her own.

Eileen Murphy was first introduced to basket making when she attended a class instructed by Mr. Anthony White in 1980. At the time he had been asked to instruct a few students from the new Visual Arts Program, at what was then called the Bay St. George Community College in Stephenville, on the techniques he used in spruce root basket making. Murphy, who is from and still resides on the west coast, enjoys a career as an art educator, teaching for both the local school district and at the Grenfell campus of Memorial University. Her interests surround the fine arts and she enjoys painting and drawing. Textile art is a particular favorite, and Murphy has been weaving baskets from roots, twigs, branches, grasses, vines for the past 32 years. Her interests surround the fine arts and she has spent most of her life surrounded by artisans and crafts persons. Murphy particularly enjoys the traditional arts and crafts of Newfoundland and Labrador.

Helga Gillard grew up and was educated in Englee, White Bay and was the fifth of six children. She went on to attend Memorial University and received a Bachelor of Arts/Ed. Gillard is now retired and living in Main Brook with her husband. Gillard’s interest in baskets was intrigued by locally made birch plaited baskets that were in her home growing up. She is a self taught basket maker, supplemented by basketry workshops held in various Atlantic provinces and interactions with other skilled basket makers. Gillard and has been making baskets since 1988 and joined the Nova Scotia Basketry Guild in 1999. While Gillard has woven many styles of baskets, her primary focus is on rib and split baskets. She also has a keen interest in utilizing materials from her natural environment, such as spruce root and red osier dogwood.

HFNL’s Intangible Cultural Heritage program was created to celebrate, record, and promote our living heritage and help to build bridges between diverse cultural groups within and outside Newfoundland and Labrador.

***

For information contact:
Nicole Penney
ichprograms@gmail.com
Telephone: 709-739-1892 ext 3
http://www.mun.ca/ich/events/

ICH roadshow - coming to Corner Brook and Grand Falls-Windsor


Over the next two weeks, myself and our public folklore intern Nicole Penney are taking the Intangible Cultural Heritage office on the road. We'll be doing a series of workshops, talks and public events in Corner Brook and Grand Falls-Windsor, and conducting a series of folklore interviews on baskets and basket-making as we go.

Friday, March 16th - Folklore/Oral History Workshop, Glynmill Inn, Corner Brook

Saturday, March 17th - Rooted in Tradition - public talk on Acadian and Mi'kmaw baskets, Grenfell College

Sunday, March 18th - Tea 'n' Baskets - bring your mill basket and join us for tea and biscuits at Glynmill Inn

Saturday, March 24th - Folklore/Oral History Workshop, Mount Peyton Hotel, Grand Falls-Windsor

Sunday, March 25th - Tea 'n' Baskets - Mount Peyton Hotel, Grand Falls-Windsor

If you want more info on any of these events, or if you are along our route and have a basket for us to photograph, email ichprograms@gmail.com.

Monday, March 12, 2012

Oral History/Folklore Interview workshop added for Grand Falls-Windsor


Introduction to Folklore and Oral History Interviews Workshop

Saturday, March 24, 2012
Mount Peyton Hotel, Grand Falls Windsor

This workshop is open to anyone with an interest in local history, culture and folklore. It is intended to give a background on how to conduct research interviews in the field, and will give people a chance to try their hand at creating interview questions and conducting an interview. It will provide an overview of the methodology and explore the practical matters of creating, designing, and executing effective oral history research projects. Topics that the workshop will address include project planning, ethical issues, and recording equipment.

The workshop will be taught by folklorist Dale Jarvis. Dale works as the Intangible Cultural Heritage Development Officer for the province of Newfoundland and Labrador, helping communities to safeguard traditional culture. He has been working for the Heritage Foundation of Newfoundland and Labrador since 1996, and holds a BSc in Anthropology/Archaeology from Trent University, and a MA in Folklore from Memorial University. He is a past president of the Newfoundland Historic Trust, and has contributed as a board member and volunteer to many local arts and heritage organizations, and is a tireless promoter of the oral tradition.

Date: Saturday, March 24th
Time: 1pm - 5pm
Workshop fee: $40 (preregistration required)
Location: Mount Peyton Hotel, Grand Falls Windsor

To register call Nicole at 1-888-739-1892 ext 3,
or email: ichprograms@gmail.com

photo: Forestry Corps men with nurses, Wandsworth Hospital, London, England, 1917.Courtesy of the Heritage Society of Grand Falls-Windsor, Grand Falls-Windsor, Newfoundland.

