#william & marry digital archive

[vikenticomeshome]

Cyberchase Character Gallery (Artwork Submissions)

One of the areas that I have worked in as part of my efforts to archive the Cyberchase website was the "Character Gallery". This was a place to share drawings of the characters that had been submitted by fans. The entire gallery has been preserved via the FlashPoint Archive project.

Now, I cannot repost everything here. This gallery ran from 2003 through 2011. During that time, over 250 images were added. However, I want to share some of my favorites, with appropriate credit, of course. The works don't have titles applied by the site, however. For the record, I did not draw any of these.

Here is a picture of Icky the Cyberslug.

It was drawn by Sana, Age 10, from Streamwood

Here is a picture of The Hacker at his most terrifying.

It was drawn by Devon, Age 7, from Sparta.

Here is a group shot of the characters, with very different color schemes than we are used to. I don't want to go through everyone, but I kind of like the stylized Motherboard.

It was drawn by Christina, Age 14, from Hampton.

Here is an artist's impression of Hacker after he activates his Transformatron for the first time and becomes a god.

It was drawn by Devin, Age 9, from Cleveland

Unfortunately, the scan quality on this one isn't great. We have Slider, who is just impossibly ripped. We have Jackie and Inez crushing on him as usual. And we have Matt, who is not pleased with the situation. So, everyone is in-character.

This was drawn by WIlliam, Age 8, from New York City.

I don't know about you guys, but this is how I remember Matt.

This was drawn by Maggie, Age 5, out of Westport.

And here's a picture of Jackie. She may be going for a hug.

This was drawn by McKinley, Age 5, our of Haper Woods.

And here we have Inez holding a manila folder.

This was drawn by Adrian, Age 10, out of Greenbelt.

We finally get some representation for Dr. Marbles. We have the lightbulb, the glasses, and the mustache.

This was drawn by Brenna, Age 6, from Oswego.

And now we have Bianca from "Cyberchase for Real". I think this is the only representation from "Cyberchase for Real" that I saw in the gallery.

This was drawn by Samantha, Age 6, from Terrytown.

Here we have Matt and Inez married.

This was drawn by Sara, Age 14, out of Arnold.

"I like Inez because she save the puddle vile"

Whenever I look at this, I see Norma from Psychonauts 2.I know its not the case, since this was probably drawn 15 years before Psychonauts 2 came out.

This was drawn by Alexis, Age 10, out of the Bronx.

And here's Digit.

This was drawn by Alyssa, Age 11, out of Dracut.

And here we have Delete, the red nosed robot. This is oddly fitting for him.

This was drawn by Amber, Age 9, out of Wawaka.

And now we have Inez as some sort of angel.

This was drawn by Hannah, Age 7, out of Plainfield.

I think I'll finish off with this group shot of the children with Motherboard in the background.

This was drawn by Sara, Age 14, out of Arnold.

I'm glad that I was able to archive these so they won't be lost forever.

[lavelled]

the halfwit couplet. 

The crux of it was inhumane tragedy, racial falsehoods from a saleswoman, and you mocking bullied young victims on the Internet through your own unchecked print and digital campaign.

“X Confirms It’s Moving Out of San Francisco.” Ah. You’re denying me cable cars or you’re referencing Alcatraz Island. I’m good. I’ve got Nicolas Cage.

What seems to be happening is a professional-failure of a prince is toying with sympathetic members of the public over a painful and deadly disease known as cancer that, Kate, a princess, does not have so he can claim sexual first-ness with a woman who says no. “Continues to battle” is tied canopy bedding.

A news quip signifying nothing on counterfeit spouse’s sister. You should know that in his fused code: half-sibling means half. Of 8. Four. Harry had Samantha be photographed hand-delivering a sealed letter outside Kensington after his blowhard wedding. Google it. A wheelchaired reminder that after decades, not a burden lifted, a hermetic life was still immobile and childless.

Days of Thunder. The actors play assigned roles in whistling arrow flight. Robert Duvall plays Harry Hogge. English actor, Cary Elwes, plays Russ Wheeler. J.C. Quinn plays Waddell. Randy Quaid is Tim Daland. The Wales’ pedophilia is well-driven in turbo banked curves on a track. I was sixteen at filming. Your dad views little girls as melty fresh-snow lovers. Actor J. C. Quinn died in Ciudad Juárez, Mexico, which are his initials and in no way means anything in the worst possible ways.

AP Archive YouTube video: UK: PRINCE WILLIAM & PRINCE HARRY AT HIGHGROVE 1999. William drives on gravel in a white car, a red L near the headlight. Alas, K. He’s next to Harry, decked out in green, and they coordinate a synchronized dance where we see nothing but elbows and a ghostgirl of a certain age because love. Charles goes to the middle. Twerp rubs his nose. Stupid, if you ask me. And yeah, red jacket and dual camera gents.

We lifted tech-lord camo for Archillect, Murat Pak, Elon Musk, Piers Morgan, Spencer Morgan, Bill Ackman, and Donald Trump. Morbid wordsmith of: “I’m sad to announce, my father Donald Trump has passed away. I will be running for president in 2024.” Donald Jr’s page. For Tom. Sad is happy. Happy is Harry. Harry is a dead-eyed sociopath, next stop, the asylum, haha, I hate this. I left twitter poolside. He compared poisoned Skittles to refugees (altruism). Junior means jailer.

The world is done with code we’d rather block out, with underage under-priced contracts, your family and wife.

Verne Troyer—comedian and sidekick in Austin Powers and Harry Potter films—suicide. April 21, 2018. One month before your wedding.

Kieron Durkan—English footballer—suicide. At 44-years-old, he was found dead in his car in Wigg Island Park, UK. Three months before your wedding.

Greg Boyed—New Zealand journalist, broadcaster, marathon runner—took his life while on a family holiday in Switzerland. Three months after your wedding.

Kolya Vasin—Russian writer and music historian—jumped from a gallery shopping centre. At the young parkouring age of 73. Three months after your wedding.

Kagney Linn Karter—born Christina Abbey in Harris County, Texas—singer, dancer, porn actress in adult parodies of Silence Of The Lambs and Not Married with Children, which is badass given her chosen name. A few months ago, she shot herself in the mouth with a shotgun.

Duangphet Phromthep—At 13, was Thai captain of that junior football team rescued from a trapped cave in 2018. He won a football scholarship to England. At the Brooke House College Football Academy, he committed suicide. Valentine’s Day. He was 17.

Lee Sun-kyun—Screen Actors Guild Award-winner—best known as the dad in the con-artist thriller, Parasite, thematically about class and society and the rich Park family versus the destitute Kim clan. Lee died by suicide in a car at a park in Seoul, a charcoal briquette in the passenger seat.

Billy Miller—thrice-time Emmy Award-winning actor—traveled to Austin, Texas to commit suicide from a gun to the head. Last year. September 15. He guest starred on Suits as MARCUS.

K

[nordleuchten]

A truly challenging letter ...

I recently found this letter in the William & Mary Digital Archive and was immediately intrigued - not because of the content of the letter but because the letter was barely readable. The archive guide offered a transcription of the first eleven words and then only stated that the letter was in great parts illegible. My interest was piqued and so I tried my best to transcribe the letter in full … something that was not in the realm of my abilities. So I did what I always do when I encounter something that I can not read, I asked the lovely @acrossthewavesoftime to lend a helping hand (Thanks again!) and between the two of us we manged to, well, not transcribe everything, but a fair section. Enough at least to understand the gist of the letter.

Baltimore November the 26th 1824

my dear Commodore

my father gives me the agreeable task of answering

your letter dated november the 9th 1824 […] he thanks

you for having called on [bergent people ?] be glad [?] who en-

closed [?] a letter, stating that the Committee

for the Washington monument was not yet quite

ready for the laying of the cornerstone.

my father has not yet answered to Mr Suged

and indeed will not answer to him, till [cross out] after

the meeting of Congress, that will benefit me when he will

be able to Know more about these proceedings

if you see Mr Sergent, will you be so good as to let

him Know my father’s motives to [crossed out] not answering to him

immediately.

[…] that […] we asked together Sir, will ever be

reminded by us with the greatest gratification, and regret of its having been so short.

permit me, Sir, to hope that this expression

of Levasseur’s, and my best regards will be

acceptable to you

G. W. Lafayette

Commodore Barron

The question marks mark sections in the letter where there definitely are more words, but they are to faint as that we could read them. The dots mark passages where we suspect that there might be more words … but we are simply not quite sure because the writing is so faded. If any of you can read more than the two of us, please, be our guest and add anything that you might be able to decipher!

As to the actual content of the letter (or at least everything that we could transcribe); the Commodore was a certain James Barron. He was an American Navy Officer and served in the Quasi War, (1798-1800) and in the First Barbary War (1801-1805). Before retiring in 1839 he had command of the USS Essex and the USS President (among other ships). He was court-martialled in 1808 for not preparing his ship in time for possible action, a mistake that led to Barron having to surrender his ship to the British. He also fought a duel against Commodore Stephen Decatur on March 22, 1820.

I have searched for the referenced letter from Barron to La Fayette from November 9, 1824 but I could not find it anywhere and I believe that it might be lost forever. Something similar goes for the two gentlemen, Mr Suged and Mr Sergent - I have no idea who this fellows were. They are not mentioned in any of the papers/documents/letters from La Fayette that I have at my disposal. The only other name mentioned in the letter, Levasseur, is easier to explain. Auguste Levasseur was La Fayette’s private secretary at the time and accompanied him during his travels in America. He later published details of the tour in his book “Lafayette in America, In 1824 and 1825, or, Journal of Travels in the United States” (this is the English title of course, Levasseur originally wrote and published in France).

While La Fayette laid a number of cornerstones during his visit to the United States, he did not lay the cornerstone for the Washington Monument (or the cornerstone for the Washington Monument in Philadelphia that was debated at the time). The reason - when the cornerstone was eventually laid on July 4, 1848, La Fayette was dead for well over a decade.

I found it quite intriguing to see Georges Washington de La Fayette writing, that he answered this letter in his fathers stead. La Fayette was absolutely bombarded with letters, invitations, gifts and what not all in 1824/25 and I am not at all surprised that, even with Levasseur’s help, he was just not able got the better of all the post and so his son had to step in on occasions. Honestly, I am surprised that we have not seen more letters like this one (the content, not the quality of the ink ;-))

[brokehorrorfan]

Shadow of a Doubt, The Trouble with Harry, Saboteur, Marnie, and Family Plot will be released on 4K Ultra HD (with Blu-ray and Digital) on May 10 via Universal Pictures. They'll be available both individually and in The Alfred Hitchcock Classics Collection: Volume 2 box set.

All five films are, of course, directed by Alfred Hitchcock. Saboteur is a 1942 spy thriller written by Peter Viertel, Joan Harrison and Dorothy Parker. Robert Cummings, Priscilla Lane, and Norman Lloyd star.

Shadow of a Doubt is a 1943 psychological thriller written by Thornton Wilder, Sally Benson, and Alma Reville. Teresa Wright, Joseph Cotten, Macdonald Carey, Patricia Collinge, Henry Travers, and Wallace Ford star.

The Trouble with Harry is a 1955 dark comedy thriller written by John Michael Hayes, based on the 1950 novel by Jack Trevor Story. Edmund Gwenn, John Forsythe, Mildred Natwick, Jerry Mathers and Shirley MacLaine star.

Marnie is a 1964 psychological thriller written by Jay Presson Allen, based on the 1961 novel by Winston Graham. Tippi Hedren, Sean Connery, Diane Baker, and Martin Gabel star.

Family Plot is a 1976 black comedy thriller written by Ernest Lehman, based on Victor Canning's 1972 novel The Rainbird Pattern. Karen Black, Bruce Dern, Barbara Harris, and William Devane star. It was Hitchcock’s final film.

The films have each been restored in 4K and presented with HDR. Special features are listed below, where you can also see the (rather lackluster) artwork for the standalone releases.

Shadow of a Doubt special features:

Beyond Doubt: The Making of Hitchcock's Favorite Film

Production Drawings by Art Director Robert Boyle

Production Photographs

Theatrical Trailer

After her charming Uncle Charlie (Joseph Cotton) comes to visit in the sleepy town of Santa Rosa, his favorite niece and namesake, "Young Charlie" (Teresa Wright), begins to suspect him of being the infamous Merry Widow murderer. As she draws closer to the truth, a dangerous game of cat-and-mouse begins, leading to a shocking climax.

The Trouble with Harry special features:

The Trouble with Harry Isn't Over

Production Photographs

Trailer

The trouble with Harry is that he is dead and, while no one really minds, everyone feels responsible. After Harry's body is discovered in the woods, several of the local residents must determine not only how and why he was killed but what to do with the body.

Saboteur special features:

Saboteur: A Closer Look

Storyboards

Alfred Hitchcock's Sketches

Production Photographs

Theatrical Trailer

After aircraft factory worker Barry Kane (Robert Cummings) witnesses his plant's firebombing by a Nazi agent, he finds himself falsely accused of sabotage and killing his best friend. To clear his name, Kane begins a relentless cross-country chase that takes him from Los Angeles to Boulder Dam and New York's Radio City Music Hall. The suspense builds to a climactic finale atop the Statue of Liberty.

Marnie special features:

The Trouble with Marnie

The Marnie Archives

Theatrical Trailer

A compulsive liar and thief, Marnie (Tippi Hedren) winds up impulsively marrying the very man (Sean Connery) she attempts to rob. When a terrible accident pushes her over the edge, her husband struggles to help her face her demons and her past as the plot races to a shattering, inescapable conclusion.

Family Plot special features:

Plotting Family Plot

Storyboards: The Chase Scene

Production Photographs

Theatrical Trailers

A phony psychic (Barbara Harris) and con man (Bruce Dern) are a conniving couple who plot to swindle an old lady out of her fortune by telling her they can find her long-lost nephew. In the process, their lives become intertwined with a larcenous jewel merchant (William Devane) and his beautiful girlfriend (Karen Black) who have an affinity for kidnapping.

Pre-order The Alfred Hitchcock Classics Collection: Volume 2.

[hagleyvault]

This morning’s return of seasonably wintry weather has us feeling like little explorer David Binney Putnam (1913–1992), seen here bundled up on the bow of the schooner Effie M. Morrissey, on a 1926 Arctic expedition up the west coast of Greenland. Putnam was the son of publisher, author, and explorer George Palmer Putnam (1887–1950), the product of his first marriage to Dorothy Binney (1888–1982), a Crayola crayon heiress. George’s second marriage was to the celebrated aviator Amelia Earhart (1897–disappeared 1937).

David Binney Putnam would follow in the footsteps of his father and stepmother. He famously began his life of adventure by exploring the Galapagos Islands and Sargasso Sea at age 12, along with his father and naturalist Charles William Beebe (1877–1962). Following the voyage, his name was attached to David Goes Voyaging, the first in a series of boys’ adventure books published by his father’s publishing house of  G. P. Putnam's Sons. 

The voyage pictured here brought the thirteen year old along with the American Museum Greenland Expedition, organized by George Palmer Putnam, University of Michigan Professor William H. Hobbs, and the American Museum of National History. His experiences photographing and hunting narwhal, polar bear, walrus seals, and sharks on this adventure would later be recounted in an installment of this series titled David Goes to Greenland.

After his father married Earhart in 1931, David Binney Putnam began receiving flying lessons and played a minor role in joining her and other aviators in founding Northeast Airlines in 1933. He would later serve as a pilot for the Army Air Corps in World War II. Following the war, he settled in Fort Pierce, Florida, where he established a career in real estate, with periodic forays into motion picture production, banking and retail establishments, and searching for Spanish shipwrecks.

This photograph is part of the Hagley Library’s collection of Lammot du Pont, Jr. collection of aeronautical photographs (Accession 1975.360). You can view more material from this collection online now by clicking here to visit its page in our Digital Archive.

[ladyhistorypod]

Episode 12: The Lady History Library

Sources:

Zora Neale Hurston

National Women’s History Museum

Zora Neale Hurston Digital Archive, Chronology

Zora Neale Hurston: A Biography of the Spirit

Further Reading & Listening: The Dead Ladies Show (podcast), Wrapped in Rainbows: the Life of Zora Neale Hurston (audio book), The death and rebirth of Zora Neale Hurston (article/podcast), 

Maya Angelou

Maya Angelou’s Website

Time

Biography

National Women’s History Museum

The Harlem Writers Guild

Poetry Foundation

Mary Shelley

Literary Hub

History Channel

Encyclopedia

Biography

Poetry Foundation

British Library: Mary Shelley

British Library: Mary Shelley, Frankenstein and the Villa Diodati

University of Central Missouri

Somerset Live

Attributions: image of Maya Angelou, Book Page, Maya Angelou at Hillside Courtesy; William J. Clinton Presidential Library 

Click below for a transcript of this episode!

Archival Audio: Our story is about a library. Although this library is a new one, it is not much different from most. And the people you will see might be your own neighbors.

Alana: You guys we did it. (Laughing)

Lexi: Yes!

Haley: Guys, I was in the car going to my in-laws or like what my mom calls my in-laws because I don't know what to do– like what do you call your boyfriend's parents when you live with your boyfriend?

Lexi: Your boyfriend's parents.

Alana: Hey Riddle Riddle has a word for this. SOPAS. Significant other’s parents.

Lexi: Oh yeah!

Haley: I like that.

Lexi: That's good.

Alana: Your SOPAS.

Haley: We’re not, like, married but then I don't know like I feel like saying oh my boyfriend’s parents. And we heard it like on the radio and all the tweets just came rushing in and we were getting gas and I did like a little dance in the car.

Lexi: Awww.

Haley: And when we were driving up I kept clapping and saying thank you out the window to all the Biden/Harris signs and then hissing at all the Trump/Pence and I think I heard me. But like, come on.

Lexi: I was walking on the beach, and people were driving by with American flags honking and every time someone honked everyone would cheer. And then this guy came by in a Biden/Harris tee that he'd cut the sleeves off of so it was very like 1980s muscle tank and he had a little horn on his bike and he was talking and he was going “woo! Woo!”

Alana: That is so Biden.

Lexi: And then there was one guy who gave him the middle finger and everyone who was like around the area of the beach, like it's Covid so people like weren't like close together but people were like around each other and everyone just looked at that guy like. You’re the asshole.

Alana: There was like just tons of honking and it was a lot of fun. And then I was trying to take my Shabbat nap and there was still honking.

Haley: What I want to know like immediately, and I say that sarcastically because we have a lot of other fish to fry, is where his like presidential library is going to be. Because that's like law. In the fifties Congress passed a law that every US president has to have their library. My guess is that Trump’s is going to be in like Florida. Like right next to–

Lexi: You don’t think New York City?

Haley: No. I’m being fully serious when I say it's Florida because I don't think New York.

Lexi: Mar a Largo Presidential Library?

Alana: Yeah probably.

[INTRO MUSIC]

Alana: Hello and welcome to Lady History; the good, the bad, and the ugly ladies you missed in history class. Today I'm joined in the Lady History library by Lexi. Lexi, what's the best grade you've gotten on a paper about a book you didn't read?

Lexi: Well I have to tell you something, Alana. I have never not read a book for school. I am a kiss ass. I'm a loser. I never had–

Alana: Haley is doing the big L

Lexi: L. on her forehead. I know. I was called all sorts of names. Brownnoser, ass-kisser… My number one teacher relationship was with the AP literature teacher. I read every word of Light in August. I read every word of One Hundred Years of Solitude. So, sorry to disappoint you but–

Alana: You’re blowing my mind right now. 

Lexi: I read all of Crime and Punishment word for word.

