Echo Memoirs Blog - Echo Memoirs

Sam often speaks to groups about telling stories and their role in passing on family values. Her expertise in the value of passing on family lore comes from more than 13 years of publishing family histories, and often writing them as well. When we approach potential clients, we’ll tell them about the benefits on passing on their history, but the evidence is usually nothing more than anecdotal.

However, science says, there’s more than warm and fuzzy feelings that make these stories so potent. An article recently published in the New York Times, “The Stories That Bind Us,” reported on interesting research out of Emory University about the role of narrative and mythmaking in families. The study by professors Robyn Fivush and Marshall Duke found that children who hear stories about “highly stressful events” in their families’ past, told “in an emotionally expressive and explanatory fashion,” have higher levels of self-understanding and self-esteem. Teens that have grown up hearing stories of their parents’ childhood, their extended family and the generations before them have higher levels of self-understanding and emotional well-being.

In their study, Fivush and Duke administered the “Do you know?” test to the children of four dozen families. The test is a set 20 questions designed to gauge a child’s knowledge of their family history. The question include, Do you know where your mom and dad went to high school? and Do you know where your parents met? The researchers also taped several of their dinner table conversations. The more parents told their children about their family history, the more empowered their children were in the world; family stories about facing challenges serve as roadmaps for children to overcome obstacles in their own lives. Astoundingly, “the ‘Do You Know?’ scale turned out to be the best single predictor of children’s emotional health and happiness,” says the New York Times article.

The dinner table has always been an important focal point of family life. We’re often thinking about what to serve for a well-balanced dinner. Beyond a serving of veggies, we can nourish future generations with family stories — food for their hearts and minds.

In my 15 months as Echo Memoir’s photo editor, I’ve come across quite a few photos of dashing individuals in mid-stride on Vancouver’s Granville Street. In decades past, getting one’s photo taken near the intersection at Robson Street was a rite of passage and a must-do with visitors from out of town. It was simply a part of the experience of going downtown for thousands of Vancouverites. So, who took the photos?

An answer to this mystery was delivered over the radio last week. I was listening to the Early Edition on CBC Radio and Joan Seidl, the Director of Collections and Exhibitions at the Museum of Vancouver, announced the upcoming full-scale exhibition celebrating the man behind those enigmatic pictures: Foncie Pulice. “Foncie’s Fotos” (Thursday, June 6, 2013 to Sunday, January 5, 2014) will showcase negatives undeveloped until now, and a background on the man behind about 15 million images of those street photos. Foncie had imitators, but he was the last one standing when he retired in 1979. At his peak, Foncie took up to 5,000 photos daily. (For a very detailed history of Foncie’s career, see one of my favourite sites, The History of Metropolitan Vancouver, by the late great Chuck Davis).

Foncie passed away in 2003, but his legacy is preserved in photo albums across the city and across Vancouver. As Davis put it, the street photographer’s work “may be closer to the spirit of the people shown than any carefully composed studio portrait.”

If you have a Foncie Foto that you’d like to share, the Knowledge Network is creating a documentary of the photographer’s life.  The filmmakers behind the project have a website, Foncie’s Corner, where they are gathering all the Foncie photos visitors can provide. If you don’t have a portrait to contribute to the project, you can still browse through a rich collection of photos and stories. One entry by Ted Reeve goes with the photo above: “My parents Rev. Canon Charles Reeve and Mrs. Dorothy Reeve of Calgary. Definitely on vacation, as he is not wearing his clerical collar. July 31st, 1953.”

Now I know about “Foncie’s Corner,” I have nostalgia for a time when getting your picture taken was an event. With our pocket cameras and endless digital film, the currency of images feels as if it’s diminishing. In Foncie’s time, you were captured looking vibrant and alive, and you couldn’t edit and scrutinize the way you were. These photos give the subjects and the viewer something really priceless: a path back in time.

This evening, we unveil our new studio to our friends, family and clients, past and present. Our senior designer, Cathy, and Sam have collaborated on five eye-catching canvases featured on our walls, including the one above. That’s Cathy’s grandmother on the motorcycle on the left. This evocative image was the perfect one to pair with Isak Dinesen’s quote.

In the new year, there’s another project that takes Dinesen’s aphorism more literally: The Human Library. Founded in 2000 in Copenhagen by Dany Abergel, Asma Mouna, Christoffer Erichsen, Thomas Bertelsen and Ronni Abergel, the Human Library is a project to mobilise people against violence by building connections through stories. A Human Library is filled with “human books,” people who have chosen to tell their story and share their experiences. Library visitors can borrow and read check out books for 20 to 30 minutes. Human Libraries helps readers and books to transcend stereotypes and prejudices, and ultimately, build understanding.

One UK “book reviewer” wrote, “A human book … exists in the real four-dimensional scope of human experience. The reader can’t skip bits or neglect their book, a human book requires fixed attention and, through that intimate engagement with another’s story, invites empathy through real human engagement.” Recently, we’ve become so comfortable crafting and receiving communications through text, having conversations can challenge our social beliefs and habits in surprisingly radical ways.

In Canada last year, the Ottawa Public Library had six branches and the Canadian War Museum involved and let visitors check out books titled “Sex worker,” “Peking Opera performer” and “Bus driver,” to name a few. In 2013, the CBC will be sponsoring Human Libraries across the country. Other organizations are also providing this amazing service including, the Toronto Public Library, the University of Alberta, and the PuSh Festival in our city. On January 18-20, 25-27, and February 1-3 (12:00PM – 4:00PM), 30 books will be on offer at the Vancouver Public Library’s Central Branch.

Tonight, we’re fortunate to have such a funny, warm and original library at our disposal. The Echo team and family will be celebrating this festive season in the stacks.

Happy “reading” and happy holidays.