Two Corner Brook events celebrate the history of basketmaking


In Newfoundland and Labrador traditionally-made baskets came in many shapes, sizes and styles and can be crafted from a variety of materials. On the west coast, traditions included Acadian and Mi’kmaw style root baskets, and the popular mill lunch baskets.

“Baskets once served a very utilitarian role in the province, used for carrying items such as fish, potatoes, eggs and berries,” says Dale Jarvis, a folklorist with the Heritage Foundation of Newfoundland and Labrador (HFNL). “Mill lunch baskets were once so popular nearly every pulp and paper mill worker in Newfoundland used one to bring hot meals to work.”

To celebrate that history, the Heritage Foundation is organising a series of events around the tradition of basket making in Newfoundland.

On Saturday, March 17th, at Grenfell College in Corner Brook, HFNL will be hosting a special talk and presentation on Mi'kmaw and Acadian spruce root and ash baskets, with local and visiting experts, including Mi’kmaw elders Margaret Pelletier and Della Maguire, traditional ash basket makers from Nova Scotia. The talk will take place from 7-9pm in the Arts and Science building, Room 379, Grenfell College.

On Sunday, March 18th from 1-3pm at the Glynmill Inn, Corner Brook and Sunday, HFNL will be hosting an event called “Tea ‘n’ Baskets”. This event is an opportunity for those who still have mill lunch baskets to come out and show your basket and share your memories. Bring your basket, we’ll provide the refreshments! HFNL staff will be on hand to photograph mill baskets, to become part of an educational website.

HFNL’s Intangible Cultural Heritage program was created to celebrate, record, and promote our living heritage and help to build bridges between diverse cultural groups within and outside Newfoundland and Labrador.

Thursday, March 8, 2012

"Nurse, you gotta come!" - An oral history for International Women's Day


This photograph from the collection of the Medical Services Branch of the Department of National Health and Welfare shows a nursing sister and a lay nurse caring for patients at St. Clare’s Mercy Hospital in St. John’s, Newfoundland, around 1955.  © Health Canada. Library and Archives Canada, Department of National Health and Welfare Fonds, e002504629

In cooperation with the School of Nursing, and Memorial's Digital Archives Initiative, we've been placing a series of oral history interviews with Newfoundland nurses online.

Today being International Women's Day, we're showcasing one of those interviews, featuring former nurse Gwen LeGrow discussing nursing practices in Newfoundland. In it, she talks about being called away on her wedding night to attend to a birth, and other adventures associated with being a district nurse in rural Newfoundland, as well as a great story about surviving a V2 bombing in England during World War II.

If you've got half an hour, take a listen. Nurse LeGrow is an excellent storyteller, and her stories are full of passion, humour and an obvious love for the people who she served as a rural nurse in La Scie, as a midwife, and as a staff nurse at the Janeway Hospital.

Tuesday, March 6, 2012

Introduction to Folklore and Oral History Interviews Workshop in Corner Brook




Friday, March 16th, 2012
Glynmill Inn, Corner Brook


This introductory workshop is open to anyone with an interest in local history, culture and folklore. It is intended to give a background on how to conduct research interviews in the field, and will give people a chance to try their hand at creating interview questions and conducting an interview. It will provide an overview of the methodology and explore the practical matters of creating, designing, and executing effective oral history research projects. Topics that the workshop will address include project planning, ethical issues, and recording equipment.

The workshop will be taught by folklorist Dale Jarvis. Dale Jarvis works as the Intangible Cultural Heritage Development Officer for the province of Newfoundland and Labrador, helping communities to safeguard traditional culture. He has been working for the Heritage Foundation of Newfoundland and Labrador since 1996, and holds a BSc in Anthropology/Archaeology from Trent University, and a MA in Folklore from Memorial University. He is a past president of the Newfoundland Historic Trust, and has contributed as a board member and volunteer to many local arts and heritage organizations, and is a tireless promoter of the oral tradition.

Date: Friday, March 16th
Time: 1pm - 5pm
Workshop fee: $40 (preregistration required)
Location: Glynmill Inn, Corner Brook
To register call Nicole at 1-888-739-1892 ext 3, or email: ichprograms@gmail.com

Monday, March 5, 2012

What kinds of folklore and intangible cultural heritage workshops are you interested in?


I'm in the process of planning out workshops and events for the coming year. In the past, we've done workshops on oral history interviewing, using Google Maps, digital recording equipment, community memory mapping, folklife & festival planning, and many other kinds of folklore, ICH and oral history workshops.

What kinds of workshops would you like to see us offer? Send me an email at ich@heritagefoundation.ca or leave a comment below.