2010

ANNUAL REPORT Photo: Geoff Fandrick Photography

JUNE 1, 2011

EDMONTON HERITAGE COUNCIL 2010 CONTENT ANNUAL REPORT

Contents page 01 Vision, Mission, & Mandate page 02 2010 Board page 03 EHC Staff page 05 Message from the Acting Chair page 07 VISION Executive Director’s Report page 09 The vision of the Progress Since the Art of Living page 11 Heritage Programs and Projects page 12 Council is of a place where heritage is MANDATE Financial Statements page 25 understood and valued Appendix page 33 by all members of the MISSION The mandate of the Edmonton community as an Heritage Council is to: integral part of life. The mission of the Edmonton Heritage is the legacy Heritage Council is to support Provide a forum for analyzing, of our past, informing the work of individuals and discussing and sharing heritage issues in Edmonton. our present, and organizations that: shaping our future. Advocate for a vibrant heritage Research, preserve, protect community and heritage and present Edmonton’s programs that benefit all unique heritage. Edmontonians.

Promote an understanding of Unify Edmonton’s heritage how this distinct place and community and give it a voice. community came to be. Promote the awareness and development of Engage with the past in effective, informed and planning for the future. recognized heritage. principles and practices.

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heritage field with the Arts and Heritage Foundation of , serving as the Grants Committee Chair INDIVIDUAL MEMBERS of St. Albert, the City of Edmonton Archives, and for before becoming President in 2009. the past two years as the Audio-Visual Conservator Juliette Champagne - is a historian and heritage con- with the Provincial Archives of Alberta. Crystal Willie (Alberta Museums Association) - is the sultant working on a range of projects related to Al- Operations Director for the Alberta Museums Asso- berta’s Francophone communities and peoples. She 2010 Vice Chair - Virginia Stephen - is currently Exec- ciation. She is also currently the editor of Alberta Mu- has served as a board member with Franco-Albertan utive Director, Liberal Studies, Faculty of Extension at seums REVIEW. heritage organizations such as La Société Géné- . She has just completed a term alogique du Nord-Ouest. as Acting Director of the Arts and Cultural Manage- ment Program at MacEwan. EHC STEERING 2010 Treasurer - Lan Chan-Marples - is a research facilitator at the University of Alberta and a volun- COMMITTEE MEMBERS teer with Family and Community Support Services, ORGANIZATIONAL the Chinese Benevolent Association, the Canadian Bob Caldwell Multicultural Education Foundation, and the China MEMBERS Jim Marsh Pavilion at Heritage Day Festival. Catherine Cole Bob Caldwell ( Foundation) - has 35 Heather McRae 2010 Secretary - Myles Chykerda - is a recent gradu- years of work experience as a professional planner Linda Collier ate of the University of Alberta’s MA program in Hu- and municipal manager, 28 years of which was in Dr. Michael Payne manities Computing and Classical Archaeology. He the City of Edmonton administration. He is currently Lynn Fogwill is also an active poster, moderator, and columnist the Associate Director of Long Range Planning for the Lori Sokoluk with Connect2Edmonton. University of Alberta. Robert Geldart The Prince of Wales Armouries Heritage Centre Virginia Stephen Photo: Pixelens Photography Linda Collier - is a retired school teacher and director 2010 Chair - Wendy Luther (Edmonton Historical Dr. Zohra Husaini of the Queen Alexandra History Centre. A member Board) - owns, and is preserving and restoring a Dr. Frances Swyripa of the Historical Society of Alberta (HSA) and the Ed- provincially and municipally significant designated Wendy Luther (Chair) monton and District Historical Society (EDHS) for over consultant with Sumera Management Consulting. heritage home. She is presently Manager of Reverse Crystal Willie forty years, Linda is Past President of the HSA and Logistics Supply Chain Management with EPCOR. current Treasurer of the EDHS. Beverly Lemire - is Professor and Henry Marshall Tory Thank you to the above noted citizens and City of Chair at the University of Alberta in the Department Tim Marriott (Edmonton & District Historical Soci- Edmonton staff who served on the steering committee Satya Das - is Principal of Cambridge Strategies and of History & Classics and the Department of Human ety) - is serving or has served as an executive board that lead to the successful creation of the Edmonton advises senior levels of the Government of Ecology. She is founding director of the Material Cul- member of the Alberta Museums Association, the Ed- Heritage Council. and the Alberta Government along with a wide range ture Institute at the U of A, which hosts annual spring monton and District Historical Society, the Edmonton of other public, private and voluntary sector organi- symposia on subjects related to material culture. Historical Board and the Edmonton Regional Histori- zations. The City of Edmonton recognized Satya’s cal Fair, which organizes an annual history event for service to culture, heritage and arts with a 2001 Ci- Ben Moses - is a member of the Saddle Lake Band. elementary and middle school students. He is a proto- tation Award. His grandfather is regarded as the last hereditary col officer with the Province of Alberta. chief in Blue Quills Band. Currently, Ben is working Karen Gabert - has worked on a number of heritage on his post doctorate degree in indigenous knowl- Debby Shoctor (Archives Society of Alberta) - became and public history research projects in Ottawa and edge frameworks and ideology. the archivist for the Jewish Archives and Historical So- Edmonton, including oral and archival research for ciety of Edmonton and Northern Alberta in 2001. In the Ukrainian Village. Karen currently works as a Terry O’Riordan - has worked professionally in the 2004, she joined the Board of the Archives Society

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travel, and has lead several international art history tours. Prior to joining the non-profit world 20 years ago, Allison worked in banking and finance.

Lawrence Herzog (Heritage Writer)

Lawrence Herzog joined the Edmonton Heritage Council as the first Heritage Writer in May 2011. He writes a biweekly column, Herzog on Heritage, for the EHC update and website. Lawrence has been writing about history and heritage for more than 25 years. He is the author of two Edmonton community history books and his columns on heritage issues ap- peared in Real Estate Weekly from 1991 to 2011. Lawrence has served as a member of the Edmonton Historical Board, and has chaired the city’s Historic Resources Review Panel.

Chris Hutchison (Project Assistant)

Chris Hutchison has been a project assistant for the Edmonton Heritage Council since February, 2011. EHC Staff (From left to right) - Mieke Higham, Shirley Combden, He graduated from the University of Alberta in 2010 at Night, 1934 Allison Argy-Burgess, David Ridley, Mary Oakwell, Chris with a Bachelor of Design Degree in Industrial De- City of Edmonton Archives Hutchison EA-160-711 sign. Currently, he resides in an artist-run co-op on the historic Alberta Avenue in Edmonton, Alberta. Chris is fascinated with the idea of social history and strives to find unique and exciting ways to connect the past Alberta, she can be found renovating a current home. United Church Historical Society and is currently ac- PERMANENT STAFF with the present. tive with his neighbourhood’s community league. David Ridley (Program Manager) Allison Argy-Burgess (Executive Director) Mary Oakwell (Administrative Officer) David began as EHC staff in April 2009, working EDMONTON ARTS Allison Argy-Burgess joined the Edmonton Heritage Mary Oakwell joined the EHC staff in October 2009, with the EHC’s steering committee before the official Council in June 2010 as the first Executive Director. just in time to assist with the coordination of the Found- founding of the Council in November 2009. His COUNCIL / She is a professional visual artist who continues to ex- ing Meeting. She is a professional writer who has been past work in heritage has been as a cultural com- hibit locally and nationally. She is also a partner and working on a variety of writing projects and has pub- munity researcher with the EDMONTON HERITAGE editor of the online magazine for Alberta visual art- lished articles in the Globe and Mail, Alberta’s Legacy and director of research with the Heritage Commu- ists, Artrubicon. Allison is a graduate of Grant MacE- and Westjet’s Airlines magazine. She is the author of nity Foundation. He has worked on several projects COUNCIL (SHARED STAFF) wan’s French program and has also studied at the Tea Time in Alberta, a Guide to 54 great tea rooms in documenting, interpreting and writing about local Banff Centre for Management, University of Quebec, Alberta, and Many Foundations, Historic Churches of cultural life and religious tradition in a number of Shirley Combden (Bookkeeper) University of Waterloo and University of Victoria. She Alberta. When she is not writing, travelling around the Alberta communities. He has served as a volunteer Mieke Higham (Office Manager) is strong believer in life-long learning and the value of province or taking history classes at the University of director with historical Rundle’s Mission Society, the

5 6 We try to comprehend the soul of the city, JUNE 1, 2011 too, and the way its citizens relate to their environment. Our work reminds almost a million individuals settled around MESSAGE FROM THE CHAIR Edmonton that they belong to a specific place in the wold - that they are wanted and needed, right here, right now - even if they plan to board a plane for Lagos or t seems both a long time ago and just yesterday ing Committee activities and the first few challenging that the Founding Meeting of the Edmonton Heri- months after the founding meeting. Thank you also to Shanghai or Beirut tomorrow. tage Council was held in the beautiful ballroom of the EAC staff who assisted and mentored us along the Ithe . It was an exciting event for way. Wendy Luther chaired the Steering Committee Linda Goyette, those of us who had been working towards that mo- and moved into the Chair of the Board of Directors ment through the process of the development of the until April 2011 when she stepped back in order to Twenty Questions for my Friends Edmonton Cultural Plan ‘The Art of Living’ which rec- complete a production project of her own with the ommended the formation of the Council, and then arrival of her infant daughter. Her leadership was the months of work as a steering committee to lay key to our first years’ success. David Ridley (Program the groundwork for the birth of the organization. It Manager) and Mary Oakwell (Program and Adminis- was more than anyone had hoped to have such large tration Officer) were our first staff members and key to and enthusiastic attendance at the inaugural meeting. our transition into being a fully fledged organization. Thank you also to Allison for the successes of her first Now a year and a half has passed and we are months as Executive Director. having our first Annual General Meeting and An- nual Report. It has been an extremely productive We are also grateful for the contributions of those time as attested in the reports that follow. We have board members whose terms have ended or have re- made our way through the administrative maze of signed to move on to other activities and locations for incorporation as a society and becoming a desig- their work in building our organization: Linda Collier, nated Charitable Organization, we have been on a Wendy Luther and Bob Caldwell (who were all also continuing journey to establish and implement poli- on the Steering Committee) and Debby Shoctor and cies and procedures that will work best for our or- Myles Chykerda. Thank you all. ganization, and we have dived headfirst into some very important and high profile projects that both Respectfully submitted provide links between people and their heritage Virginia Stephen / Acting Chair and will be significant steps in defining the heri- tage ‘landscape’ in our city for many years to come.

