Category Archives: Archival Moments

Bell Island ferries collide

ARCHIVAL MOMENT

November 10, 1940

Bell Island Tragedy, November 10, 1940

On Sunday, November 17, 1940 Archbishop Edward Patrick Roche of St. John’s, accompanied by Rev. R. McDermott Murphy, visited the Parish of Portugal Cove for the administration of the sacrament of Confirmation. By the express wish of the Archbishop, all signs of greeting and rejoicing, usually associated with visits of this kind, were omitted, because of the many families in the settlement who lost relatives and friends in the disaster of November 10^th.

Addressing the parish priest of Holy Rosary Church in Portugal Cove Archbishop Roche said:

“after the dreadful tragedy which had occurred so near them a week ago, he felt that at the earliest possible moment he would like to tender the heartfelt sympathy of the Church to those who had been bereaved by this terrible disaster.’

There were many sad homes in that section of Conception Bay, many who were mourning their friends and loved ones who had been taken from them with such tragic and appalling suddenness. The Archbishop said

“To one and all, deepest and most heart-felt sympathy went out.”

The tragedy was the collision of the M.Y.W. Garland, and the little Golden Dawn. Two ferries that were serving the Bell Island. 26 souls who had sailed on the ferry the Garland from Portugal Cove were drowned.

There were only four survivors. The four survivors were Norman Ash, owner of the Garland, Harbour Grace, Gerald Tucker of St. Philips and two brothers, John and James Quilty of St. Thomas’.

Do you know where I could locate the names of the 26 that died?

Recommended Archival Collection: At the Rooms Provincial Archives explore GN 13: Dept. of Justice (1934-1949). Drowning Tragedy, Bell Island Tickle: motor boats “Golden Dawn” and “Garland”: 10 Nov. 1940 Description number file 10 Box number Box 215

Recommended Reading: THE MINERS OF WABANA by Gail Weir,St. John’s (Nfld.), Breakwater Press, 1989. (Canada’s Atlantic Folklore and Folklife series).

“Unite the old world and the new”

Subscribers to the St. John’s newspaper, The Courier on (November 8, 1850) read about the feasibility of an underwater electric cable running from Ireland to Newfoundland. The letter to the Editor read:

“I hope the day is not far distant when St. John’s will be the first link in the electric chain which will unite the Old World and the New.”

Previous to this proposal all discussion about this new form of communication “telegraphic communication” had suggested Halifax as the terminus.

The writer of the letter Bishop John Thomas Mullock, the Catholic Bishop of Newfoundland in making the proposal was the first to suggest Newfoundland as the terminus rather that Nova Scotia. Mullock wrote:

“Now would it not be well to call the attention of England and America to the extraordinary capabilities of St. John’s, as the nearest telegraphic point? It is an Atlantic port, lying, I may say, in the track of the ocean steamers, and by establishing it as the American telegraphic station, news could be communicated to the whole American continent forty-eight hours, at least, sooner than by any other route.”

Prior to penning the letter Mullock had done his home work. Critics had for example argued that an underwater electric cable would not be safe from icebergs. Mullock had read extensively on the subject collecting a number of books on the electric telegraph. He also subscribed to a number of geological publications and collected geological maps and surveys. Based on his research he argued in the letter that the electric cable will be perfectly safe from icebergs. These book and maps now form part of the collection in the Basilica Museum Library in St. John’s.

In 1854, Frederick Gisborne secured financial backers, including American capitalist Cyrus Field and British telegraph engineer, John Brett. The New York, Newfoundland and London Telegraph Company was incorporated in 1854; the Newfoundland legislature granted the company exclusive rights to the submarine telegraph for 50 years and a government subsidy. The company successfully installed the transatlantic cable between Heart’s Content and Ireland (1866); and Heart’s Content and Valentia (Ireland) (1873-1874).

Recommended Archival Collection: Take some time to explore MG 570 at the Rooms Provincial Archives. MG 570 are the records of the Anglo-American Telegraph Company (Harbour Grace) fonds. The collection consists of letter books received, outgoing correspondence, general orders, rules, and regulations and service messages sent and received.

