Category Archives: Archival Moments

RNC Officers Carry Guns

ARCHIVAL MOMENT

April 3, 1998

The Newfoundland legislature authorized officers of the Royal Newfoundland Constabulary to carry sidearm’s on April 3, 1998 ending this provinces status as the only unarmed police force in Canada. Previously, members of the force kept their weapons in a locked compartment in their police vehicle.

The Justice Minister of the day Chris Decker made the announcement in the Legislature.

On 2 December 1997, a Select Committee of the House of Assembly was appointed to enquire into the arming policy of the Royal Newfoundland Constabulary, and report its findings to the House of Assembly by 31 March 1998. The Select Committee conducted research, viewed presentations by interested parties and held public hearings.

The Committee tabled its report to the House of Assembly on 31 March 1999 which recommended that the arming policy of the Royal Newfoundland Constabulary be amended to permit its members on operational duty to wear sidearms as part of their regular uniform.

The Royal Newfoundland Constabulary has the deepest roots of any police force in Canada and possibly North America. These roots date back to 1729 when Newfoundland’s first Governor, Captain Henry Osborn of the Royal Navy, created six separate judicial districts each with justices and constables.

Recommended Reading: Browne, G. (2008) To Serve and Protect: The Newfoundland Constabulary on the Home Front World War Two.St. Johns: DRC Publishing.

Recommended Website: RNC Historical Society: http://www.rnchs.ca/history.html

Who was that bastard?

March 8, 1949

On March 8, 1949, a poem was published in the St. John’s newspaper The Evening Telegram, in honour of Sir Gordon MacDonald (Governor of Newfoundland from 1946 to 1949). The poem sang the praises of the Governor and of his work in Newfoundland. But it was a poem that had a twist.

Governor MacDonald had many detractors; there were many that disliked him and his politics. As Governor of Dominion Newfoundland, on arrival in 1946 he also took responsibility as Chair of the unelected Commission of Government that governed the dominion. It was he that oversaw the election of the Newfoundland National Convention in 1946, and the holding of two referendums in 1948, which led to Newfoundland becoming a province of Canada in March 1949.

There were also suggestions that he violated the principle of vice -regal impartiality as the crown’s representative and promoted sectarianism by getting up in the pulpit at George Street United Church in St. john’s and instructing the congregations that “Last time (referendum) the Roman Catholics had their say; this time (the second referendum) it’s our turn.”

The poem was published two days after MacDonald left the Island:

The poem titled “A Farewell!” reads:

The prayers of countless thousands sent

Heavenwards to speed thy safe return,

Ennobled as thou art with duty well performed,

Bringing peace, security and joy

Among the peoples of this New Found Land.

So saddened and depressed until your presence

Taught us discern and help decide what’s best for

All on whom fortune had not smiled.

Remember if you will the kindness and the love

Devotion and the respect that we the people have for Thee – Farewell!

A few weeks after the poem was published The Evening Telegram editors discovered that the poem was actually an acrostic with the first letters of each line spelling “THE BASTARD”

The reading public in St. John’s in 1949 would have been amused that the word found its way into print. Most were also shocked that a writer or writers had been able to pull the wool over the eyes of the usually eagle eyed Telegram Editor CEA Jeffries.

Editors typically hold strict standards on profanities; it was not for example until 2014 that the prestigious New York Times updated of its style guide allowing for even the mildest vulgarities.

There has been much speculation about who wrote the poem but credit is now attributed to Gracie Sparkes working with her friends Jack Higgins and R.S. Furlong. Gracie Sparkes (1908 – 2003) was fierce anti-Confederate as were her friends Jack Higgins and Furlong.

What is a bastard?

There was a time that bastard was not an insulting term . Around the time when bastard first appeared in English William the Conqueror was known also as William the Bastard. No insult was intended, he was William the Bastard because his parents hadn’t been married.

Bastard first made it into print as an insult in 1830.

