Historic Charlottetown

One of the great research tools for architectural history in Charlottetown is the vast set of records researched by Catherine Hennessey over many years, and digitized by the City of Charlottetown.

The material is available through several search methods on the main search page. Entering a street name will produce results for all references to that street. You can also search by architect, or the exact address of the property.

As well a Map Search is also available.

Images of the Island: Learning From the Past

Resources and references for Heritage Week public presentation, Feb 20, 2010 at Beaconsfield Carriage House - called Images of the Island: Learning From the Past

• Steps in Creating a Slide Show
• Prince Edward Island -- On-line Exhibitions
• Doug Murray collection of historic Prince Edward Island post cards
• Historical aerial photography - Prince Edward Island
• Panoramic map of Charlottetown from 1878 - in zoomable format.
• The W. H. Pugsley Collection of Early Canadian Maps - McGill University Libraries
• Confederation Centre Art Gallery - Narratives of Nationhood -- art from permanent collection
  

1878 Panoramic View of Charlottetown

Thanks to the efforts of Charlottetown's own Peter Rukavina, we now have a zoomable version of the 1878 Panoramic View of Charlottetown, which is available anywhere that there is a net connection.

Sometimes known as the Birds Eye View, the map is a constant reference for many of us. I keep a framed copy of the map next to my desk that had been reproduced in 1983 by the PEI Museum & Heritage Foundation, and am now pleased to know that I can blow it up at the click of a mouse button.

Kudos to Peter for making this happen - it is a wonderful contribution to the growing historical resources related to Prince Edward Island.

You can also add comments on Peter's Flickr site.

Resources - Acadians on PEI - by Georges Arsenault

As a follow-up to the excellent talk given today by Island historian and folklorist Georges Arsenault, he has kindly provided a list of articles that may be of interest.

Articles on-line by George Arsenault

• Original place names in Île Saint-Jean
• The Settlement of Havre Saint Pierre
• The Saga of Alexis Doiron
• The Arsenaults, A Family with Deep Island Roots

Articles in The Island Magazine

• Georges Arsenault, “The Saga of Alexis Doiron”, Number 39 (Spring-Summer 1996), pp. 12-18.
• Georges Arsenault, “The Settlement of Havre Saint Pierre”, Number 53 (Spring/Summer 2003), pp. 25-30.
  
• Georges Arsenault, “The Malpeque Bay Acadians: 1728-1758", Number 66 (Fall/Winter 2009), pp. 2-9. (not currently on-line)
• Jean-Paul Arsenault,“The Odyssey of Joseph ‘Chaculot’ Gaudet and Marie-Blanche Bourg”, Number 54 (Fall/Winter 2003), pp. 11-15.
• Earle Lockerby, “Deportation of the Acadians from Île St.-Jean, 1758", Number 46 (Fall/Winter 1999), pp. 17-25.
• Earle Lockerby, “The Comte de Saint-Pierre and Ile Saint-Jean”, Number 61 (Spring/Summer2007), pp. 7-14.
• Earle Lockerby,“Le Comte de Saint-Pierre et l' Île Saint-Jean”, Number 61 (Spring/Summer2007), pp. 15-23. - note - French translation of English article above.
  

Other articles:

Georges Arsenault, “The Acadian Settlements of Pinette and Pointe Prime”, Keepsakes and Memories: Our Belfast, (Susan Hornby, editor), Belfast, Belfast Historical Society, 2009,
p. 23-37.


Other resources:

Acadian Ancestral Home - by Lucie LeBlanc Consentino.
Website for Acadian genealogy, history and research.

Maritime Noon Phone-in - Terry Punch - Now Archived

Terry Punch is no stranger to being in an archives - now the popular guest on Maritme Noon phone-in is part of the audio archives maintained by CBC Radio.

The previous shows are being maintained for several months so anyone who has missed an episode can listen by computer at the Radio Noon Archives site. The player is very simple just click on the item that you are interested in and then the grey arrow to start the player. Once the show has loaded (a green line shows progress) you can then navigate back and forth within the program by using the mouse to drag the grey bar in the centre of the player back and forth to find the Terry Punch portion, which typically follows the opening news items.

