ST. JOHN’S, NL – When it comes to the extensive history of Greenspond, Linda White is in the know.
For the past 25 years, White has been an archivist at Memorial University of Newfoundland, but it was dedication to her roots that earned her the Outstanding Heritage Supporter award at the 23rd Historic Sites of Newfoundland and Labrador Manning Awards.
White has dedicated her personal time to researching and writing about the community her parents came from. She was a founding member of the Greenspond Historical Society and founded the quarterly journal, The Greenspond Letter, serving as its publisher, writer and editor.
The Greenspond Letter tells the history of the community through poetry, prose, photographs and interviews. To date, there have been more than 90 issues published, with the mail-out reaching hundreds of people throughout the province, country and North America.
Her work has also been adopted for social media, with White running the Greenspond Historical Society Facebook page, with more than 2,000 people in the group.
White said the idea sparked when she started working with the university.
“I had just finished my masters in history and I wanted to write a history of Greenspond, but working full-time, it was too big of a project to take on,” she said.
“Someone suggested I start a newsletter, so that’s what I did.”
That was 24 years ago.
And in doing so, it allowed her to tell Greenspond’s story.
“It’s became a series of little pieces of history, so if you put it all together you get the whole history,” she said.
Her interest in the Kittiwake Coast island goes back to her childhood, as she would visit family in the summer with her parents.
“Even though I was born in St. John’s it was always a part of our world,” she said.
So much so, White has a summer home on nearby Ship Island.
White plans to continue telling the story of Greenspond.
“Just when I think I will run out of material, I find another big source, like government records from provincial archives,” she said, “And anybody who comes across anything Greenspond usually lets me know because they know about the work I’m doing.”
“I just love history – some people knit and sew, I go to the archives to research.”
Her latest project is a handwritten diary belonging to a teacher who lived in Greenspond from 1839 to 1859.
White has the diary transcribed and is hoping to turn it into a book.
