New Website (November 2013)
Launching our new heritage website marks the culmination of several months’ work on the part of the Carman/Dufferin Municipal Heritage Advisory Committee (CD MHAC) and our colleagues at the Historic Resources Branch (HRB) of Manitoba Culture, Heritage and Tourism.
HRB examined 96 municipal websites in Western Canada and the USA . Few sites, including those in Manitoba, highlighted local heritage. To remedy this situation, HRB worked with the Gimli MHAC to develop a template that other areas could use for developing heritage content.
Last December, our MHAC received a grant for a pilot project to see how well the template works in other settings. HRB has provided consultants and a webmaster; we have researched and provided the content.
We are proud to present this website as the result of our mutual efforts. The website is still a work in progress. We have tried to search out and cross-check our information as carefully as possible. Our main written sources included: The History of the RM of Dufferin in Manitoba 1880–1980 published by the RM of Dufferin , and A Review of the Heritage Resources of Boyne Planning District, a study by Karen Nicholson, Historic Resources Branch, 1984. Other sources are listed in the Local Heritage section of the website. The Dufferin Historical Museum has been a splendid source for photos and other information.
David McInnes (web consultant) and David Butterfield
(Historic Resources Branch) meeting with CD MHAC members
January 2014
Our Website Logo
.jpg){kind=logo}
Folks have been asking about our choice of the CDMHAC logo.The logo was designed by web consultant David McInnes, who drew from our website content and feedback from CDMHAC members to design a logo that is meaningful to the site.
David’s inspiration came from the wheels in the A.A. Brooke paintings. In this context, they symbolize connections and the role of transportation in shaping and changing our community—from the ox cart that brought the first settlers, to the wagons that carried the grain, the trains that took the products to wider markets and gave people greater access to the world, and the cars and trucks that have changed our patterns of interaction and trade. The wheel also represents progress in our community—and the recognition that as we roll forward into the future, the present becomes the past and we generate new and ever-changing heritage. In our local context, the wheel represents the community as a whole, with Carman as the hub and the RM as the rim, joined by the spokes. Neither works without the other—rather they achieve their strength and function through interdependence.
The colour gold derives from a dominant impression of the area—the golden fields of grain, the golden prairie sun. From a less theoretical perspective, gold also complements the green colour band in the header. Black, the second colour, is the secondary colour that comes up.
Our thanks to David for simply and creatively conveying our heritage and purpose.
February 2018
Advice from the Past. I’ve realized over the past while that one part of our heritage we are losing is the old sayings our generation grew up on, those quaint bits of advice and wisdom our parents and grandparents passed along to us.
Some were short-cuts to family memories. Our family lived in a hard-water area and my grandmother prized her rain barrel of soft water for washing hair and other important things in life. She is said to have stood looking out the window at the rain and wistfully saying “Too bad you can’t catch all the rain that comes down.” I’ve found recently, as the volunteer commitments pile up, I am more and more often reminding people: “You can’t catch all the rain that comes down.”
When asked to recall old sayings, my peers chuckle over expressions they grew up on, like:
“Keep frowning and your face will freeze that way.”
“What’s sauce for the goose is sauce for the gander.”
“When I was knee-high to a grasshopper…”
A hefty female was said, rather unkindly, to be “built like a brick outhouse.”
Getting older? You were “No spring chicken.”
Question: “How do you feel?” Responses: “Finger and thumb.” or “Fair to middlin’.”
Someone who was really ill had “one foot in the grave” or looked “like death warmed over” and an appliance or machine that broke down was said to have ”given up the ghost.”A person who had “a bone to pick” or “an axe to grind” was likely looking for an argument. If they were more tolerant of others you might hear: “Everyone to their own taste (said the old maid as she kissed the cow).”
If you were in a big hurry, your parents probably told you to “Hold your horses.”
And one we all grew up on: ”If you can’t say anything nice, don’t say anything at all.” – which is maybe a good place to end this month’s News & Events.