I am sure that I speak for all of the founding board members in saying what an honour it has been to be a part of this exciting venture and to serve the heritage community. There are many whose work was fundamental and invaluable to success of the startup of the EHC and we are grateful for their dedication to seeing it come to fruition. John Mahon, Executive Director of the Edmonton Arts Council, was key to the promotion of the idea of having a Heritage Council and having it included in the ‘Art of Living’. As our acting Executive Director until we hired Allison Argy- Burgess as our first Executive Director in June 2010, his wisdom and patience guided us through the Steer- Scenic: Children by river, 1950 Scenic: Children by river, City of Edmonton Archives (EA-600-4488)

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The significant successes outlined in this inaugural An- nual Report for the Edmonton Heritage Council would not have been possible without the strong, ongoing support of the City of Edmonton, the Edmonton Arts Council, and the Edmonton heritage community. In addition, the dedication and forward thinking vi- sion of many enthusiastic, dynamic and committed people. The Steering Committee and the first Board of Directors of the Edmonton Heritage Council have been dedicated to developing an authentic, trusted voice and profile for both heritage and the EHC in the City of Edmonton

The staff of the Edmonton Heritage Council have also shown an unwavering dedication and commitment to both the vision of the Edmonton Heritage Council and to supporting and promoting heritage and culture in Edmonton. This has resulted in several internal and community-based achievements over the past year. The knowledgeable and creative staff ofthe EHC in- clude David Ridley, Program Manager, Mary Oak- well, Administrative Co-ordinator, and Christopher Allison Argy-Burgess, Hutchison, Project Assistant, who in early 2011 took High Level Bridge at Night, 1932 Executive Director of the Edmonton Heritage Council up the creative mantle of Myka Jones who left EHC for City of Edmonton Archives EA-160-548 the challenges of the Northwest Territories. We also enjoy the professional support of EAC/EHC Office Manager, Mieke Higham, EAC/EHC Bookkeeper, Shirley Combden and the recent welcome addition of Moving forward in 2011, the Edmonton Heritage n June 2010 I was pleased to join the Edmonton well-known heritage writer, Lawrence Herzog. Council will continue to develop and deliver the same An object, a place in space, is Heritage Council (EHC) and the committed team of high caliber programs and services. The organization staff and Board that had already begun laying a Some of 2010’s achievements include the selection will move to further enhance, support and promote essentially mute. However much it Istrong framework for the new organization. The Coun- and appointment of Edmonton’s first Historian Laure- cultural vibrancy and preservation of heritage in the means to you , the individual, with cil was long anticipated and sincerely needed, and, ate, Ken Tingley, in partnership with the Edmonton Edmonton region through exciting new projects and the memories and emotions that you programs, such as advancing an Edmonton Museum with the 11 heritage recommendations laid out in the Historical Board and the City of Edmonton, the very Strategy, the Heritage Salon Program, the Greater can link to it, it can tell the rest of us 2008 Art of Living Cultural Plan, aimed at creating a successful 2010 Community Heritage Symposium: Heritage, Innovation & the Livable City, the Edmon- Edmonton Heritage Network, the launch of the Citi- nothing about its significance until stronger more unified heritage community in the city, ton Maps Heritage online map project in partnership zen Blogger Project, and the development of a much there has been a keen desire among Edmonton’s heri- with the Edmonton Historical Board and the City of needed Heritage Grant Program. we give it a story. tage and cultural sectors to see tangible outcomes. Edmonton Archives, success in acquiring Charitable The creation of the Edmonton Heritage Council was Status from Canada Revenue Agency and the com- Thank you to all for an excellent year! Alice Major, the first recommendation realized when it became a le- pletion of the Artifact Centre & Archives Storage Strat- Allison Argy-Burgess, Executive Director Heritage 2010 Symposium, gal entity at the Founding Meeting in November 2009 egy Report in partnership with the City of Edmonton; Closing Remarks

9 10 JUNE 1, 2011 JUNE 1, 2011 PROGRESS SINCE THE ART OF LIVING 2010 PROGRAMS AND PROJECTS

n November 2009, the Edmonton Heritage Coun- HISTORIAN LAUREATE cil was founded, fulfillingHeritage Recommenda- tion #1 in The Art of Living. Since becoming a legal The Edmonton Heritage Council staff served on the Ientity in late 2009, the EHC has marked several sig- working group that led to the selection of Ken Tingley nificant achievements both internally and in the com- as Edmonton’s first Historian Laureate and fulfillment munity. of Heritage Recommendation #7. EHC staff were involved in drafting the description/role of the Histori- As well, the EHC is or has been directly involved in an Laureate and in the meetings and process leading the work to realize several other Art of Living Heri- to nominations, interviews, selection, announcement tage Recommendations: and related communications. Besides an anticipated programming and communications role to raise the Heritage Recommendation #4 - Recognize the Arti- profile and understanding of the Historian Laureate facts Centre as a major asset to the city. Resources program, EHC also maintains a web page providing are needed to stabilize and upgrade the environmen- information on the Historian Laureate. tal conditions of the current building, or to relocate the collection and to proved additional staff. 2010 EDMONTON Heritage Recommendation #7 - Establish a City histo- rian-in-residence program HERITAGE STAKEHOLDER Heritage Recommendation #8 - Develop consistent SURVEY The Art of Living: A Plan for Securing the Future of Arts and interpretation practices for heritage. Ken Tingley, Heritage in the City of Edmonton, 2008-2018 In the Fall of 2010, the Edmonton Heritage Coun- Edmonton’s first Historian Laureate Heritage Recommendation #9 - Develop an overall cil (EHC) conducted a heritage stakeholder survey to museums strategy better understand the state of heritage activity in Ed- monton. Encompassing a wide range of interests and Heritage Recommendation #10 - Have the City sup- concerns, for the purposes of this survey, ‘heritage community,100% think their organizations port the development of a city museum activity’ was exemplified by the work of museums, ar- would benefit from greater collaboration with I dream a city shot through chives, historical and genealogical societies, historic other heritage organizations; Heritage Recommendation #11 - Establish a museum sites, ethno-cultural, preservation & planning organi- • Collaboration does not happen regularly due with bright spaces. In each operation grant Program as a Community Investment zations, publishers, educational institutions, etc. The to burn-out, lack of connections with potential Grant. response rate within the heritage community was high partners and lack of funding; one, history or art, a at 68%, and a number of common areas of concern • Strongest areas of collaboration were public and interest were clearly noted, including: programming, advocacy, research, special different past or a possible event coordination and conservation/preser- future. • The biggest challenges facing the heritage vation; community in Edmonton are fragmentation and • Top 5 methods to create/disseminate knowl- lack of recognition and public support. edge that serves to further the appreciation Caterina Edwards, • As expressed in the survey by executive direc- and understanding of heritage were commu- Walking the Line - The Art of Living tors, board members and owners, only one in nity partnerships, special events, conferences, three feels connected to Edmonton’s heritage books/publications and workshops;

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• Another major challenge facing the Edmonton heritage community is a lack of recognition CRA CHARITABLE and public support. Responding stakeholders felt public reflection, debate and discussion of DESIGNATION heritage is very important to the overall health and vitality of the community and crucial when January 1, 2011 the Edmonton Heritage Council was planning for future developments; successful in its appeal to Canada Revenue Agency • The majority of respondents strongly agreed for Charitable Status. This success will broaden the that heritage activity helps develop livable, so- ability of the Heritage Council to partner with other ciable communities, creates a sense of belong- Charitable Organizations and Foundations to better ing and civic pride, and increases the appeal serve and support the Edmonton Heritage and cul- for tourists and visitors. Many did not feel as tural community. strongly about the current ability of heritage to employ people in profitable, rewarding ca- reers or to encourage youth and newcomers to get involved in their communities. 2010 COMMUNITY

Together, their efforts help shape the past, present HERITAGE SYMPOSIUM: and future of Edmonton. Organizations and individu- als who support and animate this work were of par- HERITAGE, INNOVATION ticular interest in this survey, as EHC aims to address their needs and concerns in its future programs and & THE LIVABLE CITY initiatives. This document provides a brief overview of our findings, where areas of strength and improve- In the fall of 2010 the Edmonton Heritage Council ment are noted. The gathered information will be up- (EHC) hosted an illuminating array of local speakers dated every two years and will act as a blueprint for in its first community symposium, Heritage, Innova- the Edmonton Heritage Council’s programming and tion and the Livable City. This inaugural event invited activities. audiences to engage in and explore many of the is- sues at the heart of the region’s collective cultural, social and environmental identities. The Symposium was held Oct.1 & 2, 2010 at the Sutton Place Hotel.

‘Heritage’, ‘innovation’ and ‘livability’ are terms not often used in connection with each other. For some citizens, interest in Edmonton’s heritage seems con- trary to the city’s spirit of progress and has little cur- rency in contemporary urban life. For many others, Edmonton’s history and heritage is fundamental to the city’s social and cultural life— a contemporary activity with a revitalizing effect on the city and its communities.

