News and Events Archive | MUNFLA | Memorial University of Newfoundland

On Friday, September 12, 2025 the Memorial University Folklore and Language Archive (MUNFLA) presented a public roundtable about folklore and archival research in radio and podcast productions, featuring graduates of Memorial University's Folklore Department.

Panellists included:

Rebecca Nolan, BA (Folklore) 2017, is an audio documentarian and sound designer who has produced radio features for NPR affiliates KCBX & WCAI, as well as The History Channel, CBC’s Atlantic Voice, BBC’s Short Cuts and Transom.org. Her work has been recognized by The Atlantic Journalism Awards as well as the prestigious Prix Marulic radio festival.

Annie McEwen, MA (Folklore) 2012, is a senior producer at New York Public Radio for the award-winning show Radiolab. She is also an alumni of Battery Radio and in 2011 graduated with a masters degree from Memorial University’s Folklore program.

Andrea McGuire reports for CBC's Labrador Morning radio show in Happy Valley-Goose Bay, NL. She has produced radio documentaries about climate change, a language inventor, and a traditional folk charmer, among other things. Andrea holds an MA degree in Folklore from Memorial University, and a one-year Bachelor of Journalism degree from the University of King's College."

Moderator: Dr. Kelley Totten (Department of Folklore, MUN).

"Listening is how you pay attention to people and that's the core of folklore research. What are we paying attention to? And who are we paying attention to?" — Kelley Totten

You can listen to audio discussing the event from the September 12th, 2025 edition of CBC'S The Signal with Adam Walsh here. Video of the radio show is also available on YouTube.

This event was sponsored by MUNFLA through Memorial University's 100th Anniversary Fund.

Applying The Halperts’ Vision to Today (February 2025)

On Tuesday, February 11th, 2025 a panel met to discuss the Halperts' legacy in the province and beyond, reflecting on public folklore, community facing scholarship, and future applications. Facilitated by Dr. Jillian Gould, Associate Professor, Department of Folklore, the event featured prominent public folklorists who worked with or were influenced by Dr. Herbert and Violetta Halpert, the founders of MUN's Department of Folklore and the Folklore and Language Archive, including:

Michael Taft, Head of Archive (Retired) American Folklife Center, Library of Congress
Neil Rosenberg, Professor Emeritus, Department of Folklore, Memorial University
Philip Hiscock, Retired Professor, Department of Folklore, Memorial University
Amanda Dargan, Education Director, City Lore, New York City
Crystal Braye, Public Folklorist, Octopus Consulting

This event sponsored by the Department of Folklore (Memorial University), SITA, and the 100 Year Anniversary Fund.

A special thank you to Philip Hiscock and Pauline Cox for taking the event photographs contained within the gallery below.

Research Week Open House (November 2024)

Are you researching climate change? Health care policy? Local history and culture?

Our collection includes audiovisual, photographic, manuscript and other materials devoted to the culture and traditional knowledge of the diverse groups who have called this province home over the course of its history.

Memorial University of Newfoundland Folklore and Language Archive (MUNFLA) held an open house as part of Research week on November 25, 2024 to showcase what we have to offer.

Feel free to pop in anytime our door is opened to meet our dedicated staff, peruse some of our most interesting and unique holdings, and learn how our collection could strengthen your own research.

We look forward to seeing you!

"Traditions Within: Crafting Material Culture" pop-up exhibit (April 2024)

Dr. Kelley Totten’s winter 2024 Folklore 3850 Material Culture class were the curators of this pop-up exhibit. They explored culture through the lens of objects and materials - Why do objects matter? How can we understand others and ourselves through our materials?

Using folklore and interdisciplinary approaches, they considered how objects communicate, mark difference, represent individuals and groups, and connect people to one another - past, present, and future. Through their research, the students each learned to think about and with objects to better understand people and their creative, expressive environments.

This exhibit took place in MUNFLA’s reading room from Wednesday, April 3 to Friday, April 5, 2024. Click the gallery below to browse some photos of the exhibit.

Folklore 50th Anniversary Celebration (2018-2019)

The 2018-2019 academic year marked the 50th anniversary of the creation of the Department of Folklore and the Folklore and Language Archive (MUNFLA). We created this page to share photos and memories of events held throughout the course of the year; if you have a story, a photograph, or a memory to pass along, please email us!

Current PhD (Folklore) candidate Ehsan Mohammadi, with editing assistance from the HSS Film Unit's Derek Norman, created the above video to help celebrate and commemorate the 50th Anniversary of the Department of Folklore and MUNFLA. The video features current Department Head, Dr. Holly Everett, and music by the late Dr. Peter Narvaez; permission to use "Vitamin C" was granted by Dr. Everett. We hope you enjoy!

