Preserving the collective memory of Portuguese Canadians3! PCHP + CTASC patron-driven acquisitions...
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+ + Preserving the collective memory of Portuguese Canadians Democratizing access to historical knowledge
Transcript of Preserving the collective memory of Portuguese Canadians3! PCHP + CTASC patron-driven acquisitions...
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Preserving the collective memory of Portuguese Canadians
Democratizing access to historical
knowledge
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PORTuguese Canadian History Project | Projeto de História Luso Canadiana
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The Portuguese Canadian History Project | Projeto de História Luso Canadiana (PCHP) is an incorporated, non-‐‑profit, volunteer-‐‑run, community outreach organization founded in 2008 by Gilberto Fernandes (Ph.D. History, York U.) and Susana Miranda (Ph.D. History, York U.), and later joined by Raphael Costa (Ph.D. History, York U.) and Emanuel da Silva (Ph.D. Sociolinguistics, U. of T.). Its objectives are to:
1. Preserve the collective memory of Portuguese immigrants and their descendants in Canada. 2. Democratize access to historical knowledge, both in its consumption and production.
As young scholars researching the history of Portuguese immigrants in Canada, we encountered a scarcity of records pertaining to this group in public archives. But in the course of our fieldwork, we discovered that many individuals and organizations in had amassed a wealth of archival records of great value to uncovering that community'ʹs history. Despite their best efforts, these collections were not maintained in optimal preservation conditions, and in some cases were partially destroyed. The PCHP emerged in response to this reality and it has since worked to bridge the gap between public archives, university departments, and immigrant communities.
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Since 2009, the PCHP has partnered with the Clara Thomas Archives & Special Collections, York University Libraries (CTASC), especially the archivist and outreach coordinator Anna St. Onge, with whom we have developed an exceptional synergy. Together, we have enriched the CTASC'ʹs holdings by facilitating the donation of archival records from entities associated with Toronto'ʹs Portuguese community. Besides preserving the records for present and future generations, and making them available for consultation at Scott Library, the CTASC continues to digitize the PCHP'ʹs collections and make them easily and freely accessible online.
At the PCHP, we believe that historiography, even that which is produced "ʺfrom below"ʺ, remains inaccessible to most. Without undermining the importance of academic publications, we believe it is imperative that historians explore other forms of communication in order to engage wider audiences and disseminate historical knowledge. Together with the CTASC, we have developed various public history and digital humanities initiatives that connected with the general public. Educators, researchers and students can also use these as tools for learning or teaching migration, ethnicity, class, gender, politics and other social and cultural subjects pertaining to Portuguese immigrants and descendants in Canada.
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PCHP + CTASC patron-driven acquisitions Over 20 metres of textual, oral histories and audiovisual materials
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Since 2009, the PCHP has helped transfer over 20 meters of textual, oral histories and audiovisual materials from individuals and organizations associated with Toronto'ʹs Portuguese community into the care of the CTASC. These include the records of Domingos Marques (social worker, activist, journalist, school trustee); the Portuguese Canadian Democratic Association (activist organization); the Portuguese Interagency Network (social service agency); Ilda Januário (researcher, community organizer, educator); Prof. David Higgs (historian); Canada Auto Workers Local 40 (labour union); Felipe Gomes (documentary film producer); and Abílio C. Marques (poet).
The PCHP has offered the CTASC what is called in the archival profession "ʺpatron-‐‑driven acquisitions."ʺ In short, we allow archives to be proactive in their record acquisition, as opposed to the traditionally passive approach, in which donors are expected to approach them. By doing this, we mitigate the archives'ʹ standard bias towards collecting records produced by elites and other dominant groups, who have a better understanding of their purpose and value, better connections, and greater concern for personal legacy. In doing outreach in the Portuguese communities, which, like other immigrant and ethnic groups, are generally marginalized in the public record, we seek to complicate the traditional narrative of Canadian (and Portuguese) history, and provide the
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means and the opportunities to produce more equitable and accurate historiography and public memory.