February 2018
C/D MHAC happenings. The bitterly cold weather of the past couple of months has provided a great opportunity for getting immersed in heritage research and planning. And finally, time to browse through more of those old newspapers that C/D MHAC invested in digitizing through the Pembina Manitou Archive.
For decades, the Dufferin Leader was the main source of local and district news. Among the old ads, local happenings, extensive coverage of world events and ‘corny’ jokes are items that remind us of both changing times and in some ways, how things never really change.
Take, for example, changes in transportation. In recent times, local folks followed with interest as the Town made changes to traffic flow and parking. Back in 1900, transportation posed different challenges.
The Dufferin Leader, Sept. 13, 1900 reported that:
If the jail at that time was anything like the small cell built later in the Memorial Hall basement, this was likely a pretty good deterrent.
Just as it does today, politics was a topic that featured l prominently in early newspapers. Editorials, letters to the editor and other random comments left no doubt about party preference.
The Dufferin Leader, Nov. 8, 1900, p.2 noted that “The parrot owned by the genial proprietor of the Starkey House died a few days ago. Art Simpson is of the opinion the bird had heard so much Toryism of late he sickened and the overdose being too strong resulted in his death.” This is one of the milder ‘digs’ that probably helped boost newspaper circulation – at least amongst those of the same political persuasion.
Why not visit the old local papers (Carman Standard and the Dufferin Leader) in the Pembina Manitou Archive. You’ll be amazed at what you locate.
More old sayings. Since our last update, several people have reminded me of old saying that were popular in earlier days. Some of the origins were pretty obscure so I finally consulted a little book titled “Why Do We Say It?” published by Castle Books, New York – another absorbing cold-weather diversion.
Do you know why we say:
‘He never even turned a hair’ meaning someone remained calm and collected? Supposedly it comes from horse racing, where a horse that ran without sweating and roughing up its coat was said to have ‘never turned a hair’. Seems to me the current expression ‘No sweat!’ is even more to the point.
‘Dead as a doornail’ was used because in the pre-doorbell days, the knob on which the hammer of a door-knocker struck was hit so often in a day, it surely couldn’t have much life left in it. Wouldn’t have guessed that one.
Closer to home, our most faithful reader * pointed out that the expressions ‘lock, stock and barrel’ (i.e., all parts of a gun or ‘everything’) and ‘half-cocked’ (on safety catch, so not properly prepared for action) both had their origin with guns.
* that would be our web manager, who makes sure everything on the website is ‘A1’, ‘above board’ and ‘in apple-pie order’.
Can’t promise there won’t be more of these sayings next update. Do you have any personal favourites?
March 2018
Old Newspapers. So what was happening locally around this time of year a century or more ago? Back in 1899, news of the dedication of the new St. Andrew’s Presbyterian Church in Carman dominated the front page of the Dufferin Leader (Feb. 23, 1899). A week later (Mar. 2, 1899) the paper carried an attractive little sketch of the new church—an impressive structure that still stands strong today. It’s now a Bed & Breakfast and it’s one of the buildings short-listed in our recent heritage inventory.
St. Andrew’s Presbyterian Church, Then and Now
Other items from the same edition suggest that much of the social life in outlying communities also focused around the local church. “Last Friday evening large sleigh loads of young and old people could be seen wending their way to the residence of Mr. Geo. Alexander, where they held the annual entertainment of Rosebank church. The house was well filled and a very enjoyable time spent in games, songs, etc., and in partaking of a liberal supply of good things. $8.40 was realized from the social.”
In the western part of the district, “The gospel meetings in Roseisle school house continue with increased interest.” But as folks coped with the unpredictable pre-spring weather, one news correspondent noted that, “The attendance, on Sunday at service, was rather small owing to the cold and stormy weather. You would think that when the preacher could drive 20 miles through the storm people could come one-half of a mile” to church. Seems the impact of February/March weather is one factor that hasn’t changed.