EHC was formed to connect Edmonton’s heritage and related organizations with the citizens of this com- munity and to provide a voice and focus for heritage issues in this city. This symposium endeavoured to make those connections and open new channels of

118 Avenue Looking East, 1938 118 Avenue City of Edmonton Archives (EA-160-471) communication.

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has committed to hosting a heritage/culture themed Community Symposium every two years in an effort ONLINE HERITAGE MAP/ to continue and build on the important dialogue al- ready begun. The symposium program, panel notes, EDMONTON MAPS Ken Tingley’s address, Linda Goyette’s essay from her Saturday address, and Alice Major’s Closing Re- HERITAGE marks are all available on the EHC website at http:// The EHC is working to re-position heritage as a vital, goo.gl/iOt78. engaging and forward looking aspect of local and civic life that clearly connects to contemporary dis- cussion and issues. This first phase of theEdmonton ARTIFACT CENTRE & Maps Heritage project aims to bring heritage and culture into the 21st century by providing links for the public and heritage practitioners with compre- ARCHIVES STORAGE hensive information relating to some of the Edmonton area’s most important and interesting heritage sites STRATEGY and plaques, in addition to links for local museums, archives and heritage organizations. As recommended in Art of Living Cultural Plan, Heri- tage Recommendations #4 and #5, the Edmonton The name of the project, Edmonton Maps Heritage, Heritage Council partnered with the City of Edmon- indicates a collective, active and ongoing “mapping” ton on an independent study of the City’s Archives of the city’s heritage and anticipates broader public Poster for 2010 Community Heritage Symposium: Heritage, & Artifact Centre Storage Strategy to determine how involvement in future development phases. It is hoped Edmonton Maps Heritage (online heritage map) Innovation & the Livable City best to stabilize the physical environment of the City’s that users will connect with the site visually and func- tionally, but above all, find that the content enriches artifact collections either through upgrades in the cur- their sense of their city and community. The first phase rent location or by relocation, and to address the fu- The Symposium Keynote Speaker at the Friday eve- of the online map is being done in partnership with ture storage needs of the City of Edmonton Archives the Edmonton Historic Board and the City of Edmon- ning reception was Linda Goyette, author of Edmon- -- to store what exists in both collections and ensure ton: In Our Own Words. Ken Tingley, Edmonton’s first ton Archives. Visit the work in progress at http://goo. capacity for growth for 25 years. Historian Laureate, was featured on Saturday morn- gl/BbkKP ing on The Future of Edmonton’s History. The report is now for the most part complete and the Symposium panels on the Saturday featured 25 board and staff of EHC strongly endorse the recom- prominent Edmonton historians, writers and cultural mendations in this report towards preserving Edmon- thinkers, discussing Edmonton’s heritage as a north- ton’s historic collections. Having a proper facility in ern city, its built environment and “lost” spaces, urban which to store and develop these collections is key to Aboriginal culture, the changing identity of cultural making these collections accessible to more Edmonto- and religious communities and the history of Edmon- nians—whether those interested in research their fam- ton’s local food-ways and city markets. Poet ily and community history, or professional research- and writer Alice Major provided inspiring closing re- ers and writers creating books, exhibits and websites marks. What occurred at this gathering was nothing for a larger audience. Ultimately, the report’s recom- short of incredible – almost to a person, the resound- mendations are to ensure present and future genera- ing response to this inaugural event was ‘Why have we never sat in a room together before? This was tions of Edmontonians can connect with their city’s a unique and valuable exercise and must become a diverse and shared history. Cities need these collec- regular occurrence!’ tions just as people need memories—not so much as a record of their past, but as part of their identity and

From this feedback the Edmonton Heritage Council a guide to their future. & 101 Street, 1939 Jasper Avenue City of Edmonton Archives (EA-160--878)

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has a colourful curling history, from sand-filled tea- COMMUNITY OUTREACH CITY MUSEUM kettles on the frozen to today’s world-class curlers, international events and & SPONSORSHIPS STRATEGY widely recognized facilities.

In 2010, Edmonton Heritage Council was pleased to The Edmonton Heritage Council in accordance with The display presents the people, clubs and innova- support these heritage initiatives and organizations: the Recommendations #8, #9 and #10 outlined in tions key to the game’s development in Edmonton, as The Art of Living / 2008-2018 is presently in ne- well as across Canada and around the world. The • “Return of the Magic” vintage toy restoration & gotiations to undertake a partnership with the City eight display panels touch on the early game and holiday window displays, Old Strathcona of Edmonton to develop a Museum Strategy with bonspiels, women in curling, the history of selected • Historical Society of Alberta Annual Conference recommendations, actions and goals needed to Edmonton curling clubs, Edmonton’s champion curl- 2010, Edmonton achieve a cohesive heritage and museum communi- ers and the game’s builders and innovators. • Heritage Village - expansion of aboriginal & ty within Edmonton, with acknowledged, consistent Francophone cultural presentations interpretation standards and practices that can be These exhibition display panels have been borrowed • Alberta Museums Association Annual Conference utilized in the future grant programs, along with a at no cost by several curling clubs since 2009, to 2010, Edmonton proposed artifact collection policy and compelling highlight Edmonton’s rich curling legacy during vari- • Speakers Studio sponsor, Doors Open, part of the vision needed to bring about the reality of a future ous events. The full exhibition is available digitally on Edmonton & Northern AB Historic Festival museum of Edmonton. the EHC website at: http://goo.gl/8Qf0I • Edmonton Regional Heritage Fair Heritage experts and consultants, relevant organiza- tions, cultural workers, patrons, stakeholders, com- GREATER EDMONTON munity leaders and the general public will be invited to participate through interviews, feedback on dis- HERITAGE NETWORK Edmonton’s Curling Legacy Exhibition panel (detail) cussion papers, heritage symposium, focus groups, public consultation sessions and cultural mapping In the Art of Living Cultural Plan it was recommend- development. Significant effort will be made to reach ed in Heritage Recommendation #9, that as part of under-represented groups such as youth, aboriginal a comprehensive city-wide Museum Strategy that a populations, ethno-cultural representatives and new Network for museums and heritage organizations be will be sending out a very short survey/questionnaire Canadian residents. set-up to address funding, marketing & promotion, to museums and heritage organizations to determine standards and issues, as well providing a safe sup- what topics, projects and issues the heritage commu- The resulting report(s) and recommendations com- portive forum for debate and discussion around cur- nity would most like to address in the coming months. bined with the already completed Lundholm & As- rent and ongoing concerns for Edmonton’s heritage Bringing members of the heritage and cultural com- sociates report on the Artifact Centre & Archive Col- community. munity together will assist us in addressing the needs lections Storage will provide a comprehensive and of and providing a united voice for heritage in Ed- contemporary blueprint for both the feasibility and The EHC hopes to coordinate and host the first informal monton. mandate for a future Museum of Edmonton as rec- gathering of the Greater Edmonton Heritage Network ommended in the 2008-2018 Art of Living Cultural before the end of June 2011, and prior to that time we Plan. EDMONTON’S CURLING greater edmonton LEGACY (EXHIBITION)

Edmonton’s Curling Legacy was produced by the heritage Edmonton Heritage Council and displayed at the Canadian Curling Trials (The Roar of the Rings) held NETWORK in Edmonton, December 6th-13th, 2009. Edmonton

17 18 JUNE 1, 2011 JUNE 1, 2011 2011 PROJECTS

2011 PERCOLATE SPEAKERS’ SERIES

The Edmonton Heritage Council is partnering with Grant MacEwan University, Alberta Museums As- sociation and the Edmonton Arts Council on the presentation of the 2011 Percolate Speakers’ Series. Well-known and knowledgeable guest speakers were invited to speak to at no cost to Edmontonians Nancy Noble CEO, Museum of Vancouver in March, April and May 2011 on some of the vital topics touched on at the 2010 Heritage Symposium such as community sustainability, place-making and many roles of culture and heritage around these broad topics. The 2011 Percolate Speaker’s Series Ben Cameron Program Director, Doris Duke Charitable Foundation enjoyed excellent attendance and public participa- tion through the moderated discussions after each presentation.

Monday, March 14, 2011 Poster for Percolate 2011 Speaker’s Series: Brewing Ideas Ben Cameron with Leading Minds in the Fields of Arts, Program Director, Arts Heritage, & Cultural Management Doris Duke Charitable Foundation, New York

Thursday, April 14, 2011 Jeff Melanson Executive Director and Co-CEO Heritage is a web of shared stories/ Canada’s National Ballet School, Toronto memories. By making those stories conscious, by noticing them we can Thursday, May 19, 2011 enter into the lives and minds of others Nancy Noble who have shared this place, then and CEO Museum of Vancouver now. Our personal territory takes on other dimensions. The success of the 2011 Percolate Series collabo- ration has brought the four participating partners Alice Major, together in their determined commitment to produce 2010 Heritage Symposium, and present a 2012 Percolate Speaker’s Series. Closing remarks

Jeff Melanson 19 Executive Director, Canada’s National Ballet School 20 JUNE 1, 2011 JUNE 1, 2011

a seasoned journalist and researcher working with information about the EHC. us will assist us in achieving the goal of engaging and exciting the public around the many rich stories The EHC plans to create a series of these cards and and events in our past. Telling Edmonton’s stories distribute them across the city. will also address some of the fragmentation and lack of recognition and public support that members of the heritage community noted in our survey as one of the major problems facing them on a daily basis – a shared appreciation can help bring us together. 2011 COMMUNITY HERITAGE INVESTMENT PROGRAM PILOT

As recommended in Heritage Recommendation #11 the EHC is presently awaiting formal approval from the City of Edmonton for funding for a Pilot Project developing the guidelines, reporting structure and application forms for Project Grant Program in 2011 EHC Electronic Newsletter - April 14, 2011 . We hope to bring the proposed Grant Pilot Project Herzog on Heritage by Lawrence Herzog, the EHC’s first Proposal to the EHC Board for approval by the Fall Heritage Writer James Gibbons Residence - May 27, 2011 Board Meeting, with a start date shortly thereafter. HERITAGE WRITER/ This Pilot Project will assist the EHC in determining HERZOG ON HERITAGE the appropriate structure and format for the Edmon- In May of 2011 Lawrence’s articles for Real Estate EHC ELECTRONIC ton heritage community. From this Pilot Project, the Weekly ended and he joined the Edmonton Heritage EHC hopes to develop a Community Heritage Grant Lawrence Herzog was been writing about history and heritage for over 25 years. He is the author of two Ed- Council as its first Heritage Writer. His articles on Program that will grow and serve the heritage com- heritage issues will continue in a bi-weekly column, NEWSLETTER munity in the years to come. monton community history books and he began writ- ing articles on heritage issues for Real Estate Weekly titled Herzog on Heritage, that will be featured in our The Edmonton Heritage Council has sent out bi-week- in 1991. His columns featured people and places of Electronic Newsletters and on edmontonheritage.ca. ly electronic updates for the past eighteen months. historical significance to the Edmonton community These updates have provided members and heritage HERITAGE POSTCARDS and over the years grew to become a significant re- supporters with easy access to current events and op- cord of Edmonton’s heritage. The Edmonton Heritage Council has created a new portunities in Edmonton and around the province. marketing strategy intended to reach out to the general public and inform them about Edmonton’s The EHC is currently revamping the format of this up- unique heritage and about memberships with the date to become a heritage newsletter, providing com- EHC. We also tried to create something tangible that We are only here for a while, but the buildings can and mentary on Edmonton’s rich history and built heritage people might want to hold on to. This process lead every two weeks. to the beginning of a series of Heritage Postcards. sometimes do outlast all of us.