As both researchers and community members, we have a unique combination of grassroots and scholarly knowledge about the past and present of Portuguese communities in Canada (and elsewhere), which we use to locate records and donors. Prospective donors greatly appreciate our advanced knowledge of the contents of their records and the stories they tell, thus allowing for a more in-‐‑depth conversation between the donor and the archivists who process their collections. The act of donation is the first moment in our relationship with donors, not the last. As much as possible, we try to involve donors in the processing of their collections and in the creation of public history resources that may be generated from their contributions, like audio commentary attached to specific records, or filmed interviews.
The PCHP is characterized by its pragmatism and collaborative spirit. One of our mottos is, "ʺdon'ʹt reinvent the wheel."ʺ In other words, instead of spending money (which we did not have) on "ʺbricks and mortar,"ʺ we are partnering with professionals, institutions and other collaborators who already have the means, know-‐‑how, and desire to fulfill shared goals. Our collaborative archival outreach model, based on community development notions of mutual empowerment, has inspired the creation of similar organizations in other ethnic communities, such as the Greek Canadian History Project, which we have mentored.
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Anna St. Onge and Gilberto Fernandes with archival donor Felipe Gomes (right) at the Clara Thomas Archives and Special Collections, April 29, 2013.
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PCHP online Exhibits: tinyurl.com/portuguesehistory Blog: http://archives.library.yorku.ca/pchp/ Facebook: Portuguese Canadian History Project group Twitter: @PCHP_PHLC
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The PCHP has had an active online presence since 2011, thanks to the technical support and web space provided by York University Libraries. Through our blog, exhibits website, and social media, we have been able to reach a wide segment of the public in Canada, Portugal, the United States, and other countries.
The CTASC has and will continue (contingent on available funds) to digitize portions of our collections and make them accessible to the public through York University'ʹs Islandora Digital Repository. With these digital resources the PCHP has curated online exhibits and other digital humanities resources, to which we bring our expertise as historians and social scientists with advanced knowledge on a variety of topics related to migrant and ethnic communities in Canada and the Portuguese diaspora.
This online presence has been built with no financial costs to the York University Libraries beyond those
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already budgeted in its regular workflows. This has been possible due to the availability of free, community-‐‑developed platforms, like Omeka and Wordpress, and the very many volunteer hours put into it by the PCHP'ʹs directors.
Our online exhibits are a major tool in our efforts to democratize access to historical knowledge, not only by allowing us to disseminate contents otherwise unknown to or of difficult access by the general public, but also by providing the latter with commentary boxes and other means of interacting with the curators. This way, online users can share their views, challenge our curatorial decisions, and point us in the direction of new paths of inquiry.
Through our blog and social media we have provided regular updates on the PCHP'ʹs collections, ongoing activities, and other relevant information. This has helped us rally a growing core of followers, who regularly participate in and help spread the word about our initiatives.
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The PCHP has curated online exhibits using the CTASC'ʹs digital archival holdings, and private records provided to us by partnering individuals and organizations, such as St. Christopher House (now West Neighbourhood House), or photographer Gilberto Prioste.
Our exhibits on the Toronto Portuguese-‐‑language newspaper Comunidade (1975-‐‑79;) the settlement agency St. Christopher House (1912-‐‑2012); Gilberto Prioste'ʹs photography (1979-‐‑81); and other historical vignettes, tackle a variety of social and cultural topics, such as migration, gender, class, ethnicity, race, language, politics, religion, arts, sports, family and many more. Our curatorial choices try to reflect the complexity of lived experiences and intersecting contexts shaping and being shaped by immigrant and ethnic communities in Canada.
Besides photos and text, our online exhibits also contain audiovisual recordings produced with our donors and collaborators, who are themselves central agents in the stories we tell.
We are currently exploring new digital tools, like augmented reality and other innovative technologies, to reach even wider audiences.
