Labrador Heritage Society

The Labrador Heritage Society was officially formed in Happy Valley-Goose Bay on 24 January 1973. The founding officers were Joe Goudie, president; Joyce Pye, vice president; Bernard Heard, corresponding secretary; and Dave Lough, treasurer.

The Society proposed to preserve "all printed matter, records, films, photos, maps and oral records" of "social, cultural and physical value" to Labrador, and to publish historical records. It also planned to prepare resource material for school curricula. One of the first projects proposed by the Society was a book about Labradorians based on the edited transcripts of oral history interviews. Instead of a book, which would provide only a cursory overview of Labrador's history, a magazine was deemed more appropriate; Them Days was the result.

After the founding of the magazine, the society was inactive until its re-establishment in February 1978. By 1980, the society had three branches (Happy Valley-Goose Bay, Labrador West, and Churchill Falls), which celebrated traditional culture in various annual events. In July 1980, the Happy Valley-Goose Bay museum opened and hosted the first Labrador folk festival.

Created - May 1, 2013

• Engels