The root of the word (bastard) is from Old French and grew out of bast, the name for a packsaddle, which was the structure used to load packs onto a mule. Travelers with romantic intention and opportunity may not have had a convenient bed nearby so the blankets and saddle would serve as bedding and pillow. Thus children, who were not conceived in the marriage bed, were said to be conceived “on the bast” and were therefore bastards.

St. Patrick’s Day Tradition in Newfoundland and Labardor

ARCHIVAL MOMENT

March 17, 1851

The Executive and members of the Benevolent Irish Society (BIS) marched for the first time from their club rooms to the Roman Catholic Cathedral (now Basilica) on St. Patrick’s Day 1851 and were welcomed by the Bishop. The tradition of the parade to the Basilica, followed by the celebration of the mass (the Feast of St. Patrick’s), is followed by a reception by the bishop in the Episcopal Residence. The tradition continues to this day.

Leaving the company of the Archbishop the tradition was for the BIS to parade to Government House to be received by the Lieutenant Governor of Newfoundland and Labrador.

The members of the Executive have since the first visitation presented their hosts with a small basket of shamrocks.

The B.I.S. was formally established in St. John’s on February 5, 1806 as a non-denominational service club to help educate and improve the lifestyle of the poor Irish immigrant children of St. John’s. The primary requirement for membership was that the individuals be of Irish birth or ancestry. The constitution of the B.I.S. is based on three principles of charity, benevolence and philanthropy.

As the seal and motto the members of the BIS chose the figure of St. Patrick bearing the cross surrounded by the inscription – “he that gives to the poor, lends to the Lord.”

The Benevolent Irish Society was unique in that it was nonsectarian and offered assistance to the needy regardless of their religion. The founders of the Society were among the first generation of permanent residents in Newfoundland. They included politicians, businessmen and clergy who played significant roles in the political, economic and spiritual growth of the developing colony.

Membership continues to be open to adult residents of Newfoundland who are of Irish birth or ancestry, regardless of religious persuasion.

Recommended Archival Collection: At the Rooms Provincial Archives take some time to look at MG 612 the BIS collection it consists of minutes of the BIS (1822-1933, 1938-1970, 1973-1979); agendas (1964-1970); Centenary Volume (1806-1906); loan receipts (1905-1906); journal (1910-1920); cash book (1920-1931); ledger (1939-1944).

Recommended Museum Exhibit: take some time to see : Talamh an Éisc – The Fishing Ground , an exhibition at The Rooms, that introduces the Irish peoples who have been in Newfoundland and Labrador since the late 1600s, the exhibit explores the communities they built and celebrates the contributions they made to life here in Newfoundland and Labrador.

Irish Week Events Calendar 2018

Irish Exhibit

Talamh an Éisc: The Fishing Ground The Rooms Level 4

This exhibition introduces the Irish who have been here since the late 1600s. It examines the communities they built and the contributions they have made. Find out why so many people describe themselves as Irish Newfoundlanders. Newfoundland is the only place outside of Europe that boasts an Irish place name—Talamh an Éisc or Land of the Fish.

Food, Lent and St. Patrick’s Day

Archival Moment

March 17

(St. Patrick’s Day and the Lenten Fast)

Foods fro the Lenten Season
Advertisement, Evening Telegram

St. Patrick’s Day, March 17 has long been considered a significant date on the calendar of Irish Newfoundlanders, in fact on St. Patrick’s Day, all Newfoundlanders lay claim to some smidgeon of Irishness. The Irish in Newfoundland have for hundreds of years celebrated their patron saint with parades, dancing, drinking, and feasting.

St. Patrick’s Day, falling as it does during the fasting season of Lent has proven to be inconvenient, it has also proven to be a source of theological confusion.

Those who follow the Christian calendar and fast or abstain during the Lenten Season (Wednesday, February 14 and ends on Thursday March 29) can relax, bishops throughout the world, especially in dioceses with large Irish populations have customarily granted a special dispensation from the law of abstinence and fasting on St. Patrick’s Day. In the United States, in the resent past, at least 60 of the nearly 200 dioceses (most with large Irish populations) provide such dispensations.

So ingrained in Newfoundland food culture was the idea of the “Lenten Diet” that there was a time during the Lenten Season when grocery stores in their advertising in the local newspapers boldly bragged in their advertisements that they carried “Lenten Diet” products.

In the local St. John’s newspaper, Evening Telegram, on March 18, 1914 , Bishop Sons and Company Limited, Grocery Department stated in their advertising that their “‘Lenten Diet’ products included Salmon, Lobster, Cod Tongues, White Bait, Royans, and a large selection of other fish products.”

The Lenten Diet,
The Evening Telegram

E.P. Eagan a competitor of Bishops and Sons at his Duckworth Street and Queens Road stores in St. John’s boasted in his advertising in The Telegram, March 16, 1914 that he carried “Foods that are popular during the Lenten Season.”

It was in this cultural milieu that it would have been difficult to consider a good meal of Irish bacon and cabbage, the traditional St. Patrick’s Day meal without an approving nod from the local bishop.

Irish bacon and cabbage, consists of unsliced back bacon boiled with cabbage and potatoes. Sometimes other vegetables such as turnips, onions and carrots are also added. Historically, this dish was common fare in Irish homes as the ingredients were readily available as many families grew their own vegetables and reared their own pigs. (As it was in Newfoundland.) In the mid-to-late 19th century, Irish immigrants to the United States began substituting corned beef for bacon when making the dish, hence creating corned beef and cabbage.

It is not likely that you will find a restaurant menu that will feature a “Lenten Diet’ and even more unlikely that our local newspaper will offer a ‘Lenten Diet’ column, best stick to the fish.

On St. Patrick’s Day, break the ‘Lenten Fast’ it is all about the parades, dancing, drinking, and feasting!

Museum Exhibit: At the Rooms take some time to see: Talamh an Éisc – The Fishing Ground, an exhibit at The Rooms, which introduces the Irish peoples who have been in Newfoundland and Labrador since the late 1600s, the exhibit explores the communities they built and celebrates the contributions they made to life here in Newfoundland and Labrador.

“Behind Barbed Wire – Newfoundland POW’s in the Great War”

POW Camp

An estimated 8 million men became prisoners during the Great War. Jessie Chisholm, historian, researcher and archivist recently retired from The Rooms Provincial Archives Division, and Dan Duda, a map librarian with the Queen Elizabeth II Library at Memorial University, are working together to shine some light on this chapter of Newfoundland’s First World War history, as well as share it with a wider audience.

This presentation explores the international legal status of POWs under The Hague Conventions while focusing on the experiences of appromimately 200 Newfoundland POWs, revealed through first-person narratives, family letters, photographs and post-war claims for pensions and reparations. Themes include “reprisal camps“; the diverse experiences of the officers and other ranks (ORs); cultural and linguistic isolation; near-starvation, inadequate medical care, and harsh labour conditions.

Matthew Taylor of Rose Blanche was one of some 200 Nfld POW’s

POWs frequently suffered life-long physical disabilities and emotional trauma (“barbed wire disease“). By incorporating statistical analysis, mapping, and archival sources, hopefully this collaborative work and subsequent discussion will provide new insights into the Great War.

For more information:
Date: Thursday, March 8, 2018
Time: 2:30 pm
Location: The Rooms Theater
Included with the price of admission

https://www.therooms.ca/programs-events/for-adults/coffee-culture/behind-barbed-wire-newfoundland-pows-in-the-great-war

For information, contact Visitor Services on Level 1 at The Rooms. Call (709) 757-8090. Email information@therooms.ca.

Newfoundland proposed to sell Labrador to Quebec.