Food, Stories and Songs of This Place: Celebrating 50 Years of Folklore Education in Newfoundland and Labrador (June 2019)

Details regarding this event can be found here.

Event memories:

Some of our fabulous volunteers and committee members: (Top, L-R): Donna Norvey, Joy Fraser (both seated), Mohammad Ainul Haque, Janet Harron. (Bottom, L-R): Shannon Bateman and Matthew Liberty.

A delicious spread was put on by Rocket Bakery!

Our event was very well attended; we were delighted to see so many former and current faculty, staff, and students, as well as numerous FSAC delegates and members of the general public!

The celebration was capped off with a terrific concert organized by the folks at the St. John's Storytelling Festival. Performers included Sophie Angnatok, Anita Best, Tama Fost, and Kelly Russell. The concert was hosted by the province's Intangible Cultural Heritage Development Officer - our very own Folklore alumnus - Dale Jarvis.

Annual Tribute to Dr. Peter Narvaez (November 2018)

The 7th Annual Tribute to Dr. Peter Narvaez: Wednesday, November 14th, 2018, 9:00 pm - 11:30 pm, The Ship Pub. Hosted by the Folk Arts Society; for further information, click here.

Folklore 50 (October 2018)

Inaugural event: A conversation with Hilda Murray and Margaret Bennett - Tuesday, October 2nd, 2018

Click the gallery below to view more photos from the event:

Regularly Scheduled Closure (2017)

Effective Wednesday, September 27th, 2017, MUNFLA will be closed to all researchers on Wednesdays in order to facilitate work on backlog reduction. We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause.

Doors Open (September 2015)

On September 12th-13th, 2015 MUNFLA participated in the Newfoundland & Labrador Historic Trust’s annual ‘Doors Open’ event – an opportunity for visitors not necessarily familiar with the Department of Folklore or the Folklore and Language Archive to drop by for a tour of our facility and to gain a better understanding of our holdings and what we do. We had a wonderful turnout over the two-day period and look forward to participating again!

Click the gallery below to view photos from the event:

Presentation of Newfoundland National Convention Recordings (December 2014)

On Wednesday, December 10th, 2014, the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) presented CNS, The Rooms, and MUNFLA with over 200 hours of recordings from the Newfoundland National Convention. These recordings were originally broadcast on radio between 1946-1948 and gave listeners unprecedented access to the debates that would lead the Dominion of Newfoundland into Confederation with Canada.

Many thanks to Christine Davies, Associate Producer with CBC Radio, for her tremendous efforts in reformatting these files and to the Corporation for this most generous gift. Prior to this presentation, MUNFLA held 60 of these recordings in both 1/4” reel and CD format; the gift of the external drive will now mean researchers can have easier access to all the recordings.

Present for the presentation: Denise Wilson, CBC Atlantic Managing Director; Joan Ritcey, Head – Centre for Newfoundland Studies; Greg Walsh, Provincial Archivist – The Rooms; Pauline Cox, Archivist – MUNFLA; Christine Davies, Associate Producer – CBC Radio.

CEFT Online Collection Launch (November 2013)

A celebration to mark the launching of the Centre d'études franco-terreneuviennes (CEFT) online collection was held on Friday, November 23, 2013. This project was made possible by the Association régionale de la côte ouest (ARCO) in collaboration with the Memorial University Folklore and Language Archive (MUNFLA) and the QEII Library's Digital Archives Initiative (DAI), which hosts the collection. The launch of this site means materials from CEFT's French-language holdings are now available online to not only the community that created them, but to the research world at large. To browse the CEFT collection, click here: Digital Archives Initiative (DAI)

Click the gallery below to view photos from the event:

Meet Memorial (June 2010)

Wednesday, June 9th, 2010 saw MUNFLA participate for the first time in the third annual Meet Memorial campaign. Close to thirty faculty, staff, retirees, and other friends of the University visited the Archive, browsed our displays, went on guided tours throughout our facility and, afterwards, enjoyed some delicious locally-baked goods and refreshments.

Click the gallery below to view photos from the event:

Open House (November 2009)

On Tuesday, November 24th, 2009, MUNFLA hosted a two hour Open House as part of the provincially-designated Archives Month celebrations. Our thanks to all those who helped facilitate this successful event and also to those who took time out of their busy schedules to come join in the festivities.

Click the gallery below to view photos from the event: