Tuesday, February 28, 2012

Tea, baskets, and the community conservation of intangible cultural heritage

In this month's edition of the Intangible Cultural Heritage Update for Newfoundland and Labrador, we invite people to our "Tea and Baskets" events in Corner Brook and Grand Falls-Windsor; ICH intern Nicole Penney shares some of her research on mill lunch baskets; and we nominate inukshuk building as an item of provincial historical significance. Download the newsletter in pdf form.

I have been corresponding a bit lately with Misako Ohnuki, Deputy Director of the International Research Centre for ICH in the Asia-Pacific Region (IRCI) based in Osaka, Japan. Curious about the work we are doing in Newfoundland and Labrador, she asked me about some of the difficulties and hurdles that we have have faced so far in documenting intangible cultural heritage (ICH) in communities in this province. Read my short report on "Challenges in the community conservation of Intangible Cultural Heritage in Newfoundland and Labrador."

And finally, Memorial University has published an article about our current Public Folklore Intern Nicole Penney's work placement with Heritage Foundation of Newfoundland and Labrador and her work cataloguing baskets and baskets makers in Newfoundland.

Happy reading!

Monday, February 20, 2012

Help Wanted


The ICH office is looking for an individual to do some postering in Grand Falls-Windsor for our upcoming "Tea 'n' Baskets" event in March. If you live in the Grand Falls-Windsor area and would like to pick up a few hours work, please contact Nicole at 1-888-739-1892 ext 3 or via email at  ichprograms@gmail.com.

Thursday, February 16, 2012

Origin Stories

The exact origin of this two-handled, splint style lunch basket design is unknown but research has pointed to a couple of possibilities. In her article, “The Multiple Roles of the Millworker's Lunch Basket in Central Newfoundland”, Jane Burns suggests the baskets were originally factory made imports that resourceful Newfoundlanders deconstructed and learned to make themselves. Research also suggests that the lunch baskets were sold right out of the pulp and paper mills, possibly starting in Corner Brook and carrying over to the others. The mill in Corner Brook opened in 1923 and the oldest lunch basket documented so far is dated 1928, belonging to Doris O’Dell of Corner Brook. O’Dell inherited the basket from her father who used it when he worked in the mill. The basket is factory made, purchased from the Peterboro Basket Company in New Hampshire. This company dates back to 1854 and it's possible the mill in Corner Brook purchased these baskets to sell to employees.

Others, like Wayne Green, also of Corner Brook, feel the baskets may have been originally designed by female basket makers of the Nova Scotia Mi’kmaq tradition. He recalls a woman and her two daughters who would stay with his family when he was a child. Green recounted that the women would come from Nova Scotia, riding the Newfoundland Railway, stopping where the trains did in order to sell baskets of all sorts. His father would take orders from this basket-maker before her arrival and Green remembers the mill lunch basket was always a very popular item. 
 One thing we know for sure is that there were Newfoundlanders who eventually began making the baskets themselves. One of the most prolific and well-known mill lunch basket makers was Angus Gunn Sr. of Grand Falls-Windsor. He began making baskets in the early 1950s and is said to have made hundreds of lunch baskets for local mill workers.

Wednesday, February 15, 2012

Show us what you've got!

Poster design by Graham Blair, check him out at grahamblairdesigns.com
Come on out to "Tea 'n' Baskets" and show off you mill basket and share your memories. We provide the treats!




Friday, February 10, 2012

A biscuit a basket


This coming March we're coordinating "Tea n' Baskets", an event to bring together those who have a mill lunch basket of their own. Whether you worked in the mill yourself or the basket was handed down from a family member, we welcome you to come out and show your basket and share your stories.

 
A mill lunch basket belonging to Kevin Gunn, which was made and used by his father, Angus Gunn

A mill lunch basket belonging to Julie Rideout, handed down from her father, Gerald Crawley. This basket was made by Julie's grandfather, Angus Gunn






 A mill lunch basket, belonging to Bob and Tina Houston. Tina acquired it from a former employee of the Abitibi Mill in Stephenville. Tina cleaned, repaired and painted the basket, added the fabric lining and repurposed it as a potato basket



Join us on Sunday, March 18th from 1-3pm at the Glynmill Inn in Corner Brook and on Sunday, March 25th from 1-3pm at the Mount Peyton Hotel in Grand Falls-Windsor. 


We provide the tea and biscuits!