This is a truly exciting development for heritage in On the front of the card is an archival photo from Today’s modern marvels are tomorrow’s historic treasures. this city, as we will have a well-known heritage writer the City of Edmonton Archives. The back has a de- contributing articles to the EHC and to other heritage scription of the photo on the front, a quote from an Lawrence Herzog, events and opportunities that may crop up. Having Edmonton writer, an interesting historical fact, and The Lessons in History, It’s Our Heritage/Vol 29 No. 21/ May 26, 2011 Real Estate Weekly

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These are just a few examples of the work that the THE COMMONPLACE Edmonton Heritage Council has taken on since incep- PROJECT tion, however we are also actively working on: • A community collaboration with the Edmon- In May of 2011, the Edmonton Heritage Council initi- ton Arts Council, City of Edmonton Archives ated the Commonplace Project. and the Edmonton Federation of Community Leagues to highlight individual Community The goal of this project is to utilize our online heri- Leagues’ history, arts and culture. tage map to map the social . The first phase of this project will be collecting stories and • A series of Heritage Salons bringing local cul- memories directly from the people of Edmonton. tural and heritage speakers in for an informal talk and the opportunity to mix with members These stories will be presented in our interactive on- of the public. We envision having each event line map and the top five stories will be featured on a hosted in a different community or cultural ven- series of Heritage Postcards. To promote this project ue. the Edmonton Heritage Council has placed an ad in the program for the Edmonton & Northern Alberta • Developing 2-dimensional exhibitions high- Historic Festival 2011, is working on a Heritage Post- lighting the rich history of Edmonton’s people card with information about the project, and will post and places—these exhibits will be located in information on our website, newsletter, and on Ed- recreational centres, community halls and even monton Maps Heritage. transit stations and stops. Anyplace that will provide the general public with an unexpected opportunity to learn more about Edmonton’s CITIZEN BLOGGER rich past. EHC’s mandate to present Edmonton’s heritage to • Our first Annual General Meeting, June 1st, new audiences is a key element of its Citizen Blogger 2011 in the Jefferson Room at the Prince of program. The blogger, to be chosen on an annual or Wales Armouries Heritage Centre, featuring semi-annual basis, will provide regular comment and special guest Speaker Dr. Nanci Langford on opinion on Edmonton’s heritage scene as it relates to the Alberta Women’s Memory Project. a range of the city’s cultural issues and developments. Rather than limiting this comment to professional heri- It is the goal of the Council to complement and sup- tage practitioners (and we’re working on a another port the programs of the heritage and cultural com- blog to provide for that), the blog will present the munity and not to duplicate or compete with them. perspective of a writer who is interested, passionate We want both stakeholders and citizens to see the and concerned about the City’s collective memory in Edmonton Heritage Council as a connector and com- relation to the city’s wider cultural scene. munications hub that celebrates the accomplishments and developments of Edmonton’s heritage and cul- We are pleased to announce that Fish Griwkowsky, tural community, while at the same time learning to Edmonton columnist, photographer, filmmaker and value the unique richness and depth of our history. artist will be the inaugural “citizen” blogger. As part Growth in public support and awareness will assist of his wide-ranging and engaging artistic practice, the Edmonton Heritage Council and the many heri- Fish has an energetic interest and concern for Edmon- tage practitioners and organizations in the City of ton’s heritage. His recent cinematography work on Edmonton in uniting to present, interpret and preserve the documentary film short The High Level Bridge ( our history in the manner it so richly deserves. director Trevor Anderson) was screened at the 2011 Sundance Film Festival.

23 24 JUNE 1, 2011 JUNE 1, 2011 FINANCIAL STATEMENTS

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31 32 JUNE 1, 2011 JUNE 1, 2011 THESE PAPERS WERE PRESENTED AT THE EHC’S FIRST APPENDICES COMMUNITY HERITAGE SYMPOSIUM

that it wasn’t a world-renowned metropolis or a TWENTY QUESTIONS FOR government centre or an economic powerhouse Linda Goyette is a writer and or a cultural mecca. They were more interested MY FRIENDS journalist with a strong interest in what it was. They had no need to imitate the By Linda Goyette in oral history and contemporary citizens of another place, or defend their own storytelling. After working at the community from stated or unstated criticism, or There is something to be said for leaving home, Edmonton Journal for twenty years proclaim that they lived in the best city in the and looking over your shoulder at the city you’ve country. On the contrary they were intrigued with left behind. You see the place more clearly from as a reporter, columnist and editorial writer, she worked on Edmonton In the character of their own hometown, and ea- a distance: its fault lines and strengths, its blind ger to draw connecting lines across an immense alleys and infinite possibilities. Our Own Words, a new history of the city based on first-person stories map inside their own imaginations. As I listened to this thoughtful dialogue, I thought about Ed- and memoirs. Her work includes After thirty years of living and working in Edmon- monton, and its constant efforts to proclaim itself ton, I travelled north last year to the Yukon and Kidmonton: True Stories of River to the world and to define its identity with over- Northwest Territories to work on several writing Kids and The Story That Brought Me blown slogans and catchphrases. My friends and projects for an extended period. Canada’s north Here: To Alberta From Everywhere, I could learn something here, I thought. If only we country is a spark to any imagination, and a ha- a collection of newcomers’ stories. would. ven from the frenetic atmosphere of the urban Her new book, Northern Kids, south. For once I had time to explore new terri- is a collection of historical and I also thought about an email I’d received a tory in my own writing and reflect on matters that contemporary stories about childhood few weeks earlier from the Edmonton Heritage were important to me. I could read and think in Linda Goyette, from northern of all ages. Council asking me to speak to its first sympo- solitude, and talk to some of the most interest- 2010 Heritage Symposium sium in early October, Heritage, Innovation & ing individuals I’ve ever met for a fresh perspec- the Livable City, and to write about our discus- tive. The silence, the beauty of the mountains, the sions. I agreed because I believe in the potential strong sense of community and historical memory of this new council to pull together a disparate in Dawson City, all inspired me to think in new ed into a local theatre just to listen to these four They challenged the myopia of looking at a place band of cultural workers, and to encourage us ways about my work in a distant hometown. individuals talk about Canada’s southwestern on the map in economic terms alone. They ques- to collaborate in exciting ways. The council is tioned the unfairness in the assumption that the a brave experiment, and a good one, and it is corner—Windsor, Ontario. The northerners ex- One morning in Dawson, two well-known writers most creative citizens and their audiences live in reaching out to all of us in 2011 with a chal- climbed the front steps of my borrowed house to pressed genuine interest in this distant city, asked a half-dozen of the world’s megacities. lenge. Are we in, or not? say hello, not exactly to me but to a ghost in resi- informed questions, listened carefully to the an- dence. They wanted to explore Pierre Berton’s swers and made comparisons to their own lives Through that long, memorable night, Dawson So who are we exactly? I think I’ll avoid that childhood home. Nino Ricci and Alistair Ma- in the Yukon. Everyone in the room challenged City might as well have been the centre of the clumsy description “the heritage community” be- cLeod had travelled north with visual artists Iain the usual definitions of words and phrases such universe. I listened with fascination as the Yukon- cause we are not a cohesive community at all. Baxter and Patricia Coates for an unusual travel- ers related directly to the writers, artists and un- We are solo performers, iconoclasts, and most of as remote and isolated, and blue-collar industri- ling conversation called A Sense of Place. They employed autoworkers of Windsor. Nobody in us are so quiet about our lonely detective work had already taken their slides and informal dis- al town, and rust-belt city and boom town and the room sounded defensive or intimidated about that the rest of the city usually forgets we exist. cussion to other cities across the country. To my resource town and depressed town and artistic what their community wasn’t . . . that it wasn’t We are the cultural workers who try to unravel a surprise, Dawsonites of all backgrounds crowd- centre and hub and hinterland. Toronto or New York or Shanghai or Berlin . . . twisted, knotted rope that links Edmonton’s past

