The English folk song collector Maud Karpeles visited Upper Island Cove between October10-11, 1929
Anna Kearney Guigne, Folklorist and
Adjunct Professor, School of Music, Memorial University of Newfoundland shares
this brief overview of the work of Maud Karpeles
Maud Karpeles (1885-1976) a highly regarded folk song collector from London, England, arrived in St. John's in 1929 at age 44 to "prospect" for British folk songs. Karpeles and her mentor and colleague, Cecil Sharp (1859-1924), had originally hoped to come to Newfoundland in the early 1920s, following their fieldwork, collecting folk songs in the Appalachian mountains of the United States (1916-1918). Unfortunately, Sharp died in 1924, and continuing on with this work, Karpeles decided to come to Newfoundland herself.
Between 1929 and 1930, she spent over 14 weeks traveling alone to various parts of the island, including Upper Island Cove, in search of songs of British origin. In 1929, she visited communities in Bonavista Bay, Trinity Bay, and Conception Bay. In your area she collected songs from Harbour Grace, Bristol's Hope, Clarke's Beach, North River, Kitchuses, Harbour Main, Colliers, and Avondale. In 1930, she traveled to the south coast spending time in the Fortune Bay area, Placentia Bay and St. Mary's Bay. In short, she covered considerable territory by boat, car, train and by foot in a very pioneering fashion. From her travels, Karpeles eventually collected over 200 songs and a small number of dances, which were of great interest to her as well. She later published her findings in 2 books: Folk Songs from Newfoundland (1934), which includes 30 songs and Folk Songs from Newfoundland (1970), which has most of her collection. In 1970, Karpeles donated her collection to Memorial's Folklore and Language archive, including her diaries, songbooks and notes.
Karpeles is an important international folksong scholar and her collection of Newfoundland folk songs is of great value, because of her interest in documenting British material. Although she was selective, looking only for these particular songs, what she collected is of significance because she concentrated on songs of English origin. Through her work I hope that it might be possible to learn something more about the transference of specific folk songs from England to Newfoundland. I also hope to enable communities that she visited to learn a little more about her work.
In relation to Upper Island Cove itself, her account covers just two pages of her diary as follows:
Karpeles Diary Extract
[Oct 10 1929]
Went by 9 o’clock ferry & then walked over the hills to Island Cove . A v[ery] rough walk in moorland country. Island Cove entrancingly beautiful. The view of Conception Bay from the hill just took my breath away. Island Co. seems very out of the world & it has been v. rightly called the walled city. People all out in their gardens digging potatoes. Most friendly people. Called on Fred Mercer, blind man who spends his time nursing the baby and looking after the children. He gave me three songs. Then called on the rev. Mr. Torraville. He & his wife v. nice and gave me lunch of wh. I was glad. After lunch went wth M. Torraville in search of Aunt Selina Coombs, an old lady of 90. Found her companion, Aunt Sally Mercer, age 75, who took me to where Aunt Salina was hard at work digging potatoes. After some persuasion she consented to come back to her cottage, and started off by jumping over the stone wall as nimbly as a young girl. I got no songs from her but Aunt Sally gave me some. They did not stay long, bec. In a hurry to get back to their potatoes. Paid another visit to Fred Mercer and then tea with Mrs. Torraville & took car back to Hr. Grace.
[Oct.11, 1929]
Walked to Bear Cove-got nothing- some fresh clues. Got money out of bank.
Took 2 o’clock ferry to S. side & walked over to Island Cove. Very cold. Went in search of G. Lynch but missed him. Met Mrs. Torraville who invite me to tea. After tea went to old ladies. Aunt Sally giving me quite nice songs, then to Joe Mercer. He knows lots of songs but v. few traditional ones. But he has some good tunes. I? took down one songover wh. I was incredibly slow & stupid-great pity as I might have got more out of him. He was most anxious to sing to me & disappointed I only took down one song. I was really too tired to do the job. Looked in at the Orange Hall where a dance in progress.. A ‘set’ in full swing. I had hoped to see a reel but quite half the men incapable ‘so’ decided it was no use staying –Drove home in car. Rather a disappointing unsatisfactory day. [Transcription by Anna Kearney Guigne. July 2011]
Based on her music notebooks and other material, it appears that while in Upper Island Cove Karpeles collected a total of 7 songs as follows:
|
Singer |
Songs |
Date Collected |
Published |
|
Fred Mercer |
Floro |
10 Oct. 1929 |
Folksongs from Newfoundland (1970) |
|
|
Spanish Main |
10 Oct. 1929 |
Folksongs from Newfoundland (1970) |
|
Joe (John) Mercer |
Nancy of London |
11 Oct. 1929 |
Not published |
|
Sarah Mercer |
Pretty Sally (The Brown Girl or Sailor from Dover) |
10 Oct. 1929 |
Not published |
|
|
Green Broom |
11 Oct. 1929 |
Folksongs from Newfoundland (1970) |
|
|
Sea Captain (Maid on the Shore) |
11 Oct. 1929 |
Not published |
|
|
Morning Dew |
11 Oct. 1929 |
Folksongs from Newfoundland 1934 and 1970 |
The melodies and song texts were taken down by hand. In other words, she did not use any form of recording device. So, this in itself was a rather long process.
Over the years, although much has been written about Karpeles's Newfoundland fieldwork, there are large gaps in the accounts of her research because Karpeles said very little about the people and places she saw. What knowledge we have of the singers she visited comes from scattered letters, her two diaries and various notes in her song notebooks.
In relation to this, for the past two years I have been revisiting the communities and families of people she visited, to find out more about the locations and people she saw. In some cases I have found a direct link from singers to settlements in England, and that is of great interest. I am also interested in finding out more about the people she visited and their own musical traditions. Even small details such as birth and death dates, and family connections are important because this information helps to fill out our knowledge about her collection and the people who gave her songs.
Last year, with some of this information, I created a small exhibit on Karpeles's activities for the 41st International Council for Traditional Music World (ICTM) conference held at Memorial's School of Music in St. John's. In the late fall of 2012, I also published a small booklet Maud Karpeles (1885-1976): A Retrospective of Her Newfoundland Fieldwork, 1929 and 1930 based on that exhibit so that communities that she visited could learn something of her activities. Copies of the booklet should be available at the Harbour Grace and Carbonear public libraries which, I believe, are nearest to Upper island Cove.
Based on the material I have been gathering thanks to considerable help from community members, I hope to eventually have her entire collection (dairies, songs, photographs and community links and so forth) on a website, hopefully hosted by Memorial University. This project is in the preliminary stages of development and will take time.
The additional information you have provided in terms of birth and death dates will certainly help to make Karpeles's visit to Upper Island Cove more relevant.
If possible, I would also like to make contact with the families of the three people who did give her songs: Fred Mercer, Sarah Mercer and John (Joseph?) Mercer and perhaps you might be able to help me make the links. I wonder if any people in Upper Island Cove remember any of the above-mentioned songs or can recall anything about the dances she noted at the Orange Hall. Is this building still there?
I hope this rather long email has been of interest. I would certainly welcome contact from anyone in Upper Island Cove who might be able to help with this research. I'd be glad to also answer any questions you or other members of your community might have.
Anna Kearney Guigne January 3, 2013
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