Belfast Historical Society fonds

Accession Number

SMI-ARCH 2005-001

Dates of Creation

1977-1983; Copied 2005

Physical Description

27 compact disks (ca. 18 hr., 26 min.)

Administrative History

The Belfast Historical Society, founded at a public meeting on 26 March 1976, was created to promote interest in the history of the Belfast district of Prince Edward Island. Activities of the Society included sponsoring lectures on local and Island history and publishing a newsletter called The Recaller. In 1977, the Belfast Historical Society started a project to create a community oral history archive. Three students from the University of Prince Edward Island were hired through a Summer Canada Works program to interview and record more than twenty elderly residents from the Belfast area. The project was so successful that the Society decided to publish a book based on the collected oral histories. In the fall of 1980, Susan Hornby transcribed and edited the existing interviews and, together with project co-ordinator Mary Ross, collected further accounts from Belfast residents. In 1992, Belfast People: An Oral History of Belfast, Prince Edward Island (Charlottetown: Tea Hill Press), was published.

Scope and Content

The fonds consists of interviews with twenty-eight individuals from the Belfast area copied onto 27 compact disks from audio cassette tapes. These interviews, dating 1977-1983, were originally collected as part of a community oral history archives project sponsored by the Belfast Historical Society. Topics covered in the interviews vary, however some of the more common subjects include information on family background, attending school in the district, life in rural PEI, farming, courting and marriage, social activities, and stories about local residents. Partial transcriptions of several of the interviews as well as photographs of many of the informants can be found in Belfast People: An Oral History of Belfast, Prince Edward Island (Charlottetown: Tea Hill Press, 1992).

Source of Title

Title based on provenance of the fonds

Conservation

Original cassette tapes which were damaged were repaired and rehoused in August and September 2005

Restrictions on Access

NO RESTRICTIONS ON ACCESS

Terms Governing Use and Reproduction

PERMISSION FOR USE AND REPRODUCTION IS REQUIRED FROM ROBERTSON LIBRARY SPECIAL COLLECTIONS; QUESTIONS REGARDING COPYRIGHT ARE THE RESPONSIBILITY OF THE USER

Finding Aids

ITEM LISTING AVAILABLE [PDF]

Associated Material

More taped interviews from the Belfast Historical Society’s oral history project can be found at the Public Archives and Records Office of Prince Edward Island in Acc2924 (Belfast Historical Society fonds) and Acc4781 (Theatre Prince Edward Island fonds, Series 8). For information about Theatre Prince Edward Island’s stage production entitled Belfast People (1988), see Acc4781 Series 4 and Series 8 at the Public Archives and Records Office.

General Notes

A copy of Belfast People: An Oral History of Belfast, Prince Edward Island is available for consultation in the PEI Collection (FC2649 .B45 B45 1992). Information about the Belfast Historical Society and the history of Belfast can be located through the Robertson Library online catalogue and the PEI Special Collections card catalogue under the subject headings PEI—ASSOCIATIONS AND SOCIETIES — BELFAST HISTORICAL SOCIETY and PEI—LOCAL HISTORIES — BELFAST