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with Edmonton’s present. We keep an eye on one playwrights, screenwriters, visual artists, of historical information and local genealogy if grets. We research and we write about an evolv- another’s projects, from a respectful distance, but sculptors, we aren’t very careful.] Even so the public can ing urban culture—sports, theatre, film, visual we often lack the personal relationships neces- professional librarians, underestimate the width and depth of our curios- art, the works— always reaching back, reaching sary for creative collaboration. We work alone recreation specialists ity. Together we are interested in the much larger, forward, in a search for patterns. We document too much. We need to find intersections. photographers, journalists, storytellers, unmapped territory of the urban imagination. the city’s seasons of affluence and hard times, songwriters and musicians who put local make comparisons between then and now, and experiences to music, Who are we? Let me try again. In no particular sound and lighting technicians We love our work for all its challenges. “Find- sift through facts to reach an analysis if not a order, we are Edmontonians with a special pas- at local performances ing the right work,” wrote Thomas Moore, “is conclusion. sion for the local in our work as. . . filmmakers, videographers, like finding your own soul in the world.” Finding directors and actors. your place, too. We try to comprehend the soul of the city, too, and Metis elders and the way its citizens relate to their environ- and storykeepers, That’s a long list of gifted people, and I could Through our disparate projects, we explore Ed- ment. Our work reminds almost a million indi- Professional archivists make it even longer by including some of the most monton’s collective memory, and examine its dai- viduals settled around Edmonton that they be- and professional historians, innovative heritage workers in Edmonton. We ly, lived experience to the smallest detail. We in- long to a specific place in the world –that they teachers and students, might begin with the city bloggers who create terview citizens who endured the 1987 tornado, are wanted and needed, right here, right now museum curators, conservation staff, or the 1932 Hunger March . We create a fasci- – even if they plan to board a plane for Lagos or artists and designers, local new media to reflect a distinctive and evolv- historic interpreters, local tour guides, ing urban culture, outside mainstream corporate nating websites and multimedia performance to Shanghai or Beirut tomorrow. If we do our work travel office advisors media. We could mention the Edmonton Bicycle tell the story of a famous garment factory and properly, each citizen will conclude that his or neighborhood conservation activists, Commuters who are determined to reclaim his- its significance to waves of immigration to the her distinctive life story is one vital fragment of city heritage planners toric city streets for cyclists and pedestrians. Immi- city. We create board games, video games, puz- the history of Edmonton, that each contribution restoration volunteers, historical researchers, gration support workers and English as a Second zles and scavenger hunts to engage Edmonton’s to the city has been noted and appreciated, that web developers Language teachers communicate Edmonton’s his- children in their city’s past, and to delight them, each sacrifice for the common good has been heritage architects, genealogists, tory to newcomers eager to learn about their new too. We squint to decipher a digital version of worthwhile. Some citizens can trace direct ances- cartoonists and illustrators, city. Urban farmers and community garden activ- the 1886 Edmonton Bulletin in order to complete try to the earliest Cree, Nakoda and Blackfoot economists and demographers ists remind us that we honour the city best through First Nations land claims research. We make families of Amiskwaciwaskahikan, or to the first archaeologists, our protection of the land, and its bounty; we short, contemplative films about the suicides on Metis, French and Orkney fur traders at Edmon- cartographers, public transit planners, define ourselves by what we choose to protect. the High Level Bridge or a young man riding the ton House, or to the early pioneering families environmental scientists, including naturalists, horticulturalists Urban renewal activists tell us that a shared his- rails into Edmonton during the Depression. We along the North Saskatchewan riverbank. Some and meteorologists, torical memory can reclaim a weary streetscape, take visitors on a canoe ride along the North Sas- newcomers arrived yesterday from Capetown or volunteers in small museums and they’re proving it up on 118th Avenue. katchewan River to show them the enduring layers Cornerbrook, from Montreal or Manila, with no and interpretive centres of volcanic ash from Mount Mazama’s eruption plan to stay in Edmonton, no knowledge of the anthropologists, In short, we are the people who somehow find 6,800 years ago. We sew shawls, write poems, city’s history, and no particular allegiance to the local festival producers, organizers and share stories about Edmonton through our drum and dance in a Cree honour song for the place. We say to them all: If you are here, this and volunteers work. Some citizens might assume that all “heri- first mothers in our city We create a documenta- city belongs to you. All citizens shape Edmonton writers, editors and designers of magazines, tage workers” are obsessed with a narrow and ry film to explore the thoughts and views of South together, creating its history in microscopic mo- e-zines and heritage websites, cold list of historical facts and civic milestones— Asian newcomers to Edmonton, or create a song ments without intention. We share a space that landscape architects, streetscape designers, a fur-trading fort in 1795, a town in 1892, a and mime performance to recall the songs and Amy Fung on her Prairie Artsters website calls chefs and other food producers little city in 1904—or that we are History Zeal- stories of Filipino grandmothers. We do all of this “the amnesiac city.” in the local food movement public servants who work to nurture ots ready to circle every old building with locked in order to say to our fellow citizens: Remember the local arts and heritage sector arms against Edmonton’s wrecking balls, explo- this? This matters to me. Does it matter to you? Can a city learn to remember? I think about this philanthropists who fund heritage projects sives and bulldozers. [Okay, sometimes they are question often. in the private sector right about our preoccupations! We can be sin- In our scholarly research and creative arts proj- independent writers and poets, gle-minded and stubborn; and yes, we can bore ects, we investigate the city’s silent hopes and Back in Dawson City, I read an opening essay editors and publishers, our fellow citizens into a coma with our recitation noisy aspirations, its terrible mistakes and re- by Nino Ricci in the catalogue for the Sense of

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Place print exhibition. It opened with the familiar overwhelming trends—the global village, in- inhabitants of this riverbank through millennia? gins of known events. Each of us could try to tell lines from T.S. Eliot in Four Quarters: And the stant digital connection, the commercialization one new story in a new way for a new audience. end of all our exploring/Will be to arrive where of public space—is surfacing around the world. Another step forward? We could also resist the We could go beyond the simple digitization of we started/And know the place for the first time. Here and there, a voice cries out: Not so fast. I tendency toward local boosterism in heritage existing print, map and photographic collections Ricci talked about rapid changes in the way his don’t want a corporate logo on this park. And work, and insist on more meticulous research, on static websites to use new communications contemporaries—all of us —relate to our cities, I crave genuine relationships and experiences, critical observation, careful analysis and clear technology in its more magical forms to engage and to local history. something more personal, something nearby that thinking. When necessary, we should look into a younger, global audience. I can touch. So far this reaction has been most the city’s darker corners to reveal its hidden se- Increasingly, we come from many places. We obvious in the Buy Local movement; the indie arts crets, its hypocrisies and historical oversights. We have barely started to do any of this. are born in one and move to another; we flee and crafts movement; and the Slow Food/loca- We should listen better to the silences, and pry tyrannies or wars or the collapse of economies vore movement. They are still small urban sub- them open. It is the job of other people to sell this Our task is to collect a multitude of confusing, or follow jobs or our children or our hearts to cultures, but significant on all continents. More city to the world, to market its products, and to conflicting stories and share them in ways that end up far from our first home or sometimes than a renewed ecological consciousness, they attract new immigrants and investors. Our role is the wider population will find informative, coher- back again, but differently, as in Eliot’s poem, represent a spiritual craving for local community different. ent, motivating and moving. This cultural work is in the very place where we began. Or we fol- in real time. All three movements are very much vital to Edmonton’s understanding of itself. Every low our imaginations: through literature and in evidence in Edmonton. It seems that at least We must be independent, well-connected to the day thousands of us tackle these ephemeral and art, through movies and television, through some city-dwellers want to reclaim local public daily lives of ordinary citizens, and neither boast- yet critical tasks in our own quirky, determined travel brochures and glossy magazines or by space and local urban culture as a way to assert ful nor defensive about a small, western Cana- way. We are too often clumsy in our efforts. We simply surfing the web, we travel in hours or their own identity, even if they don’t care much dian city, the fifth largest metropolitan area in the are the world’s experts at re-inventing the wheel. minutes …expanses that our not-so-distant an- about the history of their city at all. nation, but a relatively small community in an in- Sometimes we struggle to find elusive clues that cestors could not have travelled in lifetimes, creasingly urban world. Around the globe, twen- others have already discovered; for example, inhabiting the world by way of our minds with I wonder if our urban heritage work in Edmonton ty-three megacities claim a population of more beginning new oral history or folklore projects a breadth we could never attain with our mere is keeping up with these important changes— than ten million people each. Edmonton has the without any knowledge of the collections already bodies. Such a changed sense of geography both the global technological revolution and the same population in 2010 as London, assembled. Sometimes we toil for long hours to must inevitably affect our relation to place. local creative reaction—or comprehending the had in the late 1700s, and it has not yet found learn some arcane skill that another heritage pro- A century ago it would not have been uncom- tension between opposing social forces? I sense its place among the world’s 100 most populated fessional could easily teach us in a single hour. mon to spend a lifetime never straying more that it isn’t. So how should we change our ap- or influential cities. It may never do so. Today, of than fifty miles from our place of birth; not so proach to the work we do? the world’s twenty mega-cities whose population Don’t you think we should know one another bet- today. Yet wherever we go we tend to remake exceeds 10 million people, two are in Europe, ter? the places we arrive at in the image of those I think Edmonton could begin with a full and hon- two are in the United States, and the other nine- we have left behind, seeking out the familiar est acknowledgment that it is an ancient commu- teen are in Asia, Africa and Latin America. This Two years ago the Edmonton Arts Council re- in the strange, and understanding the new in nity. Too many of us continue to describe Edmon- is the global trend, intensifying with each pass- leased a report to the city called The Art of Liv- terms of the old. ton as a young city in a stubborn, deliberate error ing year, and it leaves us, in relative terms, living ing: A plan for securing the future of arts and that has negative consequences. What is young in a northern village. A fortunate one. heritage in the City of Edmonton. Loyalties to place are unraveling at the speed of about a gathering place on a riverbank that was light. Our love of new gadgetry connects us to a inhabited by men, women and children 8,000 As heritage workers, our great challenge is to Beautifully written and thoughtfully considered, it single wired city as large as the planet, and natu- years ago and perhaps earlier? Why do we keep be original and innovative. We need to stretch, wasn’t your typical put-it-up-on-the-shelf civic re- rally, we are finding new allegiances in our vir- insisting that we are newcomers to an empty and reach out for new ideas. Instead of march- port. It was far more than paper in search of dust. tual communities. The new communication tech- land? We aren’t. How are the descendants of Ed- ing over and over the same trampled historical A wide cross-section of Edmontonians produced nology explodes with potential for more creative monton’s first inhabitants supposed to feel when ground—pioneer Edmonton, 1900 to 1914, thoughtful, personal essays, mixed together with forms of historical interpretation and connection other citizens pretend their ancestors did not ex- say, or the Leduc oil strike of 1947—we could a careful analysis of the arts and heritage sector with like-minded people beyond city limits. ist? And couldn’t we find a richer life experience challenge ourselves to investigate the city’s un- in the city. The report concluded with the beauti- here if we acknowledged that we had inherited a explored mysteries in every era. We could inter- ful words of Edmonton writer Caterina Edwards. At the same time, a creative reaction to these shared legacy, and a community, from all human view unfamiliar people who live beyond the mar- I dream a city where the telling of one story does

