NewsletterWinter 2001 |
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NewsletterWinter 2001 |
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Executive 2000-01:President,
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President's MessageWelcome to the new year and the new century. In December the Newfoundland Historical Society reached a significant milestone by signing up its 500th member. Encouraged by this level of interest we anticipate another busy year. At this point I would like to acknowledge the contribution of Barbara Crosbie and Carol Mitchell as they step down from the executive. Over the past two years Barbara Crosbie chaired the successful "History in the School" committee, while Carol Mitchell did an admirable job of keeping our books in order. In addition to sponsoring our numerous public events, the Newfoundland Historical Society is continuing its lobbying efforts on behalf of the heritage sector. With a leadership convention looming and a provincial election on the horizon, we must make every effort to bring the concerns of the heritage sector into the public forum. Elections are all about votes and the decisions which guide the formation of government priorities are based on demand - the squeaky wheel gets the grease. Collectively this sector represents a potent electoral force which we have not yet effectively harnessed. It is time for the heritage sector, its patrons and public, to make their voices heard in an unmistakable fashion during the upcoming campaigns. With less than $100,000, the budget for the provincial heritage grants is grossly underfunded. When you consider that last year seventy-two groups competed for a share of that money, including the two provincial associations, MANL and ANLA, it is not difficult to realize how little there was for the local heritage groups. These community groups are remarkable success stories. They have woven themselves into the fabric of our communities by engaging volunteers and pooling limited resources to preserve and promote our heritage both for ourselves and for visitors. We all benefit from their work. The lame excuses and half-hearted commitments of our politicians are a challenge for us to rally Newfoundlanders and Labradorians in support of a strong commitment by our political leaders to our provincial cultural heritage and expression. Apathy or fatigue are not luxuries we can afford at this time. The Newfoundland Historical Society encourages you to join our efforts in making heritage concerns an issue in the forthcoming election campaigns. Eleanor Dawson President Office NewsMembership Office Hours Reference Additions to Collections From Mrs. Fox, via Dr. Shannon Ryan, three bankers’ boxes of material, mostly manuscripts and notes of books, photocopied material, some tapes of lectures and a few photographs, belonging to her late husband Arthur Fox, who was an assistant secretary, and then Honorary Secretary of the Society from 1966 until his untimely death in 1977. From Barry Wulff of Philomath, Oregon, a copy of his father’s book published this year, Bush Pilot Angler: A Memoir, by Lee Wulff. Obituarie Raymond W. Guy of Musgrave Harbour, NHS Heritage Award winner, died November 24. [See page 3]
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The Society was saddened by the death of Raymond W. Guy
of Musgrave Harbour on November 24, 2000, at the age of 88. Mr. Guy was a long time friend
and correspondent of Bobbie Robertson, Office Secretary 1966-86, and a councillor of the
Society in the 1970s. His career spanned service in the Royal Navy, business, politics,
and gardening, but it was for his contribution to the written record of Newfoundland
history, as author of winning entries in the Arts & Letters Competition, many
newspaper articles, and several books of reminiscences about life in Newfoundland, that
the Society presented him with a Heritage Award in 1998. His presentations at the History
of Sealing Symposium in Newtown in 1998, and at the Encounters With the Wolf
Symposium in St. John’s in 1999, were electrifying, and brought the audience to
its feet. Mr. Guy will be greatly missed by all who have been touched by his writing and
oration.
For more on Raymond W. Guy see the Gander Beacon:
www.rb.nf.ca/beacon/Dec18-00/articles/beafeat.htm
The new board of the Heritage Foundation of Newfoundland and Labrador includes three of our regional members, Gordon Bradley of Bonavista, Betty Jerrett of Bay Roberts, and Robert Parsons of Grand Bank. The Society congratulates them all, and is glad to see that other organizations also recognise their worth.
