On almost a daily basis I encounter people who ask me what I do, and I tell them that I am an archivist. Usually, I am met with blank stares and comments such as: "A what?" "An anarchist?" Or, "Oh, I see" -- from people obviously not having any idea what archivists door what the word "archives" means. In short, archivists seek out, collect, preserve, and arrange and describe material having historical significance and make this material available to the public for research. Depending on the type of archives (location, funding sources, setting, etc.) this can mean that different types of material are collected. For instance, I worked in an archive in Detroit that collected only records of the American labour movement, and here at home, in an archive whose collection policies focused on records pertaining to the history of our medical school. I am presently happily settled in the Provincial Archives of Newfoundland and Labrador (PANL) where we collect and preserve records of the Government which are deemed to have legal, fiscal, evidential or research value, and records from private sources which have endearing value to the history of Newfoundland and Labrador. The Manuscript section of PANL houses almost 800 collections or "fonds" as we call them in archival terms. Within these are diaries, maps, business records, letters, ledgers, ships logs, etc. and scattered throughout are over 30 music-related archival collections. I was asked to outline these collections in this issue of The Broadside, but given the volume of material at PANL and the limited space in this issue, I decided to focus on one. Recently, I worked on the papers of Charles Hutton and Sons and I will describe its contents and historical significance in this issue. Hopefully, I will have the opportunity to describe more of our collections in future Broadsides.

The Charles Hutton and Sons collection at the Provincial Archives of Newfoundland and Labrador consists of 25 cm of textual material representing the partial business records of one of Newfoundland most famous musical businesses. The materials in the collection range in date from 1931-1934 and are fairly neatly divided in half between correspondence to and from Huttons, and the financial records of the firm. The correspondence contains personal accounts of orders from the store, experiences with equipment, requests for items and transactions from individuals all around Newfoundland as they did business with the St. John's music store over this three-year period. The financial and business records contain items from retail music suppliers in Canada, the US and Britain, customs papers for goods shipped, invoices from companies, inventory lists, pricing guides, etc. Together, these materials comprise a small but very significant collection of archival material having provincial significance.


I will not attempt to give the complete history of Charles Hutton and Sons in this article (see note below) but for the unfamiliar, Hutton operated a music retail outlet in St. John's, first established in 1883. The store served many functions - selling and servicing musical instruments, recordings, sheet music, musical supplies, etc., all mainly within the Island of Newfoundland (although it depended on foreign suppliers). Charles Hutton (1861-1949) is also famous for composing a beautiful, but seldom heard, version of the Ode to Newfoundland (also in the Provincial Archives of Newfoundland and Labrador) and for his service as organist at the Roman Catholic Cathedral and with local musical and theatre companies.

Music has always been a part of Newfoundland culture and society and this collection certainly confirms this, as the materials reveal how important and significant Huttons was to the musical community at the time. The correspondence and merchandise orders from these years show people from all over the Island were using Huttons as an important source for musical instruments and supplies, sheet music and recordings. There are the requests from individuals and groups such as the Church Lads Brigade band for band equipment, a convent on Bell Island looking for music books, music instructors in Carbonear and Spaniards Bay seeking piano stools, and orders for just about every musical instrument or accessory one could imagine. The business and financial records in the collection reveal the business practices common at the time. Materials were sent all over the Island using C.O.D (even pianos!) and the many letters back to Hutton describing goods that had been damaged after shipping contain choice words about the "gentle" hands working in the Newfoundland postal service at the time! For example, one gentleman from Corner Brook wrote to Hutton on 18 March to explain that he had received the violin bow he ordered but that he had gotten half the bow one day and half the next! Hutton responded by instructing Gillam to choose between putting in a claim against the Newfoundland Railway for damages or buying the bow at a "generously reduced" price and repairing it himself. Try doing that with Canada Post today!

The records also reveal the change in prices for musical equipment and supplies over a 70-year period. For example, Huttons' supplier, Buegeleisen & Jacobson in New York, advertised an order of 30-dozen guitar picks for .60 cents in 1934. Compare that to buying one nylon pick today for 75 cents! Consumers could also get a "Moderate Professional Piano" from Huttons in March of 1931 for $175.00 - a real bargain! (On a historical note, many Newfoundland churches obtained organs for their parishes from Huttons around this time, and the details of these orders are also contained in this collection). Another interesting fact I gleaned from this collection that I did not know previously was that Huttons dealt largely in the selling and servicing of radios and radio equipment, especially during these years. Radio was relatively new at the time, having become largely popular in Newfoundland around 1930 and this collection shows what was being heard and what was being liked around the Island as people wrote letters to Huttons requesting their own recordings of certain songs. It is no surprise that almost none of this material was traditional. Instead, most was by American and Canadian artists whose work was being disseminated around the Island and the world via the relatively new technology of radio. Some prominent titles Huttons received requests for in letters dating from 1932 for example included: "I'll Yodel My Way to Heaven" (1931) and "Lonesome Lover" (1932).

Part of the joy of archival work for me is that you never know what you might find in the files in a box or in the pages and lines of a document. Taking into account the societal changes that can occur over the years, sometimes very humourous items emerge from archival collections. The correspondence in this collection in particular contains many letters that fall into this category. For example, one 1934 letter contains a rather frantic request originating from Greenspond for a "Hawaiian guitar" and the music for "When the Moon Comes Over the Mountain." The letter describes how a student had exaggerated about her guitar abilities prior to a spring concert and needed not only a guitar, but tutoring books for how to play as well! There was no reply from Hutton but given the descriptions of the high quality of service he maintained, he likely met her request in time for the show. Other notable mentions include a bizarre order from Little Bay (March 18, 1931) for two complete sets of Chinese zither strings and finally, a letter from Spaniards Bay (1932) apologizing for late payments and saying that the trombone would be returned anyway if the boy did not "take to it" by November.

The Charles Hutton and Sons collection at the Provincial Archives of Newfoundland and Labrador provides a sample snapshot in time of musical tastes, popular trends, equipment prices and styles, consumer demands, service delivery and many other interesting and significant topics from that era of Newfoundland history. It does not represent the total history of the Hutton firm or of the music scene at the time, yet it accurately stands to represent the context in which the records were created - as all archival collections do. I consider myself fortunate to work with these and other incredibly interesting materials on a daily basis and as this article shows, sometimes I am lucky enough to be able to incorporate my interest in music with my professional archival career. When my passion for archival work and my love of music occasionally do meet, I consider myself even more fortunate to be involved in two of my favourite occupations!

Note
The Charles Hutton and Sons collection is Manuscript Group # 590 at the Provincial Archives and can be viewed in the reference and reading room during regular PANL working hours. Contact Greg Walsh, Manuscript Archivist at 729-0496 or by e-mail at gwalsh@gov.nf.ca. For general biographical information on Charles Hutton and Charles Hutton and Sons, visit the Encyclopedia of Newfoundland and Labrador on-line here.

You can also consult secondary sources concerning Charles Hutton, most notably the publication:
Charles Hutton: Newfoundland's Greatest Musician and Dramatist 1861-1949, by Paul Woodford, 1983.