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not silence all others. A city that contains other Archivist—or perhaps even the mayor and city can’t the public see more of them? this plan move beyond the protection of older cities. A border city. Those words resonated with council—to begin a city-wide conversation about buildings on a protected list, and start protect- me, and with many others. And because this doc- the kinds of dated historical commemoration we 5. How will we work together not just to sup- ing more modern buildings, icons and bridges, ument was different, miraculously, the city paid have outgrown, and perhaps should abandon? port the redevelopment of the human history side neighbourhood character and some cultural attention, and adopted its recommendations as And the kinds of new projects we need? of the Royal Museum of Alberta--but to demand landscapes and gathering places? What did we public policy. The Art of Living included many it? How will we distinguish between the mandate learn from the difficult experience of the Rossdale observations about the heritage work that we 3. When will Edmonton develop a coherent of the provincial institution, and the mandate of cemetery negotiations that we could use to pro- do—and the work we choose not to do—and it museums policy? The report supported the idea Edmonton’s new civic museum? tect other important places of the heart? made eleven strong recommendations for action. of a civic museum for inquiry and interpretation, a place where we could collaborate with one an- 6. How can we encourage and support the 9. What can we do together to develop con- One of its most interesting observations was that other in true public service. As previously men- Faculty of Native Studies and the Departments of sistent interpretation practices to bring all mu- Edmonton’s heritage workers are sometimes dis- tioned, we have 23 museums scattered within History and Classics, English, and Education at seums and interpretive centres in the city to the couraged about the work they do. “The heritage the region—all competing for public attention the University of Alberta to support new research highest possible standard? And just as important, community in Edmonton is, by its own admission, and a dwindling supply of funds, all working and new instruction in Edmonton’s history and how can we fund the oral storytelling traditions of not as united as the arts community, and it has within a very narrow focus. And yet if a Martian culture? And how can we help all other post-sec- First Nations and Metis history and culture when not made comparable progress in achieving a or Calgarian parachuted into Winston Churchill ondary institutions in the city do the same? historical memory is too big to be contained in a civic profile,” one author observed. Square and asked the simple question: “How old building? When it belongs on the wider land, on is Edmonton? How did this city get started? Who 7. What have we done to recognize the Ed- the surrounding territory? The city of Saskatoon Two years have passed. I returned to that list of lives around here?” that stranger would have to monton Artifacts Centre as a major heritage re- relies on the Wanuskewan Native Heritage Park recommendations recently to see how we were walk many, many kilometres in all directions to source? More than 45,000 of our city’s material to educate and inform all citizens about the First doing, and my reading and thinking sparked the find 23 different answers or spend a few solid treasures are locked in an 1894 brewery in the Nations in the wider Treaty 6 region. Well, we following questions. days in the public library reading a smattering of woods of the river valley, and another 50,000 ar- live in Treaty Six territory too. What do we have books or online resources. The report cautioned tifacts are held in storage at Park, in Edmonton that begins to approach the living 1. We have created the Edmonton Heritage that the new civic museum should be developed often away from public view. We need more Cree heritage programming in that Saskatch- Council to unify us and to support our work, to be in a steady and incremental way, and of course staff to evaluate and protect the collection, and ewan park? Couldn’t we do more to borrow the a strong advocate and to develop new programs that’s true. The City of Edmonton agrees. But citi- to interpret it in a professional manner. We need best ideas of other Canadian cities to honour our that break new ground. We have multiple alle- zens have been asking for a civic museum for better funding and better buildings for proper own history and culture, and our own origins as giances—as staff and volunteers at 23 museums, sixty years. How patient should we be? How storage and display. How are we going to ac- a community? four historical societies and ten archival institu- slow is too slow? How long should we expect to complish that? And what exactly are we going tions, for example— or we have no allegiances wait? Another century? Two? And what do we to do about ? Will it continue 10. Where can we find adequate funding to at all. Are we willing to work together to build want that city museum to be like? Are we talking to be a mish-mash entertainment theme park, a support the publication of new research and cre- this council? Or do we want someone else to do about a new building with conventional exhib- backdrop for wedding portraits, or could it pos- ative writing about Edmonton’s heritage? Why it for us? its, or an entirely different way of interpreting the sibly become a full historical interpretive centre? are most of our best books on Edmonton’s his- past? Who will decide? Will we get a say? Who should be responsible for this decision? tory and culture out of print, and often unavail- 2. What should the first Historian Laureate— able except in two or three beloved indepen- Ken Tingley and all of his successors—do to en- 4. For the past two decades, original heritage 8. People like us lament at full volume when dent bookstores? Why can’t we find a central gage the public and make them care about the work in Alberta has been severely underfunded. the bulldozers knock over yet another historic place where newcomers gather—smack dab city’s history and evolving urban culture? Should What can we do to support an underfunded City building from the early twentieth century. This is in the middle of Winston Churchill Square—to the city’s public historian be outspoken, indepen- of Edmonton Archives, the underfunded Provin- an understandable impulse when there are so market our cultural heritage work? Our books, dent and critical of city policy when necessary? cial Archives of Alberta and the underfunded Ar- few historic buildings left in Edmonton to defend. our music, our art, our artistic crafts, post- Or not? Should the City Archivist’s role be rede- chives Society of Alberta—as well as the smaller But how well are we defending the city’s Built cards and historical posters? Our considerable fined as a more public advocate for urban heri- community archives—in the professional collec- Heritage Management Plan when commercial creative chunk of the economy? Where can we tage, especially our built and material heritage? tion and digital display of our recorded, material developers try to challenge it? Could we be bet- find the funding, for example, to complete new Is it time for the Historian Laureate or the City history? The public owns these treasures. Why ter allies to the city’s heritage planners? Shouldn’t and much more complete historical mapping of

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Edmonton and region? Or to digitize and index rals in Montreal . . .or the telephones on Toronto question. What are we longing for in Edmonton the full records of Edmonton House/Fort Edmon- street corners that a visitor can pick up to listen that is gone, but might some day return? How ton? to historic stories about that very spot . . . or the can we find it? First Nations elders’ storytelling and art centres Those are the first ten longwinded questions. in every community in the Yukon? Do you ever And finally, my 20th and final question: What Here are ten shorter ones that I think might get to say to yourself: Oh why don’t we work together are we going to do next, together? the heart of things. on something new like that in Edmonton? Well, why don’t we? 11. When the First Nation de- scendants appealed to the Supreme Court of 16. Are you worried about heritage innova- If we (heritage workers) do our work properly, each Canada for recognition of their treaty rights, and tion in Edmonton or are you excited about it? failed, did you stand beside them or apart from citizen will conclude that his or her distinctive them? Why? 17. Are you willing to collaborate with people life story is one vital fragment of the history of you don’t know? With people you don’t really Edmonton, that each contribution to the city has 12. Do you know the names of any of the like? With people you don’t understand? been noted and appreciated, that each sacrifice for families that owned the Metis river lots in early the common good has been worthwhile. urban Edmonton? Do you know what happened 18. Does your heritage organization bear any to those properties? Do you know about a sig- resemblance to the people of Edmonton in all of Linda Goyette nificant effort of local researchers to map those their demographic diversity? If it doesn’t, why Metis properties? If you don’t know about that not? Do you expect newcomers to find you, and project, why don’t you know? join you, or is your job to go out and find them, and welcome them, and encourage them to take 13. When the Ukrainian Canadian Archives leadership positions and perhaps change your and Museum supporters stood up to Ottawa last direction? year, and asked the government to keep a fund- ing promise, did you stand beside them or apart 19. Collaboration and reconciliation can be from them? Why? tough, complicated work. Are you willing to give it a try? Or not? Do you want to work with wild- 14. Do you ever feel that you work alone? eyed artists, with single-minded community activ- That the public hasn’t a clue what you do? That ists, with stuffy bureaucrats, with ambitious politi- other heritage workers in Edmonton don’t recog- cians, with angry or passionate or bored and nize your efforts, or read your research articles, disheartened people? Or not? or attend your performances, or lobby on behalf of your digital heritage project? That you don’t I have been reading a book called Saudade: The have the public or private funding you need to Possibilities of Place. It is a collection of personal do the bare minimum? That you’re going broke essays about a search that takes the author, Anik in the attempt to do more with less? What support See, from Wood Buffalo National Park in north- do you need from other heritage workers? Are ern Alberta to Sri Lanka, from Holland to Austra- you ready to ask for that support? Demand it? lia to old Russia to Cuba—with stops in many, many cities along the way. I had never heard 15. Do you ever look sideways at other cit- the word saudade before. It’s a Portuguese ex- ies, at other small towns, and observe innova- pression that describes a feeling of longing for tive projects with undisguised envy? I’m talking something that is now gone, but that one day

about those past-and-present photographic mu- might return. It made me think about another at Night, 1933 Jasper Avenue City of Edmonton Archives (EA-160-529)