Here are the current episodes on the site:

February 8, 2010
NB not acting on suggested Family Court reforms / Why NS is putting an end to permits for private citizens to cut firewood on Crown land / Phone-in: Genealogist Terry Punch on tracing your family tree

January 5, 2010
Is it time for a revival of the Halifax to Boston ferry ? More stories of storm surge destruction / Phone-in: Genealogist Terry Punch on family health histories

December 7, 2009
The search for James Delorey / Phone-in: genealogist Terry Punch on new online sources in Ireland

November 9, 2009
Monday mailbag / Rural broadband / Dolly and the Ajax Club (Part 1) / Phone-in : Terry Punch on genealogy

October 13, 2009
The Hudson and the last great scientific voyage; e-mails on fact vs opinion; on the phone-in - genealogist Terry Punch

September 11, 2009
Terry Punch : When Do You Stop Tracing Your Family Tree ?

Ancestors in the Attic - History Channel

The popular Canadian show Ancestors in the Attic has returned for its fourth season on the History Channel.

Ancestors in the Attic
Airs Thursday evenings with two back-to-back episodes aired at 7:00 & 7:30 pm.

The same pair of programs are then aired again the same night at 10 & 10:30 pm.

All times listed are local PEI time (Atlantic time)

In Season 4, Ancestors in the Attic continues to travel the world solving mysteries, finding families and revealing key moments in Canadian history from a dramatic, personal perspective.

As well previous episodes from all four seasons are now viewable from their website.

Follow the Ancestors in the Attic link on the left sidebar to get the full listings of all four years.

The titles of upcoming episodes are listed on the site.

Our History

As published by The Guardian - Charlottetown, PEI

By Gary MacDougall

An insatiable sense of curiosity and strong opinions have always been character traits of Prince Edward Islanders, and no doubt are two of the reasons Charlottetown residents have always been loyal newspaper readers.

When it comes to Islanders and their opinions, perhaps city poet Milton Acorn summed it up best when he said, “The Island’s small ... every opinion counts.” The Island’s first newspaper was the Royal American Gazette and Weekly Intelligencer of the Island of Saint John, which was published in Charlottetown in September of 1787. It lasted less than a year but was quickly followed by many more, such as the Royal Gazette and Miscellany of the Island of Saint John, the Prince Edward Island Gazette and the Weekly Recorder of Prince Edward Island.

“For many homes, outside of the Bible, they might not have had much else to read but the paper,” says Island historian Ed MacDonald, referring to the Charlottetown of the 1800s.

Today’s media world is complex, filled with every imaginable technological option, from print and radio to TV and the blossoming Internet world.

But in Charlottetown’s early years, newspapers were the only game in town. If someone had a message to deliver, their options were limited. They could climb onto a soapbox and shout at passersby. Or, they could rent a hall and put their oral powers on display. But if they had the where with all to do it, the most effective option was to launch a newspaper.

“If you wanted to put your voice out there, if you wanted to be read, there was no radio, no TV, there was no medium of advertising that was going to put your views in every hall and school in the province,” said MacDonald. “The newspaper was your voice. And a lot of people were there to listen.”

The UPEI professor and author of If You’re Stronghearted, published in 2000, says although the early newspapers were gobbled up by the readers, they needed sponsors to survive.

“They were the organ of a particular kind of viewpoint,” MacDonald said, explaining that the newspapers of the day were affiliated with a religious or political point of view, or some other cause.

This was a double-edged sword. On the one hand, the movement’s followers provided a predictable and loyal audience.

However, those not party to the newspaper’s philosophy were unlikely to support it.

The Guardian was a bit of a late starter in Charlottetown’s newspaper industry and through the years faced stiff competition from such papers as the Patriot, the Examiner and the Herald.

But it has outlived them all and today is the city’s only daily.

The paper’s roots go back to the 1870s and Rev. Stephen G. Lawson, a Presbyterian minister. For some years he published a paper called The Presbyterian.

That name was later changed to The Protestant Union, but the name change didn’t help the paper’s finances.