Recommended Book: Atlantic Sentinel by D.R. Tarrant, Fkanker Press. Atlantic Sentinel is illustrated with sixty vintage photographs and maps. The illustrations range from sketches of the early transatlantic attempts in the 1850s and 1860s to photographs of cable station staff in the twentieth century

Recommended Reading: Frederic Gisborne, Cyrus Field and the Atlantic Cable of 1858 By Ted Rowe Newfoundland Quarterly: Fall 2008, Volume 101 Number 2 .

Social media and Archival gems, Thank You

During the month of October there were 36,219 visitors to the website www.archivalmoments.ca that is an average of 1,168 visitors per day. If you were one of the visitors “Thank You”, I hope that you enjoyed your visit and that you will encourage others to VISIT and SHARE archivalmoments.ca.

Please join us at The Rooms as we explore:

Social Media and Archival Gems

Location: The Rooms Theatre

Date: November 5, 2015

Time: 2:30pm – 3:30pm

For years, Larry Dohey has delved deep into archives. You will be amazed at some of the things he’s uncovered—but what can be done with such a wealth of material? Find out how Larry has used social media to showcase his findings for a wide audience. – See more at: https://www.therooms.ca/programs-events/for-adults/coffee-culture/social-media-and-archival-gems#sthash.K5tR5Squ.dpuf

First World War Speakers Series

Dr. Dean F. Oliver: I See Horror. What Do You See?

Location: The Rooms Theatre

Date: November 4

Time: 7:00pm – 8:30pm

Cost: $15 (10% discount for members)

Join Dr. Dean F. Oliver, Director of Research, Canadian Museum of History as he compares actual war to remembered war, lived experience to imagined pasts. It is a dialogue as politically charged and personally traumatic now as it was in 1914, when the first mother read the first son’s carefully evasive letter, or the first censor made the first disaster the first victory. Think about war: what do you see?

Dr. Dean F. Oliver is a Newfoundlander by birth, and Director of Research at the Canadian Museum of History. Formerly (2003-2013) the Director of Research and Exhibitions at the Canadian War Museum, he has taught history, political science and international security, and was founding editor of the monograph series, Studies in Canadian Military History. The Oxford Companion to Canadian Military History (with J.L. Granatstein), published in 2010, won the annual Charles P. Stacey Prize for the best work of military history published in Canada.

Award-winning directed exhibitions have included Canvas of War, Afghanistan, and 1812.

In 2010, Queen Beatrix of The Netherlands knighted Dr. Oliver in the Order of Orange-Nassau in honour of his “contributions to society.”

His most recent article, “The July Drive”, on Newfoundland and Labrador’s memory of the First World War, appeared in Canada’s Great War Album, edited by Mark Reid (2014).

He is currently curating an exhibition on Newfoundland at war, and another on Canada in world affairs since 1945. His next publication, “Canada in the Great War,” will appear this fall as part of a European online interactive encyclopedia.

For more information call: 757-8090.

I will sing you home

Archivists are called on to work on projects that are often profoundly emotional.

We have at The Rooms Provincial Archives thousands of stories about the young men and women that served in the First World War. We have thousands of stories about their loved ones who were at home on the ‘home front’.

Archivists at The Rooms Provincial Archives were called on to work on this multimedia project, to help tell one of our many stories.

Take five minutes; look at what archivists can do working with curators, artists and musicians. We have many stories in our archives that have not been told. Archivists want to tell these and other stories.

Watch and listen: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2JeuCgA0rFI

So many papers in such a small town.

Archival Moment

October 21, 1851

On October 21, 1851 St. John’s residents welcomed the first edition of a new newspaper to the streets of the town, The Newfoundland Express.

In the first editorial in the paper, the Editor, James Seaton wrote that he was confident that his new paper would be successful. He stated that because “the colony is being opened up by means of roads” a new audience outside of the city was being created. Seaton, who two years earlier had been the Editor of another St. John’s paper, The Courier also argued that with the establishment of a new inland postal system and that the legislature had passed a new law that newspapers could be sent free of charge, would benefit his new venture. The printer and publisher of the paper was John Thomas Burton.