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On the occasion of the 60th anniversary of Portuguese mass migration to Canada, the Consul-‐‑General of Portugal in Toronto, Júlio Vilela, invited the PCHP to curate a travelling exhibit reflecting on that community'ʹs history, to be included in the 2013 Scotiabank Contact Photography Festival. The exhibit'ʹs launch was held on May 13, 2013, at Toronto'ʹs City Hall, and attended by many dignitaries and members of the public. The event attracted much media attention, including CBC Radio, OMNI TV, CHIN Radio, CIRV FM, and various local Portuguese-‐‑language publications.
The exhibit consists of 20 historical photos; two stand-‐‑up banners with text and illustrations; and catalogues with extensive captions for each photo, in English and Portuguese. Access to the exhibit, along with its handouts, are free. Replicas of original documents from the PCHP'ʹs collections were also on display at City Hall.
The exhibit'ʹs immense success was made possible due to the financial and logistic aid provided by the Portuguese government; the in-‐‑kind sponsorship of Portuguese-‐‑Canadian businesses and associations; and the CTASC'ʹs technical support.
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+ Well over a thousand people have seen our exhibit since it was first on display at City Hall. Because it was designed as a travelling exhibit, we have been able to respond positively to the many requests we received from various entities, asking us to showcase it at their locations, including the:
• Almada Negreiros Gallery, Consulate-‐‑General of Portugal in Toronto (2013)
• Dundas West Fest (2013, 2014) • Toronto Catholic High School Archbishop Romero (2013)
• Azorean House of Ontario (2013) • Toronto Public Library, Lillian H. Smith branch (2014)
• IC Savings, Dundas St. West branch (2014) • York University, Scott Library (2014) • Victoria College, University of Toronto (2014)
City Hall, May 13-19, 2013 Over 150 people attended the exhibit'ʹs launch at Toronto'ʹs City Hall. Among them were municipal, provincial and federal politicians; representatives from the Portuguese government; civic, religious, and business leaders; journalists; scholars; teachers, and many others.
The event started with a performance by local Portuguese musician and instrument-‐‑maker Nuno Cristo, and was followed by a series of speeches by the many dignitaries present. One of the speakers was the Portuguese-‐‑Canadian city councilor Ana Bailão, whose staff was instrumental in handling the logistics involved in hosting this event at City Hall. The most acclaimed speakers were the small group of surviving migrant "ʺpioneers"ʺ from the 1950s, who spoke to an elated crowd.
Over the week that the exhibit was on display at City Hall, patrons picked up most of the 850 catalogues and 1,000 postcards made available for free. We were thrilled that so many Torontonians were able to take home an extensively researched yet accessibly written history booklet, and learn more about one of their city'ʹs communities.
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Other initiatives:
Publications Another way we reach Portuguese-‐‑speaking audiences is by occasionally publishing popular history articles in Toronto'ʹs Portuguese-‐‑Canadian newspapers and magazines.
For academic audiences, we contributed a chapter to the book Identity Palimpsests: Archiving Ethnicity in the U.S. and Canada, edited by Dominique Daniel and Amalia Levi, published in 2014 by Litwin Books. Here we discussed the PCHP'ʹs principles, methodology, challenges and successes; and made arguments on digital humanities and public history practices concerning ethnic communities in North America.
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Heritage Walk In 2014, coinciding with the Portugal Day celebrations in June, we offered the historical walking tour Portuguese Toronto, as part of Heritage Toronto'ʹs annual programming. The event was so successful, attracting nearly 100 people, that Heritage Toronto invited us to continue offering it.
The guided tour takes people through Toronto'ʹs historically Portuguese neighbourhoods, starting in Kensington Market and heading west on Dundas St. West until Bellwoods Park.
Our website features an online companion for our tour, with directions, photos, and a script. People have used this to do the walk by themselves.
Public lectures The PCHP'ʹs directors have been invited numerous times to deliver public lectures on the history of Portuguese immigration in Toronto and Canada.
We have had the pleasure of sharing our research with high school and university students, academics, elderly people, library patrons, historical society members, and other community members.
These public lectures attract people of all backgrounds with an interest in the history of their communities, neighbourhoods, city and country.
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Media exposure Over the years, the PCHP has drawn the attention of various media outlets, especially those from the community we most directly serve. Portuguese-‐‑speaking newspapers, television and radio stations in Canada and Portugal have covered the PCHP'ʹs activities and featured our community outreach and public history work in their profile stories. This media exposure has helped us carry out our mission to educate Portuguese-‐‑Canadians about the role of public archives, the need to preserve historical records, and the importance of historical knowledge to understanding and properly addressing present-‐‑day issues.
Consulting Our innovative model of archival outreach and public history, based on collaborative and egalitarian "ʺbottom-‐‑up"ʺ principles, has attracted the attention of many academic and public historians, who in turn have invited us to discuss our methods and experiences in various conferences and workshops, and share our views on their own projects.
Other public historians and archivists have been inspired by our work and sought our counsel, or formed their own projects modeled after the PCHP, such as the Greek Canadian History Project, founded in 2012.
Portuguese Studies Group/ Lusophone Studies Association In 2010, the PCHP created the Portuguese Studies Group with the purpose of bringing together graduate students and young professionals in Toronto with an interest in Portuguese-‐‑related topics. About three times a year, this group, which now counts over 20 members, meets to exchange feedback on their work; share information on funding, academic, and job opportunities; build working partnerships; and socialize.
The PCHP'ʹs Gilberto Fernandes and Emanuel da Silva are also two of the founding board members of the international Lusophone Studies Association, based at York University.
A multifaceted approach to public history and community outreach, built on collaborative and egalitarian principles
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We will expand our "ʺpatron-‐‑driven acquisition"ʺ methods to other Portuguese-‐‑Canadian populations in Canada and seek archival donations in rural and other urban contexts not yet represented in our collections. We will establish connections with partnering public archives in these regions and assist them in collecting local records. We will share our expertise and other resources with these archives, aiming to build a common digital humanities online platform. For this, we have already begun conversations with the Archives and Research Collections Centre at Western University.
We will continue to assist the CTASC'ʹs digitization and processing of our collections by providing metadata, translation, and overall guidance as to which records should be prioritized. For instance, we will digitize large portions of the Portuguese Canadian Democratic Association'ʹs collection, containing documents of great value to understanding the history of Portuguese democratic exiles fighting the Estado Novo dictatorship (1926-‐‑74), including personal letters by Humberto Delgado, Henrique Galvão and other important figures. We will advertise these records with researchers in Portugal.
Using Neatline, Omeka and other software tools, we have begun to create an interactive historical map of Portuguese neighbourhoods in Toronto, where users will be able to see the movement and growth of that community over time through geotagged photos, text, video, audio recordings and animated graphics. From this map we will later create a virtual museum of these neighbourhoods using augmented reality technology, which users will be able to explore with their smartphones and tablets.
Again using Neatline and Omeka, we have started to develop an illustrated and annotated timeline attached to our digital humanities website. This dynamic timeline juxtaposes the chronologies of Portuguese-‐‑Canadian, Portuguese-‐‑American, Portuguese, Canadian, and American histories. This will be an extraordinary resource for scholars, teachers and students interested in the history of Portuguese communities in North America.
The PCHP'ʹs long-‐‑term vision is to become one of the main centres for the study and teaching of Portuguese diaspora and ethnic history in North America, and help the CTASC become a major archive for Southern European migrant groups in Canada. Below is a list of goals we wish to accomplish in the short and medium term (if funded). Some of them are already in development.
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Over the years we have interacted with various archives and museums in Canada, the United States, and Portugal, whose collections or mandates intersect with those of the PCHP/ CTASC. We intend to follow-‐‑up with the Ferreira-‐‑Mendes Portuguese-‐‑American Archives at UMass Dartmouth, in the U.S.; the Museum of Emigration in Fafe, Portugal; the Canadian Museum of Immigration at Pier 21, Halifax; and other organizations, and establish protocols for exchanging resources and developing joint projects.