Some area residents were using the snow to good effect. From Ravenswood, north-west of Graysville, came a report that, “Moose and elk hunting is being surreptitiously carried on in the district, the hunters using snow shoes in their unlawful business.” Later in the same report, the correspondent notes that “Believing that a certain gentleman was out hunting on snowshoes, and being a law-abiding people, we thought it our duty to arrest the rascal if possible….So we traced the tracks through the bush, but the direction seemed kind of strange, and under the circumstances we deemed it wiser to return home, which we did. Why? Well, we did not wish our heads broken. The said gentleman was hunting “dear,” but not the kind we thought. As to whether he was successful, we are unable to state.” (Dufferin Leader, Feb. 23, 1899).
As the weather started to improve, one local correspondent cheerfully noted “At last the cold snap has passed and we now have splendid weather. Why, Mr. Editor, even our ideas were frozen.” As the snow started to disappear, farmers were busy moving their grain to local elevators, where they would store it until prices rose. Others were hauling wood down from ‘the distant mountain’ as the Pembina Hills were then known. And a local real estate agent reported “great activity in the sale of farm lands. During the last fortnight he disposed of over a dozen quarter sections of land at good prices.” (Mar. 2, 1899).
Family Histories. Also on the reading list was little gem that turned up in the form of a local family history – Jacob’s Flock 1735–1975 by M. Cummer Kiever.
What’s special about this book is the way in which the authors have gone beyond the usual ‘begat’ genealogy to fleshing out profiles of ancestors and providing a wealth of details and anecdotes portraying early homesteading life. In their words, “To attempt to tell of the lives of our forefathers without describing the life of the times would be like an effort to paint a picture without color and without perspective.” That’s a great reminder of how we should be recording our own life stories.
Jacob’s Flock gives a glimpse into the family’s life from their homesteading days in the forest land at the end of what now is Yonge Street in Toronto through migration to similar conditions in Manitoba, including several small settlement areas in what is now Carman/Dufferin.
In the process, the book highlights the tremendous changes that have occurred in every aspect of Canadian life over the past few two and a half centuries.
Take, for example, health care. At a time when health care concerns center around long waits in the ER and adequacy of Home Care, this history is a reminder that until recent decades, ‘Home Care’ meant pretty basic care in the home, by the family.
In winter, when the ‘grippe’ was epidemic, folks resorted to remedies like “Aunt Ida’s cure for a chest cold” (Jacob’s Flock, p. 270):
That dredges up old memories—of being told about a frail ancestor who wouldn’t have survived a childhood bout of the croup had he not been slathered with copious amounts of warm goose grease. Or, how grandmother might have lost her foot when she burned it with scalding tea, except for a salve she made of goose grease and Balm of Gilead buds (the sticky buds of black poplar). In retrospect, perhaps our grandmother’s ‘watch-dog’ geese—those detested birds that terrorized us youngsters by racing after us across the yard, hissing, their wings spread wide—just perhaps they were good for something other than gracing the New Year’s dinner table. Memories. That’s one reason we all should record our life stories for the generations to come, hopefully without being shy about including all the warts, wrinkles and family anecdotes.
Across generations, the members of ‘Jacob’s Flock’ are said to be motivated by a strong work ethic. Given that our committee is trying to complete a few outstanding heritage projects, anything having to do with motivation is sure to catch our eye. Here’s another bit of tongue-in-cheek ‘wisdom’ from the same family history (p.224), this one on how to deal with a balking horse (for those of you from the post-horse era, that’s one that won’t move):
Not much practical help in our case, but I’ll try not to smile when members refer to motivating their committees as ‘lighting a fire under them.’
June 2022
Archives. C/D MHAC has a mandate to identify, preserve and promote local heritage resources. As we note elsewhere on the website, much of our local material is housed in the museum, library, in our own C/D MHAC holdings, or available online. Through our ongoing Inventory of Local Heritage Resources we also have identified a wealth of material that is held by organizations or in private collections across the municipality.