Alana: Our other librarian is Haley. Haley, what do you think is the most overrated book in the straight white male literary canon?

Haley: Anything from Shakespeare.

Alana: I love you so much Haley. I also don't like Shakespeare.

Lexi: There's a theory that he might be three women pretending to be a man.

Alana: And I'm Alana and I believe everyone has two favorite books; their intellectual favorite and their actual favorite.

Lexi: One hundred percent true.

Alana: So this is my post intro banter; what is your intellectual favorite and what is your actual favorite. Intellectual favorite is like your favorite that you had to read for school, and then like your real favorite.

Haley: That's assuming I like, read books in high school. Okay, let me–

Lexi: I’m the opposite.

Haley: Like, let me– okay, I'm like on the spectrum of dyslexia. My mom may come after me, she doesn’t listen to the podcast, it's fine, she's in denial about it. But I have a really hard time doing pronunciation in my head and pronouncing words. It just, it happened. I didn't really start reading until the second grade. So going into high school, I had to do the standardized testing. I got a one on the English and then like a four on the science? Because those were like the two that worked. And they thought I was like the stupidest person in the world. Like they couldn't like. Brain fathom that I didn't think the same way for reading grammar and like reading books because they were like “did you– what happened? You got a four on science.” And I just, I did not read like it was never– and I read books on the side. My mom would like see me reading like Harry Potter, Hunger Games, all the YA books of the time and not reading school books. And it was just like out of disdain. But I think if I had to pick out of like the five I actually read was One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest because I knew I would watch the movie with Jack Nicholson and I actually like the book. And then fun book, I don't have a favorite fun book, I just have a genre. Like that cheesy romance novels.

Alana: Oh yeah.

Haley: Not the ones about sex, but just like the girl finding the guy… the single mom like figuring life out. Anything from like Jennifer Hyde, Jasmine Guillory, those books are my jam because I know that like I'm so distant from them. Just like in retrospect and I don't have those type of human emotions. I’m like “oh. That’s– that is a fantasy.” That is my fantasy type thing. Like I think I can like see a pig fly or just like Harry Potter's wand come shooting at my brain cells, but like girl falling in love because she met a guy at the bookstore? That sounds fake.

Alana: I want to point out. Haley is the only one of us who’s in a romantic relationship right now.

Lexi: I think that says something about if you have too high expectations… you’re gonna be single. (Laughing)

Haley: Remember, I thought like my longtime boyfriend was gay and in a relationship the man he was sitting on the couch with.

Lexi: So, okay. My favorite intellectual book is probably One Hundred Years of Solitude, and people always like “why the hell do you like that book… like incest… like what's wrong with you?” I just think it’s really well written. Like, I think it's very visual in how it describes things and it's like full of like visual metaphor and now I sound like an asshole the way I’m talking. Like I love books.

Haley: No, I am so happy you said that because I tried reading that book. That was never recommended in school, but after finishing school and like learning to love to read through like summer vacation and then also college, I found one of those buzzfeed list of like a hundred books you had to read in school and I've been trying to like pick them off. And I've tried to read that book like two to three times and I can't get past page 70, and I don't know if that's just me or that's like the book. But it's probably me. But now that you’ve said this I'm gonna start it again.

Lexi: I think it takes a certain kind of person to enjoy it, but it's a very good book. And then my fun book– that's hard because I love lots of fun books. Like I want to say The Smoke Gets in Your Eyes by Caitlin Doughty but that's not really fun, that's actually quite intellectual. Oh, now I sound like more of an asshole! I can’t not sound like an asshole this episode.

Alana: Today on Lady History: Lexi’s an asshole.

Lexi: I'm a literary snob. But no, this– this’ll redeem me. My all time favorite book like of all time is called the Perkin Papers, and quite frankly I don't know if it even still exists, like I don't think you can buy a new copy of it because the copy I have is from the 1930s and I found it at an auction in a box when I was five. But it's gotten me through some rough times.

Haley: That is the most Lexi way of finding a motherfucking book if I’ve ever heard one.

Lexi: I go to a lot of weird places to find books. So my favorite smart person book, or my favorite high school book is Frankenstein which oh my god sneak peek foreshadowing. And then my favorite actual, my actual favorite fun book is either Good Omens which I read before I knew the show was coming out by the way. I am not a bandwagoner. Not that there's anything wrong with being a bandwagoner but I am not a bandwagoner. Or an Absolutely Remarkable Thing by Hank Green and the sequel, A Beautifully Foolish Endeavor. But I think that Hank Green's books are beautiful depictions and explorations of humanity and social media.

LEXI’S STORY STARTS HERE

Archival Audio: This little song is a story. The young lady thinks that it's time for them to get married, in fact if she thinks they just have to, and the boy doesn’t want to marry. And so this song’s about it. (Singing) Tilly, lend me your pigeon. He caught me with mine. My pigeon’s gone wild in the bush. My pigeon’s gone wild. My pigeon’s gone wild in the bush. My pigeon’s gone wild.

Lexi: I have two things in common with Zora Neale Hurston, any guesses on what those two things are?

Alana: You love the bison at the zoo.

Haley: You both have owned birds.

Lexi: I don't think either of those are true of Zora Neale Hurston. But, those two things it is is that she was a trained anthropologist and she went to a college in Washington DC.

Alana: Okay my guess was that you both lived in DC for– my actual guess was that you both lived in DC for a while, and I know that sounds like “eheheh that’s what I was going to say” but that is, like, what I was going to say.

Lexi: No I believe that you would have guessed that because I think it's like… People reference her around DC because she spent some time there. Although she didn’t spend that long there. Anyway and then the funny thing is you both also kinda had that come with her so. Haha.

Alana: That's true. 

Lexi: We all have those two things in common with Zora Neale Hurston. Now I will begin. So, let's jump into her story… book, get it? She's an author and also Haley says that a lot of times so it’s not that unique that I said that. Zora was born on January 15, 1891 in Notasulga? I might be saying that wrong. Notasulga, Alabama. And like many other young Black women in her era, both her parents had been enslaved. And when she was very young her family moved to Florida and settled in Eatonville, which is one of the first towns in the United States to be incorporated by African-Americans, so she grew up in an area with a lot of African-American leaders.

Speaker 2: There, her father became mayor and pastor at the local church and her mother Lucy Potts Hurston died in 1904 and her father remarried. Zora and her stepmother did not get along, and so the young girl went to live with other family members, spending a lot of time with her brother in her brother's homes. In 1914, she moved to Memphis and began working as a nanny for one of her brother’s children. And she then became a maid and moved to Baltimore. In Baltimore, she eventually became a waitress and decided to go back to school, studying at night. And on September 17, 1917, Zora at the age of 26 enrolled at the Morgan Academy. She graduated with a high school degree a year later and moved to Washington DC where she began working as a manicurist and continued to work as a waitress. That fall she entered Howard University and in two years she earned an associate's degree. Zora co-founded The Hilltop, which is still Howard's student newspaper to this day. She then moved to New York City. Zora, through a scholarship she earned, attended Barnard College. There, she declared herself an English major, but was also passionate about anthropology, studying under the famed “founding father” anthropologist Franz Boas. Also while in New York, she befriended notable Harlem icons such as Langston Hughes and Countee Cullen. She became a part of the Black cultural movement, joining many other Black writers living and working in Harlem. At the end of her college career, Professor Boas encouraged her to collect Black folklife in the south. This experience shaped future work. As both an anthropologist and author, Zora dedicated her life to the preservation and promotion of Black cultural studies. She did not only study Black culture and African diaspora in the United States of America, but also visited the islands of Haiti, the Bahamas, and Jamaica; studying religion and reporting her findings in US newspapers. In addition to producing ethnographic work for her research, she also used her studies of Black culture, religion, and folklife to inspire her fiction writing. She also collaborated with Langston Hughes on her writing. Her most famous work, Their Eyes Were Watching God, is notable for breaking barriers as one of the first fiction novels to explore the experience of a Black woman in America. Today, the novel is used as an educational tool in high school literature classes and college anthropology and American studies courses. If you have not read it, do yourself a favor; go pick up a copy from your local bookstore or library. It was the book that inspired me to pick Zora for this episode and it's one of the works that inspired me to study anthropology in college because when I read it as a junior in high school I was like this is really interesting I need to know more about this lady and how she got all this information to make the story. And I found out how she did ethnographic work and I was like “that's a job?” So anyway, that’s really cool. Zora wore many hats, and anthropology and literature were not her only passions. She also taught drama at the North Carolina College for Negroes, which is now the North Carolina Central University and she worked as a consultant for a movie studio, Paramount Pictures. In the 1940s, Zora lived on a houseboat that she called Wanago. And also in a controversial hot take zero oppose the Supreme Court ruling in Brown V. Board, believing integration would actually result in assimilation and destroy the cultural transmission of knowledge between Black teachers and Black students, which I guess makes a bit of sense. At the time, integration meant a lot of Black students went on to have white teachers and a lot of Black teachers were no longer teaching. And cultural representation in education really matters because sometimes without specific cultural understanding, meeting students’ needs can be really hard, and we still see this problem today. So obviously I don't believe in school segregation, but I think Zora’s point could be used today to support hiring diversity and hiring teachers who reflect diverse communities where they teach. Zora was married three times, but it never lasted long. I think they were all like a year, but honestly they’re such a footnote in her life it's hard to find resources on these guys. Through her lifetime, Zora was largely ignored by mainstream white literary critics and she had a large following in the Black community. She was usually underpaid for her work and she lived poorly for most of her life. Towards the end of her life, despite being an accomplished author, she was evicted. She suffered a stroke in 1959, and in old age she was forced to enter the St Lucie County Welfare Home where she was cared for until her death of heart disease on January 28, 1960. Because she had no money or close relatives, she was buried in an unmarked grave and her funeral was held through donations collected from her friends. When Alice Walker, the author known for her book The Color Purple, found out Zora’s grave was unmarked, she decided to do something about it. In 1972, she found Zora’s grave and commissioned a marker for it. The marker reads “ZORA NEALE HURSTON / A GENIUS OF THE SOUTH / NOVELIST FOLKLORIST / ANTHROPOLOGIST / 1901–1960." And yes, she got the birthday wrong, but that's okay because she did an awesome thing recognizing her. Though in life, Zora’s work was overlooked, in death she became an icon, and is considered one of the best writers of her time. Today many modern authors consider her an influence on their work. Her folklife recordings and manuscripts are held in the Zora Neale Hurston archive at the University of Central Florida and can be accessed online through their website or the Library of Congress. Her hometown, Eatonville, Florida, honors her with the Zora Neale Hurston Museum of Fine Arts and the Zora Neale Hurston Library; two fitting tributes to her passion for arts, culture, and literature. And, so I know I said that the reason I picked her was because of Their Eyes Were Watching God, and that's true but that's only half true. Another reason I love Zora Neale Hurston is that when I worked at the zoo there were two bison at the National Zoo, and there's always bison at the National Zoo because the first animal ever exhibited at the National Zoo was a bison and every time there's always two, and one is always named by Howard University and one is always named by Gallaudet University because they’re two universities in DC, and the students vote through a poll to name each of the bison that represent their school. And this started as a tradition because the bison is the mascot of Howard. They are the Howard bison, so that's how this tradition started. And usually the Howard students pick an alum of their university to be the bison's name, and so while I was working at the zoo, the bison named by Howard students was named Zora and she was named after Zora Neale Hurston, who got her associate's degree from Howard University. And that's pretty cool, but unfortunately I just found out recently that Zora passed away March 7, 2020 from an leg injury. And when big animals like bison and horses get leg injuries, they can't really recover. They have to be humanely euthanized, which really stinks. But they do have two new baby bison at the zoo that just got named this July.

HALEY’S STORY STARTS HERE

Archival Audio: History, despite its wrenching pain, cannot be unlived, but if faced with courage, need not be lived again. Lift up your eyes upon This day breaking for you. Give birth again To the dream. Women, children, men, Take it into the palms of your hands, Mold it into the shape of your most Private need. Sculpt it into The image of your most public self. Lift up your hearts Each new hour holds new chances For a new beginning.

Haley: So, like Lexi said, I always say let’s crack open that story book, and that’s exactly what we're gonna do today for Marguerite Annie Johnson or Maya Angelou. I'm gonna try a new way of quote “storytelling” for just in general huge historic heroes by telling a couple of quote “short stories' ' rather than like one long telling of their life-icles.

Lexi: Vignettes.

Haley: What?

Lexi: Vignettes. Like if you ever read the book The Things They Carried– oh my god Lexi’s a literary snob. It's a book told in vignettes.

Alana: Vine was also short for vignettes.

Haley: And I thought it was fitting to do it for our author ladies because like short stories, haha so funny. And especially our author, Maya, has written 36 books and some of those actually include cookbooks, so throwback to our previous episode. So, story number one I've titled quote “I love the uniforms.” So Maya had spent some time in San Francisco, and she was actually the first female African American cable car conductor. So for those of you who are not familiar with San Francisco's cable car, they’re the classic almost like trolley-like vehicles that make a bunch of noise when you hear them. And they're mainly downtown SF to go up and down those massive eff off hills, and they’re a huge tourist attraction at this point. And the secret is, guys do this if you're ever in SF, past corona, all that good stuff. It's fourteen dollars to like ride it. But if you get one of those like day passes included, then that's– like that's what you have to do. You have to make sure the day pass you get or if you're a local because a lot of them use it for their transportation of like if you're on top of Knob Hill you go down the hill or up the hill to get to really where like the financial district stuff is… all the big businesses. and in our like monthly pass where you pay like eighty dollars for it you get like unlimited trolley car… or, cable car… I always called it the trolley. I don't know why, but Robert and other locals would yell at me saying “it's the cable car. The trolley is something different.” They all look the same to me and I'm still gonna get lost either way. Anyhoo, sixteen year old Maya wanted this job and even said on like an Oprah Winfrey talk show, “I loved the uniforms,” hence the title. And it was her mother who actually said that she should go to the city office and get the job if she wanted it so badly. And when she went to the area like where the cable car conductors got hired, she was noted to be reading Russian literature. And she wasn't first hired or even allowed to like apply because of her race. Because surprise surprise, America wasn't woke and it’s still not woke. But she read her Russian literature, like the boss girl she is, and was hired. When she like, she didn't get the application actually before being hired. She was under the legal age so she actually wrote that she was 19 like the badass she was. and as a conductor her mom would also join her. And like she's currently conducting at like the butt crack of dawn at four AM and her mom would kind of go behind a trolley car. And the trolley car isn’t like a closed vehicle. It’s not like a bus or train where the doors close. You can just hop on and you'll see people hold onto a pole and stand on the outside, and cars come like within inches of you. You can't even have like a backpack or something. Like you have to like hug yourself to this pole, essentially. I've almost gotten hit once or twice. Also for cars going by, there are special lanes, if this was like the same back then as well. There are special lanes that these cable cars can go through. Regardless her mom would trail Maya’s cable car and Maya said quote “with her pistol on the passenger seat.” So I love that. I don’t– like I just– ugh. Juicy. And she worked there for about a semester before deciding to return to school. Second story, I'm calling it “getting pen to paper.” In the 1950s, African American writers in New York City formed The Harlem Writers Guild to essentially support Black authors in the publication process and affirm them as the beautiful writers they are. And the Guild is still around today, the link is in the show notes, of course of course. And she was one of the early members and during this time she began to write I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, an autobiography of her life that was published in 1969, And many claim to be her most famous book. This is now where like my memory is kind of getting fuzzy because I read a lot of her books, and a lot of her books– or, most of her books are autobiographies or what she actually created as a genre during this time as autobiographical fiction. And that’s basically taking parts of your life and adding some elaborate essence to connect it more, make it more juicy. And this one I think is the one that took like thirteen years to write. Like she kinda wrote it along with her life and also included some earlier parts. So she just like took truly the most time and it really paid off. And she also during this time in the Guild continued to explore art forms in poetry, dance, music, and even like writing and directing films. So we get just her really explain herself as a writer. And lastly, we have story number three, which I have called quote “On the Pulse of Morning.” And On the Pulse of Morning was the title of the poem she read for Clinton's presidential inauguration in 1993. That's why when Alana was like “hey, let's– let's do a quick nod of the election,” I was like “haha! I got this.” She was the second poet ever to read an original work at a presidential inauguration. The first was Robert Frost at JFK's in 1961. And the poem itself shares themes of inclusion, change, and the role of the president, and like the responsibility it comes with, but also like the role and responsibility a citizen has, which are all things we should just remember right now, 2020. And she was chosen because she grew up in Stamps, Arkansas or like a lot of her childhood was in Stamps, Arkansas, which was rather close to where Clinton was born. And he said that her writing really resonated with him. For example, he was quoted saying ”When I read I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, I knew exactly who she was talking about and what she was talking about in that book.” And that references how Clinton's grandfather managed a grocery store that was in a predominantly African American neighborhood. And actually for this spoken word poem, was recorded and she ended up winning a Grammy Award in 1994. It was apparently like an amazing amazing thing. I don't have enough time to go searching on the YouTubes for it because I was researching another gal because we're recording two episodes tonight. But it was noted to be almost as like a theatrical performance. She just exuded that power and greatness and dug deep into her roots of being a dancer and performer. Before I finish, because I have my three short stories, I would like to note that Maya at times had a very difficult life with racial injustice, physical and sexual assault, loss, and just– the list goes on. But I did not want to pick stories on that because even in her a lot of her books she would focus on the positives and say how she took the bad and turned it into something good. And each three of those stories had a little nugget so dig deep into what I said and pick out positive from the not so positive; the bad, if you will. And I would just like to share my favorite book of hers which was published in 2013, a year before she died, and it's Mom and Me and Mom. And she also died at age 83 so she lived quite a life. One of my favorite quotes of hers is “If you don't like something, change it. If you can't change it, change your attitude.”

ALANA’S STORY STARTS HERE

Archival Audio: She's beautiful, she's evil, and she'll do anything for love. Never been a movie like Lady Frankenstein.

