Work and Play in the Big Land

It's been a busy couple of weeks. I've been meeting with lots of community members and identifying and dating photographs. I've also been pulling together pictures and captions for when I travel to the communities of Nain, Natuashish and Cartwright later in the month and in March. I have been updating Them Days' social media accounts on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram with weekly photos for #MysteryMonday/#MilitaryMonday, #WhereIsItWednesday and #FlashbackFriday. We have been getting some response through social media which is great! The more photos identified the better.

I am currently going through our miscellaneous section and deleting the duplicate photos which belong in other sections of our photograph collection. The collection is broken up into regions of Labrador which have been given letters of the alphabet. It is funny how almost everything in an archives is more complicated than it initially sounds. Deleting a few files for example can take up most of a morning. We had a computer program scan the 22000+ photos and find duplicate files. I am going through the duplicate photos and deleting the second copy. Once I delete this copy I must also delete the entry from our electronic database and remove the card from our old school filing system. Then I have to go in the back room and physically remove the duplicate negative and refile the negative in the correct region of Labrador. So while I spent most of Tuesday and Wednesday "deleting files" I was doing a little more than pressing a button.

#ArchivesShelfieDay, Aimee's hair leg sealskin boots, Amy and Linda at the Town Hall.

This week we celebrated Heritage Day on Monday. We took a trip to the town hall where the mayor signed a proclamation to celebrate Heritage Day in the community. We also shared photos on social media for #ArchivesShelfieDay. I enjoy that while the archival work at the office can be tedious at times we also have a lot of fun working together!

Heritage Proclamation for Heritage Day.  Photo from the town council.

On Thursday Aimee and I went to the Museum Association of Newfoundland and Labrador's (MANL) workshop on preserving and displaying textiles. In the morning we learned about the fibers that make up textiles and the environmental and physical threats to museum and archival collections such as light, humidity, temperature, physical stress, etc. In the afternoon we had hands on activities where we practiced how to correctly roll textiles for storage and how to sew labels onto textiles without damaging the artifact. It was a great way to spend the day and will come in handy when storing and displays textiles in museums, archives, and in the home.

Sarah Wade demonstrating how to roll a textile for storage.

Participants trying their hand at rolling textiles.

There has been lots on the go around town. A couple a weeks back my roommate Martina who is an engineering student here on a work term was asked to host the open mic night at Grafter's uptown in Goose Bay. A group of residence students went to listen to her and another student Greg sing the night away. They have beautiful voices and sing really well together.

For pancake day CBC's Labrador Morning hosted a huge pancake breakfast in the college gym and the proceeds went to support homeless shelters. It was a packed event with everyone from babies to seniors enjoying pancakes. Another event I've been attending is the Tamarack Camera Club's bi-weekly meeting. There are presentations about photography styles, and techniques, and discussions of cameras, developing film, and using photo editing software. We are doing a project in the club where all the members are making folios of their photographs. The folios have 10-12 printed pictures in a folder and the folio follows a certain theme. It is hard to narrow down the pictures and decide on the theme but the supplies for the folios where brought to the last meeting so I'll have to get in gear and finish choosing and editing pictures.

Pancake breakfast, Tamarack Camera Club.

It seems like the time is flying by and I'll be back in St. John's before long. I'm sure I'll miss Goose Bay and Labrador but I'm sure I'll be back - hopefully next time to see the big land in the summertime.

A Week On The Goose

Hi everyone and welcome to my newly established blog. I'm Terra Barrett and I am a folklorist who is living and working in Newfoundland and Labrador. I am currently completing my Master of Arts in Public Folklore and I am finishing my last semester. This semester I am completing the second work term for the folklore masters program with Them Days. Them Days is a non-profit oral history magazine and archives based in Happy Valley-Goose Bay, Labrador. This is my first time in Labrador and I am looking forward to sharing the experience though this blog.

I'm excited to be here in Goose Bay! I've been here for a little over a week and I'm slowly getting to know my way around. I arrived last Saturday evening and I was greeted by my boss Aimee and her boyfriend John. They were kind enough to let me stay with them and on my first evening here we went to a dinner party at one of their friend's houses. There was a lot of great food and it was nice to meet people on my first evening here. I was surprised to learn that with the exception of Aimee everyone at the party was from outside of Labrador. From what I've heard so far it seems like a fair number of people come to Goose Bay to find work and start their careers.

On Sunday afternoon Aimee and John took around to some of the stores in Goose Bay and explained some of the basic history of the community. We also took a trip to the top of a mountain from which you could see the Hamilton River (also called Churchill River) and Churchill Falls. In the evening they dropped me to the College of the North Atlantic Residence where I am staying for the next four months. I'm lucky to have a roommate Martina, a MUN Engineering student, who is also here for a work term and is also quite excited to be in Labrador and eager to take part in winter activities.

I don't have a vehicle in Goose Bay so I walk to the Them Days office. This has given me a chance to do a little bit of exploring and I have stopped into a couple of shops during my walks home. One of my favourite shops so far is called Northern Lights - although it is also known as Bullets to Bras (because it seriously sells everything from bullets to bras). They have camping, fishing, and hunting gear, wedding and prom dresses, local artwork, toys, a military museum, and a large display of Labrador taxidermy animals.

Another favourite local shop is Slippers n' Things which is a craft store with locally made snowshoes, jewelry, moccasins, sealskin slippers, knitwear, Innu tea dolls, and also stocks fabric and fur so you can make your own crafts. As I am a big fan of local craft I feel like I could easily spend my entire paycheque here. In addition to the crafts they also sell frozen seafood such as smoked char and frozen shrimp. On Saturday mornings the store offers free toutons to the customers with your choice of jam or molasses. Something I took advantage of this weekend. 

I started work on Monday morning and I've had a rather busy week. My first few days were simply understanding a bit more about the organization and included watching some old Land and Sea episodes and trying to familiarize myself with the archives. My official job title is Project Researcher and I have been hired to research, sort, and identify over 12 000 photos and negatives in the archives which have little or no information about them. I'm going to meet with community members in Goose Bay and surrounding areas (Sheshatshiu, North West River, and Mud Lake) in order to find out the names of local people, places and activities. I will also get the opportunity to travel to three communities along the coast - Nain, Cartwright and Natuashish to identify photos and talk to people in the communities.

In order to kick off the project we hosted an event on Friday afternoon called Tea with Terra. This was simply an informal public event in order to introduce the project, my position, and hopefully identify some photographs. I was invited to talk about the project on Labrador Morning so I went to the CBC studio first thing Friday morning before heading to the office. We had eight community members drop in to Tea with Terra to name photos, chat and have a cup of tea. The group was extremely enthusiastic and helped name over a hundred of our printed photographs which gives me lots of work this work. Looking forward to delving deeper into the project and meeting with more people during the coming months as well as participating in some outdoor fun.

~Terra