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Robertson, “Sheriff Robertson,” reflected that THE FUTURE OF HISTORY “the lights and traffic today…would fulfill his faith Ken Tingley has spent four decades that Edmonton would one day be a great city. I IN EDMONTON working as a public historian in wish he could see it now.” [EJ 8 October 1954] by Ken Tingley Edmonton and was recently chosen as History in Edmonton was almost always linked to Edmonton’s first Historian Laureate. the concepts of progress, the march of civiliza- Address to “Heritage, Innovation & the Livable From Edmonton’s aviation and tion, and the pure value of growth. These ideas City”. Edmonton Heritage Council Community military history to its neighbourhoods have not entirely faded away, but have begun Symposium, October 2nd, 2010 and heritage buildings, Ken has a rich to at least yield to a more sophisticated form of cultural “manifest destiny.” Edmontonians have valued our history from the and vast knowledge of Edmonton’s first spurt of urban growth outside the walls of the history. In addition to his work as a researcher and writer, Ken has been Exceptionalism often joined nostalgia as a driver fifth and final Fort Edmonton during the 1870s of the Old Timer legacy. An editorial in the Ed- actively involved with the Edmonton and 1880s. The old timers of the district banded monton Bulletin on the occasion of the associa- and District Historical Society, Old together to preserve and recall – and authorize tion’s establishment in 1894 proclaimed: – the accepted version of their community. “An- Strathcona Foundation, Edmonton other ball, got up under the auspices of the old Historical Board and other local “Edmonton town or district is not the creation of settlers here, took place in McDougall’s hall on museums and heritage groups as the government or of the C.P.R., neither is it here Friday night last,” the Edmonton Bulletin wrote on a board member, volunteer and by the breath of accident, and nothing could 7 Jan 1882. One of the most influential groups supporter. prove this more clearly than a muster of old tim- to mold our early view of our history, the North- Ken Tingley, ers of the place. Some of those who now hold ern Alberta Pioneers and Old Timers Associa- Edmonton’s First Historian Laureate a leading position amongst the financial heavy- tion, just evolved from this kind of natural activity. weights of the town had identified themselves with Edmonton and achieved moderate business By 1894 the district old timers were meeting James Macgregor. At the 1951 Old Timers meet- in a massacre of Indians, including women and success before the Canadian government ac- fairly regularly. The Northern Alberta Pioneers ing “the elements of fortitude and perseverance children, as he later freely and un-self-consciously quired control of the country, and it is not too and Old Timers’ Association (Old Timers) held (sic) so necessary in the opening of the west were recounted in an interview. But by the time he much to say that a majority of those who now their first annual dinner on 22 November 1894. outlined in nostalgic fashion” by the Rev. Fr. Jo- died in 1933 this aspect of his life had faded hold the leading positions in the commerce and Harrison Young presented a history of Edmonton seph Malone, association chaplain. [EJ 15 No- away, and he was remembered for his pioneer- agriculture of the town and district were here be- at the banquet held in Donald Ross hotel, on the vember 1951] ing qualities. Today a town and school commem- fore the C.P.R. was built to , or there was “old grave yard flat,” as it was still called. “Ed- orate his name. [EJ 25 January 1956] any prospect of a railway to Edmonton. monton as a town or even as a village is a place Nostalgia was the keynote among the Old Tim- of very recent date,” he observed, “but as a cen- ers. So what if this overlooked certain disturb- Sixty years later, while marking the fiftieth anni- The point of this argument is that the success of tre of trade … it has existed for over a hundred ing facts. When Mrs. James Gibbons, a stal- versary of the City of Edmonton, the Old Timers the country came by reason of the goodness of years.” [EB 26 November 1894] Even at this wart member of the Old Timers, died in 1958, honourary president was Miss Etta McLeod, who the country and the energy and perseverance of time we were apparently a bit concerned about the Edmonton Journal recalled that James Gib- arrived in Edmonton with her parents from Win- the people in the country, not by reason of fake the comparatively recent beginnings of our his- bons had been NAPOTA president in 1894, nipeg in 1879. “At the time there were only five advertising or government or railway booming, tory. Because of course the long history of the and that his wife was a guest of honour at the white women in the vicinity of Fort Edmonton,” and it cannot be unmade by the lack of them First Nations was at that time discounted by most 60th Anniversary banquet. She had married she recalled in 1954, a common description should such lack occur now or hereafter, so long as a picturesque prelude to progress. Gibbons at the age of 14, after he had spent used for decades to describe the utter barbarity as the country remains good and the people do some time as a prospector in California and the of the local conditions. their part. The evolutionary view of our history continued to Cariboo country, like many of the first settlers grow stronger until the 1950s, finding a strong in Edmonton Settlement. During his time in the Mrs. J.D. Harrison, who arrived by wagon from Of course this town and district would not be expression in the writing of local historians like western United States Gibbons had participated Calgary in 1883 with her father Walter Scott what they are to-day were it not for the railway

43 44 JUNE 1, 2011 JUNE 1, 2011

and for the assistance given by the government city. At the same time the academic community be- come from, and what that represents. The pre- to the railway…. [A] good country in the hands gan to provide a more sophisticated view of his- sentation of our history could be as innovative of the right kind of people will bring railroads, The Canadian Club also was an early promoter tory with the development of larger history de- as other aspects of our urban culture. One thing government recognition, and all other accesso- of preservation in the city. The preservation of partments and disciplines like urban studies and is for certain; it must continue to encompass all ries of civilization.” the old Hudson’s Bay Company fort at Edmon- other specialized programs that forced many to Edmontonians. We are a city of newcomers, a ton and the marking of all historical spots in the reevaluate more deeply our understanding of our multicultural city, and that has been the case from So the purpose of Edmonton’s oldtimers was to province was the subject of a resolution that was own history. the very beginning. My wife is the principal of a “inspire a feeling of self-confidence….” introduced at the Canadian Club luncheon at the city school, in which most of the students are re- King Edward on 20 January 1911. “Over 100 More recently a debate has begun regarding cent immigrants from Africa. During one recent “It is the stayer who wins if he stays in the right years ago the company built the old the “intangible” aspects of historic place. This event, students were invited to recall their family place,” the editorial concluded, “and that this is Fort Edmonton on the bank of the river below discussion steps more energetically outside the histories in Canada by interviewing their parents the right place, the fact that such a large propor- Ninth street,” the Bulletin reported. “This build- bounds of the earlier view of what and who were and grandparents. One young boy said: tion of old time stayers have won, is plain evi- ing is still standing but is rapidly falling to pieces. and are important in our history. This symposium dence.” [EB 25 June 1894] The resolution read: “That the club take action will address many of these ideas later today. “We’ve only been here for a few months. I don’t to co-operate with other patriotic organizations have a story like that to tell.” Of course he was It must be said that while the Old Timers some- of the city to secure the preservation of the Hud- So, what is the future of history in Edmonton? encouraged to tell his story, but many recent new- times seemed to be a mutual admiration society son’s Bay Fort at Edmonton, and to devise ways The presentation of our local history will undoubt- comers feel this way. But they ARE part of our dedicated to establishing its own official version and means of marking spots of historical interest edly support a more sophisticated sense of place. history in the making, right now, and their stories of local history, it did perform some extremely in the province of Alberta.” Here was another Heritage, in its broadest sense, is intimately tied should be preserved as soon as possible. May- valuable tasks. In 1966 it donated its extensive reason to preserve history - that sense of place so to the concept of a “livable” city, one in which be they will be the Old Timers of the future. collection of materials to the City of Edmonton. closely associated with “patriotism,” or love of our quality of life is enriched by a deeper un- The City of Edmonton Archives and Landmarks country, in those days. derstanding of where all Edmontonians have Committee built on this foundation, and it became a key element of the City of Edmonton Archives. These examples suggest that early efforts to pre- serve our history in Edmonton were valuable, The Canadian Club served a similar early func- although motivated perhaps by a sense of the tion in Edmonton, as a venue for the presentation usefulness of history when tied to promotion and of ideas about our history. At the Canadian Club self-congratulation. in February 1908 another famous Old Timer, Heritage, in its “Peace River Jim” Cornwall gave an address on As time progressed we discovered anniversaries broadest sense, is “The needs of the north.” More money should and centennials. These were great opportuni- intimately tied to the be spent on the country he held. There was a ties to use history to celebrate our greatness. In concept of a “livable” pressing need for trunk roads. “Edmonton will 1927 we celebrated 50 years of Confederation. city, one in which be assailed from the east, south and west. But In 1955 we celebrated fifty years as a province. our quality of life is she will always be supreme in the north. She is During the 1950s the postwar prosperity, fueled enriched by a deeper the Gibraltar of the north and her future depends specifically by the discovery of oil in significant understanding of where on the development of that country.” [Saturday quantity in Alberta in 1947, led to the rise of air all Edmontonians have News, 8 February 1908] And here we find an travel and a revival of “auto touring.” Historic come from, and what early attempt to brand the city years before bush sites began to emerge as important to what many that represents. pilots made us the Gateway to the North. Corn- recognized as the economic significance of tour- wall was a significant promoter of Edmonton and ism. Perhaps this was the beginning of the large- Ken Tingley its northern resource frontier, and would tie the scale commercialism of our history. History now romance of the north and its romantic history se- had to justify itself in financial terms, rather than

curely to the potential growth and profit for the any intrinsic value it held in the community. at Night, 1939 Jasper Avenue City of Edmonton Archives (EA-160-1095)