Alana: I'm so excited for this. My lady for today is Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley, née Wollstonecraft Godwin; the teenage girl who invented science fiction and my O.G. goth queen. You may have seen some internet history lessons that you should of course take with more salt than the Dead Sea and I will note those when they come up, but sneak peek I have wonderful news about them. Mary was born August 30, 1797, that makes her a Virgo. Her parents were William Godwin and Mary Wollstonecraft– yes that Mary Wollstonecraft, the author of A Vindication of the Rights of Women. Side note, I think we should do an episode on pre-first wave feminism feminists and I am calling dibs on Mary Wollstonecraft. They'd only gotten married that March scandal noises, gasp, shock and awe, possibly because William what was this radical anti marriage philosopher freethinker, and then his lover– not my favorite word, but anytime I use the word lover I am referencing Hadestown– was pregnant and it was a propriety thing. Although Mary Wollstonecraft had already had another daughter from a previous affair with an American businessman and I don't think they were married. Yeah, that's the real shock and awe. There is so much shock and awe, scandal in this story. Get ready for it. Just a week and a half after Mary was born on September 10, her mother died of complications from the child birth. And those complications can basically be summed up with 18th century doctors didn't wash their hands. And William Godwin made it very clear to Mary that she was a monster who had killed her mother. Literary scholar Sandra Gilbert has argued that Frankenstein is a projection of her own life. A quote unquote “monster” trying to have a relationship with the parent whose life it ruined. William remarried their neighbor Mary Jane Clairmont who had two kids of her own. And then William and Mary Jane had a son, so now Mary has four half and/or step siblings. Her stepmother vastly preferred her own children. Mary and her stepsister Claire would go on to spend quite a bit of time together but we'll get into that in a bit. Mary found solace at her mother's grave at St Pancras Church in London. She learned to write her name by tracing the letters on the tombstone, and that's only like the third most goth thing about her. But nobody talks about this one. I just think– I think it's like cute goth. Like kawaii goth. She would just like to hang out there and read or whatever like it was her spot. Normal kids have treehouses, Mary had her mother's grave. She published a kids’ book at the age of eleven called, I'm gonna butcher this pronunciation, but it’s not spelled like French so I guess this is on you Mary that I'm gonna mess this up. Mounseer Nongtongpaw; or, the Discoveries of John Bull in a Trip to Paris. It was her father's publishing company, so just a skosh of nepotism there, but it's still cool that she was eleven and published. In 1812, when she was fourteen, her father sent her to Scotland to live with some family friends, the Baxters, at her step mother's request. One of my sources said that Mrs Godwin felt quote “threatened by Mary” who had become the quote “beautiful image of his first wife” which. Mm. I do not like. Do not like. Mm. Okay. But you know what? Whatever though, because Mary is thriving. She feels good, she's away from her wicked stepmother, she's made friends with the Baxters’ youngest daughter Isabel, and she's like healthy and just like thriving. She's, she's living her best self. That November, she briefly visited home and this is potentially– it's kind of disputed by scholars, but this is potentially the first time she met, heart eyes emoji, Percy Shelley but he was still married to his first wife Harriet. Percy had come to study under Mary's father, but they were immediately smitten. In 1814 William Godwin brought his daughter home like for permanents because he wanted her to start earning her own living. But I think if Mary actually met Percy before in 1812, I like to imagine him just being like “hey, Mr Godwin, you know what would be really cool? It would be really cool if Mary were here. Don't you think I would be really cool if Mary were here?” But I… like I don't know if that's what happened. But this is where Percy and Mary have definitely met, and they read together and they have intellectual discussions. He’s very impressed by her parentage and her intellect, and they started their affair and they're very much in love. Mary takes him to her favorite place, her mother's grave, to profess her love for him. This is also where Percy asks her to marry him. And this is our first internet history lesson. You may have seen that Mary Shelley lost her virginity on her mother's grave. Most scholars say yeah. That happened. That's true. Because it was a very– it was a place of emotional growth for Mary. Percy later said that having sex with Mary was his real birthday. I hate this man.

Lexi: It seems like they all had a lot of problems.

Alana: I hate this man. I hate him so much. And we're gonna get more into why I hate him so much, but, okay. Percy supposedly gave Mary's dad twelve hundred pounds, which is now over eighty four thousand pounds, which is over a hundred and ten thousand dollars, in exchange for him to allow Percy and Mary to run away together. Mr Godwin took the money and said no. But Mary and Percy ran away to Switzerland anyway. And Mary's dad doesn't speak to her for two and a half years. I want to point out, Percy is still married to another woman at this point, who was pregnant and they already had a child together.

Haley: I was just about to ask that.

Lexi: Yeah.

Alana: They're still married. Mary’s stepsister, Claire, who I mentioned, comes with them as a translator. But it's possible that Percy was also having an affair with her and they were a throuple. Percy was like all about free love and probably would have been one of those dudes on Bumble who's like “ethical non monogamy.” I'm looking at Lexi because she knows exactly what I'm talking about.

Lexi: I’m like envisioning a meme where it's his profile and he’s got like books, book emoji, cigarette emoji. He’s real edgy.

Alana: Oh yeah, totally. There is also evidence that Mary had affairs too, so this is like 19th century polyamory. Claire did eventually leave their household when Mary's jealousy kind of like physically made her ill. It just like she sank into this deep depression that magically got better when Claire moved out. They’re constantly on the move because Percy owes a lot of people a lot of money and he has to keep running away from creditors. Like, he– he gave someone a hundred and ten thousand dollars for permission to do something he was gonna do anyway. So, hm. Not great.

Speaker 1: Here is what everyone is waiting for, the writing of Frankenstein. This is a very famous story that they've done on Drunk History which was very funny to watch a drunk person try and say Wollstonecraft Godwin. I died laughing for ten whole minutes. And there’s an episode of Doctor Who about it, and side note the Thirteenth Doctor is chef's kiss A plus amazing, it's a whole new show and I love it. So 1816 was the year without a summer because the Indonesian volcano Mount Tamboro, I hope I'm pronouncing that right, had erupted the year before and covered basically the whole planet in a giant ash cloud. I am being dramatic, but my point is it was dark and gloomy and rainy the whole summer across Europe. So Claire’s back, and she’s pregnant with Lord Byron's– yes, that Lord Byron’s– child. And Lord Byron is staying at the Villa Diodati in Geneva, and the three of them meet him there and they're all hanging out. Are they having orgies? Maybe. Byron and Percy had been talking about Romantic– capital R. romantic, as in the 19th century cultural movement, those kind of ideas about death and magic and life and ooky spooky stuff. And so they start a ghost-story off. And this is where Mary begins Frankenstein. It wasn't all written in that night. I feel like that's a misconception, that she wrote all of it that night, but that was just like the idea. Most of it was actually written in Bath when everyone went back to England. And it wasn’t off-the-cuff either. Like Mary had a really hard time coming up with her idea. Percy and Mary finally got real married in December of 1816 after his first wife Harriet committed suicide. Apparently she was pregnant with another man's child, but honey have you seen what's going on here? I think you would've been fine. But Percy was denied custody of their children and he believed he might have a better chance of getting custody if he were quote– massive air quotes– “settled down.” This didn't work, but Mary's dad starts talking to her again, so that's nice. And Mary had a huge role in Percy Shelley's legacy, probably because some of survivor's guilt. He drowned in a shipwreck with two of his friends off the coast of Italy in July 1822 while Mary was recovering from a miscarriage that almost killed her. When Percy's body washed up, he was only identifiable by the Keats poetry in his pocket. Percy was cremated on the beach and his heart did not burn. That's true. Modern doctors say it probably calcified from a bout with tuberculosis earlier in his life. One of his friends took the heart and kept it and only gave it to Mary after her constantly bugging him. Which leads us to our second internet history lesson. Did she keep Percy Shelley's heart? Yes and no. When Mary died in 1850, her family definitely found his heart in her desk wrapped in the pages of his final poem, Adonaïs which is like a really sweet love poem. You should read that. But read Frankenstein first. Did she actually carry it everywhere? Uncertain. Maybe, but they definitely found it in her desk so she definitely had it. We're– we're not really sure where it is now. I don't know how that's possible, but I have conflicting sources. It's possible that it's with Mary or with their only child who had reached adulthood Percy Florence Shelley. They’d had a bunch of kids who either died super young or only lived like a few days. Mary is primarily responsible for the posthumous collection of Percy Shelley's work. So that's like all her. It’s like in her writing credits that she edited all of these collections. After Percy died, Mary turned down several marriage proposals because she quote “wanted to be Mary Shelley on her tombstone” which is really sweet. Side note, thank you to 19th century people for writing down all your feelings in like journals and thoughts and everything and then keeping them. I love that we know what you were thinking because there was no Twitter for you to document your whole lives the way that I do, although of course if you see me on Twitter, no you don't. This is where the stories about her usually stop after, Percy died. But, Alana, you said that she died in 1850, Percy died in 1822. What on earth did she do with those 28 years? I am so glad that you asked. First of all, she wrote a bunch more, thank you very much. Five more novels that weren't Frankenstein were published in her lifetime and at least twenty short stories. While she was no longer the radical she had been when she was with Percy, she took it upon herself to protect the women in her life. Claire, who lived with her on and off, obviously who I brought up a couple times. She lived with and supported the wife and children of one of Percy's friends who had also drowned. She helped her childhood friend Isabel, Isabel Baxter, from before, get out of England when she had a child out of wedlock. So she was protecting her, her friends. Mary died of brain cancer in 1850. Her son and his wife had her parents’ bodies exhumed and she's buried between them in St Peter's Church in Bournemouth. There are plans for a Mary Shelley museum in Bath, just up the street from the Jane Austen Centre and very much in the same style of like employees in period clothes and family friendly. The most recent article that I found about it was from June and one of the people in charge of it said that it would be finished by the end of the year slash early 2021, and that tourism would pick back up by then, but it's November and the U. K. just went back into lockdown, so I don’t think that schedule is still what’s happening. But, once travel is a thing again and once that Mary Shelley museum is open I think Lady History field trip to Bath. Shout outs to some professor at the University of Central Missouri for putting their study guide or test for Frankenstein as a PDF on the university website. The timeline of Mary's life on the first few pages was very helpful. I hope it wasn't a student who cheated, but the url is like UCM dot EDU, so… I just– I love Mary Shelley so much. I used– I made this joke in high school when we were reading Frankenstein that I think I am Mary Shelley reincarnated. Like if reincarnation is real, I would buy that. Like I'm only half kidding. But if reincarnation is real, which I don't know. I don't know if reincarnation is real. I know hell is not real, that's for sure. I also think it would be cool to be a ghost. Anyway… Lexi why are you laughing at me?

Lexi: It’s just very you.

Alana: Yeah. Anyway. So that is the story of Mary Shelley, the teenager who invented science fiction, and if you think it was some like, Isaac Asimov or whatever, who I literally saw in a meme once. If you think a man invented sci fi you are incorrect.

Lexi: You can find this podcast on Twitter and Instagram at LadyHistoryPod. Our show notes and a transcript of this episode will be on lady history pod dot tumblr dot com. If you like the show, leave us a review or tell your friends,and if you don't like the show keep it to yourself.

Alana: Our logo is by Alexia Ibarra, you can find her on Twitter and Instagram at LexiBDraws. Our theme music is by me, Garageband, and Amelia Earhart. Lexi is doing the editing. You will not see us, and we will not see you, but you will hear us next time, on Lady History.

[OUTRO MUSIC]

Haley: Next time on Lady History; we're going to be discussing some ladies whose lives were unfortunately cut a little too short.

[weemsbotts]

The “Nefarious Marauder” Hiding in Dumfries!

By: Lisa Timmerman, Executive Director

Ready for a folk ballad involving a local Marine?

“When Morgan first came to this country, 

he came in a four-wheeled carriage. 

He put up at Parson Weem’s house 

and proposed to his daughter in marriage. 

The colonel had a nice gold watch, 

It hung at his right side. 

He gave it to Miss Fanny 

and his bulldog besides. 

Morgan, Morgan move along, you’re movin’ mighty slow. 

Morgan drank buttermilk, and Tansill drank the whey. 

So ride up Col. Morgan, while Tansill gains the day.”

In 1841, William D. Dowell wrote to Mr. William A. Hawley, editor of the newspaper Vermont Telegraph, regarding a reputable man in Dumfries. Dowell wrote, “This man Morgan came to this place last March & put up at a public house kept by a widow woman named Merchant where he remained perhaps two or three weeks & visited about with his fiddle.  He attracted the attention of several gentlemen who made him an associate. He then fell in company with Mr. Weems & his daughters at a meeting.” This fiddler notably liked the title “Captain Morgan” and had a trusty dog at his side – “…he had with him a tremendous dog which always followed him, this dog had a brass collar…” Morgan lodged with Jesse Weems at Somerfield, and Weems served as the administrator of Morgan’s estate when he died in 1840. Dowell noted “…he was what the Virginians sometime say a good looking man yet he looked to me suspicious & seemed restless.” While hindsight often clouds our perceptions, restless might have been an appropriate description of Morgan.

(Source: Vermont Telegraph, Volume XI, No. 21, 02/16/1839. Library of Congress: Chronicling America Historic American Newspapers)

This letter was part of a Chancery Court case regarding the property and money earned from the sale of Morgan’s inventory. While Morgan may have charmed Frances Weems and the residents of Dumfries with his fiddling (apparently Dumfries attracts fiddlers…note to self: look into that), the citizens of Vermont had discovered his duplicitous character. According to a series of letters published in the Vermont Telegraph (02/16/1839 and 02/20/1839), the “dancing master” Morgan married Jane Anson in 10/1835, but left the following year supposedly under “…the pretense of going to the house of Wm. Waltermyer, in the town of Milan…to play the violin, at a ball” and never returned. In 12/1838, Moses Swanzey inquired into the character of a dancing master named James Morgan in New York, “Mr. Morgan has a school at my house of great respectability; and since it has been in operation, some reports concerning his character, (of a damning nature to one of his profession)* have been circulated among us.” The Vermont Telegraph asked other newspapers to “…assist in putting the public generally on guard against a consummate villain – a nefarious marauder – who appears to live only to indulge his barest lusts, rioting on the affections of as many as he can deceive…degrading human nature, and subverting the institution of Heaven, which lie at the foundation of good society on earth.”  In 02/1839, S.K.P. responded to the Vermont Telegraph contradicting their claim that Morgan taught in Highgage.

Enter the Town of Dumfries! By 1840, Morgan had traveled through Dumfries to Richmond with a companion but returned to Dumfries after the death of his fellow traveler. Dowell speculated Dumfries was the perfect location as a “great many persons pass through this place from North & from the South”. Weems apparently liked Morgan enough to lodge him and become involved in the matters of Morgan’s estate when Morgan died in 1840. So where does Robert Tansill fit into this story? Frances Weems, Mason Locke Weems granddaughter (not daughter), married Robert Tansill in 1843. The Marine Corps Officers list from 1790-1900 noted Tansill as a Second Lieutenant on 11/03/1840, becoming a First Lieutenant in 1847, Captain in 1858, Brevet Captain in 1847 with a dismissal in 1861. He was court martialed in Florida in the early 1840s, but we will save his interesting biography for another post. Regardless, whether Tansill actively courted Ms. Weems before Morgan’s death is a fun speculation as this ballad has origins in some source.

(Source: Robert and Frances Tansill, Colorado College: Charles L. Tutt Library Digital CC, Robert Weems Tansill Family)

Lastly, besides for rhyming, why would Tansill’s notable characteristic be drinking whey and not buttermilk? Before the 20th century, buttermilk could be old milk that soured, the sour byproduct of churning sour milk or the byproduct of churning fresh milk. Today, our society embraces whey for supposed health benefits associated with whey proteins. It can be difficult to wade through the numerous articles regarding the modern use of whey, but we can throw back to “Little Miss Muffet” eating her “curds and whey” to see it was not an unfamiliar practice.

Note: There is still one spot left in our Ghost Walks: Return to the Shadows Tour at 7pm! Call and/or email to put your name on a waitlist – we may be able to offer a 9pm tour on some October weekends! Click here for more info about our popular Ghost Walks program – your participation helps support us throughout the year!

(HDVI Archival Records: MacDonald, Rick. Robert Tansill – Local Hero. Speech given to the Dumfries Historical Society, 09/01/1988; Turner, Ronald. James Morgan – Look Out for the Villain. Prince William County Virginia Books, 2004; PWC Clerk’s Loose Papers Volume VII Selected Transcripts 1833-1938, Transcribed by Ronald Turner; Library of Congress & National Humanities: Chronicling America Historic American Newspapers: 02/16/1839, Vermont Telegraph, Volume XI, No. 21 & 02/20/1839 Vermont Telegraph, Volume XI, No. 22; Naval History and Heritage Command: Officers of the Continental and U.S. Navy and Marine Corps 1775-1900; Anderson, L.V. Slate: Food: All Churned Around How Buttermilk Lost its Butter”)

[thatsacult]

Some people just don't want kids, and often find they're questioned, mistrusted, or even hated for it. The childfree subreddit has become a digital home for 142,000 of them. 

​Can the internet be a place of respite for people being pestered by their broody parents? Or are they longing for a childfree, separatist world that isolates and misunderstands parents?

Written and edited by: Helen McCarthy www.twitter.com/helenlmccarthy

Music by: Antti Luode www.anttismusic.blogspot.co.uk

Thanks to all the episode contributors. 

EPISODE 1 - CHILDFREE SOURCES:

SUBREDDITS r/childfree https://www.reddit.com/r/childfree/ "Discussion and links of interest to childfree individuals".

r/antinatalism https://www.reddit.com/r/antinatalism/ "Antinatalism is a philosophical position that assigns a negative value to birth, standing in opposition to natalism".

r/AskParents https://www.reddit.com/r/AskParents/ "A Subreddit devoted to the asking of questions to parents".

r/AntiChildFree https://www.reddit.com/r/AntiChildFree/ Subreddit opposing r/childfree.

r/Fencesitter https://www.reddit.com/r/Fencesitter/ "A place to ask questions, share experiences and offer support to those who are on the fence about having kids".

TWITTER @childfree_not_4 https://twitter.com/childfree_not_4 "Interested in childfree, teamnokids, voluntary childlessness, antinatalism, MGTOW, tubal ligation, vasectomy, overpopulation, nihilism, pessimism, hedonism"

@ChildfreeChick https://twitter.com/ChildFreeChick "Childfree Atheist"

FACEBOOK Childfree Humor https://www.facebook.com/ChildfreeHumor/?ref=br_rs "For people who don't care much for kids and want to have a laugh about it".

The Advocacy for Anti-Procreation https://www.facebook.com/advocacy.anti.procreation/ Supporting: ChildFree, Adoption/Fostering/Respite Care, Assisted Dying, Nihilism, Animals, Birth Control, Choice, & Environmental topics... it's time we reduced our carbon footprint".

STFU Parents https://www.facebook.com/STFUParents/ "You used to be fun. Now you have a baby".

Childfree Chicks Confidential (closed group) https://www.facebook.com/groups/childfreechicksconfidential/?ref=br_rs "We are a diverse group with childfree & childless women & men".

we're {not} having a baby https://www.facebook.com/WereNotHavingABaby/ "we’re {not} having a baby! is the brainchild of Amy & Lance Blackstone, a childfree couple, married since 1995".

Cheerfully Childfree https://www.facebook.com/CheerfullyChildfree/ "A sanctuary to consider, become, and remain Childfree without the backlash of breeders who can't accept us for who we choose to be".

Elder Orphans (closed group) https://www.facebook.com/groups/elderorphans/ "The group is restricted to individuals over 55 who live without a spouse".

CHILDFREE SITES & BLOGS The Childfree Life http://thechildfreelife.com/ "A safe haven in a baby-crazed world".

The Rinky Dink Life http://therinkydinklife.com/ Site created by Brittany Brolley for childfree women and "DINK couples (dual income & no kids)".

TLFW http://tlfw.co.uk/ "Lifestyle network for childfree women".

Why No Kids http://whynokids.com/ "We're childfree and happy. You could be too!"


Childfree Woman by Karin Rahbek http://www.childfreewoman.com/ "How to gain respect and acceptance".

Nonparents.com https://www.nonparents.com/ "For people without children by circumstance or choice".

Jesse Nichols' blog - Why I choose to be childfree https://medium.com/jesse-nichols-blog/why-i-choose-to-be-child-free-7282bd75a38c "An open letter to family and friends".

Childfree is Not a Dirty Word http://notadirtyword.com/ "Connect with childfree adults from around the globe. We do life, laughter and tears. Whether childless by chance or by choice, you are welcome here".