Establishing a new newspaper in 1850 was a very bold step, the market was very crowded, and there were already nine established newspapers in the St. John’s. They included Courier (1850-1873): Morning Post and Shipping Gazette, (1850-1862); Newfoundland Express, (1851- 1859); Newfoundlander, (1851-1879) Patriot and Terra-Nova Herald, (1850-18900, Pilot (1852-1853): Public Ledger, (1850-1879); and the Royal Gazette, (1850-1909).

The estimated population of Newfoundland in 1851 was 100,000, the population of St. John’s approximately 31,000.

The Newfoundland Express published foreign and local news, legislative proceedings, shipping news, and advertisements. It also boasted a poet’s corner. The paper was Conservative in editorial policy and one of two Wesleyan newspapers in St. John’s. At this time in the history of the country (now province) most of the newspapers had a denominational attachment.

Initially the new paper published semiweekly eventually becoming a daily. In 1866 the formal title of the paper changed from Newfoundland Express to Express. The last known issue published was in July 1876.

Recommended Archival Collection: At The Rooms Provincial Archives take some time to read copies of The Newfoundland Express (The Express) that can be found on microfilm. The editions available at the Rooms Provincial Archives are 1862-[1863]-1864, [1866-1870]-1872.

Recommended Website: For an Historical Directory of all Newfoundlandand Labrador Newspapers go to: http://www.library.mun.ca/qeii/newspapers/index.php

Recommended Activity: Find the date of birth of your grandfather, grandmother or your parents find a newspaper for that date and read about the world that he or she were born into.

New Memorial University Campus Opened

ARCHIVAL MOMENT

October 9th, 1961

Provehito in Altum (Launch forth into the deep)

On October 9th, 1961, the Elizabeth Avenue campus of Memorial University of Newfoundland in St. John’s was formally opened. Attending the opening were a number of well-known dignitaries including Prime Minister John Diefenbaker, Premier Joseph Smallwood, Lord Thomson of Fleet and Eleanor Roosevelt.

Mrs. Roosevelt, the widow of the President of theUnited States of America, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, was the official emissary of the President of theUnited States, John F. Kennedy. Mrs. Roosevelt formerly passed over to the Board of Regents and the Senate, the new campus of Memorial University of Newfoundland.

Thousands of school children from all parts of the province took part in the parade up Elizabeth Avenue.

Memorial Universitybegan as Memorial University College (MUC), which opened in September 1925 at a campus onParade StreetinSt. John’s.

Upon opening MUC offered the first two years of university studies, the initial enrollment was 57 students, rising to a peak of over 400 in the 1940s.

The college was established as a memorial to the Newfoundlanders who had lost their lives on active service during the First World War. It was later rededicated to also encompass the province’s war dead of the Second World War.

The post-Confederation government elevated the status of Memorial University College to full university status in August 1949, renaming the institution to Memorial University of Newfoundland. The enrollment in MUN’s first year was 307 students. In 1961, enrollment increased to 1400.

Malcolm MacLeod. ‘A Bridge Built Halfway: A History of Memorial University College, 1925-1950.’MontrealandKingston: McGill-Queen’s University Press, 1990.

Recommended Website: http://www.mun.ca/

Gerry Squires: 1937 – 2015

Gerald Squires

(November 17, 1937 – October 3, 2015)

Gerald Squires, one of Newfoundland and Labrador’s most distinguished artists, passed away Saturday (October 3, 2015) at the age of 77 after battling cancer.

He was an artist who found inspiration from the landscape of this place, it was fitting than that it was the landscape that gave him comfort at the end. Squires, the subject of a new film that will be released in 2017 by Kenneth J. Harvey ‘I Heard the Birch Tree Whisper in the Night’ told the producer:

“I was told I was sick by a birch tree …. It was getting late in the evening… I knew something was wrong. I looked out my window at the birch trees, they were shivering …. Suddenly my mind accepted the reality of being sick …. “

Filmmaker and fellow-artist Kenneth J. Harvey is working on a film about Squires and his work, to be released in 2017.”I Heard the Birch Tree Whisper in the Night” Please take time to view: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-z1TsLgUh8Q&sns=em

Born in Change Islands, Newfoundland, in 1937, he took his early art training in Toronto, where his family moved when he was 12. Growing up, Squires and his family moved often as his mother worked as an officer with the Salvation Army.

