Claybelt Chronicles
Starting in 2006, we started interviewing our Temiskaming seniors to capture their stories and help keep the history of the area alive with as many first-hand accounts as possible.
Claybelt Chronicles~ links to each volume |
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Launched November 2009 | |
Launched May 2010 | |
Launched November 2010 | |
Launched May 2011 | |
The purpose of this project is to capture the lives of the early pioneer families (1890-1940) and some of the conditions they lived through, the troubles they had to endure, the losses and heartaches and the good times that made them survivors in the frontier wilderness of Northern Ontario.
We want to thank each one for their stories and the support and help from their families in gathering some of the facts, photographs and other pertinent information. These stories were not intended to be a full-blown family history for each person interviewed and we know that many facts and other stories were missed in the process. However, we believe that we have captured the essence of each life even though it is only an outline. Please excuse us if a few errors in content have been missed even with several edits.
This series has been prepared from interviews with seniors who have roots in, or who have lived in, South Temiskaming most of their lives. They have direct connections with the pioneer families who first came to the area between 1890 and 1940. Each volume will contain approximately forty interviews and include a photo at the time of the interview or from some other source. We anticipate at least five volumes but this project could be ongoing for several more years.
The interviews were done by a number of museum personnel including summer students starting in 2006 and will continue until at least 200 interviews are completed. The interviews were videotaped and as well, an audio tape was recorded at the same time. Some of the first interviews were not videotaped because we did not have the equipment at the time or there were some errors in recording. The video and audio tapes were then downloaded into the computers and then transcribed verbatim. The transcripts were then edited by taking out the questions that were asked and having the text re-arranged into the first person so that it reflected that person's own story as though they were telling it themselves. During the editing, some of the side issues were removed, but the text is generally presented here as it was spoken and recorded. We have left some of the grammatical errors or expressions to reflect the sound of the person telling their own story. There may be some misspelling of names or places due to the quality of the recordings or the experience and knowledge of the transcribers. Some seniors were not always sure of the dates when they had jobs or moved from one place to another or even some of the dates when their own children were born or married. The original interviews and recordings are at the Museum for future reference.
Each volume of interviews will be indexed alphabetically by the last names, and cross-referenced with the maiden names. These maiden names will also be indexed alphabetically for easy reference. As each volume is released, the index for that volume will appear on the website for easier searching. The previous volume indexes will remain available there as well. The complete list for all volumes will also be available at the Museum for reference.
We hope that we have captured and preserved some essence of each of these lives. We hope you enjoy their stories as much as we have enjoyed them.
Editors: Bowman, Laurel; Pahkala, Elizabeth, Ranchuk, Deborah; Shepherdson, Clair; Villneff, Margaret