PRESS & ARTICLES Inside the growing movement of women who wish they’d never had children, Sarah Treleaven, Elle UK. 15 Dec 2016. http://www.elleuk.com/life-and-culture/culture/longform/a33037/i-regret-having-kids/

Having It All Without Having Children, Lauren Sandler, TIME. 12 Aug 2013. http://content.time.com/time/subscriber/article/0,33009,2148636-1,00.html

12 Women Discuss Whether They Regret Their Decisions Around Motherhood, Sara Coughlin, Refinery 29. 29 April 2017. http://www.refinery29.uk/being-a-mom-regrets-reddit-stories?utm_r29_redirect=us

Adults Who Choose Not to Have Kids Inspire Moral Outrage, Study Finds, Julia Layton, Health: How Stuff Works. 17 March 2017. https://bit.ly/2PxLUpO

Parenthood as a Moral Imperative? Moral Outrage and the Stigmatization of Voluntarily Childfree Women and Men, Leslie Ashburn-Nardo, Springer Science+Business Media. 11 March 2016 https://bit.ly/33BzIwx

Huge demand for Baby-Free Zones, William Jordan, YouGov. 27 Aug 2013. https://yougov.co.uk/news/2013/08/27/four-five-want-child-free-zone-planes/

Childless couples 'on track to be Australia's most common family type', Stephanie Corsetti, ABC News Australia. 15 May 2017. https://ab.co/3fIUNYa

'Shut the f**k up, parents': Meet the (childless) woman behind vicious baby blog that has the mommy set up in arms, Daily Mail. 4 Oct 2012. http://www.dailymail.co.uk/home/weather/index.html  The Very Sad Childfree Life, Robert Barron, Real Clear Religion. 9 Sep 2013. http://www.realclearreligion.org/articles/2013/09/09/the_very_sad_childfree_life.html

Meet the 20-Somethings Who Want To Be Sterilized, Catherine Pearson, Huffington Post. 24 Oct 2014. http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/entry/female-sterilization-young-women_n_5882000

Judgement of Child-Free People is Real - And Now There's Science to Prove It, J.R. Thorpe, Bustle. 3 Mar 2017 https://www.bustle.com/p/judgement-of-child-free-people-is-real-now-theres-science-to-prove-it-41787

No kids allowed: Is Britain becoming an anti-child society? Kerry Potter, The Telegraph. 31 Aug 2017. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/women/family/no-kids-allowed-is-britain-becoming-an-anti-child-society/

Midlife Ramblings: What I Don’t Get About My Childless/Childfree Young Friends, Ann Brenoff, Huffington Post. 9 Feb 2013. https://www.huffingtonpost.com/ann-brenoff/childless-to-my-childless-friends_b_2616049.html

I used to judge childfree women, Eleanor Tucker, The Guardian. 8 Nov 2014. https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2014/nov/08/i-used-to-judge-childfree-women

The Outrage Against Childfree Women Is Real — And Needs To Stop, Therese Shechter and Amy Blackstone, Bust. http://bust.com/feminism/19421-moral-outrage-childfree.html

Silent bodies: Childfree women's gendered and embodied experiences, Helen Peterson and Kristina Engwall, European Journal of Women's Studies. 2013. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/259975667_Silent_bodies_Childfree_women's_gendered_and_embodied_experiences

Study Finds People Are Morally Outraged by Those Who Decide Not to Have Kids, Kimberly Lawson, Broadly. 2 Mar 2017. https://broadly.vice.com/en_us/article/a3wvgp/study-finds-people-are-morally-outraged-by-those-who-decide-not-to-have-kids

How to Decide Whether to Have Children, Olga Khazan, The Atlantic. 22 May 2017. https://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2017/05/how-people-decide-whether-to-have-children/527520/

Our Planet Is So F****d That Some Women Are Choosing to Not Have Kids, Linda Yang, Broadly. 14 Dec 2016.  https://broadly.vice.com/en_us/article/59mb5d/our-planet-is-so-fucked-that-some-women-are-choosing-to-not-have-kids

'Why I'd BAN children from cafes and restaurants.' This incendiary view will either make you cheer or want to tip spaghetti hoops over the author's head, Janet Street-Porter, Daily Mail. 23 Nov 2015. http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-3331117/Why-d-BAN-children-cafes-restaurants-incendiary-view-make-cheer-want-tip-spaghetti-hoops-author-s-head-writes-Janet-Street-Porter.html

Father was 'sexting' as son was dying in hot car, Eliott C. McLaughlin and Dana Ford, CNN. 7 Jan 2015. http://edition.cnn.com/2014/07/03/justice/georgia-hot-car-toddler-death/

How the rise of childless women could change the face of Britain: Rampant infidelity. A struggling economy. Meltdown for the NHS. And shorter life expectancies, Maureen Brookbanks, Daily Mail. 14 Jan 2016. http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-3398484/How-rise-childless-women-change-face-Britain-Rampant-infidelity-struggling-economy-Meltdown-NHS-shorter-life-expectancies.html

Why do childless people hate kids so much? Jennifer Wilde, Baby Centre Blog. 7 Dec 2011. https://blogs.babycenter.com/mom_stories/why-do-childless-people-hate-kids-so-much/comment-page-2/

The ChildFREE (Hate) Movement: Childless By Choice, Alan Thomas, Imperfect Parent. http://www.imperfectparent.com/articles/the-childfree-hate-movement-childless-by-choice/

I fought a four-year battle with the NHS to be sterilised at 30 - and won, Holly Brockwell, The Telegraph. 24 March 2016. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/women/life/i-fought-a-four-year-battle-with-the-nhs-to-be-sterilised-at-30/

BOOKS Violence Goes to the Internet: Avoiding the Snare of the Net, Evan M. Axelrod, 2009.

Religion Online: Finding Faith on the Internet, Lorne L. Dawson, Douglas E. Cowan, 2013.

VIDEOS Why do people join cults? TED-Ed on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/TEDEducation/videos/1623132447699955/

MISCELLANEOUS Rational Wiki - Childfree Movement https://rationalwiki.org/wiki/Childfree_movement

Pregnant Pause podcast https://www.pregnantpausepodcast.com/

Ann Davidman - Motherhood Clarity Mentor http://motherhoodisitforme.com

Is the Child Free movement anti-feminist? Mumsnet forum, 27 Apr 2011. https://www.mumsnet.com/Talk/womens_rights/1202284-Is-the-Child-Free-movement-anti-feminist

To be dead jealous of childless couples sometimes? What do you miss? Mumsnet forum, 29 Sep 2008. https://www.mumsnet.com/Talk/am_i_being_unreasonable/616638-to-be-dead-jealous-of-childless-couples-sometimes-what-do

The Anti Child Free Blog  http://anti-child-free.blogspot.co.uk/

[clevelandmuseumarchivist]

Frances (Franny) Prindle Taft traveled the world collecting art and creating her own in notebooks that she filled with colorful observations. Born in 1921 in New Haven, Connecticut, Franny majored in zoology with a minor in art history at Vassar College. She was a member of the first class of the Navy Reserve’s Women Accepted for Volunteer Emergency Service (WAVES) in 1942, serving until the end of World War II. In 1943 she married Seth Taft, a grandson of President William Howard Taft. The couple moved to Cleveland in 1948 where Franny taught art history for over fifty years at the Cleveland Institute of Art. Many prominent Cleveland artists were her students and friends, including John Paul Miller, Viktor Schreckengost, and Leza McVey. Franny was an active participant in the life of the city and maintained a busy schedule serving on multiple boards. A year after her death in 2017, her children donated the bulk of her papers to the museum archives where they are available for research. An early adopter of 16mm film, the archive includes many older films of the Taft family’s life, including Franny’s WAVES graduation. Three of these early films are available at digitalarchives.clevelandart.org – one of which shows the extended Taft family at their summer home in Murray Bay, Canada, and incudes a brief scene with President Taft.  

[creepingsharia]

The Missing Link Showing Ilhan Omar Married Her Brother

“The facts describe perhaps the most extensive spree of illegal misconduct committed by a House member in American history.”

Tying up loose threads in the curious case

In four intensely reported investigative columns — here (August 13, 2018), here (October 23, 2018), here (October 30, 2018), and here (November 5, 2018), — David Steinberg has explored the evidence suggesting that Ilhan Omar entered into a sham marriage with her brother in 2009. This is his fifth. He titles it “Meet Leila Elmi: The Missing Link Showing Ilhan Omar Married Her Brother.” Drawing on his research, interviews, and social media evidence he makes the case that Omar has engaged in a variety of fraudulent activities and willful misrepresentations related to her marital arrangements.

...

Twelve-year-old Ilhan had no say on the manner in which she arrived in the United States.

However, U.S. Congresswoman Ilhan Abdullahi Omar (D-MN) is now under scrutiny for acts she took beginning in 2009 — not 1995. In 2009, Omar was a 26-year-old U.S. citizen. She had been a U.S. citizen for nearly nine years.

Additionally, the foreign national Omar apparently helped commit fraud was not fleeing hell in 2009, either. Ahmed Nur Said Elmi was a long-time citizen of the United Kingdom. He even possessed a high school diploma from the United States: Elmi attended a St. Paul, Minnesota high school for his senior year of 2002-2003, and graduated before returning to London.

We look to 1995 not to incriminate a kid, but to answer questions about what Omar did 14 years later as an adult U.S. citizen.

Please read the verified evidence below — and read it alongside the three years of verified evidence published by Scott Johnson, Preya Samsundar, and myself (our work is linked here). The answers to those questions about 2009 appear to give probable cause to investigate Omar for eight instances of perjury, immigration fraud, marriage fraud, up to eight years of state and federal tax fraud, two years of federal student loan fraud, and even bigamy.

To be clear: The facts describe perhaps the most extensive spree of illegal misconduct committed by a House member in American history.

———————-

The proceeding information was given to me by multiple sources within the Minneapolis Somali community. The verifiable evidence corroborating their information follows below:

In 1995, Ilhan entered the United States as a fraudulent member of the “Omar” family.

That is not her family. The Omar family is a second, unrelated family which was being granted asylum by the United States. The Omars allowed Ilhan, her genetic sister Sahra, and her genetic father Nur Said to use false names to apply for asylum as members of the Omar family.

Ilhan’s genetic family split up at this time. The above three received asylum in the United States, while Ilhan’s three other siblings — using their real names — managed to get asylum in the United Kingdom.

Ilhan Abdullahi Omar’s name, before applying for asylum, was Ilhan Nur Said Elmi.

Her father’s name before applying for asylum was Nur Said Elmi Mohamed. Her sister Sahra Noor’s name before applying for asylum was Sahra Nur Said Elmi. Her three siblings who were granted asylum by the United Kingdom are Leila Nur Said Elmi, Mohamed Nur Said Elmi, and Ahmed Nur Said Elmi.

Ilhan and Ahmed married in 2009, presumably to benefit in some way from a fraudulent marriage. They did not divorce until 2017.

———————-

Confirming some of the above information, as it might appear on their 1995 U.S. immigration papers, is not difficult. A basic background search shows that “Nur Omar Mohamed,” “Ilhan Abdullahi Omar,” and “Sahra Noor” all received SSNs in 1995 or 1996 in Virginia. Verified address records show adult members of the Omars living at three addresses in Arlington, Virginia at that time: 1223 South Thomas Street, 1226 South Thomas Street, and 1107 South Thomas Street.

The United Kingdom records of the relevant individuals are similarly easy to find. Try with a simple Ancestry.com account and similar online tools: There appears to be only one “Leila Nur Said Elmi,” only one “Mohamed Nur Said Elmi,” and only one “Ahmed Nur Said Elmi” in the UK.

The remaining evidence below verifies a sibling relationship between Ilhan and Ahmed.

————————

...

On August 10, 2017, Ilhan swore under penalty of perjury — literally, she signed a half-inch or so under “penalty of perjury” — that she’d had zero contact with Ahmed Nur Said Elmi after June 2011.

Further, Ilhan swore that she did not know where to find him, and that she did not know a single person who was likely to know his whereabouts. She did this to apply for a default divorce from Ahmed — a divorce where one spouse cannot be located and served.

Now, a tremendous amount of evidence — from this article and our prior articles — shows that Ilhan perhaps perjured herself eight times with her nine answers. Minnesota’s perjury statute allows for a sentence of up to five years — for each instance:

Yet this may be the least worrisome of her current legal exposures.

Consider the disturbingly inadequate evidence used to obtain FISA warrants on members of Donald Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign. Consider that Democratic representatives have demanded that Attorney General William Barr release grand jury testimony — itself an illegal act.

Yet here we have:

Verifiable UK and U.S. marriage records

Verifiable address records

Time-stamped, traceable, archived online communications (Convictions and settlements based upon social media evidence are commonplace, Anthony Weiner being a notable example)

Background check confirmations of SSNs and birthdates

Archived court documents signed under penalty of perjury

Photos which can be examined to rule out digital manipulation

The 2019 Minnesota Campaign Finance and Public Disclosure Board investigation, which found Omar filed illegal joint tax returns with a man who was not her husband in at least 2014 and 2015

Three years’ of evidence published across many articles — none of which has been shown to be incorrect, or have even been challenged with contradictory evidence from Rep. Omar or any other source

Perjury evidence that stands on its own — regardless of whom she married:

Long after June 2011, she was clearly in contact with the only man in either the U.S. or the UK with the same name and birthdate as the man she married. She was clearly in contact with several people who were in contact with him.

Further, Preya Samsundar did contact him, published how she managed to contact him, and published his email admitting to being photographed with Omar in London in 2015. To be clear: Omar was legally married to an “Ahmed Nur Said Elmi” at the time she was photographed next to a man who admits his name is Ahmed Nur Said Elmi, and that he is in the photo.

Samsundar published all of this information on how to contact Ahmed Nur Said Elmi a few months before Omar swore to that nine-question court document.

Rep. Omar has refused all inquiries from her constituents, elected officials, and media outlets to provide any specific evidence contradicting even a single allegation suggested by three years of now-public information.

In fact, Omar has responded by making information less available:

In August 2016, after Scott Johnson and Preya Samsundar posted the allegations, Omar’s verified social media accounts were taken offline.

Ahmed Nur Said Elmi’s social media accounts were also taken offline.

When the accounts returned, a large amount of potentially incriminating evidence had verifiably been deleted.

I found and published at least ten additional “before and after” instances of evidence still being deleted in 2018.

Omar has released carefully worded, Clintonian statements that denigrate those seeking answers from her as racists. Yet she has repeatedly refused to answer questions or issue anything other than public relations statements.

I have a large amount of information that we have not published for reasons including the protection of sources.

Sources have expressed fear regarding published video and photo evidence confirming threats from Omar’s campaign team. These sources have shared other evidence of threats. I have contacted the federal authorities to share this and other unpublished information. Providing knowingly false information to the DOJ is a serious crime.

I believe Scott Johnson, Preya Samsundar, and me, with our three years of articles, columns and posts, have provided more than enough evidence to give law enforcement authorities probable cause to open an investigation. Now would be the chance for law enforcement, and especially for Rep. Ilhan Omar’s House colleagues, to make a sincere stand against corruption and for the uniform application of the law.

------------------------------------------------------------

These excerpts don’t due the vast amount of evidence justice. There is much more evidence, photographs, documents at the link below. Take the time to read it all and share it with your friends, neighbors and elected officials.

[airmanisr]

BD_O Donnell_0012 Wedell-Williams 92 Racer NR536V 1932 by SDASM Archives Via Flickr: Image from the Gladys O’Donnell Collection. Gladys Livingston Berry was born March 2, 1904 in Whittier, California. At eighteen she married Lloyd O'Donnell, a car salesman who enjoyed flying airplanes. She soloed after 10 hours and in 1929 at the age of 25, became the first licensed woman pilot in Long Beach, California. That same year, Gladys participated in the first Women's Air Derby with only 40 hours of solo flying time. The nine-day race started in Santa Monica, California and concluded in Cleveland, Ohio. Gladys finished second behind Louise Thaden. Each of the women who participated in that historic race - Amelia Earhart, Louise Thaden, Phoebe Omlie, Ruth Elder, Blanche Noyes, Bobbi Trout and Gladys O'Donnell - opened doors for all women pilots. Gladys was also a charter member of the 99s and the first Governor of their Southwest Section. Images were digitized from an album belonging to Bill Allen. Note: This material may be protected by Copyright Law (Title 17 U.S.C.)--Repository: San Diego Air and Space Museum

[woodsonresearchcenter]

The Masterson Crisis exhibit

Sign worn during the Masterson protest 

Last year, the Woodson submitted a proposal for the library’s Fondren Fellows program. We wanted someone to use our archives to tell the story of protesting at Rice University between April 1969 – April 1970 using an online exhibit. The students would specifically highlight the Masterson Crisis and the Abbie Hoffman incident / Allen Center occupation. These protests are uniquely Rice in nature, but also influenced by protest movements across college campuses.

Crowd protesting the Masterson appointment arriving in front of Lovett Hall on Saturday, February 22, 1969

For the past semester, our Fondren Fellow Emma Satterfield, has been hard at work tackling the Masterson Crisis. She spent many weeks reading through all of the William H. Masterson Controversy records, taking detailed notes, creating a thorough timeline, and understanding all of the important players. She met with Dr. Allen Matusow to discuss specifics with a historian who specialized in the time period, but also was there. Finally, she spent weeks creating the online exhibit. She selected photographs (digitizing new ones), fliers, Thresher articles, and KOWL audio, marrying all of this with a gripping narrative.

Whether you want to relive the action or learn about what happened for the first time, you should give it all a look and listen. Here’s the link.

In the fall, the project will be carried on by another Fellow who will focus on the events of April 1970. We will post that when it is available in December.

