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May 9, 2012

Support for local archives at risk

Posted by Amanda Hill under archives, funding
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The National Archival Development Program (NADP) was axed by Library and Archives Canada last week, without warning. This program was worth $1.7 million each year to archives all over Canada. For every dollar received from the fund, archives raised another dollar through matched funding, meaning that the total value of the program to Canadians was $2.5 million every year.

For this relatively modest investment, the program supported:

·   Outreach and educational activities in communities to help small institutions manage their archival materials

·   Development of the national on-line catalogue of archival descriptions, and its provincial and territorial counterparts, so all archives, including the very small, can reach Canadians to tell them about their holdings

·   Provision of archival and preservation advice to archives of all sizes

·   Work experience for new graduates from Canada’s archival and information studies programs

·   Cataloguing of archival materials to make them accessible to the public

·   Training opportunities for people working in archives

·   Site assessments to both urban and rural archives, to safeguard Canada’s documentary heritage

·   Preservation  of at-risk documents and other archival materials, including electronic records

Locally, the Archives here in Deseronto  has benefited from the work of Ontario’s Archives Advisor, Carolynn Bart-Riedstra; Preservation Consultant, Iona McCraith; and former Archeion Coordinator, Sharon White (now Archivist for the new Community Archives in Belleville). Recommendations from a report by Carolynn in 2007 helped the Archives Board in their planning for the Archives in Deseronto.

All three of these advisory positions have now been suspended as a result of the NADP cuts, along with similar posts across the other provinces and territories. This will affect small archives particularly, as the advisors were a much-used resource for information and training.

If you’d like to support the reversal of this decision, there are a few things you can do:

  1. Sign the petition against the cut
  2. Share the news with your friends and colleagues
  3. Email your MP (Daryl Kramp if you’re in Prince Edward-Hastings)
  4. Send a message to the Minister for Canadian Heritage, the Honourable James Moore [“The promotion of our culture…is at the heart of what I do every day”]
  5. Read more in the Canadian Council of Archives’ Call to Action

Archives are not well-funded institutions and the NADP was one of the few sources of external funding available to support the work of archivists in Canada. Without this funding, it is going to be harder for Canadians to get access to the information they need.

 

April 4, 2012

Twentieth-century newspaper holdings at a glance

Posted by Amanda Hill under 1910s, 1920s, 1930s, 1940s, 1950s, 1960s, 1970s, 1980s, Archives 2.0, newspapers
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The Archives here in Deseronto has a rather patchy selection of local newspapers for the twentieth century. There’s a good run of The Quinte Scanner from 1968 to 1982 but apart from that we really only have lucky survivals of The Deseronto Post and a few editions of the Daily Intelligencer, Belleville’s newspaper. Finding out what newspaper we have for a particular year or decade involved consulting two different lists, the contents of which are not easy to absorb.

We’ve now combined the information from those lists into a single online resource. It’s a Google Calendar into which each newspaper edition has been entered as an event. If you have a Google account, you can view the newspaper calendar, which we’ve made public. From the calendar page, click on the small Add to Google Calendar symbol at the bottom right. This will add the newspaper calendar to your Google calendar page.

In order to see what we have for a particular year, you need to install the ‘Year View’ feature for your calendar (in Google Calendar, go to the ‘Settings’ page, then ‘Labs’ to do this). Once you have the Year View, you can use it to get to a particular year, then click on any month to see if we hold any local papers for that particular time period. The picture below is of the month of October 1925, where we have two issues of the Deseronto Post and three of the Daily Intelligencer. Click on the image for a closer look.

Newspapers for October 1925

This is just an experiment, really, but it’s already proving useful in making it much quicker to answer questions about whether we have any newspapers for a particular date.

 

March 28, 2012

100 years ago (this very moment)

Posted by Amanda Hill under 1910s, children, featured item
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Dating old photographs is not always an easy process but, just occasionally, archivists get lucky. This is one of those times. We’re working on arranging and describing the Hall Family materials at the moment and this photograph shows Flossie Hall, who was born in Deseronto in 1887. At the time the photo was taken, she was working as a schoolteacher. She has helpfully written the name of the school on the blackboard behind her: School Section No. 10, Mariposa, Victoria County. Not only that, but Flossie thoughtfully wrote the date that the photograph was taken, too: Mar. 28, 1912, which was, like today, a Wednesday (you’ll see from a comment elsewhere on the board that Ray needed to work on his spelling!).