Doug Wells, regional member of the Newfoundland Historical Society for the South Coast, and a highly respected teacher and heritage enthusiast in Harbour Breton, was the Society's nominee in the 2000 Governor General's Awards for Excellence in Teaching Canadian History. Doug was short-listed from the 79 entries, and received an Honourable Mention Certificate. More information about the award is available through the web page of Canada's National History Society, which originated the awards in 1995, at:
www.historysociety.ca
They will shortly be publishing lesson plans submitted by this year's finalists, and guide lines for future candidates are also listed.
Laird Rankin, Executive Director of Canada’s National History Society, was awarded the Meritorious Service Cross by the Governor General in September, in part for his institution of the Distinguished Teaching Awards.
Heritage Canada has announced its upcoming annual conferences. October 13-15, 2001, in Toronto, the theme will be the economics of heritage conservation. September 26-28, 2002, in Halifax, the theme will be heritage tourism.
Dr. Christopher Sharpe started the Fall lecture season with an intriguing question - Mr. Dunfield’s Folly? The Development of Churchill Park Garden Suburb in St. John’s, Newfoundland. His lecture examined how concern about the dreadful slum conditions in the centre of St. John’s in the 1920s onwards, developed into the building of a middle class model suburb outside the city boundaries twenty years later. Although the Churchill Park project did not create housing for slum dwellers, or even for many of the returning veterans it was later intended for, and the original concept of three self-contained villages along Elizabeth Avenue had to be abandoned because of escalating costs, Dr. Sharpe does not consider it a failure. Through the sheer force of his personality and confidence, Brian Dunfield, chair of the Commission of Enquiry and later of the St. John’s Housing Corporation, achieved the orderly planning of an extended city with roads and sewer lines, green spaces and desirable neighbourhoods, without which later housing projects and expansion would have been difficult to implement.
In October we welcomed a special guest, Dr. Kenneth Osborne, Professor Emeritus of the University of Manitoba, who put into Canadian, international, and historical perspective for us a question that has been concerning the Society, and many others, recently - Is there a crisis in history teaching? His conclusion, following many years of research, is that rather than a life-threatening crisis, history teaching is in a serious chronic condition. These same concerns have been raised many times over the last hundred years, and none of the suggested solutions seem to have worked. Dr. Osborne feels that the best hope for improvement will come from the encouragement and organization of co-operative efforts by teachers and academics to give teachers confidence and up to date knowledge of their subject as well as teaching skills, and thus spark that very necessary interest in the subject among students. Additional funding for this lecture came from other organizations involved in the joint History in the School Curriculum Committee, the Beothuk Institute, the Association of Newfoundland and Labrador Archives, the Heritage Foundation, and the Association of Heritage Industries, as well as the History Department of Memorial University.
We closed the season at the end of November with a compelling portrait of a young Newfoundlander who was one of the first 500 to enlist in 1914, and who met an untimely death just a week after the battle of Beaumont Hamel in 1916. The World War One Diaries of Owen Steele was presented by Dr. David Facey-Crowther, who is editing the diaries for publication. Although officially forbidden, material such as diaries, photographs and letters of individuals involved in the First World War, have added a new dimension to our knowledge.
All the lectures were fairly well attended, with audiences of 60 to 70 people. Copies of the text of the first two lectures are in the Society’s collection in the office, and an edited version of the November one should be available in the new year.
Mary Bridson
The Heritage Canada Foundation announces the creation of the Heritage Canada Journalism Prize. This award is to be presented annually to a journalist, working in either the print or electronic media, whose coverage of heritage issues is judged to be outstanding. Through the introduction of this new component of their awards program, the foundation hopes to encourage and reward greater and better coverage of heritage issues in the media.
Nominations for the award will be accepted from individuals or organizations, provided that the nominator is not directly related to, employed by, or in any other way directly associated with, the journalist in question. These nominations, in turn, will be assessed by a national jury of outside experts similarly independent of the proposed candidate. The first Heritage Canada Journalism award will be presented in Toronto on October 13, 2001, at the Foundation’s annual conference.