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down by his heels and it came out – and I was so CONCLUDING REMARKS: embarrassed. (My little brother had a somewhat Alice Major has published five dangerous early childhood.) HERITAGE, INNOVATION collections of poetry and one novel for young readers. She has served We treasure our personal territories. They turn up AND LIVABILITY as president of the Writers Guild of in our dreams, they form the backbone of our sto- By Alice Major Alberta and chair of the Edmonton ries. There’s nothing like the flash of recognition you get from an old photo – say the shopping Address to “Heritage, Innovation & the Livable Arts Council. She has served on the centre I hung out at in Scarborough in the 1950s. City”. Edmonton Heritage Council Community national council of the League of That photo would mean nothing to you. For me, Symposium, October 2nd, 2010 Canadian Poets. In 2005, she was named as Edmonton’s first poet it’s an instant flashback to the very cute guy who bagged the groceries in Pickering Farms grocery, laureate. Thank you to all the organizers of this sympo- where I did the shopping for my mother every sium. It has been a stimulating day and I’m hon- Saturday. Forty-five years on, I can rememberhis oured to be the one asked to wrap it up and put name and face, when so many faces or names I a bow on it. So much has been shared and it has encounter all the time go ‘phht.’ given me fascinating glimpses into this place. Who knew about the historic Arrowsmith Map? I When you think of this process of creating mem- love the idea of a map that depicts the northern ory, you can see how a city’s heritage might be half of the province in great detail, but leaves ev- analogous. Certain things in our environment – erything south of the North Saskatchewan River Alice Major, a building, a particular site – get stamped with more or less blank. And I also loved Tyler Dixon’s Edmonton’s First Poet Laureate significance. Sometimes the relics are rather ac- quote: “We’re caught between progress and nos- cidental, but they become important, marked. talgia, but both can be beautiful.” They’re the particular photos that get pulled out ber because there might be some sort of exam with a deeply personal landscape. This is true, of the archives and put on a pillar downtown, In preparing for today. I’ve been trying to think on our life history and we’d better have the facts in fact, for any animal. My little dog also has a and in that process somehow become more ‘of- how to wrap up these very diverse words: heri- right. We remember things because they have map of her territory marked with emotional tags. ficial’, more noticed, than all the other images. tage, innovation, and livability. We’ve been talk- been tagged with emotion. When we drive down Groat Road and turn into ing about how the concepts fit together in many Government House Park, she’s practically elec- However putting together a city’s heritage goes different ways, and I’d like I’d like to take yet Emotion is, as the cognitive scientists have discov- tric with emotion. She knows she’s going on one further than the creation of individual memory. It another angle on the combination. Let’s think of ered, our mental filing system. It’s how we make of her favourite walks – she recognizes. calls on another central human capacity – some- how heritage relates to something distinctively sense of the world. We stamp a combination of thing that’s an equally natural part of our brains. human – the process of memory in our brains. sensory inputs – a particular place, a time – with But for humans, that relatively simple capacity for This is our capacity for empathy, the ability to emotional significance, using the whole range of recognition is expanded by our facility for lan- enter into the minds of others. Empathy is struc- We can’t remember everything. All of the raw human emotions – love, lust, fear, anger, anxiety guage. Our territories are held together with a tured at such a deep level in our brains that if I data that streams in on us would be overwhelm- – as seals to impress on what we have experi- web of narrative that extends over time: That’s see you hurt, the same part of my brain will light ing, even paralyzing. Instead, we process what enced. In other words memory is a process of the ravine where we dug a fort and nearly buried up. Empathy isn’t a fuzzy ‘nice’ quality made up we need immediately into short-term memory caring about something, whether positively, or my little brother. That’s the corner shop where by poets. It’s essential to how we’ve evolved as and then, over a period of days, weeks, even negatively. I used to buy jellybeans in elementary school. mammals for hundreds of millions of years. years, we transfer the important things into long- That’s the house that used to frighten me because term memory. A human memory is very idiosyncratic. We don’t the witch lived in it. That’s the Legislature Building Now the interesting thing is that, in humans, we remember just the big important things. In fact, and the whole family went down to it on Cana- can trigger empathy not only by direct observa- How do we decide what’s important? It’s not a those sometimes go curiously blurred. Instead, da Day and my brother swallowed a plum pit tion, but through representation. If I see a picture logical process – we don’t decide what to remem- very minor things ‘stick’ and we each end up the wrong way and my mother hung him upside of someone in pain – or laughing – my brain

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lights up in the regions that would register per- cidental, but they become important, marked. when we take our kids to see the farm where feel rooted in our environment. Above all, hu- sonal pain or laughter. And stories trigger this They’re the particular photos that get pulled out we grew up or we tell them stories about their mans do want to care. And this is ultimately what response too. We enter into the stories of others of the archives and put on a pillar downtown, grandparents. makes a place liveable. You can be in the most as if we identified ourselves with the teller of the and in that process somehow become more ‘of- beautiful city of Europe, but if you don’t care tale, and take on that narrator’s emotions. In fact, ficial’, more noticed, than all the other images. This kind of conscious community memory has about it, you’re lost, rootless. this appears to be the reason that we can re-read been terribly important to humans. We survived a novel with anticipation, even if we know how However putting together a city’s heritage goes because we could convey the significance of our We make a city liveable by noticing it, being it ends. further than the creation of individual memory. It environment to new generations: This is where attentive to it, creating maps of its significance, calls on another central human capacity – some- you find food. seeing it in context through innovative and artis- A city’s heritage is created not just through a thing that’s an equally natural part of our brains. tic ways. Which all comes back to – heritage. memory-like tagging-with-significance but also This is our capacity for empathy, the ability to This is how we hunt that animal. This is where the through empathy. Heritage is a web of shared enter into the minds of others. Empathy is struc- ancestors are buried. So, to conclude, I’d like to share a poem about stories/memories. By making those stories con- tured at such a deep level in our brains that if I the heritage of Edmonton. It is from a sequence scious, by noticing them we can enter into the see you hurt, the same part of my brain will light We carried out this transfer of information this by of poems based on an ancient ritual used for lives and minds of others who have shared this up. Empathy isn’t a fuzzy ‘nice’ quality made up creating memorable artifacts, mnemonic devices founding cities – originated with the Etruscans, place, then and now. Our personal territory takes by poets. It’s essential to how we’ve evolved as to help us. I often think that the first map was elaborated by Romans. This ritual gave us the on other dimensions. mammals for hundreds of millions of years. likely a poem – something light and portable, word’s ‘contemplate’ and ‘inauguration.’ The that could get you to the hunting grounds and ‘templum’ was the sacred enclosure of space Our individual memory-making is largely an un- Now the interesting thing is that, in humans, we safely home again. that the city would inhabit, and in a series of conscious process. We’re not aware of the connec- can trigger empathy not only by direct observa- well-defined steps, an augur would identify the tions and tracks we’re laying down in our brains. tion, but through representation. If I see a picture And here is where I finally get back to those two key components and boundaries of that space. But it takes conscious effort to assign narrative and of someone in pain – or laughing – my brain lights words, ‘innovation’ and ‘liveability.’ As part of that process the augur would identify communicate the memories, as we do when we up in the regions that would register personal the north-south and east-west axes that would be- take our kids to see the farm where we grew up pain or laughter. And stories trigger this response An object, a place in space, is essentially mute. come the foundation of the city’s grid of streets. or we tell them stories about their grandparents. too. We enter into the stories of others as if we However much it means to you, the individual, identified ourselves with the teller of the tale, and with the memories and emotions that you link to I took the steps of that ancient ritual and laid it We treasure our personal territories. They turn up take on that narrator’s emotions. In fact, this ap- it, it can tell the rest of us nothing about its sig- over my experiences of Edmonton. Bet you didn’t in our dreams, they form the backbone of our sto- pears to be the reason that we can re-read a nov- nificance until we give it a story. And humans think of putting those together before … ries. There’s nothing like the flash of recognition el with anticipation, even if we know how it ends. are multi-modal creatures. We take in ‘story’ in you get from an old photo – say the shopping many ways, through sight, sound, touch, move- Envision the outline centre I hung out at in Scarborough in the 1950s. A city’s heritage is created not just through a ment. These senses are the tools we use in mak- That photo would mean nothing to you. For me, memory-like tagging-with-significance but also ing art. And art is essentially innovative – not in To found a city, call upon a seer. it’s an instant flashback to the very cute guy who through empathy. Heritage is a web of shared the sense of “creating something absolutely new The augur who will call its pattern from the sky bagged the groceries in Pickering Farms grocery, stories/memories. By making those stories con- from nothing,” but in the sense of “Here, look at and place it on the earth. Who contemplates where I did the shopping for my mother every scious, by noticing them we can enter into the this combination of things. Bet you didn’t think of the found site and finds – in hovering stars, Saturday. Forty-five years on, I can remember his lives and minds of others who have shared this putting those together before.” a trail of clouds, a skein of birds name and face, when so many faces or names I place, then and now. Our personal territory takes flung downwind like a lariat – the shape encounter all the time go ‘phht.’ on other dimensions. It’s art in all its various forms that maps our shared it is meant to be. territory, helps us to enter into each other’s sto- When you think of this process of creating mem- Our individual memory-making is largely an un- ries. The more ways we use to create the narra- From this viewpoint, looking south ory, you can see how a city’s heritage might be conscious process. We’re not aware of the con- tive of this place, the more innovative we are, the the valley sinks its verdant basin analogous. Certain things in our environment – nections and tracks we’re laying down in our more effective that sharing will be. of aspen and evergreen. a building, a particular site – get stamped with brains. But it takes conscious effort to assign nar- significance. Sometimes the relics are rather ac- rative and communicate the memories, as we do And finally, liveability. We have a deep need to A glimpse of river gazes back at sunset,

49 50 accepting its colours, as the cursive stroke of a character takes the shade of ink.

Brass letters rim a nearby fountain – “From this ragged handful of tents and We treasure our personal territories. They turn up in cabins, a city will arise.” Thus the brash our dreams, they form the backbone of our stories. commercial visionaries of 1880 surveyed the future. Alice Major

Already, in a short century, a succession of cities: Handsome turn-of-century stone squared off at corners. The small dry houses of the thirties

That ragged encampment is now a formless scrawl over farmland.

Water laps the brass letters, smudges their shiny confidence to bronze.

I keep an augur’s eye out for birds and the cuneiform of cloud. The new moon is a fine arc drawn precisely by a silver compass.

To find a city’s outer shape, first locate its centre – the axes that cross, cardo and decumanus.

The river is the city’s hinge, its east-west line. Crossing it from south to north geese make their high way overhead, a silent, migrant beat from the heart. ____ “Envision the outline” is reprinted from The Oc- cupied World, published by the University of Alberta Press in 2007. Mist from river in the river valley, 1949 Mist from river in the valley, City of Edmonton Archives (EA-600-1997d)

51 52 Prince of Wales Armouries Heritage Centre Thank you! 2nd Floor, 10440 108 Avenue Edmonton, AB T5H 3Z9 Many thanks to all of the people whose efforts made this P: 780.429.0166 year a success! E: [email protected] www.edmontonheritage.ca