Helen Creighton: A life in folklore

by Helen Creighton

244 pages, Hardcover

First published December 31, 1975

About the author

Dr. Helen Creighton was a prominent Canadian folklorist. She collected 4,000 traditional songs, stories, and myths in a career that spanned several decades and published many books and articles on Nova Scotia folk songs and folklore. She received numerous honorary degrees and was made a Member of the Order of Canada in 1976

She and her family lived in Dartmouth, through the nearby Halifax explostion. Being a young lady through the two wars, boarding military officers and couples, she was inspired to serve but with medical ineligibility, became an ambulance driver helping doctors and dentists bring medical care to remote regions. She travelled extensively out of Canada, with the Author's Association as well as to visit her medical doctor brother; including English instruction in Mexico.

Loyal to the rustic and remote providers of her wealth of songs and stories, Dr. Creighton got several of them on television and radio, proudly delivering royalties to them. She kept her parents' home, shared with borders who were like family.

Reviews

[C. (Comment, never msg). · Rating 5 out of 5]

When I dreamed-up a story it had to be Canadian, a little inland, somewhere I had been. The ground my memorable trip included was not Lunenburg County but I can portray what I love about Nova Scotia and learn the rest. I found “Bluenose Ghosts” by Dr. Helen Creighton. I loved it and “Bluenose Magic” awaits. I believed the jackpot would be “Folklore Of Lunenburg County, Nova Scotia”. Her 1950 opus, a hit in international folklore, is out-of-print. I recently hit two jackpots: this mint condition hardcover and that of “A Life In Folklore”, 1975, at a local store! I leaped to this autobiography because I want to experience the opus, knowing how it felt to publish it, which Helen shared. It took four years. Researchers like Helen are important to time, for several serendipitous reasons. Let's use as an example “Jingle Bells”, composed in 1857. How do all English countries know a song sung in Boston before we were born?

Choirs kept singing the non-religious song that got attached to Christmas, until it could be recorded on an Edison cylinder in 1898. If a song wasn't so well repeated, especially regional ones dwindling down to elderly relatives knowing it; how does it prevail? When collectors like Helen write the words, with a friend who can transcribe the music sung in front of them! When she got a record-maker and then a tape-recorder from her contractor; capturing songs became easier.... if her hosts had electricity! Stories and paranormal experiences came out in their music sessions, yielding the “Bluenose” books that keep getting printed. I think if Helen had collected when average homes had recorded entertainment, she wouldn't have found the wool-carding and evening singsongs in practice. She scored some a year before a contributor died. It was serendipitous too that she was born in time to catch that era.

Someone years ago thought she focused on fishermen. This autobiography demonstrates how Helen solicited songs widely. She valued all trades and traditions, including black and Aboriginal. She got her contributors on radio and television, proudly delivering their royalties. I loved observing what supportive, warm, fun parents she had! They saw the Halifax explosion and two wars. Helen boarded military couples all her life and ineligible to serve, drove an ambulance providing remote medial care. Our pioneer had frequent author business across Canada, taught in México, and visited her doctor brother abroad. She was not solely renowned in Canada's east. The only thing I found wanting was coverage of her “Bluenose Ghosts” collecting experiences! She shares a personal paranormal side at the end. This is a rich and happy book!