If you look above the heads of the children, you’ll see the school clock, frozen in time at 2.50pm. So for once, we know the exact moment when this photograph was taken. A rare occurrence!

 

February 29, 2012

2012 Archives Competition winners

Posted by Amanda Hill under children, Deseronto Public School, events
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Well done to the winners of this year’s Archives Competition at Deseronto Public School:

First Prize: Hannah Rooney
Second Prize: Jarrett Moss
Third Prize: Cassidy Jackson
Honourable Mention: Ziah Silver-Lanuza

The Archives Board would like to thank Principal Heather Seres and her staff for their support of this annual competition. The standard of the entries is always very high and it is extremely difficult to choose winners!

This year the theme was ‘My Deseronto’ and the students described aspects of the town that are important to them. The Library featured fairly frequently, as did local restaurants, the parks and the children’s friends and family.

2012 Archives Competition winners

The prizewinners with Archives Board Chair, Paul Robertson with fellow Board members, Councillor Edgar Tumak and Archivist Amanda Hill. (I should probably mention that the school were having a Pyjama Day, too…)

 

February 22, 2012

Judging day

Posted by Amanda Hill under children, Deseronto Public School
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Today saw the Archives Board facing its annual task of choosing between the entries in our Deseronto Public School/Deseronto Archives competition.

Judges hard at work

As you can see from the photo, there was no shortage of entries this year and it was very hard to choose the winners. Thanks to Archives Board members Edgar Tumak and Sharon Sharpe for their invaluable help. The winners will be announced next week!

 

January 5, 2012

Some 2011 statistics

Posted by Amanda Hill under archives, blog, Doors Open, events, Flickr
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Waterfront Festival, July

Here are some facts and figures relating to the work of Deseronto Archives over the course of 2011.

New accessions received: 28

Email queries answered: 47

Telephone queries answered: 12

Visits to the archives by researchers: 73

Images uploaded to www.flickr.com/deserontoarchives: 109

Events organized/attended:

Doors Open, Napanee/Deseronto/Tyendinaga Mohawk Territory May 28th
Archives Association of Ontario conference, Thunder Bay June 17nd
Inter-agency Service Fair, Deseronto June 22nd
Waterfront Festival, Deseronto July 2nd
Deseronto Public Library 125th anniversary events October

Blog posts written : 17

Visitors to the blog in 2011:13,058 (8,097 in 2010)

 

January 4, 2012

Aviation camp to close at once

Posted by Amanda Hill under 1910s, aircraft, businesses, military training, World War I
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“High Diving”: aircraft crashed in the Bay of Quinte

A report from the Napanee Express of November 15th, 1918, four days after the signing of the Armistice.

One result of the signing of the armistice will be the immediate close of the two aviation camps at Deseronto, Camp Mohawk and Camp Rathbun. The commanding officers received instructions Monday morning from Ottawa to make arrangements for the demobilization of the force and the safe storage of machines and equipment. The engines are being taken out of the planes, coated with vaseline and being stored away. This work it is expected will be finished in about two weeks, and then the camp will be abandoned except by caretakers.

It was decided some months ago to make use of the camps at Deseronto all winter, and not send the men south for training the same as had been done last year. It as the intention to install elaborate heating and sanitation systems so that the men would be comfortable during the cold weather. About a month ago, however, the authorities at Ottawa, apparently ordered the discontinuation of the work.

The aviation camps have been popular resorts for sight seers the past two years, and the planes have been a frequent spectacle manoeuvering over our town. The men also have been welcome visitors to the town on many occasions. They were of a superior class, always well conducted and gentlemanly. Their departure will mean a social and sentimental, as well as a real business loss to the merchants of Deseronto.

 

December 14, 2011

All the things you care for best

Posted by Amanda Hill under 1920s, featured item, people, photographs
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Deseronto has no snow on the ground this December (so far!) but this Christmas card from the 1920s reminds us of what the weather can be like at this time of year:

Christmas card from 1920s

The card was printed by Old Colony Greeting Cards of Toronto. The picture on the front, ‘Winter’, was by ‘Revilo’ and the message inside is from Evelyn ‘Tottie’ Hall (born 1882) who lived in Deseronto in the early part of the twentieth century.