Inspired by the digital storytelling projects at the Immigration History Research Center & Archives at the University of Minnesota, and the Canadian Museum of Immigration at Pier 21, we will create and circulate guidelines for producing DIY short oral history videos, and call for the contributions of Portuguese-‐‑Canadians of all ages, using our extensive community network. We will develop an online platform for showcasing these videos, and prompt teachers to use it as a source for lecture material and class assignments.
The PCHP'ʹs partnership with the CTASC was first realized with two graduate assistantship (GA) positions offered to Gilberto Fernandes and Raphael Costa, as part of their guaranteed funding as doctoral students in York University'ʹs Department of History. We want to offer the same opportunity to other graduate students at York University with an interest in our collections, public history, and/or archival studies. These GA'ʹs will help the CTASC with digitizing, translating, editing, data entering, and other important archival and curating asks.
We will set up two merit-‐‑based $250 scholarships for one post-‐‑secondary and one graduate student who commit to doing research on the PCHP'ʹs archival collections at CTASC. For this we will use our own limited funds and seek a matching contribution from York University. Recipients will be awarded at the annual Federation of Portuguese Canadian Business and Professionals'ʹ scholarship gala. They will also be invited to curate an exhibit section in or website based on their findings.
Together with the Portuguese company RoughCut Audiovisual Production, the PCHP'ʹs Gilberto Fernandes is preparing a documentary series on the history of Portuguese immigrants and their communities in North America, based on his extensive research on the subject. This series will soon be pitched to the Portuguese international public station RTPi, which broadcasts around the world to its diaspora of over 5-‐‑million emigrants. During production, the series will make extensive use of the CTASC'ʹs archival holdings and the PCHP'ʹs research expertise.
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As is common in other ethnic communities with endowed chairs and well-‐‑funded academic institutions, we will invite eminent authors and scholars from the humanities and social sciences, who work on Portuguese subjects (especially those related with diaspora) to deliver an annual public lecture. These lectures can take place at the Lusophone Studies Association annual conference, or at other yearly events in the Portuguese-‐‑Canadian cultural calendar.
Inspired by the CTASC'ʹs growing Portuguese, Greek and Italian collections; and our relationship with the Greek Canadian History Project and Italian-‐‑Canadian scholars, we envision the creation of a Southern European studies centre at York University. One of the first steps towards fulfilling this long-‐‑term goal is the organization of a conference dedicated to Southern European diasporas. Besides advertising the CTASC'ʹs collections and identifying York University as a hub, this conference will offer these communities the opportunity to work with each other, pull resources together, and hopefully build lasting partnerships.
A way of connecting with other Portuguese archives, museums and associations across North America is to bring them our travelling exhibit. This will allow Portuguese in these regions to compare their own experiences with those of their co-‐‑ethnics in Toronto, and learn more about themselves as an ethnic or diasporic group by reflecting on how much they share or differ. Potential destinations in Canada are Mississauga, Cambridge, Simcoe, Ottawa, Montreal, Winnipeg, Kitimat, and Vancouver. In the U.S., there are many Portuguese communities in Massachusetts, Rhodes Island, New Jersey and California.
+ The PCHP has come a long way since it was founded by graduate students with no resources other than their passion for history and public education, and whatever volunteer time they were able to spare. The vision, dedication and resourcefulness that got them to this point continue to drive them today. Having completed their doctoral studies, they
remain motivated to pursue even more ambitious goals, form exciting new collaborations, and develop innovative ways to fulfill the PCHP'ʹs mission. Now it is time to build on these foundations and guarantee the PCHP'ʹs financial sustainability by mobilizing the means necessary to further preserve and disseminate the history of Portuguese Canadians. For that, they count on the support of funders, especially those representing the communities
that have benefitted most and will continue to benefit from the PCHP'ʹs work.
30 WHITLEY AVE. TORONTO, ON M3K 1A2 CANADA (647) 504 4496 [email protected] TWITTER: @PCHP_PHLC EXHIBITS: tinyurl.com/portuguesehistory BLOG: http://archives.library.yorku.ca/pchp/