ARCHIVAL MOMENT

March 4, 1924

The modern boundary argument between Newfoundland and Labrador over who rightfully owned Labrador (Quebec or Newfoundland) began in 1902, when the Newfoundland government granted a lumber company license to harvest trees on both sides of the Hamilton River (now called the Churchill River). The Quebec government considered the southern part of the river to be part of Quebec, and complained to Canada’s secretary of state. Newfoundland refused to cancel the license.

On March 4, 1924 Prime Minister Walter S. Monroe of Newfoundland proposed to sell Labrador to Quebec for $15 million provided that Newfoundland would retain rights to a three mile wide coastal zone for the use of fishermen.

Quebec’s Premier Taschereau declined Monroe’s offer to sell Newfoundland’s interests in Labrador. The Quebec leader saw no reason to pay for what he believed already rightfully belonged to his province and decided to take his chances with the Privy Council resolution to the dispute.

Deliberations began in October of 1926 with P.T. McGrath from Newfoundland making the case for the province. In 1927 the Privy Council decided in Newfoundland’s favour, a verdict accepted by Canada.

In the course of our history Newfoundland has made at least four separate attempts to sell Labrador to Canada. The only reason that there was no deal was that Canada would not pay the price Newfoundland asked.

The first offer was made in 1922, during Richard Squires’s first term as prime minister. A year later, in 1923, William Warren, the newly elected Prime Minister of Newfoundland made another approach to Canada.

Prime Minister, Walter S. Monroe, saw little potential in Labrador, he told the House of Assembly “this country (Newfoundland) will never be able to develop it.”

Sir Richard Squires and his colleagues turned again to Ottawa late in 1931, a formal offer to sell Labrador for $110 million was again rejected.

Imagine if Canada had accepted. No Churchill Falls, or Lower Churchill, the extensive mineral deposits in Western Labrador, Iron Ore, Nickle, Voisey’s Bay. Would Canada have wanted us in 1949 if we were not bringing these resources?

Recommended Archival Collection: At the Rooms Provincial Archives read MG 8, the papers of Sir. P.T. McGrath which consist of textual and cartographic records compiled by P.T. McGrath in preparing the Newfoundland Government’s arguments in the Labrador Boundary Dispute (1906-1926). The fonds is composed of correspondence, transcripts, memoranda, affidavits, research materials, maps and legal proceedings.

Have you got a case of “Grenfellitis”

Archival Moment

February 28, 1865

Photo Credit: The Rooms Provincial Archives . IGA 13-62 Sir Wilfred Grenfell

In an interview with a Grenfell worker in St. Anthony in 1934 the worker was asked if she had found Labrador a healthful climate. She replied:

“Yes, BUT there is one thing that we all get, something incurable, which gets into your system and keeps returning , but it is never fatal. It is called “GRENFELLITIS” and its most dangerous symptoms is lasting enthusiasm for the North.”

There has been a number of episodes of “Grenfelltitis” that have overtaken individuals over the past number of years and the only cure for “Grenfelltitis” is a good exhibit to speak to the history of the work of Grenfell in our North.

Recommended Archival Collection: The records of the International Grenfell Association (IGA) were donated to the Provincial Archives of Newfoundland and Labrador (PANL) by IGA representatives in June 1985. http://www.exhibits.therooms.ca/panl/exhibits/

Recommended Reading: The Grenfell Obsession an anthology [edited by] Patricia O’Brien St. John’s, Nfld. Creative Publishers, 1992.

Happy Birthday, Sir Wilfred Grenfell

ARCHIVAL MOMENT

February 28, 1865

Photo Credit: The Rooms Provincial Archives. IGA 13-62 Wilfred Grenfell Painting.

Sir Wilfred Thomason Grenfell, was born February 28, 1865. He was an English physician and missionary, famous for his work among Labrador fishermen. Dr. Grenfell came to Labrador in 1892.