He wrote about his mother:

“During the darkness and despair of the first round of chemo, I got fixated on my Mother who died some twenty years ago, my thoughts kept returning to my childhood, to our life together… We loved each very much, we shared many in conversations, concerning Christianity and the things of God, my first influence.”

He returned here with his wife and daughters 20 years later, and settled in 1971 in the lighthouse-keeper’s house in Ferryland.

Much of Squires’ painting has an overtly spiritual quality. Early symbolic works such as The Wanderer, The Boatman, and Cassandra were followed by a major commission from Mary Queen of the World Parish in Mount Pearl: two triptychs and The Stations of the Cross. It is also home to the celebrated Last Supper where Squires casts his friends as the disciples. He often joked that he was the unofficial Catholic artist with major commissions for the Sisters of Mercy, St. Clare’s Mercy Hospital and the Basilica Cathedral.

In subsequent years Squires has concentrated on landscape; the origins of this interest go back at least to the Ferryland Downs paintings of the late 1970s.

Among his many honours, Gerald Squires was elected to the Royal Canadian Academy and appointed a Member of the Order of Canada in 1999, received the Golden Jubilee Award from Her Majesty the Queen in 2003 and was inducted in the Newfoundland and Labrador Art Council’s Hall of Honor in 2008. A major retrospective of the artist’s work was mounted by the Art Gallery of Newfoundland and Labrador in 1998, and in September 2008 a solo exhibit “My Lanscape” was held at the Granary Gallery in Waterford, Ireland. Gerald Squires: Newfoundland Artist, by Des Walsh and Susan Jamieson, was published in 1995 and in 2009 Breakwater Books Publishing came out with the artbook “Where Genesis Begins” including 71 artworks by Squires and 37 poems by his good friend Tom Dawe.

Gerald Squires has lived in Holyrood with his wife Gail since 1983.

The Rooms was working with Mr. Squires curating a major retrospective of his work that will open in 2017.

Portuguese Ambassador to Unveil Memorial to White Fleet Fisherman

Portuguese Ambassador to Unveil Memorial to White Fleet Fisherman

October 6, 2015

Jose Moreira da Cunha, the Portuguese Ambassador to Canada will be in St. John’s on October 6 to unveil a memorial to Portuguese fisherman who died in Newfoundland waters in 1966.

In 2012 at the request of a Commanding Officer in the Portuguese Navy a search was initiated in St. John’ s to find the unmarked grave of Dionisio Candido Quintas Esteves, the 26 year old Portuguese fisherman who lost his life.

Using archival photographs and film, the unmarked grave was located in Mount Carmel Cemetery in St. John’s. Since the discovery of the grave, Portuguese Naval officials have hosted annually a wreath laying ceremony at the site to remember Esteves who has come to symbolize all of the Portuguese fishermen who have died prosecuting the fishery. Esteves was one of the thousands of Portuguese who plied Newfoundland waters as part of the crew of the Portuguese White Fleet. Esteves sailed on the celebrated Santa Maria Manuela.

The memorial was designed by the Portuguese artist Antonio Neves.

Through the efforts of individuals in Newfoundland and in Portugal a monument has been designed that will be placed at the gravesite as a permanent memorial. The memorial was designed by the Portuguese artist Antonio Neves.

On Tuesday, October 6, 2015 at 11:00 am at Mount Carmel Cemetery, (Kennas Hill – Logy Bay Road entrance) St. John’s the memorial will be officially unveiled at the grave of Portuguese fisherman.

The Most Reverend Martin Currie, Archbishop of St John’s, will officiate at the dedication.