[marylandparanormal]

Ghost Expedition Montgomery County, Silver Spring Maryland: Burnt Mills West Special Park/Robert B Morse Water Filtration Plant

The Burnt Mills area in Silver Spring, Maryland takes it name from a mill that was said to have burned down there sometime before 1788, possibly circa the 1740′s timeframe

From an antique copper stencil, veteran local journalist J. Harry Shannon (aka "The Rambler") speculated in 1916 the burnt mill may have been known as "Glen Cairn Mills Family Flour"

Milling operations in Burnt Mills date to 1745 when then area was surveyed and patented as the "Mill Seat."  The area's terrain and rapid waterfalls enabled the operations of a series of grist, saw and flour mills. The first mill in Mill Seat was constructed later that year on property owned by Samuel Beall Jr.  And this was likely the namesake mill that burned down

The earliest records of a grist mill at Burnt Mills date to 1803 when the property known as "Beall’s Industry" was sold by Walter Beall to Peter Kemp and James W. Perry  

Nathan Lufborough acquired the mill property, described in an 1823 deed as "one hundred acres more or less".  He had intended to sell the mill in 1847 but he died before the sale could be completed, leaving the property to his heirs.  The property was listed in 1850 as a “flour and bone” mill 

The mill at Burnt Mills was owned by James L. Bond from 1858 to 1886.  The mill produced three grades of flour and stone-ground corn mill. The technology of the mill improved over time. A roller mill replaced mill stones around 1895. A turbine had replaced the wheel by 1880 

Bond sold the property to his sons-in law in 1886.  The last owner was Dr. George W. Bready who acquired the flour mill and land in 1906

In 1913, The Rambler rendered the following portrait of the old flour mill in the Sunday Star

The shingle roof of the mill is green, dark and old, with moss, but  nearly everything else about the mill - the miller, of course, included -  is whitened by the flour and meal ground there, and which has been grinding there so long that no man's memory runneth to the contrary  

Near the mill is the miller's house, bowered in the shade of numerous  close-growing trees and the home of Dr. William T. Brown, surrounded by  shrubbery, orchard and vineyard

By 1922, the mill had ceased operations. That year, the mill was sold to the Washington Suburban Sanitary Commission (WSSC).  The old mill sat idle for years until it was demolished in 1928  

In 1879, Burnt Mills (Four Corners) was a farm community with a population of 125 persons.  In 1934, the Robert E. Lattimer Land Company developed the area as a community of country estates known as Burnt Mills Hills.  The development preserved the area’s topography of rolling hills and streams and farm lanes

WSSC began construction of a water filtration facility in 1930.  The plant featured a "state of art" design, by WSSC Chief Engineer Robert B. Morse, for rapid sand removal and water treatment

The plant had two filter assemblies, two pumping stations and a new concrete dam.  Pumping stations were designed in the Georgian Revival style to give the appearance of large colonial houses rather than a public utility

The low-lift pumping station moved cleaned (sediment free-water) to filter assemblies where lime and ammonia were added

The filter assemblies featured circular rings that were used for each stage of the filtration process, which included coagulation, filtration, and delivery

Chlorine was added as the high-lift pumping station moved treated water to WSSC distribution lines

The late Robert Brooks Morse (1880-1936) was married to Carrie Emma Ross-Morse (1883-1979). They had two children: Caroline Allen Morse (1903-1905) and Katherine B. Morse-Devereaux (1904-1984)

He was trained as a civil engineer at Johns Hopkins University (A.B. 1901) and at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (S.B. 1904).  He became Chief engineer at WSSC since its inception in 1918

Unfortunately, he died prematurely at age 55 due to blood poisoning, months before the water filtration plant opened.  WSSC named the water filtration plant in his honor

The water filtration plant did not have the capacity to meet rising service demands from suburban growth and it was closed in 1962. The Maryland-National Capital Park and Planning Commission acquired the former water plant in 2000.  Today they are recreational facilities known as Burnt Mills West Special Park (the high-lift pumping station) and Burnt Mills East Special Park (the low-lift pumping station)

There are no haunting legends associated with historical Burnt Mills nor the Robert B. Morse Water Filtration Facility. However, there may be potential for transcommunication experiences owing to area history.  The ghost expedition will focus on "drop-in" communications, and not on evidence for a haunting

The ghost expedition will also participate in National Ghost Hunting Day (NGHD), an event sponsored by Haunted Journeys magazine.  Connectivity and live streaming will be provided by SHINDIG. Digital marketing services for the event are being provided by CyberSpyder. The event will attempt to build a global “consciousness bridge” that will last two hours

Data from random event generators (REGs) belonging to the Global Consciousness Project  (GCP) that are in proximity to participant locations will be monitored over the event

Results from NGHD 2016 noted a marked shift in random walk trending generated by GCP REGs at the outset of last year’s event

Similar patterns were also encountered at NGHD start in MPR’s REG experiment in 2017 in Dundalk

The film project will not be open to the public but will be livestreamed over the SHINDIG platform.  Look for “Site, MD, USA, Burnt Mills West Special Park”

REFERENCES:

Beall, J.R. (1931). The history and construction of the mill at Burnt Mills, Maryland. Initiation Thesis. Records of Phi Mu Fraternity, Special Collections, University of Maryland Libraries.  University of Maryland, College Park. Hosted at archive.org

Boyd, T.H.S. (1879). The history of Montgomery County, Maryland - From its earliest settlement in 1650 to 1879. Baltimore, W.K. Boyle and Son

Bushong, W. (1994, May). Robert B. Morse Water Filtration Plant. M33-22. Maryland-National Capital Park And Planning Commission. Maryland Historical Trust

Cook, E.M.V. (1992, Nov). The Story of Burnt Mills. In The Montgomery County Story, Quarterly Journal of the Montgomery County Historical Society, Vol. 35. No. 4., Rockville, MD. pp 225-235. 

Find A Grave, database and images. Memorial page for Robert Brooks Morse (13 Sep 1880–31 Jan 1936), Find A Grave Memorial no. 135832899, citing Chebeague Island Cemetery, Chebeague Island, Cumberland County, Maine, USA. Maintained by townsendburial (contributor 47629974)

Historic Preservation, Montgomery County, Maryland. (1996, Mar 6). Montgomery County Atlas (MCATLAS) Map Viewer: ROBERT B. MORSE COMPLEX (WSSC). Resource Number: 33/022-000A. Maryland-National Capital Park And Planning Commission. Montgomery County, Maryland

Kelly, C.L. (2012). Burnt Mills Hills. M33-29. Maryland-National Capital Park And Planning Commission. Maryland Historical Trust

MONTGOMERY COUNTY, MARYLAND HISTORICAL CHRONOLOGY. (2018). Maryland State Archives

Montgomery Parks. (2016, Aug 15). Burnt Mills West Special Park. Maryland-National Capital Park And Planning Commission

Montgomery County Planning Department. Montgomery County Atlas (MCATLAS) Map Viewer: Burnt Mills West Special Park. Montgomery County (MD). Department of Parks. Montgomery County, Maryland

National Ghost Hunting Day: The World’s Largest Ghost Hunt. (2018).  Haunted Journeys

Shannon, J.H. (1913, Jun 22). With the Rambler. Sunday Star, Washington DC.  Reprinted in Neighbors of the Northwest Branch

Shannon, J.H. (1916, May 14).  With the Rambler: Tramping the Northwest Branch. Sunday Star, Washington DC.  Reprinted in Neighbors of the Northwest Branch

Sutton, R. (2016, Jun 16). Burnt Mills Dam has a long history in Montgomery County. Ross Sutton Blog. Keller Williams Real Estate

Williams, B.J. (2017).  Exploring Collective Consciousness: Could There Be Some Implications for Paranity?. National Ghost Hunting Day Collective Consciousness Article. Psychical Research Foundation

IMAGES:

Historic American Engineering Record. (1968). REAR ELEVATION of high-lift pumping station. Robert B. Morse Water Filtration Plant, 10700 and 10701 Columbia Pike, Silver Spring, Montgomery County, MD.  Library of Congress

Historic American Engineering Record. (1968). FRONT ELEVATION of high-lift pumping station. Colesville Road (also called U.S.Route 29 or Columbia Pike) is in foreground. Robert B. Morse Water Filtration Plant, 10700 and 10701 Columbia Pike, Silver Spring, Montgomery County, MD.  Library of Congress

Burnt Mills Flour Mill prior to its demolition - Figure 1. (c 1928).  From Beall, J.R. (1931). The history and construction of the mill at Burnt Mills, Maryland. Initiation Thesis. Records of Phi Mu Fraternity, Special Collections, University of Maryland Libraries.  University of Maryland, College Park.  Hosted at archive.org

Burnt Mills Flour Mill prior to its demolition - Figure 2. (c 1928).  From Beall, J.R. (1931). The history and construction of the mill at Burnt Mills, Maryland. Initiation Thesis. Records of Phi Mu Fraternity, Special Collections, University of Maryland Libraries.  University of Maryland, College Park.  Hosted at archive.org

Historic American Engineering Record. (1968). GROUND FLOOR of high-lift pumping station. Note the main stairway and columns. Robert B. Morse Water Filtration Plant, 10700 and 10701 Columbia Pike, Silver Spring, Montgomery County, MD.  Library of Congress

Historic American Engineering Record. (1968). ATTIC of high-lift pumping station showing steel framing and concrete slab roof units. Robert B. Morse Water Filtration Plant, 10700 and 10701 Columbia Pike, Silver Spring, Montgomery County, MD.  Library of Congress

Historic American Engineering Record. (1968). OFFICE SPACE ON SECOND FLOOR of high-lift pumping station. Robert B. Morse Water Filtration Plant, 10700 and 10701 Columbia Pike, Silver Spring, Montgomery County, MD.  Library of Congress

Historic American Engineering Record. (1968). BASEMENT of high-lift pumping station. Note steel I-beam and pump foundations. Robert B. Morse Water Filtration Plant, 10700 and 10701 Columbia Pike, Silver Spring, Montgomery County, MD.  Library of Congress

National Ghost Hunting Day: The World’s Largest Ghost Hunt. (2017).  Haunted Journeys

Montgomery Parks. (2016, Aug 15). SOUTHEAST ELEVATION. Burnt Mills West Special Park. Maryland-National Capital Park And Planning Commission

[brentfashioningourhistory]

📹 Stories from By The Cut of Their Cloth: Dr Hastings Banda and Merene French ➡An affair between the President of Malawi and a married Englishwoman Born around 1898 in a small village in Nyasaland, Hastings Kamuzu Banda worked as a miner and clerk before a Black American church sponsored his education in the USA. After completing his high school education and a university degree, he graduated from medical school in Tennessee in 1937. Banda came to Britain, but his American qualifications did not allow him to practise here, so in 1938 he went to Edinburgh, where he obtained a medical degree in 1941. When the British colonial government refused to employ him on the same terms as European doctors, he abandoned his plan to return to Nyasaland and instead set up a practice in the poorest part of Liverpool. Later drafted to North Shields, he met married white Englishwoman Merene French with whom he started an affair. After the war, Banda followed Merene to London, where he worked as a GP. At first he lodged with Merene, her husband William and their son Peter, in Willesden before buying a large semi-detached property in Brondesbury Park where all four lived together. William eventually divorced Merene in 1955 leaving her and Banda to continue their relationship. During this time, Banda was deeply involved in the politics of Nyasaland, and many African politicians visited the pair’s home. Eventually the pair moved to the Gold Coast where Banda rose to political power, becoming President of Malawi in 1960. The pair’s affair had mostly been kept secret but as Banda’s visibility as a key African leader increased over the years, there was increasingly no room for Merene, a white woman, by his side. She returned to England in the late 50s, never to see Banda again. You can find the fuller account of the affair between the couple as written by our volunteer historian Dick Weindling over at our By The Cut of Their Cloth digital exhibition, under the Archival Discoveries section. Exhibition link in bio! https://mixedmuseum.org.uk/BTCOTC/hastings-banda-and-merene-french/ #mixedrace #interracialcouple #history #Malawi #affair #Brent #HastingsBanda (at London Borough of Brent) https://www.instagram.com/p/CfJ2H5Otdcq/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

[packedwithpackards]

Examining the sources of the Plymouth Colony Pages [Part 31]

Manning Leonard, Memorial: Genealogical, Historical, and Biographical, of Solomon Leonard, 1637, of Duxbury and Bridgewater, Massachusetts, and Some of His Descendants (Auburn NY: Children of the Author, 1896).

This book mentions the Packards a good many times (12 times to be exact). These include the following:

"Sam'l Packard had Sam'l b. 1678 d. 1720, Thomas br. of the preceding had 8 wives. Deliverance d, of Sam'l Packard and Abigail d. Jacob Leonard— his will 1729"- p 43 "Nehemiah Leonard...son of Seth and Silence (Packard) Leonard, was b. in Bridgewater, Mass., Aug. 26, 1769 ; m. Jan. 5, 1792 Phebe Pratt. He resided in Bridgewater where he (L Mav 19, 1886 ; his wife d. Sept. 19, 1826"- p 194

Additionally, the Kingman family married often into the Packard family. So this book has more information on the Packard family than most.

Caroline Louisa Leonard Goodenough, Memoirs of the Leonard, Thompson, and Haskell Families ... (Yellow Springs, OH: The Author, 1928).

This book, written in 1928, can only be borrowed on the Internet Archive and is only available on HathiTrust through a limited search. While the book would likely need to be bought or looked at in a library, ancestry has a handy search. It shows 21 results for the name "Packard" within the book including description of Samuel Packard's farm, called "Nipenicket" or the "Old Packard farm" apparently. The former name could be because there is a lake in Bridgewater called "Nippenicket," interestingly enough. As Dale Cook puts it, "the [Packard] family lived at the western edge of the town of Bridgewater, at Lake Nippenicket, and sometimes whole families of children, especially on the fringes of a town, went unrecorded."

A. B. Lyons, G. W. A. Lyon and Eugene F. McPike, Lyon Memorial: Massachusetts Families, Including Descendants of the Immigrants William Lyon, of Roxbury, Peter Lyon, of Dorchester, George Lyon, of Dorchester (Detroit, MI: The Authors, 1905).

There are eleven matches for the last name of Packard in this book. They include descendants such as "Rufus E. Packard" (pps 117, 153) and Cornelia B. Packard (p  307),to name two of the many results in this book.

State copies of Massachusetts vital records registers 1841-1920 at the Massachusetts State Archives, 220 Morrissey Blvd., Boston, MA 02125.

This isn't necessary anymore because MA vital records can be easily searched on Family Search at the time.

Milton E. Terry and Anne Borden Harding, Mayflower Ancestral Index: Volume 1 (Plymouth: General Society of Mayflower Descendants, 1981).

This can still be found for the low price of $10.00. One website, which covers the genealogy of Mayflower passengers is as helpful as this index to be clear.

Susan E. Roser, Mayflower Births & Deaths from the Files of George Ernest Bowman at the Massachusetts Society of Mayflower Descendants, 2 vols. (Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing Co., 1992).

The same goes for this book which was noted for the index above. It is not currently digitized online except in a search put up by Ancestry.com. The first volume reportedly has 16 results for the name "Packard."

Mayflower Descendant: A Quarterly Magazine of Pilgrim Genealogy and History (Boston: Massachusetts Society of Mayflower Descendants, 1899-1937, 1987 to present).  Edited by George Ernest Bowman, v. 1 [1899] to v. 34 [1937]; Alicia Crane Williams, v. 35 [1985] to v. 48 [1998]; Scott Andrew Bartley, v. 49 [2000] to date.

Some editions of this magazine have been digitized on Internet Archive, but not many, only select ones. An individualized search of each book could reveal the name of Packard perhaps but that assumption may even been too much of a gamble.

Lucy Mary Kellogg, Mayflower Families Through Five Generations ... Volume One ... Francis Eaton, Samuel Fuller, William White (Plymouth: General Society of Mayflower Descendants, 1975, Addendum 1984). Robert M. Sherman, Mayflower Families Through Five Generations ... Volume Two ... James Chilton, Richard More, Thomas Rogers (Plymouth: General Society of Mayflower Descendants, 1978, Addendum 1986). John D. Austin, Mayflower Families Through Five Generations ... Volume Six ... Stephen Hopkins, 1st Ed. (Plymouth: General Society of Mayflower Descendants, 1992).

This book is out of print but varying later volumes are available online or even available through the General Society of Mayflower Descendants.

Robert S. Wakefield, Ralph Van Wood, Jr., et. al., Francis Cooke of the Mayflower and His Descendants for Four Generations, 2nd ed. (Plymouth: General Society of Mayflower Descendants, 1987).

This book is likely part of the above series.

Barbara Lambert Merrick and Alicia Crane Williams, Middleborough, Massachusetts Vital Records, 2 Vols. (Boston: Massachusetts Society of Mayflower Descendants, 1986-90).

These records are online but only seem available through a subscription to the New England Historic Genealogical Society.

Note: This was originally posted on Apr. 27, 2018 on the main Packed with Packards WordPress blog (it can also be found on the Wayback Machine here). My research is still ongoing, so some conclusions in this piece may change in the future.

© 2018-2022 Burkely Hermann. All rights reserved.

[yegarts]

Yorath House Artist Residency Blog Post 7: Beautiful Views: Edmonton’s Westerly Park

Words by Adriana A. Davies, Feb 5 - 13, 2022 Artworks by Marlena Wyman Feb 8 - 20, 2022 Artists-in-Residence at Yorath House

Outing in Laurier Park 1913 - Marlena Wyman - image transfer and oil stick on Mylar (Image from City of Edmonton Archives #EA-10-2927-15).

I think it is time to start writing what is in effect a history of Laurier and Buena Vista Parks because that is the setting for Yorath House. I’ve spent about four weeks researching aspects of this history. It was difficult getting this information and, thank heavens for archives and digital records.

The stories of how Laurier and Buena Vista Parks came into being spans a period of over 100 years: from the end of the fur trade era to the 1950s. The land on which they are located was originally the home of Indigenous Peoples, specifically the River Cree. The ward name, Sipiwiyiniwak, means “People of the River” in Cree. Yorath House is located in what became Buena Vista Park. It is like a “bull’s eye” in the centre of this important piece of land.

Gold Seekers and Homesteaders

In order to tell the story of the “Western Parks,” it is important not only to find out who owned the land but also to examine emerging visions of what cities should be, and their relationship to the land. Land settlement is part of the story of the signing of treaties with Indigenous Peoples and filing of homesteads. Though the fur trade was essentially over when settlement began in the 1880s, a new resource drew fortune seekers. In 1859, James Hector, a geologist with the Palliser Expedition, noted the presence of gold flakes at Fort Edmonton.

Gold rushes had been occurring in various parts of the U S in the first part of the nineteenth century. Tom Clover, a Missouri native and veteran of the California gold rush of 1849, in the 1860s heard about gold being found at Fort Edmonton and made his way here. The section of the North Saskatchewan River that he worked in the 1860s became the Cloverdale and Clover Bar neighbourhoods. Several early Edmonton businessmen also started out in the gold fields of California and BC including Timolean Love, Jim Gibbons, Ed Carey, William Cust and Donald Ross. In 1862, over 170 gold seekers known as “overlanders” (in contrast to those who took maritime routes) passed through Edmonton in July.1 While the majority were heading to BC, about 60 stayed in Edmonton to pan for gold along the River.

The transition from gold seekers to residents happened in the next 10 to 15 years. In 1866, James Gibbons, from Donegal, Ireland, was one of those gold miners. At the age of 15, he travelled to the US in 1852 visiting a sister in New York and an uncle in Delaware. Greed for gold took him to California and Nevada before he headed North to the Fraser River in BC (1859) and, finally, Edmonton. The signing of Treaty 6 enabled gold seekers and others to file for homesteads. The cross-over to settlement in what became Edmonton’s west end took place as a result of a Hudson’s Bay employee from Scotland. Malcolm Groat signed on with the Hudson’s Bay Company in 1861 and served at Fort Edmonton. By the time he ended his service with the HBC, he was in charge of farming operations at the Fort. In 1870, after the HBC selected their 3,000 acre land reserve around the Fort, Groat claimed 900 acres along the western edge of the reserve (what became River Lot 2), and settled there in 1878 with wife Marguerite and their nine children. She was the daughter of Chief Factor William Joseph Christie. Other HBC employees including Métis did the same. They established the pattern of long, narrow lots with river frontages on both banks of the North Saskatchewan. Many of their names are reflected in neighbourhoods or land features.

On the Miner’s Flats, now Buena Vista and Laurier parks, three gold-seekers and friends claimed land: Gilbert John Anderson, Thomas Charles Stephenson/Stevenson (so-called “English Charlie”) and James Gibbons. In 1873 Gibbons married Mary Isabel Anderson, a stepdaughter of Gilbert Anderson. With the help of his wife, who was Métis, he made several trips to Winnipeg to bring back trade goods. After 100 years of the fur trade, family ties were complex as a result of the inter-marriage of HBC employees and Indigenous women. Linda Goyette and Carolina Jakeway Roemmich note in Edmonton In Our Own Words:

Their descendants take care to describe the mingled lineage: Gilbert Anderson, who grew up among Cree relatives in the Enoch band, inherited his name from a Métis great-grandfather who was an HBC employee; but he was also great-grandson of Chief Michel Callihoo and a [great]-nephew of the early gold prospector Jimmy Gibbons. “These people were contemporaries in a small community,” said Anderson. “The families intermarried in the early years and that’s how Edmonton began.