During more than 40 years of service in Labrador and in Newfoundland, he built hospitals and nursing stations, established cooperative stores, agricultural centers, schools, libraries, and orphanages, and opened the King George V Seamen’s Institute in St. John’s, in 1912. Grenfell cruised annually in the hospital steamer Strathcona II, keeping in touch with his centers of missionary work.

Over the years Grenfell received many awards from universities and other institutions. In 1907 he was appointed a Companion of the Most Distinguished Order of St. Michael and St. George; in that year Oxford University awarded him the first Honorary Doctorate of Medicine ever granted by that University and in 1928 he was chosen as Fifth Honorary Knight for Life of the Loyal Knights of the Round Table.

Grenfell’s health failed during the 1920’s and he suffered a heart attack in 1926 and again in 1929. He retired in Vermont, U.S.A. in 1935 at the age of 70. He made his last trip to Labrador in 1939 after his wife died from cancer. He brought her ashes to be interred on Fox Farm Hill overlooking St. Anthony. Grenfell died two years later at his home in Vermont and his ashes were brought to Labrador and placed next to his wife’s.

Recommended Reading: Grenfell of Labrador: A Biography. Ronald Rompkey. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1991.

Archival Moment

February 23, 2018

Kaetlyn Osmond will be bringing home to Newfoundland and Labrador a bronze medal from the PyeongChang, Winter Olympics and her team gold medal.

Who were some of the Newfoundlander’s and Labradorian’s that participated in earlier Olympics?

Newfoundlanders have been associated with the Olympics since 1904.

Photo Credit: The Rooms Provincial Archives 1.507.002; Robert (Bob) Fowler, The first Newfoundland-born athlete to compete in the Olympic Games.

The first Newfoundland-born athlete to compete in the Olympic Games was Robert Fowler born in Trinity Bay, Newfoundland, in 1882. Fowler in 1904 was living in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and competed in the marathon for the USA at the Olympics in St. Louis in 1904. Fowler, failed to finish either race. The marathon was the most bizarre event of the Games. It was run in brutally hot weather, over dusty roads, with horses and automobiles clearing the way and creating dust clouds. Although he was on the American team, he did not claim American citizenship until 1906. At the 1904 Olympics he carried the Dominion of Newfoundland passport.

Photo Credit: The Rooms Provincial Archives: VA 37-35.1; Group of Newfoundland soldiers taking part in athletic events. L-R (Front row): Eric Robertson (Regiment # 497).

Another Newfoundland athlete to make his way into the Olympic Games was Eric Mackenzie Robertson. He was born on Maxe Street in St. John’s. Robertson would have been the first Newfoundland “born and bred athlete” to compete in the Olympic Games, in Antwerp in 1920. Robertson one of the few survivors of the great First World One battle at Beaumont Hamel (1916) was so determined to go to the Olympics that he petitioned the Newfoundland government to release his 30 pound pension that he used to pay for his Olympic fees. In Antwerp, Roberton found out that he could not represent Newfoundland, since the country of Newfoundland, had no Olympic committee and no athletic association to certify his amateur status. Even though Newfoundland was a separate Dominion at the time, he competed for Great Britain, the “Empire’s oldest and most loyal colony.”

Harry Watson, of St. John’s can lay claim to being the first Newfoundlander to have participated in the ‘Winter Olympics.’ The first winter Olympics were held in Chamonix, France and Watson (known to his friends as Moose ) arrived with a Canadian Hockey team. Harry “Moose” Watson, and his team were the gold medal winners. The Canadians beat Czechoslovakia 30-0 and Sw .itzerland 33-0, a game in which Watson himself scored 13 goals.

Ferd Hayward of St. John’s had an international race walking career that included a large number of first place finishes. He was the first Newfoundlander to participate in the Olympics Games for Canada in the 1952 games in Helsinki, Finland.