For information on this and other Heritage Canada awards, contact:
Doug Franklin, Director, Policy and Programs dougfranklin@heritagecanada.org
Tel: (613) 237-1066, Fax: (613) 237-5987
www.heritagecanada.org
A Fisherman’s Hut, Labrador
Holloway Studio
(Newfoundland Historical Society photograph, 7.02.106)
Donors 2000The Society is very grateful for financial support received from the following friends and members during the year 2000. We also thank those who gave gift memberships to friends and family. Marion Baker |
News From the Cupids Historical SocietyThe CHS recently applied to the National Historic Sites and Monuments Board of Canada to have the founding of the first English settlement in Canada at Cuper’s Cove (Cupids) to be designated an event of national significance. We were told that the Board recognizes three different things for national historic significance: a person, a site or an event. Presently, Cupids has been recognized only as a plaque site. Thus we applied under the event category. The application was rejected by the Board saying that there was already sufficient commemoration of John Guy. What a disgrace to all English Canadians. It is obvious that mainland Canada still doesn't recognize Newfoundland history as part of Canadian history. This Fall the CHS received funding for a Master Plan for the Historic Development of Cupids and for a plan for the 400th Anniversary in 2010. A Steering Committee has been put in place, a consultant has been hired and work is progressing favourably. Archaeology work continued at the plantation site during the last part of the Summer and into the Fall. Many visitors to the Museum expressed their disappointment that the site was not open in June and July (the prime tourist season). Funding is in place for next year which hopefully will result in an earlier start. To date, archaeologist Bill Gilbert and his crew have uncovered three 17th Century structures and a fourth which may also be of 17th Century origin. So far this year approximately 25,000 artifacts have been uncovered bringing the total to approximately 85,000. Visitors to the Cupids Museum was down slightly this season from prior years but overall it had a successful year. The Museum is to be congratulated on creating its own website. The address is:www3.nf.sympatico.ca/cupidshistorical/ Placentia SymposiumThe Placentia Area Historical Society on behalf of the French Shores Working Group will be hosting our second annual symposium scheduled for April 26-29, to be held in Placentia. The symposium will consist of presentations on the history and archaeology of the French Shores, tours of the Placentia area, business meetings and time for delegates from across the province and from various levels of government to continue to develop useful relationships. If you have any questions or require further information please contact Steve Mills at sfills@mun.ca or Placentia Area Historical Society President, Charmaine Cooney, at: |
More Accolades for Lillian Bouzane
In our Winter 2000 Newsletter [p. 7] we made note of Lillian Bouzane’s novel, "In the Hands of the Living God." We are pleased to announce that Bouzane’s novel has made the longlist of the Dublin IMPAC Literary Award, the world’s richest prize (100,000 Irish pounds) for a work of fiction. It is among a total of ninety-eight titles that comprise the longlist for the 2001 IMPAC prize. A shortlist will be announced in March and the winner named May 14, 2001. The Prize is unique in that the longlist is drawn from titles nominated by libraries around the world. Bouzane’s novel was nominated by the Provincial Resource Library, St. John's. For more on this Award and, "In the Hands of the Living God," visit: |
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Giving the Future a Past, a national conference on teaching, learning and communicating the history of Canada in the 21st century, will be held in Winnipeg on October 19-21, 2001, by the Association of Canadian Studies. They are looking for papers and proposals. Please contact:
The Association for Canadian Studies
209 Ste-Catherine Street East, Suite V-5140
a/s Université du Québec à Montréal
Post Office Box 8888, Downtown Station
Montréal, Québec, H3C 3P8
Tel: (514) 987-7784 Fax: (514) 987-3481
e-mail: general@acs-aec.ca
Bill Browne Papers Brenda Young and her sister in Gander have been working on a project to make available the letters and diaries of their grandfather, the Hon. William J. Browne (1897-1989), a well known Newfoundland lawyer, judge and politician. You can access their website at:
Heritage Day this year will be celebrated on Monday, February 19, and the theme is transportation heritage.
To keep up to date on heritage events, visit the Heritage Foundation of Newfoundland and Labrador Special Events webpage at:
www.avalon.nf.ca/heritage/events.htm