Gibbons wrote a reminiscence in which he notes:

Christie was in charge at Edmonton. There were about twenty-five families about the place. They were French Canadians, half-breeds, and Highland Scotch. William Borwick was the blacksmith. William Lennie was also a blacksmith; there were those days two kinds of Scotch – those who could speak English and those who could not. Jimmie Gullion was the boat builder assisted by his brother, George. Pig Kenny was in charge of the pigs. Malcolm Groat was in charge of the men. There were two clerks in the post – McAulay and McDonald. Sandy Anderson was the saddler and made the dog harness. John Norris was dog runner. Donald McLeod was in the company service at that time and I remember that he spoke very little English. Gilbert Anderson was sawing lumber for the Company, and William Meavor was getting out the logs.”2

Gibbons filed for a homestead comprising 80 acres “on the North side of the Sask. River,” in 1878 (Section 24, Township 52, Range 25, Meridian 4). The records note that he has a family of five and will be using the land for “mining, farming and trading.” The value was placed at $1,000. His witnesses were Stephenson and Anderson. He later got a pre-emption for the adjoining land and, in 1893, he noted that he had 40 acres under cultivation, 25 “horned cattle,” 15-20 calves and yearlings, and 40 head of horses, mares and colts. In 1885, he applied for a “patent of home.” Gibbons also served as the Indian Agent for the Stony Plain Reserve (1898-1908) and, in that capacity, was involved in three key surrenders of lands: Enoch in 1902; Alexander Band in 1905; and the Michel Band surrenders in 1903 and 1906. Gibbons was the founding President of the Old Timers’ Association in 1894. He also filed for a homestead in Stony Plain in 1902 and purchased land and built a house for his retirement at 125 Street and 105 Avenue (this is a designated historic resource). He died in 1933.3

Gilbert John Anderson appears in the HBC Archives database of servants’ contracts: in 1852, he is listed as a “labourer” and, in 1862, as a “sawyer labourer.”4 On July 23, 1885, he filed for homestead Section 25, Township 52, Range 25, Meridian 4, which is also part of the Laurier Park lands. On January 24, 1894, he did another filing for Section 26, Township 52, Range 25, Meridian 4. The record shows that he had been a miner for 20 years and had two children, and that this would be his permanent residence. He also notes that he had broken the land and had cattle, four horses, a chicken house and a stable. Anderson was born in Stenness, Orkney Islands, Scotland on July 1830 and died in Edmonton in 1915 and was buried in the Edmonton Municipal Cemetery.

The last of the three friends to file for a homestead, in 1885, was Stephenson. He filed for Southeast ¼, Section 25, Township 52, Range 25, Meridian 4. His witnesses were his friends and neighbours James Gibbons and Gilbert Anderson. The land purchased by William Wilkin on which Yorath House is situated is part of this homestead. Stephenson was born in England in 1838 and died in 1923 in Edmonton and is buried in the municipal cemetery. In most records, his surname is spelled “Stevenson,” which made it difficult to locate his homestead papers, which were under the name “Thomas Charles Stephenson.”

Alberta’s Capital City: The Rush to Urbanization

Painting of Valleyview Drive by Marlena Wyman.

Edmonton incorporated as a town in 1892 and as a city in 1904; in that time period its population rose from 700 to 8,350. In the early years of the twentieth century there was a feeding frenzy of property speculation. In 1903, Malcolm Groat sold his estate to property developers. In the same year, Charles Stephenson sold part of his land to realtor S. H. Smith, a city alderman (1906-07), for $12 an acre. Stephenson did not sell all of his land retaining a number of acres on which he and, later, his grandson, William Stephenson, resided. Maps from about 1912 show a square of land with river frontage in private hands.5

The extent of Edmonton’s property boom, partly fueled by the building of railways, is described by historian John Gilpin as follows:

Between 1903 and 1914, 274 new subdivisions were created, which inflated the assessed value of city property to $191 million. Most of these existed only on paper and would never be developed. This rate represented an 1800 percent increase in the number of subdivisions on the north side alone compared with an 800 percent increase in the total population of Edmonton between 1904 and 1914.

These new subdivisions were located on both sides of the river, with the largest concentration being northeast of the central business district. Mundy's 1912 map of Greater Edmonton shows new subdivisions established as far as seven miles from the downtown area. The names chosen were common to other Canadian cities, and included Tuxedo Park and Queen Mary Park. With the exception of Windsor Park, Glenora, and Beau Park, these subdivisions did not deviate much from the grid pattern. The cumulative result was the creation of a blueprint for a "Greater Edmonton" that dazzled the imagination of Edmonton's boosters, strongly influenced many aspects of civic policy, and created new opportunities for Edmonton real estate brokerage firms.6

The property speculation was also fueled by Alberta’s becoming a province on September 1, 1905 and Edmonton being designated as the capital in 1906. This was the result of powerful allies in Ottawa including Prime Minister Sir Wilfrid Laurier, who had been there at the inauguration of the province on a bandstand in the Rossdale Flats.

Sir Wilfrid Laurier speaking at the inauguration of the Province of Alberta, September 1, 1905 in Edmonton at the Rossdale Flats. Photographer: Ernest Brown, City of Edmonton Archives EA-10-3217.

The provincial government immediately began to plan for an impressive Legislature building and grounds, and 21 acres was purchased from the Hudson’s Bay Company for the site overlooking the North Saskatchewan River. In an article in the Bulletin of November 5, 1906, the headline states: “New C.P.R. Bridge Will Have Suitable Design: Architecture Will Accord With Surrounds and Harmonise With Provincial Buildings.” Premier Rutherford himself met with Sir Thomas Shaughnessy, head of the CPR, to discuss this and tells the journalist that landscape architect “Mr. F. G. Todd of Montreal” has been contracted, and notes that the same process was happening in Saskatchewan. The Province chose Todd because of his impressive credentials: he had studied with pre-eminent American landscape architect Frederick Law Olmstead, the designer of New York’s Central Park and Montreal’s Mont Royal.

View of Fort Edmonton with the completed Legislature Building behind, ca. 1912, Photographer: McDermid Studio. Glenbow Archives NC-6-234.  

Drawing of proposed approach to Legislature building, 1912. The Legislature was built in the period 1907 to 1913, in the Beaux-Arts style and is an impressive steel-frame, sandstone and granite structure. It was designed by architects Allan Merrick Jeffers and Richard Blakey and Montreal architect Percy Nobbs helped with the final revisions. Photographer: McDermid Studio, Glenbow Archives NC-6-160.

A postcard showing a panoramic view with the completed High Level Bridge and Alberta Legislature, ca. 1917-1918, Glenbow Archives NA-5002-5

The City of Edmonton Archives has extensive correspondence pertaining to parks development in the period 1906 to 1912, including Todd’s 1907 typewritten report that presents a grand vision for the City. In November 1906, Todd was contracted “to prepare a comprehensive beautification scheme for the city” for a fee of $500. He begins by praising the civic government for initiating planning early and cites a number of examples of cities that had not done so, and had to do very expensive remedial work.7 He sees no limits for Edmonton, the capital of a resource-rich province, and makes a key recommendation:

In evolving a comprehensive scheme for parks and boulevards for Edmonton, every advantage should be taken of the great natural beauty of the situation, and also attention must be given to the economic interest of the city, by withdrawing for park purposes, property which is of least value for building, if it is equally valuable for park purposes. Indeed it often happens that the land most unsuitable for building is the best for park purposes, such as the sides of steep ravines and hillsides.

The report has the following sections: East and West End Parks, North End Park, Hudson Bay Flats, Ravine and Hillside Parks, Rat Creek Park, Groat Creek Park, Small Parks and Playgrounds, Boulevards and Parkways, Boulevard to Groat Creek, Boulevard to Rat Creek, Hudson Bay Boulevard, Namayo Boulevard, Capital Boulevard. He devotes a final section to “Plantings.” Thus, before Edmonton had even begun its urban development, it was committed to becoming a “green” city and part of the Garden City Movement that had gained dominance in the UK, the US and Australia. In 1898, Ebenezer Howard published a book titled Cities of Tomorrow. In it, he espoused a method of urban planning in which towns and cities are surrounded by “green belts” and a balance is struck between housing, industry and agriculture. Three such communities were built near London and he received a knighthood.

In the section titled “East and West End Parks,” Todd praises the City as follows:

Your city has already made a commendable start in the way of supplying its future generations with ample breathing space, by purchasing a good sized park East of the city, and one in the Western part of the city. These are splendid properties and well adapted to the purposes for which they have been set apart, and I would suggest that when these are developed later on as the city assumes a larger size, that as much as possible of their present natural beauty be retained, and that their natural picturesqueness be further increased by planting of many trees and shrubs in an irregular and natural way. When drives and walks are built they should be designed with graceful curves, and arranged with the existing and proposed woods in such a manner as to present the park to the best advantage.

The west end park purchase that he refers to is an as-yet unnamed area: it is part of the North 1/2 of Section 24 and West 1/2 of S.W. 1/4 of Section 5, 52, 25, West of the 4th Meridian. The 205 acres belonged to James Gibbons and the city paid $25,625. The purchase was made through the power plant capital account because, initially, the City intended to move its power-generating facility from the Rossdale Flats to this site. In the City records, and also in articles in the Edmonton Journal and the Edmonton Bulletin, the matter is discussed. A December 29, 1906 article in the Bulletin titled “Recommends Gibbons Site for Water Work” notes that the Commissioner had had specifications prepared for a water treatment facility that would supply “three-million gallons” through a “direct-connected, motor-driven pump.” The other part of the proposal was for a power plant.

The move seemed to be supported by the City Commissioner because not only was there ample land but also water and coal. An article in the Journal of October 10, 1907 titled “New and Extensive Improvements Are Being Planned for Edmonton” provides information on the equipment for the power plant including generating capacity and notes that testing of coal deposits had been done. It does, however, point out an issue: “The Gibbons’ property is about three miles from the centre of the city in a direct line, but owing to a bend in the river it is about five miles distant by trail. In order to transport the heavy machinery to the plant to the site, and to provide communication with other coal mines in case the fuel supply should at any time fail, it is considered necessary to construct a spur line to the property.”

The urgency of expanding the current power plant and the drawbacks of Gibbons’ land supported the vision provided by Todd in his report, and the decision was made not to build on the west end site. By 1909, the Journal was advocating for the location of a park there with the support of the City’s medical officer Dr. T. M. Whitelaw, who gave his hearty approval for a “large suburban park.” On July 29, 1910, it reported: “The advisability of christening the McGibbons [sic.] property Laurier Park will be considered at a special meeting of the council which has been called for Monday at 10 o’clock. At this meeting also a resolution urging the removal of the penitentiary from its present site will be drafted. The resolution will be presented to Sir Wilfrid Laurier during his stay in the city.” 

Removing a penitentiary and designating an urban park were both part of the beautification of the City. The new provincial jail would be moved to Fort Saskatchewan, a more remote community in which to situate dangerous offenders. In 1910, Laurier travelled across Western Canada via railway for a period of two months. It was an electioneering trip to get in touch with this fast-growing region of the country. He stopped in Edmonton on August 10 where he was honoured by the park naming.

The influence of Frederick Todd cannot be underestimated. We experience it every time we walk or drive along roads and walkways on the embankments on both sides of the North Saskatchewan River. These reflect the following recommendation in his report:

The advantage of a system of boulevards and driveways connecting the different parks surrounding the city is of such obvious importance that it is hardly necessary to dwell upon it. Few cities have such splendid opportunities for magnificent scenic drives as Edmonton, and it will always be a matter of regret to future generations that land for a boulevard along the entire river embankment was not secured until it was too late to make it continuous. There is however still left the opportunity of obtaining boulevards commencing a little east, and a little west of the city, and the land for these it seems to me should be secured at as early a date as possible.

Laurier Park was the beginning of over 100 parkland purchases that the City undertook in the period 1907 to 1931. These included the Highlands golf course and the Mill Creek, Groat, Mackinnon, Kinnaird and Whitemud Creek ravine lands.8

With respect to the “West End Park,” on October 19, 1910, a proposed nursery was approved; the site comprised five acres. A December 20, 1910 document provides costs for clearing the land of burnt and dead timber. Itemized costs include: ploughing of 37 acres; brushing of 75 acres; mowing, curing, stacking of hay on 50 acres. In another document of the same date, the following activities with accompanying costs are listed:Todd had recommended the planting of many trees and the City took his advice to heart. On April 4, 1911, a Blue Print of the layout of the West End City Park is requested from the Engineering Department (unfortunately, it is not in the file).

Todd had recommended the planting of many trees and the City took his advice to heart. On April 4, 1911, a Blue Print of the layout of the West End City Park is requested from the Engineering Department (unfortunately, it is not in the file).

A family outing at Laurier Park in 1913; trail for not only walkers but also people on horseback was developed. Photographer: Byron May Co. City of Edmonton Archives 2A-10-2927-14

While Todd had set the City on the development of parks, in 1912, correspondence reveals that other landscape architects were also being consulted. Whether this was because Todd was unavailable or “new blood,” as it were, was needed is not clear. A September 16, 1912 letter from American Park Builders, Chicago, requests that they be placed in a position to bid for projects. They note that they can either plan and build the park, or use the plans of other landscape architects. To support the application, they note that they are responsible for the Lincoln Park System in Chicago.

Correspondence also relates to other parks existing at the time including Rat Creek Ravine and Victoria Park; and the building of proposed East and West “river drives.” All are costed fully by A. J. Latornell, the City Engineer. Other projects include roadways leading to the Legislature and the proposed CPR High Level Bridge. A letter dated September 26, 1912, deals with the acquisition of three ravines in the Quesnell subdivision for park purposes. It notes: “Quesnell Ravine would form a desirable addition to Laurier Park to the West, while the other two would form a nucleus of two parks between Laurier Park and West End Park. All three are useless for building purposes.” Market sites on both the North and South sides of the River were also planned.

The Parks Commission delivered its first report on December 31, 1912. During the year, they received proposals from Morell & Nichols, Landscape Architects and Engineers of Minneapolis for park planning work. They were invited to produce a report. In 1912 and 1913, at the recommendation of Morell & Nichols, prominent town planners from the US and Great Britain were brought in to provide public lectures. In addition, the Report notes that “A Womans Club has been formed for the purpose of studying Town Planning on the basis of Mr. Morell’s report.” To help get the message out, it is proposed that 2000 copies of the report be printed and sold to clubs at 50 cents per copy. It is also suggested that copies be made available free of charge to high schools and the University. Finally, the recommendation is made to Council that Morrell and Nichols be retained as the City’s town planning experts.

A January 23, 1913 letter from P. M. Barnes, Assistant Superintendent of Parks to Mr. R. B. Chadwick, refers to a report prepared by the Provincial Archivist, Miss Katherine Hughes, with recommendations for the naming of Edmonton Parks. They are as follows:

What is fascinating is that, in this era of white dominance, the Provincial Archivist recommended the following names: Cree Embankment, Metis Park, Blackfoot Park and Assiniboia Park.

According to her entry in the Dictionary of Canadian Biography, prior to coming to Alberta, she was linked to Indigenous causes. She was born in 1876 in Prince Edward Island and became a teacher and journalist and was a member of the Canadian Women’s Press Club. Her Uncle, Cornelius O’Brien was Archbishop of Halifax. According to the DCB entry, written by Pádraig Ó Siadhail,

Biographical sketches claim that she was involved in mission work for the “uplift” of natives in eastern and central Canada. In the summer of 1899 she was employed as teacher at the Mohawk reserve of Saint-Régis (Akwesasne). Two years later Hughes launched, with ecclesiastical support, the Catholic Indian Association, which sought to find employment outside reserves for graduates of Indian schools and, reflecting contemporary attitudes to natives, assimilate them.9

In 1906, she moved to Edmonton to work for the Bulletin reporting on provincial politics. In May 1908 she was appointed as the first provincial archivist and charged with developing the Bureau of Archives. In 1909, she was seconded to serve as the private secretary to Premier Alexander Cameron Rutherford and served in the same position for his successor, Arthur Sifton. In September 1913, she accepted the position of assistant and secretary to the agent general for Alberta in London, England.

Katherine Hughes, first Provincial Archivist of Alberta, ca. 1906. The Provincial Library of Alberta along with the Provincial Archives was established in 1906. Provincial Archives of Alberta A5398.

Besides the list of names, Hughes also provided suggestions as to the historical periods to be commemorated through naming. This is an amazing document for its time. The periods are as follows:

1. The Indians.

2. The coming of the fur-traders, voyageurs, &c.

3. The rise of a new race – The Metis (mixed blood), halfbreeds.

4. The advent of a, The Missionaries, b, the gold miners, c, distinguished travellers or explorers (like Palliser, Southesk, Kane, Butler &c.)

5. The pioneers (free traders, independent of the big fur companies, settlers on farms &c. Mounted Police.

6. The era of the klondyke rush – very brief period, but one fraught with results, affecting Edmonton’s development.

7. The present day period of record making, growth and progress.

In April 1913, Morell & Nichols were advising about the setting up of shelters at East End Park, Groat Ravine, Laurier Park and South Side Park. Advice is also given on the building of playgrounds and a “swimming pool on Syndicate Avenue.” They also suggest that a gymnasium be added to the pool, perhaps the first multi-use recreational facility in the City. It is noted that the consultants had provided three “schemes” to date. In January 1913, the City hears from another landscape architect wishing to do business with the City: Thomas H. Mawson & sons from Vancouver. Their credentials and extent of their work is impressive. It is clear that the Commission is taking its work seriously and they add another name to their roster: L. L. May & Co. Inc. Nurserymen, Florists & Seedsmen from St. Paul, Minnesota.

Civic-minded individuals or, perhaps developers who had an interest in enhancement of their own property development ideas came forward to offer land to the City. Perhaps the most extensive was the proposal by Dr. L. L. Fuller of Strathcona to donate property for the development of Glen Lockhart Park in the Whitemud Creek area. The Bulletin of June 12, 1912 reported on the proposed donation of land as follows: “The only conditions attached to the offer are that the City develop the valley as a high class recreation and amusement park and make it possible for the citizens to get to it by building a car line to it. The exact area offered to the city will not be known until the survey is complete. It will be between 275 and 300 acres. The proposed lake will be 1 ¾ miles in length and some 100 acres in extent.” Fuller proposed building a dam to create Lake McKeen, which could be used by pleasure craft and could also be stocked with fish. The “park fever” incited by Todd would come to an end with the recession that began in mid-1913; this also would end the existence of the Park Commission.

Land Development: The West End

Yorath House and Laurier Heights from across the river - Marlena Wyman – water soluble wax crayon on Mylar.

While so-called “highlands” were the preferred sites for subdivisions for the wealthy and upwardly mobile (think of Ada Boulevard, Saskatchewan Drive, Connaught Drive and Valleyview Drive), areas bordering on parks were similarly desirable. There were enormous opportunities for realtors and property developers, who purchased lands adjacent to city limits to avoid paying taxes, and subdivided them into subdivisions. In 1906, Martin Runnalls established M. Runnalls Real Estate and Insurance Company and began land speculation. The year 1911 sees Runnalls entering into a partnership with Walter Ramsay, owner of greenhouses at Victoria (100th) Avenue and 110 Street and teacher; Dr. Edgar Allin, a medical doctor; Dr. Harry R. Smith, also a doctor; James H. Smith, realtor and land surveyor; and Norman B. Peak of Vancouver. They begin promotion of a new subdivision that Runnalls named Buena Vista (“beautiful view”) in keeping with Frederick Todd’s vision. They acquired land in River Lot 2, the old Stephenson homestead on the banks of the North Saskatchewan. Part of this might be the land purchased by Sam Smith in 1903 (I have been unable to determine whether Smith, the doctor, or Smith the realtor, were relations). A Plan was drawn up and it notes that the subdivision is part of Section 25, Township 52, Range 25, W4 of the Meridian and is described as Capital Hill South. The owner of the land is listed as William Stephenson. An ad in the Bulletin of April 26, 1911 has an image of the subdivision and offers lots for sale. It’s a boilerplate grid design with streets numbered “thirtieth” to “thirty-eighth” and the proposed avenues from north to south named: McMillan, Michigan, Hastings, Spadina and Laurier. The last reflects the nearby park. Lots are priced from $100 to $300 and the ad notes: “One-third Cash. Bal. 1 and 2 years at 7 per cent. Or 6 and 12 Months Without Interest.”

