Sunday, April 20, 2008

Frontier Theatre: A History of Nineteenth-Century Theatrical Entertainment in the Canadian Far West and Alaska

Frontier Theatre: A History of Nineteenth-Century Theatrical Entertainment in the Canadian Far West and Alaska by Chad Evans has a wealth of information about entertainers, Canadians and others, who travelled and worked in Canada's west and in Alaska. I particularly recommend this if you are interested in the theatre or, if you are interested in cultural life in Canada's west or in Alaska.

Right now I'm reading the very lively chapter on 'Theatrical Enterprise in the Kootenays', mostly about travelling entertainers and troupes in the 1890's.

Not all were appreciated - In Revelstoke in 1892, McMahon's Circus was memorialized thus

"...beyond being the first that ever exhibited in West Kootenay it had few features worth recording....the show was miserable deficient in good clowns and lady riders."

This particular circus apparently came first to the Canadian Northwest from Australia in 1889, then spent time on the western coast of the U.S. The 1892 trip referred to by the newspaper, was the first time a circus had gone east from Vancouver on the Canadian Pacific Railway.

Quotation from the Kootenay Star, 5 November, 1892 p.1 as quoted by Chad Evans, in Frontier Theatre, p. 200 (Victoria, BC: Sono Nis Press, 1983)

Friday, April 18, 2008

GENEALOGY RESOLUTIONS - 2008 UPDATE

My 2008 Genealogy objectives and progress:

1. Focus on research that takes advantage of my future travel plans - to Montreal and Detroit and to Sweden. Update both my Tribal Pages websites with current information.
Yes, I've been doing more Swedish research, but haven't yet found the Johansons for certain. More later. Haven't touched either website though.

2. Scan and organize more family photographs, starting early this year with

a) the few photographs of my baby brother and myself and the childhood photographs of my nieces. Yes, I've been working a lot on this. Progress!

b) then the Newdale photographs from my mother and grandmother. Yes, working on this - Progress!

Continue to BACK UP my data each Wednesday. Yes, but now some computer problems - can't win.

3. Blog more! Upgrade the blog with links, etc. I've made the move to the new template & added links, etc., but now I see 'Blogger in draft' is lurking. More changes?

4. Put up the Newdale, Manitoba, Canada genealogy website I’ve been planning for ages. Not much progress here yet. A summer project?

5. Investigate new-to-me ways to illustrate my family history, starting with software - Passage Express and Map My Family Tree. Yes, I've been trying out Map My Family Tree quite happily & will be working with Passage Express next month on a new project.

Overall? I'll give myself 54% or so - with almost the first quarter of the year over.

Sunday, April 13, 2008

CHATELAINE - A Magazine for Canadian Women - 80th Anniversary 2008

If you're interested in 20th century Canadian women's history, you have to have a look at Chatelaine magazine. No, I don't think it has represented all Canadian women, at least not from its start in 1928, but Chatelaine, besides covering food and fashion, has never shied away from controversy, beginning with women's health issues - maternal death in the 1920's, VD in the 1940's, and 'the pill' in 1953.

As a British Columbia woman, I've always been pleased that it was Hilda Pain from Eburne, B.C., whose name was chosen for the magazine. Apparently she was "a thoroughly Canadian woman of many interests". (Born in England though. Was she born Hilda Thorn, does anyone know for sure?)

In the mid 1950's and 60's, Chatelaine was certainly read by Canadian feminists like myself. Doris Anderson, Chatelaine's now legendary editor from 1957 to 1977, was a strong feminist journalist and editor - Canadian women's issues raised in Chatelaine were brought to the forefront and talked about from coast to coast.

To celebrate its 80th anniversary, Chatelaine's current issue, May 2008, includes a retrospective look at the magazine and its articles over the years, including 'Issues that Matter', as well as health, food and fashion through the years. (There's even a 'What were we thinking?' section. What is wrong about being a dunce in the kitchen?)

I'd have liked this anniversary section to be more prominent and longer, of course, (and maybe with bigger images, so we could really read the issues shown), but it's a nice spread all the same.

Chatelaine does have an on-line exhibit of historical issues though from the 1920's to the 00's [!]. Here the articles are very readable. There's the article by Emily Murphy (aka Janey Canuck), for instance, "Now That Women Are Persons What's Ahead", December, 1929.