Having located these resources, how do we ensure they are preserved? We also have received calls from local organizations concerned about deterioration of their records. Custodians of private collections are faced with the reality that families are becoming smaller, more dispersed and out of touch with their roots. Both have had questions about safe, secure places to store their documents, photographs and life stories, the goal being to ensure they are preserved for future generations. See our March 2017 News and Events for one such treasure trove of local heritage records that almost ended up in the trash.
A sample of the many community records and vintage
photos C/D MHAC has rescuedWithout providing any embarrassing or painful details, let’s just say that one of the major challenges we face is that none of our local storage areas fully meet archival standards for environmental control, storage, handling and access.
This is why our recent Heritage Resource Management Plans (HRMPs) have acknowledged the need for an archival quality local repository to ensure safe, secure preservation of records, documents and other original heritage materials.
One solution that has been proposed is to move to digitlization of old records and photographs. An advantage of this approach is the current enthusiasm for digital media and the opportunity it presents to fulfil our mandate for wider promotion of local heritage. This is one of the reasons we share digital copies of reports, histories, newspapers and other C/D MHAC holdings with the local Dufferin Historical Museum and the Boyne Regional Library. Where possible, we share this information on our website and make a point of providing links to online resources. We also have been encouraging community groups to scan records such as local cemetery books and to store copies in a location separate from the original. The museum, in turn, has recently begun digitizing vintage photos to enhance accessibility and reduce handling.
Could digitization rather than archiving be the way of the future? For the family historian, seeing a copy of a family baptismal certificate or an ancestor’s naturalization papers, no matter how good the copy, is not the same as seeing the original. It’s a bit like having a museum without artifacts—just viewing pictures of the objects on a device. Would those grade-school students who thrill at trying on the old buffalo coat or touring the former one-room Boyne School get the same feel for local history viewing images on a screen?
Then there is that other complication. Have you tried recently to open those old 3.5” disks on which you used to store your material? Or looked for a website that’s no longer available online? Even tried to open files created a couple of program updates ago? Our heritage-biased thoughts are that digitization is a valuable adjunct, but not a replacement for the original records.
South-Central Regional Archive. Given these issues and concerns, it was timely that members of the newly formed South-Central Regional Archive attended our May meeting to bring the committee up to date on plans for building a regional archive in St. Claude.
While we were still in our ‘location of resources’ phase of preservation, the St. Claude Historical Society has been working for the past four years on plans for an archive to house local heritage records. From discussions with nearby communities such as Portage la Prairie, the group realized that the need for archival storage extends far beyond their own municipality. Consequently, they have expanded their vision and incorporated under the regional banner. The revised plan involves expansion and reworking of the original building plan to meet this new perception of their mission and catchment area. The intent of the SCRA is to meet the need for archival quality storage in South-Central Manitoba for family, business or organizational records, with access to be determined by contract with the donors.
The group has now applied for charitable status and is preparing policies and by-laws. Meanwhile, members are visiting other municipal councils and heritage groups to assess potential storage needs and obtain letters of support for the regional concept. They also will be seeking financial support from participating municipal councils.
One of the complicating factors here is the rather fierce loyalty of organizations and individuals to their own towns and communities and the resulting preference to see their resources held in their own district. These biases are based on commercial competition for business and small town survival along, perhaps, with a bit of ‘why didn’t we think of that?’ These sentiments often have roots as well in our early history of differences in ethnic origin, religion and language.
We have a few options. We can essentially ignore the SCRA project and let them move forward without our support. Better to lose some of our heritage resources than have them go out of our municipalities? If we want to keep records locally, we could invest in enhancing our own storage facilities. Or we could work with the SCRA to develop a high quality, accessible regional archive.