An amazing five appearances in a Canadian uniform as a race walker in the Olympics places Alex Oakley (originally from St. John’s ) among the finest athletes to come out of Newfoundland and Labrador. With five Oylmpic races to his credit between 1956 and 1976, he has competed in more Olympics than any other Canadian male athlete. He made the decision on his own not to enter the 1968 Olympics. His record includes a disqualification in 1956 in Melbourne, Australia, ninth in the 20 kilometer race in 1960 at Rome, 14th in the 50 kilometer event in 1964 in Tokyo, 31st in the 50 kilometer race in 1972 at Munich, Germany and, at the age of 50, 35th in the 20 kilometer event in 1976 at Montreal.

Weightlifter, Bert Squires of Grand Bank was in the 1984 Olympics in Los Angels. He also qualified to compete at the 1980 Summer Olympic Games in Moscow, but a boycott by Canada and several other countries kept him from competing as a weightlifter.

The 1980 boycott that was spearheaded by the United States, which had taken issue with the Soviet Union’s invasion of Afghanistan in 1979 was devastating for another Newfoundland athlete. Paula Kelly in 1980 became the only Newfoundlander and youngest swimmer to qualify for the Canadian Olympic Swim Team. Kelly would have been the first Newfoundland swimmer to represent Canada at the Olympics in 1980 but the Canadians boycotted, she missed her opportunity to compete.

The 1988 Olympics in Seoul, Korea featured two Newfoundlanders, Paul McCloy and Frank Humber.

St. John’s athlete Paul McCloy enjoyed an illustrious career competing in athletics and many consider him to be the greatest middle and distance runner that Newfoundland has ever produced. Paul dominated the sport locally, winning the St. John’s Tely 10 road race five times. In 1988 he represented at the Olympics in Seoul, Korea.

Frank Humber of Corner Brook competed as a relief pitcher for Canada’s baseball team at the 1988 Olympics in Seoul, South Korea. 1988 was an especially important year for international amateur baseball since the sport had been added – on a demonstration basis – to the roster for the Summer Olympic Games. Humber secured his spot as one of eight pitchers on Canada’s Olympic team during a July, 1988 tryout camp. Canada went 1-2 at Olympics and never made it to the medal round, but that single victory came against the Americans, who would go on to win the gold medal with a starry lineup that included a bevy of future Major Leaguers.

Carl Dwayne Norris from St. John’s is perhaps best remembered for scoring the winning goal to help Team Canada beat Czechoslovakia and win the gold medal in the 1990 Junior World Hockey Tournament in Helsinki. In 1994, he won a silver medal in Ice Hockey with Team Canada at the Lillehammer Winter Olympics.

Maria Maunder of Logy Bay found her way on the international stage in the sport of rowing. She was on the Canadian rowing crew in the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta winning silver behind the Romanians.

Phil Graham originally from Corner Brook was a member of Canada’s fourth place eights rowing team at the 1996 Olympic Games in Atlanta. He started rowing only at age 21 at Trent University.

The most celebrated Newfoundlanders at the Olympics were members of the “Brad” Gushue Curling team along with teammates Russ Howard, (Moncton, N.B) Mark Nichols, (Labrador City), Jamie Korab (Harbour Grace) and Mike Adam (Labrador City). They represented Canada in curling at the 2006 Winter Olympics, where they won the gold medal.

At the 2014 Olympics all eyes in Newfoundland and Labrador were on 18-year-old, Kaetlyn Osmond of Marystown at the Sochi, Olympics in Russia. She brought home a ‘silver’ medal.

Kaetlyn Osmond in 2018 brought home a gold (team event) and bronze from the PyeongChang, Winter Olympics, South Korea.

Have there been other athletes from Newfoundland and Labrador that have participated in the Olympics. If you know of any others please let me know!!

Recommended Archives: At the Rooms Provincial Archives there is a huge collection of sports related material. Take some time to explore the Frank W. Graham fonds, the Sports Hall of Fame fonds, and the SANL museum collection. Search the Archives: https://www.therooms.ca/collections-research/our-collections