Links:

Doris Anderson obituary, The Canadian Feminist Alliance for International Action (FAFIA): http://www.fafia-afai.org/en/you_are_invited_to_celebrate_the_life_of_doris_anderson_0

Chatelaine 80th Anniversary on-line exhibit: http://en.chatelaine.com/english/celebration/article.jsp?content=20080225_154938_6272

Saturday, April 12, 2008

BRITISH COLUMBIA ARCHIVES - Victoria, BC, Canada



Spirit, a sculpture by Elsa Mayhew, RCA, 1964. Now exhibited on the grounds of the British Columbia Archives, in Victoria, B.C.



This last week, I visited the city of Victoria, British Columbia, Canada's capital, and was able to do research for a few days in the B.C. Archives.

Much of the material I found was about my own family, for example, I was able to copy the Corporate Registry reports for one of my parents' earlier businesses. I also spent many happy hours reading old newspapers on microfilm - one of my favourite pastimes.

Here is a tidbit from the Atlin Claim, from British Columbia's far north, September 16, 1899, page 4:



Our local photographer, H.C. Hirschfeld, is certainly enterprising. He has a very large collection of views of the district and every creek from Hitchcock to Simson is represented in the list. One view, however, he lacked, was that of a man falling out of a canoe in Atlin Lake. Accordingly, he sent out his assistant, A. Purvey, on Friday morning with instructions to make for one of the islands in the lake. He started in a canoe, and when about 50 yards from the shore, by some means, unknown to the occupant, the craft went over, the man ducked and Mr. Hirschfeld has the photograph.



Sometimes, of course, it is hard at this distance in time to know what to take too seriously.



If you are planning a visit to the British Columbia Archives, take a good look first at the new website: http://www.bcarchives.bc.ca



There are links right there to search the collections (including B.C.'s Vital Events indexes for births, baptisms, marriages and deaths) and to see which research guides are now on-line, for example, the "Education History Research Guide".



Not everything has been added yet from the older website, so have a look there too: http://www.bcarchives.gov.bc.ca

Tuesday, April 01, 2008

Jenny, the Rogers Family's Star Car! 45th edition, Carnival of Genealogy

This is the 45th edition of the Carnival of Genealogy. The theme: Cars as stars! Next to purchasing a house, a "new set of wheels" was the next most significant purchase for many families. What car played a starring role in your family history and what role did it play?

Well, I’m not a motor person, I’ve never had a car, never wanted one and never really driven a vehicle, and to tell the truth, I don’t remember much about the family cars. However, ‘Jenny’, our 1952 Pontiac, is definitely the Rogers family's star car, and thinking about her brings back a few memories.

First off, I should mention that Jenny is still very much a part of the family. My baby brother has her and he shows her off whenever he can. My father bought her when she was ‘almost new’ from Bow Mac (Bowell MacLean Motors), then one of Vancouver, B.C.’s biggest car dealers. Jenny’s a Canadian Pontiac Model 2250 bustle-back 4 door sedan. (I got those details from my brother, of course - he always loved engines and now he's a Pontiac collector - although I remember the 4 door part.)

I do remember many a Sunday afternoon drive in Jenny, sometimes out to the country (now all part of the big city here), all of the family together, usually stopping for soft ice cream which my mum specially liked, or in December, going later at night to see the Christmas lights.

The real reason we had a newer car was for my dad’s sales calls though and, up until I was in high school, he used the car to advertise the family business. I don’t ever remember thinking twice about this, he’d always done it, as far as I knew. He was always a forward thinker about advertising. When I was young, I remember being allowed to stay up to see our ad on late night TV – I think he bought George W. Rogers Ltd. ads for TV before our family even had a television.

Jenny had a frame on her bustle which held different placards depending on the time of year and current events. Recently while hunting through a box of my mum’s papers again (please, don’t ask), I found a photograph gem from 1957 which I hope my baby brother will love!



If you’d like to see more than Jenny’s back, here is a link to my brother’s photograph of her, taken at 100,000 miles in front of the big neon Bow Mac sign. Jenny, from 1952, is older than the sign which was apparently erected in 1958. Alas, that heritage sign should be retired to the museum, instead of covered up, as it is today, but Jenny herself, our grand old lady, is still able to get out and about when she pleases.

Click on 'Fun Stuff', then on the photo of Dave's 1952 Canadian Pontiac, BC Hazmat Management Ltd.: http://www.bchazmat.com/'52_Canadian_Pontiac.htm