Squatter on the banks of the North Saskatchewan River, 1938. Photographer: Hubert Hollingworth. City of Edmonton Archives EA-160-451.

Buena Vista advertisement. Edmonton Bulletin, April 26th, 1911.

Another venture, in 1912, was the erection of a brick and concrete apartment building – the Buena Vista Apartments – with retail on the ground floor at 12327 – 102 Avenue. The building, designed by local architects Herbert Alton Magoon and George Heath MacDonald, cost about $11,000 and, when it opened in 1913, the Bulletin described it as “a most desirable residential property in the west end.” While this venture was a success, the companion subdivision was not completed though some houses were built.10 The recession prior to the First World War ended speculation in property.

The 1912 Driscoll & Knight Map of the City of Edmonton shows the huge land mass of the City (developed and undeveloped). In the left hand bottom corner, Laurier Park and Buena Vista lands are green areas forming an “L” shape. The vertical piece is Laurier Park (the current park is a smaller area because the Storyland Valley Zoo was built on the land in the 1950s) and the horizontal piece, by and large, is the unbuilt Buena Vista subdivision. There is a square piece of land that is unidentified; this is the Stephenson land that Yorath House would be built on.

Driscoll and Knight Map of the City of Edmonton, 1912, City of Edmonton Archives EAM-86.

A review of the City Tax Rolls for selected years beginning in 1907 is very revealing. The degree of land speculation can be clearly seen in the number of properties owned by companies such as McDougall and Secord, the Riverview Land Company, Weber Bros. Realty and other businesses, as well as individual investors. Many did not reside in the City; for example some resided in Vancouver; others in various parts of Ontario and other Canadian provinces; and some even in the UK. As well, city-owned lots for parks and other developments are noted as are those owned by religious denominations (such as the Faithful Companions of Jesus) and designated for use as locations for churches, schools and hospitals. The earlier years in the rolls are listed in no particular order: just dates when property taxes were paid. Later, they are organized according to the name of the subdivision and it is easier to review all of the Buena Vista records.

City of Edmonton Tax Rolls selected years from 1907. City of Edmonton Archives. Photographer: Adriana A. Davies.

The economic recession can be seen in these records and the column of payments with red ink indicating arrears becomes the norm. As individuals and companies defaulted on tax payments, the City seized the property in lieu of payment and then would hold property sales with ads appearing in newspapers. Buena Vista lands owned by the Riverview Land Company, which were likely seized by the City for non-payment of taxes before 1915, appear in a 1918 advertisement for the sale of City-owned land in the Bulletin (Monday, June 10, 1918). It is noted that a number of properties, including Buena Vista (the first on the list), were removed from the sale. This may mean that either Runnalls and his partners paid the arrears, or that someone else purchased the land. The 1920 tax rolls show a number of Runnalls or Riverview Co. properties not only in Buena Vista and Laurier Park areas but also in other parts of the City being in arrears; however, very few have a stamp indicating that they had been/or were to be sold.

I examined Tax Rolls for select years beginning in 1907 and this proved fascinating. All of the noted property developers are there (many of whose names are immortalized in City features including roads, parks and subdivisions) can be seen to own property all over the City. Martin Runnalls from 1911 owns a lot of property not only in River Lot 2 but also in other areas of the City as does the company he created with partners, the Riverview Land Company. The year 1921 is fascinating because of the number of property owners who are in arrears; the status column noting arrears is literally bleeding red. Both Runnalls personally and Riverview Land Company are in arrears in many properties; however, they have not as yet forfeited their properties for non-payment of taxes. Many individual landowners had. The City was in major debt and this faced the new Commissioner for Public Works, C. J. Yorath who was hired in 1921. He had held the same position in Saskatoon from 1913 and had got them out of debt as well as developing the new City Plan based on Garden City models. The Tax Rolls get easier to review once they are set out according to subdivisions/neighbourhoods. Buena Vista had quite a number of residents indicating that Runnalls and the Riverview Land Company had succeeded in selling lots and houses had been built.

From the 1907 Tax Roll onward, it can be seen that as new immigrant groups arrived in the province, they purchased land. This includes not just people from the UK and the US but also Ukrainians and Germans. A number of properties are also owned by women. In Buena Vista, there are about 34 property holders listed in the Tax Rolls including lots 8 to 14 owned by W. L. Wilkin and his wife Hilda Wilkin.

The recession prior to the First World War continued through the war-time years when government funding was focused on the war front, through the 1920s, the Great Depression of the 1930s, and, then into the Second World War. Surprisingly, during these difficult times, the City of Edmonton and province of Alberta did not lose their interest in beautiful communities. In 1928, the Town Planning and Preservation of Natural Beauty Act was passed by the Government of Alberta. While the “natural beauty” in the title suggests that some of Frederick Todd’s tenets are embedded in it, this is not the case. The legislation enabled municipalities to formulate and carry out planning schemes and is as dry-as-dust.

City records in the Archives indicate that just before the Dirty Thirties, Edmonton officials were much preoccupied with town planning as they prepared to host the Town Planning Institute of Canada Convention. The 1930s brought an end to most planning activity in Canada and the Institute was disbanded in 1932 and not revived until some 20 years later. The List of City Parks 1931 is an important document because it shows the progress that the City has made since 1907 when Todd promoted the designation of parks sites. Two land acquisitions in the document are of particular interest because they pertain to the area of the “westerly park”:

Quesnell Heights

All that portion of N.W.1/4 of Section 23-53-25 W. 4th, 107 Acres, excepting thereout the areable land, 51.2 Acres more or less. Date Acquired: 1918. Purchase Price: no price listed (could this be a property forfeited for non-payment of taxes). Land Assessment: $3,250.00. Area: 55.8 Acres.

Laurier Park

Pt. of the N.1/2 Section 24 & W. ½ of S.W. ½ of Section 25-52-25 W. 4th. Date Acquired: 1906. Purchase Price: $25,625.00. Land Assessment $20,500.00. Area: 205.0 Acres.

This document also refers to a significant land donation in Groat Estates/Glenora; the wording is as follows: “Donated by Jas. Carruthers in consideration of Bridge over the Ravine being built forty feet wide. The Title is subject to a Caveat filed by Jas. Carruthers.” This would set a precedent for donations of land for park purposes. Carruthers was a Montreal grain merchant and entrepreneur who, in 1905, purchased the Groat homestead from other real estate promoters. His plan was to build a subdivision for individuals who could afford to spend at least $3,500 on a residence; this subdivision became Old Glenora. Carruthers faced the difficulty of getting over the Groat Ravine; as a result of some wheeling and dealing with the City, in 1909, he committed to build a 20-foot wide bridge in exchange for a municipal street car route on 102 Avenue into his subdivision. After further negotiations, Carruthers committed to building a 40-foot wide bridge and donated two parcels of parkland in the adjacent Westmount area in exchange for the City paying the additional bridge building costs. The bridge was built in 1910; however, because of the recession that followed shortly after in 1913, his grand vision was truncated but the city retained the donated property. Eventually, Westmount would be developed as a suburb for young professionals.11 The Edmonton Historical Board entry on the suburb notes:

Thought to be named after the suburb of Montréal, the community of Westmount is bounded by Groat Road, 111 Avenue, 121 Street, and Stony Plain Road. It also includes the Groat Estate area south of Stony Plain Road between Groat Road and 124 Street. A large portion of homes in this neighbourhood were built in the land boom of 1912. Apartments make up about half the living space, but only appeared relatively recently in the 1960s and 1970s along major traffic routes.

A key piece of legislation was passed in 1933 – the 1933 Zoning Bylaw that delineated 12 zoning districts that specified use and building type. It would appear that the City was prepared for orderly development but this would have to wait until the late 1940s.

A rebound in property values and development required the coming in of the Leduc and Redwater oil fields in 1947 and 1948, respectively. This began a boom that would last until about 1980. In this period, the City of Edmonton grew dramatically and infrastructure to support the growth was built. This was the era of the Modern Style epitomized by the architectural firm of Rule, Wynn and Rule. With respect to development in the west end, the realty firm established by L. T. (Timothy) Milton came to the fore. Melton came to Edmonton in 1918 from Winnipeg and learned the business in the offices of Allan, Killam, McKay and Greene where he worked until 1922. The next year, he opened the Stanley Investment Company named for his son, and, in 1932, the company changed its name to L. T. Melton Realty. A 1945 ad in the Journal of May 17, 1945 advertises a subdivision as follows: “River Frontage and Capital Hill South 138 St. and 90th Ave. Acre lots $40 cash, balance $25 per month give you title in 10 months. West End Acreage ‘in a growing city is the best investment on earth’.” The West End Office is located at 14921 Stony Plain Road.

In 1947, his son Stanley, on returning from fighting in the Second World War, took over the firm and filed a subdivision plan for Capital Hill South (N.E.1/4 & N.W. ¼ Sec. 25 – Tp. 52, Rg. 25, M 4). It shows a strip of land, named Melton Hill, above what is now the Valley Zoo. This indicates Melton’s interest in the development of the West End communities running across the brow of the north bank of the North Saskatchewan River (Capital Hill, Valleyview, Crestwood, Parkview and Laurier Heights). The company website notes: “Development of the Laurier Heights subdivision residential neighbourhood in west Edmonton begun postwar with approximately six out of every ten residences (58%) being built between 1946 and 1960, and approximately four in ten residences being built between 1961 and 1970.” By 1953 there were 16 Melton branch offices in Edmonton.

The Wilkin and Co. realty and insurance firm was tiny in comparison to the Melton and Weber Bros. firms but, according to Richard Wilkin, his grandfather likely acquired the riverside lands in the Buena Vista subdivision around 1945. That was the year that he purchased land on Connaught Drive to build a home for himself and wife Hilda. The firm, which in the 1950s was run by Wilkin’s son Bill (Richard’s Father) had its offices on the ground floor of the Buena Vista Building on 124th Street and 103 Avenue. When Dennis Yorath, Wilkin’s son-in-law was transferred from Calgary to Edmonton to head Northwestern Utilities, he required a home for wife Bette and daughters Gillian and Jocelyn. Whether Wilkin senior donated the land or sold it to Dennis is unknown; Richard says either option is possible since his Grandfather was a shrewd businessman and his Uncle would have had some type of housing allowance from the company.

There is no question that the house that Dennis and Bette built in 1949 was intended to make a statement: he was part of the elite of Edmonton/Alberta businessmen intending to lead the province into its second half century. The couple chose the architectural firm of Wynn & Rule to design a two-storey home. The house, which was 4,380 square feet, was built near the river edge on a 12-acre lot. The building remains a symbol of design and architecture of the period known as the Modern Style. The house was distant from other subdivisions with few amenities nearby. It seems that Dennis as head of Northwestern Utilities was able to get power there, gas came later as did water (until at least 1959 they used well water). The house had to be reached via 81 Avenue because Buena Vista Road did not exist.

The few houses nearby in what would have been the Buena Vista subdivision were, according to Richard, small cottages or even shacks. Agricultural activities were still taking place in the area and there was a gravel pit in what is now the car park near the house. For a time, there was even a mink farm. Dennis donated a fieldstone chimney, what was left of the original Stephenson log home to the City. A letter in the City Archives dated October 22nd, 1949, thanks him for the gift and notes: “The fireplace is to be rebuilt, according to current plans, at some suitable location and when this is done the descriptive placard to be attached will make note of your thoughtful donation…. As you know, the fireplace was the oldest relic of early Edmonton still in existence. Without your permission for removal, it would have been lost forever.” The City would later inform him that the fireplace could not be rebuilt. There are, however, some fieldstone pillars at the entrance of the property and the family built a cairn near the embankment to honour the Wilkins. The building of the Yorath home would mark a shift in the City’s planning with respect to River lands.

Rebirth of the Garden City

Yorath family flower garden ca. 1980s by Marlena Wyman – water soluble wax crayon on Mylar (based on a family photo of the garden).

The year 1950 saw the City repeal the 1933 Zoning Bylaw on the grounds that it was outdated and passed the Interim Development Bylaw No. 1. This enabled Council to make development decisions based on individual cases. An article in the Edmonton Journal of February 27, 1951 titled “New Subdivision Plan Authorized,” notes:

City council Monday night authorized the filing of a subdivision plan for residential development in Capital Hill south. To this was added a recommendation that the city exchange land it owns for privately owned lands in order to protect riverview land.

Commissioner Menzies estimated it would be at least two years before utilities were brought into the area. He also said there would be restrictions as to the type of residence which could be erected. Ald. Clarke had remarked that this was one of the good residential areas available in the city and asked for assurance there would be restrictions on the type of house constructed.

The upshot of Council deliberations was that further park development would occur in the Laurier Park area and that the City was prepared to use the “first right of refusal” to force property holders to sell to them. A further article in the Journal of April 4, 1957 titled “Buena Vista Park Plan Wins Committee Vote,” notes that the Finance Committee had recommended development of the Buena Vista lands around 142 Street to be developed as a park. There was, of course, opposition and residents who opposed the plan were represented at the Council meeting by Cameron Steer. He is quoted as follows:

Mr. Steer charged that “What the city really seems to be doing is freezing the home-owners’ capital until the city is good and ready to use the land for its own purposes.”

“The city is obligated to buy as soon as the home-owner is ready to sell.” Mayor Hawrelak answered. How is this any different from about 50 other situations in the city?”

“In this case the city doesn’t intend to do anything for years,” Mr. Steer said. He argued that residents moved into the area under the assumption it was residential land “and in June 1954, like a bolt out of the blue, the situation was changed.” That, he said, was when council decided definitely the land would be used for park purposes although as commissioner Menzies pointed out, it was zoned as park in 1933.

Prior to the interim development by-law in 1951, “the private owner could develop the land as a unit.” Mr. Steer said. “In 1951, that protection was taken away.”

The April 1958 Map of the City of Edmonton, according to the legend, shows transit routes, public and separate schools, hospitals and neighbourhoods as well as the City boundaries. It provides an aerial view of Laurier Park and the Buena Vista subdivision spanning 34 lots from 76th Avenue, which is closest to the River, to 8th Avenue, and from 138th Street, which borders on Laurier Park, to 130th Street. It also shows the layout for the Valleyview and Laurier Heights subdivisions. The creation of Buena Vista Park is evident. The area dedicated to Buena Vista Park and Laurier Park comprises 110 hectares, while the residential neighbourhood comprises 132 hectares.

The 1951 tax rolls list the following owners of land in Buena Vista: Hilda R. Wilkin and W. L. Wilkin (owed A78, A79 and A80); City of Edmonton (gravel pit, A81, A82 and A86a); Edward B. Fisk; Margaret Smillie (New York); Arthur S. Cummings; Arthur S. Cummings (Winnipeg); Andrew & Muriel Lucas; Robert F. & Audrey G. Aitchison; Philip Gabel; Frederick M. Wilson; J. Wilbert Wright; Estate of B. S. Muttart; Amy E. Sherman; Ella M. Muttart; Esther Ross Clindinin; Harley G. Nilson; Bertha M. Challis (Altadena, Calif., U.S.A.); City of Edmonton, A22 Lots 12 & 13; Evelyn M. Allen; Cecil B. Atkins; Chas. W. Hosford; Thomas & Mary V. Sinton; Cecil B. Atkins; D. G. Sandilands; Evelyn M. Allen; William A. Dreany; J. R. Washburn; William A. Dreany; Nolan O. Blaylock (owned multiple lots A37, A38, A39 and A40); Christie V. Blaylock; Winnifred Crawford; Charles A. H. Lawford; Florence E. Deltombe; Hollis D. Howard; Arthur S. Cummings; John Welling; Frank H. & Bessie C. Kenwood; Albert F. & May D. Oeming; Wolfred J. & Leona M. Law; Daniel J. & Eva Driscoll; Wilfred J. & Leona M. Law (they owned two lots A59 and A59b); Albert F. & May D. Oeming (owned A60 Lots 16 to 20); City of Edmonton (owns a series of lots A62, A63, A64, A66, A66a (old gravel pit); Alberta & Hattie Lewis; John F. & Winnifred Crawford; Albert & Hattie Lewis (owed A70 and A72); John W. & Winnifred Crawford (owed A72c and A72e); Charles Henry Smith (W. Finchley, London 3, England); Jessie A. Ohlsen; Earl Enger (owns A74 and A75); Merrill H. & Winnifred C. Baker; Maud L. Thomas (New York); Florence Southall; and George M. & Jean Bates (owned A77a and A77b).

There are a number of interesting observations: some of the owners did not live in Edmonton; a number owned multiple properties; and the City already owned property in the subdivision. Richard Wilkin and the Yorath sisters (Gillian and Elizabeth) remember a number of agricultural enterprises there including a stable (the family also kept two horses on the property), a berry farm and a mink farm. Gillian remembers when newly-licensed driving her car through the gravel pit and almost tipping the car over with her baby sister inside. Elizabeth remembers Al Oeming and his fierce cheetah, which he kept on the property. This was in the 1950s.

A section of the City of Edmonton Map, April 1958 showing Laurier Park and Buena Vista subdivision, City of Edmonton Archives.

City records in the Archives indicate that some of the property holders chose to enter litigation with the City to preserve their land. There was an immediate impact: after the introduction of the Interim Development Bylaw No. 1, no more building could occur in the area. Richard Wilkin says that his Father Bill had been intending to build a house on one of the lots 8 to 14 held by the Wilkin Co. but could not do so. As owners decided to leave for a variety of reasons, the City took possession of the land that became Buena Vista Park.

The City of Edmonton District Names Advisory Committee Minutes of June 27, 1956 approved the naming of what is described as a driveway: “This will be a view drive overlooking Laurier Park, the zoo area and the Saskatchewan River. Laurier Drive is suggested because of the subdivision and neighborhood unit name which is “Laurier Heights.” The new subdivision of Laurier Heights was bounded by 87 Avenue to the north (west of 142 Street), 149 Street and Highway 2 to the west (later Whitemud freeway), Buena Vista Park and the Edmonton Valley Zoo to the east, and the North Saskatchewan River valley to the south. It was marketed by real estate companies such as Melton as a neighbourhood for young families with means and a range of amenities were built including a school at 8210 – 142 Street and community League located at 14405 - 85 Avenue; the latter comprises a community hall, outdoor rink and tennis courts.

To add to the amenities of the upper-middle-class subdivision, on July 1, 1959 the City opened the Storyland Valley Zoo, which was built on Laurier Park lands.12 The Edmonton Zoological Society, in 1926, had established a zoo in East End Park, created by the City in 1906. The 140-acre park was renamed after a 1914-visit to the city from then PM Robert Borden. This paralleled the earlier naming of the “West End Park” in 1910 for PM Sir Wilfrid Laurier. In 1930, likely for economic reasons, the City took over the operations of the Zoo from the society that had established it.

Borden Park was a popular destination not only because of the zoo but also other amenities that included the City’s first swimming pools, a tearoom, and carnival features including a carousel, roller coaster and tunnel of love. By the 1950s, declining attendance and the need for the Edmonton Exhibition Society to expand its facilities and grounds had the City focused on relocating it and the Laurier Park site seemed ideal: the City was acquiring land to create Buena Vista Park and the new Laurier Heights neighbourhood was focused on attracting upper-middle-class families. Locating a zoo there focused on children seemed ideal. To build public interest, the Names Advisory Committee designed a public naming contest and, on September 3, 1957, Storyland Valley Zoo was chosen. By 1958, plans had been developed to have a five-acre children’s zoo, two lagoons, a bridge, and mini-railway and illustrations that featured storybook characters and animals. The miniature Allen Herschell 5-16 train became so popular that a second train, the Valley Zoo Express, was added in 1965.