The St. Claude folks have already committed a huge amount of time and energy towards initiating and organizing this project. It is one that should greatly benefit heritage preservation efforts across the South-Central Region. Who knows, getting to know our neighbours and working together with them on a joint project might even begin to write a new chapter in local heritage.
November 2022
2022 became a year in which we could catch up on research, planning and other non-contact activities.
In one of our major accomplishments, C/D MHAC funded and assisted with the next phase of digitalization of local newspapers. Copies from the 1890s to 2018 are now available online through the Pembina Manitou Archive.
We also had time to work with our trusty web manager on a complete review and update of the website content and layout
January 2023
Transition. This February update marks the end of an era. David McInnes, our long-time web manager, has decided it’s time to move on to new challenges. As many of you know, the website was developed over a decade ago as an initiative of the Historic Resources Branch (HRB). From a survey of 96 municipalities in Western Canada and the USA, they found that local municipal websites had little or no heritage content.
As always, the active and creative minds at the HRB had a solution to the problem. They worked with the Gimli MHAC to develop a template that could be used by MHACs across the Province. Our committee had the good fortune of being asked to pilot the new template to see if it could be used across sites. HRB also provided access to the services of website manager David McInnes. To use an appropriate cliché – the rest is history. Together, we’ve developed what we now refer to as a ‘living history book’ – a growing source of information on all aspects of local heritage from the distant past to recent events or ‘history-in-the-making’. We try to provide basic content on heritage topics along with findings from ongoing research, feedback from website contacts, and links to more detailed sources of information.
Much of our inspiration has come from our web manager. From his work with museums, David McInnes brought years of knowledge, experience and appreciation of local heritage. He also had a keen interest in mastering new skills, such as his intriguing roll-over ‘Then-and-Now’ photos. Thank you, David, for a decade of inspiration, challenge, and learning. And good luck in your next re-retirement venture. C/D MHAC will miss you.
We now look forward to the next phase of our website’s history, as we welcome on board our new website partner, local business-woman Marilyn Smith of AccentWeb.
This website could not have been launched without the hard work and enthusiasm of a large supporting cast. The impetus for developing the website came from the Historic Resources Branch who identified the paucity of heritage content on municipal websites and developed an infrastructure for doing something about it.
This website is being developed as a pilot project, funded by a Heritage grant and designed to test a template that was developed in conjunction with the Gimli Municipal Heritage Advisory Committee. Our thanks to Historic Resources Branch personnel, in particular, to Ed Ledohowski, who made us aware of the possibilities and fired our interest in the project and to David Butterfield and colleagues, who served as architects and coordinators of the program.
The Dufferin Historical Museum has served as a major and readily accessible source of heritage content, particularly old photos (listed below). The Museum’s recent research for their book on early schools in the region was timely for our project. A number of photos of former schools were obtained from the Archives of Manitoba. Much of our material also is based on the earlier work of June Watson and colleagues who recorded our local history in their excellent work The Rural Municipality of Dufferin 1880–1980. Another key resource was A Review of the Heritage Resources of Boyne Planning District a study by Karen Nicholson, Historic Resources Branch, November 1984.
Members of the CDMHAC provide feedback on the project website content throughout the year and several have been involved directly in researching specific areas. Thanks to former MHAC members Lilla Letkeman for her work on cemeteries and Jonathan Ross for initiating our research on local churches. Nedra Burnett and husband Bob diligently collected GPS readings and photographs of heritage sites. Ian and Julie Hesketh have been researching Century Farms in the area. Shirley Snider organized Business Signs content, mined her extensive network of contacts for information and undertook the final proofreading of the site. She also worked closely with Website Coordinator Ina Bramadat in delving through files for photos and trekking throughout the municipalities in search of lost sites. The Coordinator also served as project contact, organized and cross-checked information, wrote the text and worked photographs into useable formats. We owe a great debt of thanks our capable and hard-working web consultant, David McInnes, who designed our website and logo and patiently organized a huge volume of material into a clean, easily navigable site.