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| Photo: Catherine Brunelle |
The word “Treasure” sprang to my mind as the book was shown to us and passed around the group during our VanierNow meeting.
It’s a modern-day dumpster-diving treasure: Tall and thick, with scratches on the faux-marble cover and a binding that barely holds the pages. This 63 year-old scrapbook has a story behind it that’s fascinating, and a story within it that is precious. Cuttings of newspaper articles in both French and English from 1950-1960, which feature Vanier then, are carefully pasted and labelled inside the pages, chronicling a decade.
Pulled from the trash, the scrapbook was dropped off at the Vanier Snack Snack. It was brought in by a client who had asked Serge (owner of the Snack Shack) to make him a salad before the shop closed up for the night. As Serge made the meal, this fellow laid the book on the counter and asked Serge to take care of it – to do something with it.
It’s destined for Muséoparc Vanier, but first has made a pit stop to VanierNow creators Mike Bulthuis and Mike Steinhauer for some intensive scanning. And now the book is on my bed, resting on a towel (‘cause you know, it was once in the trash), and I’ve just spent the last hour enjoying its stories.
Back in the 1950s, Vanier was called Eastview and was a city of promising development, huge local pride, and a mayor named Gordon Lavergne who dominates the book’s clippings with his opinions, campaign runs, and scandals. The City of Eastview was independent from Ottawa, and in their opinion, a much better place to live. Here’s just one story about when Queen Elizabeth was set to visit the city.
Eastview Ashamed of Untidy Ottawa
Eastview is determined that Queen Elizabeth II will have no opportunity to confuse it with any untidy neighbours.
Ottawa has been named.
The root of the problem (or the problem of the route) is a 14-foot section of broken cement railing on Cummings Bridge.
[...] As Councillor Victor Belair pointed out, “when she sees that big hole in the side of the bridge, she’s going to wonder just what kind of place it is. And how is she going to know that it’s part of Ottawa and not Eastview?”
There was a heavy moment of silence before Mayor Gordon Laverne came up with the answer.
“We’ll put up a sign,” he said, “in English and in French saying ‘You are Now Leaving Eastview.’ It will be right at the start of the bridge.”
(Excerpt from Blush From the Queen, September 5th 1957, p.137)And so the day was saved by the cunning of their mayor.
Along with clippings that resemble Stephen Leacock moments of small town charm such as rivalries, an ever-present mayor, notices of haircuts going up to $1 (p.133), the banning of pinball machines, shopping mall proposals (p. 30), and boasts of the city’s strength and size (p.36)– there are also reports of huge fires that destroy local factories, debates over flooding, garbage dump problems, voting scandals, and the eventual discovery of huge debt in Eastview, largely blamed on the mayor and his council (there’s also some entertaining propaganda to put the mayor back into favour with the people of Eastview on p. 146).
Essentially, this scrap book is a rich history of our neighbourhood with its highs and lows recorded, pasted to the page. I’d love to share each of these articles with you, but there’s only so much room in a blog post.
On the back cover of this scrapbook, written in red pen, it reads “No 2 book, Continue in No 1 book page 93,” suggesting that somewhere out there, hopefully not in a landfill, is the other volume of this collection.
What should you take away from today’s post? There are treasure in the basements and attics and old boxes of Vanier. If you find a piece of history, instead of putting by the side of the road, bring it up to the Muséoparc and drop it there for safekeeping. Thank goodness for that fellow who ordered the salad, and his thinking to save the scrapbook from the trash.