Our History
Them Days began as a
Labrador Heritage Society project in 1973 with the intention of
producing a single publication. Retired trapper Isaac Rich conducted
the initial research by tape recording his friends in the Labrador
communities of Happy Valley, Rigolet and North West River. In 1975 an
organization of seniors, the Old Timers League, applied to the New
Horizon Program to obtain funding for the first publication. On March
15, 1975 Doris Saunders was hired as editor to compile the material
collected by Isaac Rich into a book. That first edition of Them Days
magazine was made available to the public in August of 1975. The
publication went on to become a quarterly magazine which is available
on a subscription and retail sale basis.
In addition to the magazine, Them Days Labrador Archives began in 1984
with the arranging of researched material into an archives. This
collection which continues to grow contains diaries, letters, reports,
audio and video recordings, photographs, slides, maps and a reference
library. The holdings in particular include such works as: the diary of
Thomas Blake, a fisherman/trapper (1883-1890) from the Hamilton
Inlet/Lake Melville; papers (1923 to 1979) of Monsignor Edward O'Brien,
a Roman Catholic priest to the Innu; the field notes of William Duncan
Strong, an anthropologist with the Rawson-MacMillan Field Museum
Expedition of 1927-28; and the Moravian Periodical Accounts of the
missionaries to the Inuit of Labrador from 1771 to 1937. Among the many
and varied books of the collection are the Privy Council records
concerning the Labrador/Quebec boundary decision of 1927; the three
volumes of the journals of Captain George Cartwright covering 1770 to
1786; and the Goose Bay EIS from the Department of National Defence, an
environmental impact statement on military flying activities in
Labrador and Quebec, 1989. Much of the material organized has been
donated by individuals, businesses and organizations interested in
helping to preserve the rich cultural history of Labrador.
Them Days operated under the Labrador Heritage Society until it was
incorporated on November 10, 1980. Them Days continues today as a
non-profit organization run by a volunteer Board of Directors.