The unveiling will be performed by His Excellency Jose Moreira da Cunha, Ambassador of Portugal in Canada. He will be assisted by a white fleet dory man who was a colleague of Esteves when he died on the SANTA MARIA MANUELA. Also assisting is a former crew member of the Hospital/Assistance Vessel GIL EANNES.

This short commemorative ceremony is open to the public.

Local businessman and author, Jean Pierre Andrieux has been spearheading the idea of creating and erecting the memorial that will serve to remember all Portuguese fishermen who lost their lives fishing in Newfoundland waters.

For further information contact Jean Pierre Andrieux @ jpa@spmtours.com or 753-7277.

They disappeared from the earth like a shadow…

ARCHIVAL MOMENT

October 2, 1827

“THE RED INDIANS OF NEWFOUNDLAND.”

Photo Credit: Drawings by Shanawdithit showing spears, water buckets, cups, a dancing woman, a devil Source: Library and Archives Canada/C-028544 © Public Domain nlc-683

They disappeared from the earth like a shadow…

On October 2, 1827, William Cormack, described as an explorer, agriculturalist and merchant in St. John’s, formed the ‘Beothic Institution’, for the purpose of opening a communication with, and promoting the civilization of the “Red Indians of Newfoundland.”

Cormack, had become alarmed at the decimation the Beothuk people and culture, and began searching the Newfoundland wilderness for the Beothuk. In 1823 he heard that a young Beothuk woman Shawnadithit (Nancy April) had been captured, one of only a few Beothuk with whom to communicate. He immediately sought her out to learn about the Beothuk culture.

Shawnadithit, in effect, became the Beothuk Institution, supplying Cormack with some of his only first-hand information on the tribe. Cormack wrote:

“We have traces enough left only to cause our sorrow that so peculiar and so superior a people should have disappeared from the earth like a shadow… Shawnadithit is now becoming very interesting as she improves in the English language and gains confidence in people around. I keep her pretty busily employed in drawing historical representations of everything that suggests itself relating to her tribe, which I find is the best and readiest way of gathering information from her.”

Many prominent citizens subscribed to become members of the Institute.

Cormack subsequently set off with three native guides to explore the area around the Exploits River and Red Indian Lake where the Beothuk were known to have lived but found the country deserted. As a last resort a native search party was sent to the region of Notre Dame and White Bays under the auspices of the Beothuk Institution.

No Beothuk were encountered, as Cormack had feared they were on the verge of extinction. With the death of Shawnadithit in 1829, Cormack wrote, they had “disappeared from the earth like a shadow…”

On 2 October 1997, 170 years after its inception, the Beothic Institution was revived as the Beothuk Institute. Its mandate was to arrange for the erection of a statue of a Beothuk woman to commemorate the Beothuk people, and to promote public awareness of the Beothuk and other aboriginal peoples of the province. The idea of a statue came from Newfoundland artist Gerald Squires, who had a vision of a female Beothuk in the Bay of Exploits, and wanted to honour the spirit of her people. He was commissioned to create the statue. It was poured in bronze by artist Lubin Boykov and unveiled at the Boyd’s Cove Provincial Historic Site in July 2000.

Since then the Beothuk Institute has sponsored the publication of a booklet on the Beothuk, provided essays on the Beothuk and has initiated a study of Beothuk DNA.

Recommended Archival Collection: At the Rooms Provincial Archives read MG 257 consists of a vocabulary of the Native Red Indians language, from Mary March / compiled by the Rev. John Leigh, 1819-1820, composed of words learned from Demasduit (Mary March), a female Beothuk captured by John Peyton, Jr., at Red Indian Lake, on 5 March 1819. Fonds consist of one booklet, with 17 sheets and cover.

Recommended Website: At the Rooms Provincial Museum see Museum Notes – The Beothuks By Ralph T. Pastore http://www.therooms.ca/museum/mnotes1.asp

Recommended Film: Shanaditti : Last of the Beothuks. Directed by Ken Pittman; produced by Rex Tasker and Barry Cowling. Montréal: National Film Board ofCanada, 1982. 20 min., 22 sec.

Recommended Reading: Marshall, Ingeborg. The Beothuk of Newfoundland: A Vanished People.St. John’s, 1989.