As popular opinion turned against zoos and they became viewed as “prisons” for animals, the City embarked on change. The zoo introduced some “natural” habitats and focused on animals native to the region and conservation of wildlife was also promoted. To reflect this change, in 1975, the name was changed to Valley Zoo and the “storyland” element was dropped. The most recent major addition, which was announced in 1910, was a $43 million project resulting in new state-of-the-art facilities.

Adjacent to Yorath House in Buena Vista Park is the home of the Edmonton Rowing Club and the White Water Paddlers. A group of rowing enthusiasts, in 1972, created a rowing club and registered as a not-for-profit society. They initially stored their shells at the Mayfair Golf Club near the foot of Groat Bridge. This was not an ideal location because of the amount of debris that gathered there. The rowers moved their facility to Saunders Lake east of Leduc. Ultimately, the City of Edmonton gifted them land and they were able to build a permanent facility with the White Water Paddlers, who registered a society in 1973 to promote canoe and kayak paddling for recreation and competitive purposes. Both societies fundraised to build the facility.

Edmonton Voyageurs Canoe Club Annual Regatta, North Saskatchewan River, August 1947. City of Edmonton Archives EA-600-333d.

Parks development from the 1950s was largely ad hoc though the locations identified in 1912-1913 documents were surprisingly prescient. This was to change: the City strengthened its efforts to improve land use planning and control by passing the 1977 Planning Act. Efforts to reinforce park development continued and culminated in the City’s 1990 Ribbon of Green: North Saskatchewan River Valley and Ravine System Concept Plan. The introduction harkens back to Frederick Todd’s recommendations made in his 1907 report. Section C is devoted to “Whitemud, Buena Vista and West Central River Valley Area” and spells out the capital costs to accomplish proposed work that was pegged to cost over $30 million. The following projects were planned:

Whitemud Park to Laurier Park Pedestrian Bridge

Buena Vista Park to Wm. Hawrelak Park Pedestrian Bridge

Mayfair to MacKinnon Pedestrian Bridge

11.5 km main trail (West end of Ft. Edmonton Park to High Level Bridge

2 minor amenity nodes; Buena Vista Park improvements (road, parking and park improvements)

access trail development

Fort Edmonton access road relocation

Fort Edmonton facilities (hotel)

Valley Zoo infrastructure and

Muttart Conservatory/Grierson Hill.

A map in the plan indicates through green arrows the area where work would take place. These measures can all be described as intended to improve access and the visitor experience rather than protecting the sites.

The death of Bette Yorath in 1991 triggered the City’s acquisition of Yorath House from her estate in 1992. The cycle of development of a “westerly park,” which began in 1907 when the City acquired the Gibbons lands, was, thus, completed through the consolidation of the Laurier/Buena Vista park lands. In 2015, Yorath House was designated as a Municipal Historic Resource. In 2019, renovations were completed. Projected at about $2 million when the property was designated, costs rose to over $5.7 million because of difficulties encountered. The official opening took place on September 20, 2019. The restorations to the house, while maintaining the look of the original exterior, would not be as respectful of the interior. The house was gutted and few original architectural features were kept other than the huge fieldstone fireplace and brick and wooden detailing. Bringing it up to code became the imperative so that it could serve its new purpose: a multi-use facility for small gatherings. The integrity of its inherent heritage value was by-and-large ignored.

Wise Use

Part of the 51 acre site in the river valley that would lost to the proposed EPCOR solar farm - Marlena Wyman – ink and watercolour on paper (I painted this soon after the solar farm was first proposed).

Jane Jacobs in her 1961 book titled The Death and Life of Great American Cities attacked 1950s urban planning policy with its emphasis on slum clearance and the building of freeways in urban areas. She rejected large-scale urban development projects and insisted on preserving the integrity of old neighbourhoods because of their human scale. She was also an activist who used protests by ordinary citizens to challenge government policies and projects. She did this in her home neighbourhood of Greenwich Village in New York. After her family’s move to Toronto in 1968 to avoid her sons’ being drafted into the American military to fight in the Viet Nam War, she also championed Toronto neighbourhoods and opposed the building of the Spadina Expressway that would have seen the disappearance of swaths of historic neighbourhoods.

A fascinating National Film Board of Canada documentary titled “City Under Pressure,” directed by Theodore Conant in 1965, places Edmonton squarely in the debate between freeways and parkland.13 In 17 minutes, it captures Mayor William Hawrelak talking about development and making the point that once something is lost (by implication through slum clearance or under a paved roadway), the clock cannot be turned back. A number of un-named “talking heads” make their points; these include aldermanic and mayoral candidates, and civic officials and planners as well as engineers. Key players in the 1964 election, besides Hawrelak, were George Prudham, former Member of Parliament; and oilman Stanley A. Milner. Excerpts from several public hearings about urban development issues are also included. The documentary is described as follows: “A case study of municipal government and the influence of citizens acting as a group. The case study is that of Edmonton, but the problems shown are those of many cities: urban renewal, traffic congestion, zoning, etc.” It is interesting to see Edmontonians debating these important issues and to know that they did not go away and are still dividing the city and communities today.

Parks development in Edmonton, and other towns and cities in Alberta was given a huge push in the early 1970s when the Province provided funding for what was described as “provincial parks” in its two major cities. This resulted in the creation of Calgary’s Fish Creek Park and Edmonton’s Capital City Recreation Park. An initial agreement was struck between the City and Province in 1970; this defined limits to potential use of River Valley lands. In 1975, the Province made available to the City about $45 million for the reclaiming, protecting and developing the River Valley for recreational purposes. The initiative, in effect, created a “super park” that included Rundle, Gold Bar, Hermitage and Dawson parks in the East end of the City. In addition, with the support of the Province, the City conceptualized a “river valley trail system” and acquired lands to ensure that this would be continuous. A layer of accountability was added when the Province built into the agreement that the approval of the environment minister was required for any changes. While initially covering Hermitage to the High Level Bridge, the trail system grew to include areas to the West including the following parks: Victoria, Emily Murphy, Mayfair, Whitemud and Laurier. The firm of Roman Fodchuck and Associates took on the leadership role of guiding the development of the Capital City Park Project.14 The Park opened in 1978.

In its parks planning and development activities, the City was reflecting a major, worldwide increase in environmental awareness prompted by largely unchecked economic developments such as the James Bay hydroelectric project in Quebec/Labrador and oil sands development in the Fort McMurray area. The year 1971 was a banner year when both the federal government and Province of Alberta established departments of the environment and subsequently implemented environmental and social impact assessments.

In order to educate the public about parks and natural areas, in 1976, the John Janzen Nature Centre was established and, in 1985, passage of the River Valley Bylaw offered the River Valley parks, which now comprised over 18,000 acres, protection. This era of intense awareness of the River Valley culminated in the Ribbon of Green report, published in 1990. This was followed by establishment of the Natural Areas Policy in 1995, the Natural Systems Policy (C531) in 2007, and the Biodiversity Report in 2008. This intense activity culminated in 2011 with publication of The Way We Green, the City’s environmental master plan. The wording of the objectives hearkens back to the recommendations of Frederick Todd in 1907:

3.3 The City of Edmonton protects, preserves and enhances a system of conserved natural areas within a functioning and interconnected ecological network.

3.6 The City protects, preserves, and enhances its urban forests.

3.7 The City protects, preserves, and enhances the North Saskatchewan River Valley and Ravine System as Edmonton’s greatest natural asset.

Buena Vista and Laurier Parks owe their current configuration to these pieces of legislation and policies. When judged by the measure of public use, they are an enormous success. On a sunny winter day, the car parks are full and there is a crowd of dog walkers, and young families enjoying nature. This is particularly important at a time when the Covid-19 Pandemic of 2020-22 prevents interior gatherings. However, a tipping point has been reached. While the Hawrelak Park Footbridge study indicated that wildlife and natural areas had not been adversely impacted by park development, this is contradicted by the dog walkers and crowds as they swarm the area. The balance between natural areas and human use is difficult to maintain and the good fight needs to be continually fought.

This became evident beginning in the 1960s as development of the west-end neighbourhoods gained momentum. The City developed the Metropolitan Freeway System plan that at its heart saw the river valley and ravines as possible conduits to the downtown. Fortunately, citizen action emerged. The first successful protest prevented the Mill Creek Ravine from becoming a freeway. Next, the MacKinnon Ravine became a target. Trees were cut, a roadbed laid and storm sewers installed before opponents such as artist Margaret Chappelle, whose home backed on to the end of the ravine at about 149 Street and Stony Plain Road, succeeded in having City Council re-consider its decision. In 1974, a narrow vote halted construction and, as Mayor Ivor Dent noted, “If you’ve gone partway down the incorrect path, that’s regrettable – but not as regrettable as going all the way down the incorrect path.”15 The stopping of the MacKinnon Ravine freeway served as a “wake up call” for not only citizens but also councillors and civic staff.

The City of Edmonton’s River Valley protection plan is at a crossroads in 2022. Many jurisdictions are turning to solar power as more environmentally sensitive than hydrocarbons. In 2017, EPCOR presented the City with a proposal to build a solar power plant next to the E. L. Smith water treatment plant in the west end. This was in response to a requirement set by the City for the company to convert 10 percent of its power consumption to locally produced renewable resources. While on the surface this seems admirable, all that glitters is not gold. The proposal required rezoning of 99 acres of River Valley parkland near Big Island/Woodbend Urban Provincial Park for industrial use. The whole concept is a violation of over 50 years of environmental planning and implementation. The building of the plant would require not only the cutting of trees and enclosure of the whole area by a fence but also the installation of 45,000 ground-mounted solar panels.

How City Council could have approved this with even a narrow margin flies in the face of all of its environmental and parks plans that focus on protecting natural areas including sensitive habitats and ecosystems. Just as the Mill Creek and MacKinnon Ravine freeway projects were halted as a result of citizen activism, there is currently an initiative to block the solar farm mounted by several groups including the Edmonton and Area Land Trust and the Edmonton River Valley Conservation Coalition Society. They noted that the project would have a negative impact on the human use and environmental health of the area.

The Yorath House Art Residency has made abundantly clear to me, and my fellow artist Marlena Wyman, that we must continue to learn from the past to preserve the best of the natural and built environment. I believe that my poetry for many years has been written in the spirit of the recommendations of Frederick Todd and others like him.

For me, Edmonton needs to remain a garden city whatever the economic growth and development proponents would say to the contrary. Working in the Yorath House studio has re-energized me and reinforced my love of nature and the desire, as Grant MacEwan termed it, to leave the vineyard a better place. I began walking in this area as a young wife and mother, beginning in 1981 and, now, for many years as a grandmother. I want those who come after me not only in my family but also my community and the City of Edmonton to enjoy this privilege.

February 10, 2022

I am woken up in the middle of the night with the lines of a poem emerging into my consciousness. I write it down immediately after I arrive at Yorath House. I then add other poems that I have previously written that are in keeping with the sentiments expressed in it.

Buena Vista

Sitting at river’s edge In a silent house I am focused on dualities again – What to let go, And what to keep.

Over 100 years ago A landscape architect admired The broad sweep of the North Saskatchewan River Valley – The high escarpments And the beautiful view they afforded Of water, trees and sky.

I am thankful That through the process of city building That we have not lost this beauty. Every generation must fight for it So that useful things Such as power plants, water treatment facilities And solar farms are not built On this sacred land That has defied development So that it can continue To please the eye And gladden the heart.

Powers

How can one encompass all that Earth is – In words? Like trying to cram the myriad grains of sand into an hourglass, The ebb and flow of tides into power-generating turbines, The Earth’s inner fires into furnaces, And the turbulent winds into mere drivers for electric machines.

Subservience to our will, a litany of uses. These do not explain the mystery at the heart of Nature, The raw power and energy-defying imaginings. Is it any wonder that past civilizations invented deities, To represent these primal forces, Making them powerful, and capricious.

Satellite images allow us To observe the birth of hurricanes – Winds mass into a whirling vortex, The eye of the storm the still point, In that uncontrolled fury, Soon to be unleashed on vulnerable human habitations.

No matter how many roads we tarmac, Power lines we erect to straddle continents, Streams, brooks and mighty rivers channeled, Meadows and hills saddled with houses, And space, that last frontier, become a mighty communications medium, It will never be just man’s world.

Canticle of Hope

Oh, we are such stuff that dreams are made of. . . . William Shakespeare

I dream a better world Where people love rather than fight Care for the environment Plant trees rather than cutting them down Use the Earth’s resources wisely Elect good leaders Avoid the easy way out Celebrate small things View each day as a gift Make time to reflect on the beauty of nature Pray in a church, a street, field or mountaintop Experience pain when an unknown child dies in sectarian violence Challenge injustice March to support a good cause Share their lives with others Gather with others of goodwill Reject acquisitiveness and notions of more being better Practice charity through small acts of kindness Learn a new thing each day Say thank you often Retain the idealism of youth in old age Learn from the past Use optimism as a tool for change Reject those who say a thing cannot be done Affirm life Work only at occupations that improve the human condition Celebrate the achievements of others Preserve what is good from the past Envision change to improve our common lot Give and receive love and affection Ensure that all people enjoy fundamental freedoms Put individual needs below common needs Share the pain of others Demonstrate compassion Provide assistance to the needy Keep governments honest Run for public office Reject creeds that divide and set one person above another Support the arts that grow the spirit Live in the present since today is the only day that we may have Build today for 100 years from now Use technology as a tool rather than as an end Leave no opportunity to do good unfulfilled Live life fully Dare to dream a better world.

The Peaceable Kingdom

Unthinkable to give up on Earth, In a post-industrial period, The record of the past 200 years, One of plunder of riches, For short term gain. How to change the inbred attitude That all exists for our use, That resources are inexhaustible, And there for the taking.

The evidence is present— In books and other documentary sources, But also before our eyes, As we walk the streets of populous cities, Once fields and forests, See the pollution from other parts of the world, As it precipitates out of the sky in acid rain, or other blight, And washes up on our beaches As red tides or decaying corpses of sea creatures.

Is Earth dying, As writers have predicted, In science fiction chronicles Of the past 100 years, Killed either by human aggression, Resulting in a nuclear holocaust, Or by excessive use of soil, air and water, Resulting in an uninhabitable wasteland, And spurring a diaspora to other worlds.

So long as love of Earth remains a minority passion, There will be no change, No mid-ground brokered between jobs and preservation, And humankind will remain in conflict with Nature. Only the very young Loving Earth unreservedly, And the old, cultivating their gardens,In restful ease, At the twilight of their lives.

Thinking green thoughts, The task of all who wish not only Earth, But all living creatures to survive, Wise use become the rallying point On which all agree, Valuing not only the things of Nature, But also all human achievement. The lion lying down with the shepherd and lamb, In the Peaceable Kingdom.

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1 An account can be found in Michael Donnelly’s article “Gold Mining at Edmonton,” Alberta History, Spring 2017, vol 65, issue 2, URL: https://go.gale.com/ps/i.do?p=AONE&u=googlescholar&id=GALE|A491183689&v=2.1&it=r&sid=googleScholar&asid=10c64db3, retrieved January 14, 2022.

2 J. G. MacGregor, Edmonton: A History (Edmonton, AB: M. G. Hurtig Publishers, 1967), 67.

3 See Alberta Register of Historic Places entry for Gibbons’ home on 125 Street and 105 Avenue in the Groat Estate, URL: https://hermis.alberta.ca/ARHP/Details.aspx?DeptID=2&ObjectID=HS%2014858; and Anon., “Pioneers Hold Golden Wedding,” Winnipeg Tribune, May 30, 1923, URL: https://www.newspapers.com/clip/1118632/james-gibbons-story-about-his-life/, retrieved January 14, 2022. 

4 Archives of Manitoba, HBC, Servants’ Contracts 1780 – ca. 1926, URL: https://www.gov.mb.ca/chc/archives/hbca/name_indexes/hbc_servants_contracts.html, retrieved February 10, 2022. 

5 Samuel Hardman Smith was British-born and set up the Western Realty Company Ltd. He wrote a “biographical sketch” of Stephenson/Stevenson, which is in the City of Edmonton Archives. In the sketch, he confirms the purchase of some of his land and notes: “Some years later, the writer being at Miners’ Flats and wanting some fresh eggs went to a log house built on the bank of the river, got into a conversation with the inhabitants of the house, finally asking their name was told Stevenson. This man was the grandson of English Charlie who had come out from New York and was remaining on the portion of the old claim that was still in the name of Charles Stevenson.”

6 See John Gilpin, Responsible Enterprise: A History of Edmonton Real Estate and the Edmonton Real Estate Board (Edmonton, AB: Edmonton Real Estate Board, 1997), 16.

7 Anon., “City Council: Three Important Propositions Attended to at Last Night’s Meeting,” in The Edmonton Bulletin, November 15, 1906.

8 See ERVVC, “A Brief History of Edmonton’s River Valley and Ravine Park System: Early History,” Edmonton River Valley Coalition, URL: https://www.ervcc.com/brief-history-of-nsr, retrieved February 10, 2022.

9 See Pádraig Ó Siadhail, “Hughes, Katherine (Catherine) Angelina, Dictionary of Canadian Biography online, URL: http://www.biographi.ca/en/bio/hughes_katherine_angelina_15E.html, retrieved February 13, 2022; and Pádraig Ó Siadhail, “Katherine Hughes, Irish political activist,” in Edmonton: the life of a city, Bob Hesketh and Frances Swyripa, eds. (Edmonton, AB, NeWest Publishers, 1995), 78–87. Hughes was also likely responsible for the addition of carved masks of four Chiefs wearing headdresses in the rotunda of the Leg. See Cole Hawkins, “Tokens of Remembrance: Indigenous Faces in Edmonton’s Beaux Arts Architecture, 1907-1930,” September 21, 2021, URL: https://citymuseumedmonton.ca/2021/09/21/tokens-of-remembrance-indigenous-faces-in-edmontons-beaux-arts-architecture-1907-1930/, retrieved February 21, 2022.

10 In 1916, Runnalls was advertising land for sale in Wainwright in the Bulletin. The stock market crash in October 1929 signalled the start of the Great Depression and the City of Edmonton foreclosed on the Buena Vista Apartments for non-payment of taxes in 1930. Credit Foncier, holder of the mortgage, paid out the $5,656.77 owing in taxes and assumed the title, which it retained until the 1980s.

11 See Edmonton Historical Board, “Westmount,” URL: https://www.edmontonsarchitecturalheritage.ca/index.cfm/neighbourhoods/westmount/, retrieved February 10, 2022.

12 For various documents relating to the Valley Zoo, the City of Edmonton Archives has materials in its fonds relating to parks and recreation, facilities, Valley Zoo. URL: https://cityarchives.edmonton.ca/valley-zoo, retrieved February 12, 2022.

13 See National Film Board of Canada, City Under Pressure, URL: https://www.nfb.ca/film/city-under-pressure/, retrieved February 17, 2022. 

14 See Nancy Ellwand and Roman Fodchuck, “Edmonton Restores Its River Valley: A Capital Case for Reclamation,” Landscape Architecture Magazine, vol. 69, No. 3 (May 1979), 279-290.

15 See ERVVC, “A Brief History of Edmonton’s River Valley and Ravine Park System: Early History,” Edmonton River Valley Coalition, URL: https://www.ervcc.com/brief-history-of-nsr, retrieved February 13, 2022.