Showing posts with label digitizing. Show all posts
Showing posts with label digitizing. Show all posts

Friday, November 11, 2016

#CollectiveMemories Roadtrip to St. Lawrence

Terra Barrett and Kelly Drover with the material to be digitized!
Last Thursday Dale, Kelly and I took a drive down the Burin Peninsula to meet with the St. Lawrence Historical Advisory Committee. When we arrived on Thursday afternoon we stopped in to their office in the town hall where we sorted through the material they needed digitized. We ended up taking 20 VHS, 21 CDs and DVDs, 4 cassettes, 4 Kodak slide carousels filled with slides and a small box of assorted slides. This material will be digitized over the next little while and will certainly keep Kelly busy. After this successful visit we drove to Burin in order to take a couple of photos of the designated buildings in the community. We also stopped in to the Heritage Café for a delicious supper.
Public meeting on oral history projects.
In the evening we met with community members in the St. Lawrence Public Library in order to discuss how to do an oral history project. Dale gave an introduction to oral history interviewing including how to focus the interview, reasons to conduct an informal “pre-interview” and the sort of questions to ask. We also ran through the basics of consent forms and how to process the material once you collect it. This included an explanation of tape logs and suggestions of ways to use the material such as booklets, audio clips, etc.
ThérèseSlaney and Dale Jarvis.
Reviewing Herb Slaney's plans.
The following morning we had an interview with Thérèse Slaney about growing up in St. Pierre, her move to St. Lawrence and marriage to Herb Slaney, a description of the first autopsy performed in the community and its importance to miners, an explanation of how the tradition of Mardi Gras started in St. Lawrence, and her husband Herb’s work engineering the cross and grotto in the community. Thérèse was a wonderful woman to chat with and described delicious French foods over a cup a tea in her kitchen.
St. Lawrence's grotto.
The cross in St. Cecilia Roman Catholic Cemetery.
After our interview with Therese we had a look at the community’s grotto and cross engineered by Herb Slaney and visited a couple of graveyards. Our last stop on the drive back to St. John’s was to the community of Petite Forte to photograph another designated building and take a look at the beautiful harbour. All in all a very successful trip to the Burin Peninsula!
Petite Forte
~Terra Barrett

Friday, November 6, 2015

Living Heritage Podcast Ep016 Digitization How-To with Archivist Nicole Penney


Nicole Penney is a folklorist and archivist living and working in St. John’s, Newfoundland. She holds a BA in Folklore / English Literature and an MA in Public Folklore from Memorial University of Newfoundland and Labrador. On this episode, we talk all about digitizing archival records, with tips for community museums and archives, as well as private individuals, about how to best digitize old photographs, print, video, and audio materials.


Monday, June 2, 2014

So Long and Thanks for all the Hits!


After a good run of two and a half years, my time with the Intangible Cultural Heritage Office is coming to an end. I started working with the Heritage Foundation in January of 2012, when I was finishing a graduate degree in public folklore and completing my final internship requirement. I loved my time here and thought I'd share with you some of my favorite projects.

I started out working on a documentation project focused on baskets and basket making in Newfoundland and Labrador. I concentrated on Mi'kmaq spruce root baskets and mill lunch baskets and traveled all over the west coast and central portions of the island to collect oral histories and photographs of this traditional craft.

A hard hat, maul, mug and two mill lunch baskets.
These items are housed at the Grand Falls-Windsor Heritage Society, Grand Falls-Windsor
A woven melon shaped rib basket constructed from spruce root.
The basket is about 50 years old. It is thought to have been
 owned by a nurse employed at the International Grenfell Association.

Another project I helped develop was the pillow top workshop. I learned about pillow tops from my grandfather, who wove one as a pass time while working in the lumbercamps. I learned how to make the pillow tops and the frames and have been teaching workshops all over the island. The pillow tops have brought me to such places as Quidi Vidi, Cupids, Winterton, South East Bight and even the Logger's Life Museum bunkhouse in Grand Falls-Windsor. I continue to offer pillow top workshops,  if you're interested in having one in your community, feel free to contact me at npenney4@gmail.com.

Raymond Russell, who made a pillow top in the lumber camps in Terra Nova in 1958,
shows his daughter,Arlene Penney how to tie off the wool on the pillow top frame.

Another project I really enjoyed working on was the Bay Roberts Telegraph Station exhibit. This exhibit was curated by my friend and colleague, Lisa Wilson, and was on display during the summer of 2013 at the Bay Roberts Road to Yesterday Museum. I was asked to photograph the artefacts, in order to compile an inventory of items to choose from for the exhibit.

A piece of cable photographed at the Bay Roberts Road to Yesterday Museum

Telegraph workers in the Bay Roberts Western Union Cable Station.
Photograph was provided by: Jack Hambling
Collector: Lisa Wilson 

Another part of my job was arranging and describing materials for the Intangible Cultural Heritage Collection on Memorial University's Digital Archives Initiative. I love describing oral histories, you always learn something new and interesting. I digitized and wrote descriptions for countless collections such as Baccalieu Trail, Port Union and nursing. I also created several collections for the DAI, such as forestry, high steel, baskets and basket making, pillow tops, woodworking and skateboarding. My work with the DAI provided  invaluable digitizing experience and I continue to offer digitizing services and convert such materials as photographs, tape cassettes, VHS, mini-disks and 8mm cartridges. I also offer photograph preservation and restoration, if you're interested in any of these services, please feel free to get in touch.  

I also led several workshops and was asked to speak with school groups. One of my favorite things about  being a folklorist is talking with people. Recently, Dale and I ventured to Cupids to lead an afternoon sessions focused on digitizing and preserving old recipe books.

Sharing stories at Nan's Cookbook: Tea and Talk.
Held at the Cupids Legacy Centre, March 21, 2014

Sharing recipes at Nan's Cookbook: Tea and Talk.
Held at the Cupids Legacy Centre, March 21, 2014

I had the opportunity to work on some great projects, with some amazing people and I'd like to thank all the heritage folks who have assisted, guided and mentored me through my time here. There are too many to name, but I'd like to thank Dale Jarvis for his guidance and for being a grant writing wizard and Lisa Wilson, for being a friend, mentor and confidant. Thank you to everyone who took the time to read my posts and have a look at the Tuesday Folklore Photo. Last, but certainly not least, I want to send my sincere gratitude to all the community members I've had the fortune of meeting, without you none of these projects would have been possible. 

So long and thanks for all the (blog) hits!
-Nicole Penney