Lawson surrendered it to Rev. William R. Frame, who changed the paper’s name to The Guardian around 1887. Frame avoided the extremes in politics of his predecessor and strengthened the paper's hold upon the public.

At his death, on June 30, 1888, John L. McKinnon, an experienced journalist, took charge of The Guardian as general manager and editor. In June of 1889 he handed the reins over to Benjamin D. Higgs. The paper flourished under Higgs' management and was changed from a weekly to a daily on Jan. 27, 1891.

In February of 1896, J.E.B. McCready, formerly of Saint John, N.B., who had been an outstanding member of the Press Gallery at Ottawa, took editorial charge. Following Higgs’ death, J.P. Hood acquired a controlling interest in The Guardian Company and continued it for some years.

In 1912, the Island’s Conservative party bought The Guardian plant and and engaged James Robertson Burnett as editor and manager. Trained as a journalist in Scotland and British Guiana, Burnett brought improved business methods to The Guardian and greatly increased its circulation.

He was one of the pioneers in the establishment of The Canadian Press.

With him as associate editors were McCready and D.K. Currie and, later, Frank Walker. Walker was referred to as “Mr. Hansard” because of the accuracy and objectivity on his reports from the P.E.I. legislature.

By this time, the paper was owned largely by one leading Conservative, Sir Charles Dalton, founder of the silver fox industry and later lieutenant governor of the province.

About 1921 the Dalton interests were sold to W. Chester S. McLure (then a Conservative MLA and later MP for Queens) and Lt.-Col. D.A. MacKinnon, D.S.O. The only other stockholder was Burnett. McLure became president of The Guardian Publishing Company and MacKinnon the secretary.

On April 28, 1923, a fire destroyed The Guardian plant and building, then on the corner of Kent and Great George. For some time the paper was issued from Burnett's residence on Kent Street and printed on The Patriot press.

The Temperance Hall, a stately century-old building on the corner of Prince and Grafton streets, was acquired and the paper continued to be published there until 1956, when it moved into its present location on Prince Street.

Around 1948, McLure and Col. MacKinnon sold out to Burnett and his sons, Ian, Bill, Lyn and George, who were associated with him in the business. Burnett died on June 12, 1952.

The Burnetts relinquished their financial interests to Thomson Newspapers Limited in December 1953, and The Guardian became the first member of the Thomson newspaper group in the Atlantic provinces. It was joined later by The Patriot and both papers were published out of the Prince Street location until the mid-1990s when The Patriot closed on June 9, 1995. The Patriot had begun publishing on July 1, 1864, and had a reporter at that year’s famous Charlottetown Conference.

Since being bought by Thomson in the 1950s, The Guardian has had many off-Island corporate owners. In October of 1996, it was purchased by Southam Inc. A short time later, the paper came under the ownership of Hollinger, which was controlled by Conrad Black.

The corporate shuffle continued late in 2000 when CanWest Global Communications of Winnipeg purchased the newspaper.

In August of 2002, the newspaper was purchased by Transcontinental Media of Montreal, which is the present owner.

Today’s Guardian, like the ones of old, still carries plenty of news about politics but coverage is non-partisan, unlike the old days. From 1912 into the 1950s it was unabashedly Conservative in its political leaning, as opposed to its rival the Patriot, which was the Liberal paper of record.

The two opposing points of view must have made for some interesting reading. The reporting on the July 1935 election is a classic example of how the two papers’ editors were often seeing two different worlds. The election was a rout for the Liberals. In black, bold letters, the Patriot proclaimed: “Liberals 30 - Conservatives 0.”

A smaller, but no less exuberant heading, said: “Tories wiped completely off the map of Prince Edward Island. MacMillan government annihilated in yesterday’s general elections.”

That day’s Guardian was much less enthusiastic about the outcome.

“Island votes for Liberal dictatorship,” the headline read. A smaller heading said, “Exploiting depression and unemployment grievances, Liberals yesterday achieved clean sweep in every constituency. Conservative electors deprived of any voice in legislative assembly.”

Most newspapers do a much better job of recording the daily history that is happening all around them then recording their own. The Guardian is no exception in this regard.

