A study of the CPR-sponsored Quebec folk song and handicraft festivals, 1927-1930

McNaughton, Janet Elizabeth (1982) A study of the CPR-sponsored Quebec folk song and handicraft festivals, 1927-1930. Masters thesis, Memorial University of Newfoundland.

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Abstract

Between 1927 and 1931, the Canadian Pacific Railway sponsored at least sixteen major folk festivals in western and central Canada. This thesis presents a study of three of these events: the Canadian Folk Song and Handicraft Festivals, which were held in the Chateau Frontenac, Quebec City, in May 1927 and 1928, and October 1930. These three festivals presented the folk music, handicrafts and dance of rural French Canada and were intended mainly for an audience of affluent anglophone tourists. -- The main sources of information for this study are the correspondence and publications of the two major organizers: John Murray Gibbon, head of publicity for Canadian Pacific; and Marius Barbeau, an anthropologist at the National Museum and a major figure in early folklore studies in Canada. These events were subject to extensive media coverage, and much information has also been gathered from contemporary newspaper and magazine articles. -- This work seeks to detail and offer explanations for the apparent rise of an interest in folk culture among affluent, educated urbanites in the early decades of the twentieth century, with emphasis on the attention given to French-Canadian folk culture at that time. The Canadian Pacific Railway-sponsored festivals in Quebec are examined in the context of French-Canadian and Canadian nationalism, and related to the contemporary handicrafts revival in Quebec. The intellectual orientation of the major organizers and their social, political and artistic goals are discussed in detail. The significance of these events as tourist attractions is also examined, and an assessment is made of the degree to which these events accomplished their goals.

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