The rhyme reads:

All the things you care for best,
A happy heart, a mind at rest,
Be yours upon this Christmas Day,
And through the Year ne’er fade away.

The same group of records (which we’re currently in the process of cataloguing) holds another Christmas card from Evelyn, this one with a photograph of the sender on the porch of her home at 426 Thomas Street, Deseronto:

Evelyn Hall

As we work through the Hall family materials, there will no doubt be more to share with you in 2012. But for now, we leave you

With Hearty Greetings and best wishes for a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.

 

November 16, 2011

Historic moment in the Tyendinaga Mohawk Territory

Posted by Amanda Hill under 1950s, Fire Department
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An interesting article was sent to the Archives this year by Jim McVicker of Vancouver. It was published in the Napanee Beaver on July 1, 1959 and records a key event in the history of the Tyendinaga Mohawk Territory: the issuing of the first cheque by the Band Council. Up to this point, as the article explains, bills had been paid by the Federal Government’s Indian Affairs Branch, through the local Indian Agents (based at the Deseronto Post Office). According to this article, the Mohawks of the Bay of Quinte were the first Band to gain control of their finances in this way.

The cheque was for fire services and is being presented by Treasurer Mrs Donald (Phyllis) Green to James McVicker (Jim’s grandfather) in the photograph. James was Deseronto’s postmaster and fire chief for many years. The Deseronto Fire Department covered the town and the Territory until the establishment of the Mohawk Fire Department in the early 1970s.

Postscript, December 3, 2013: Phyllis Green was the first employee of the Mohawks of the Bay of Quinte. She died on December 2, 2013.

 

November 2, 2011

The Very Model of a Modern-day Librarian

Posted by Amanda Hill under Deseronto Public Library, events
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At the musical evening held as part of the Library’s 125th anniversary celebrations John Hall, the Organist and Director of Music at  Christ Church and the choir of the church sang the following song as a tribute to the work of Frances Smith, Deseronto’s current librarian, and her team. We’re hoping to get a video made of a repeat performance to share here, but in the meantime, here at least are the words (with apologies to W. S. Gilbert) to give a taste of the event (and for re-use and adaptation, should you feel so inclined!).

I am the very model of a modern-day librarian
I’ve books for every baby and each septuagenarian
I’ve online databases and I’ll get you what you need to know
And if you need the washrooms then I’ll tell you where you have to go.

I’m very well acquainted, too, with matters bibliographical,
I understand MARC records and all issues biographical.
About our library catalogue I’m full of interesting facts,
We’ve books on everything from kangaroos to paying income tax.

We’ve books on everything from kangaroos to paying income tax.
We’ve books on everything from kangaroos to paying income tax.
We’ve books on everything from kangaroos to paying income tax.

I’m very good at knowing how to help each Des’rontonian
On matters scientific, Galilean  or Newtonian,
In short in matters notional and utilitarian,
I am the very model of a modern-day librarian.

In short in matters notional and utilitarian
She is the very model of a modern-day librarian

Our staff are very friendly and our hours egalitarian
We’ll help you all from pastry chef to parl-i-a-mentarian
We’ll help you with your homework and we’ll show you how to find a book
If you want to build a house or simply just learn how to cook.

I answer every question asked, I’m very inspirational
For finding work, for college or just simply recreational
We’ve DVDs, computers and a heap of fascinating texts
We’ll even help you out if you forgot to bring your reading specs.

We’ll even help you out if you forgot to bring your reading specs.
We’ll even help you out if you forgot to bring your reading specs.
We’ll even help you out if you forgot to bring your reading specs.

Our job centre’s fantastic and our archives are historical
Our books are always sorted in an order categorical
In short in matters notional and utilitarian,
I am the very model of a modern-day librarian.

In short in matters notional and utilitarian
She is the very model of a modern-day librarian

Thanks to everyone who attended this and all the other events which marked this anniversary. This is a difficult time for libraries and it was wonderful to see so much support for the service.

 

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