Because the newspaper does not document its past as much as it should, unfortunately it would be possible to stand in the newsroom — or any other part of the building — today and shout out important names from earlier years like Frank Walker, Vere Beck, Pius Callaghan, Bill Hancox , Bill Burnett, Ralph Cameron, Neil Matheson, Walter MacIntyre and Lorne Yeo and in many cases be met with blank stares.

And although few details are written down about the antics that have occurred in newsrooms through the years, some unwritten anecdotes refuse to die.

There’s the one about a reporter, whose nickname had something to do with the fact he was missing a finger or two, who was assigned to cover a legion convention and didn’t come back for three or four days.

The newsroom has also had its share of curious visitors, both two-legged and four-legged ones, such as a billy goat wearing a straw hat, several bags worth of dormant bats and a cheetah.

Stories about flying typewriters also refuse to die. One story has it that an upset journalist tossed a typewriter through the second floor newsroom window one night. Another story involved a typewriter being thrown down the stairwell in anger.

Bad temper? Far from it.

They’re just examples of the passion that has filled the hearts of men and women in the newspaper industry through the years who have put the news out on the street six days a week for all to read.

Gary MacDougall is the managing editor of The Guardian.

Who was Andrew Macphail?

Commentary
OPINION
IAN ROSS ROBERTSON
as published in The Guardian - Jan 28, 2010

Sir Andrew Macphail c. 1907
photo credit - Wikicommons

Recent Guardian articles highlight the immediate problem of paying the bills for everyday maintenance of the Macphail Homestead.

The homestead is undoubtedly a jewel in the Island's cultural heritage: an excellently preserved farmhouse from the early part of the 19th century, in public hands. What Islanders should also be aware of is the importance of the person whose name is associated with it.

Sir Andrew Macphail was a native of Orwell, born in 1864, one of a family of 10 surviving children, seven of whom attained university degrees. A physician who became McGill University's first professor of the History of Medicine, in 1911 he was founding editor of the Canadian Medical Association Journal.

But beyond his medical career, Macphail was a distinguished literary figure. As an essayist he had an international reputation which survives into the present era. He wrote on such varied subjects as Canadian identity, politics, diplomacy, social issues, education, and literature. He was also an extremely versatile author who created poetry, drama, short stories, and a novel, and did translations.

Within Canadian literature he ranks as Canada's best example of the "man of letters," a non-specialized writer who touched on many areas and attempted many genres. Macphail's leading theme as a commentator on contemporary Canadian life was the importance of farming, particularly to Prince Edward Island. He argued in favour of the traditional family farm, based on mixed agriculture. As has been noted in The Guardian, he was an innovator in Island agriculture, carrying out field experiments during the summers he spent at Orwell early in the 20th century. This was in a period when the Island was suffering from large-scale out-migration, and in his outspoken view, Canadian economic policy was promoting industrialization at the expense of farmers.

He also contributed to the modernization of Island fisheries in the 1890s by carrying out, for the Dominion government, an investigation of the lobster canning industry, and recommending improvements to retain markets.

In the 1920s, Macphail started work on his semi-autobiographical memoir, The Master's Wife, an account of life in rural Prince Edward Island during his youth, as seen through the eyes of a child. This remarkably original literary work was non-fiction; the characters are real. The setting for the stories is the Macphail Homestead, which he deliberately kept unmodernized throughout his life. Macphail's writing - especially The Master's Wife - entitles him to rank with L.M. Montgomery and Milton Acorn among the leading literary figures to emerge from Prince Edward Island. His house is a direct link to his writing and to his vision for the Island.

If "cultural tourism" is to be promoted, then its value to that segment of the tourism industry would be unmatched because of its authenticity.

Ian Ross Robertson, a native of Mermaid, is a professor emeritus of history, University of Toronto at Scarborough. His most recent book is Sir Andrew Macphail: The Life and Legacy of a Canadian Man of Letters (Montreal & Kingston: McGill-Queen's University Press, 2008). He is also the 2009 recipient of the Prince Edward Island Museum and Heritage Foundation's Award of Honour, which recognizes outstanding contribution to the preservation of Island heritage.