ST. JOHN’S, N.L.
- For decades, folklorists at Memorial University have had a Mrs. W. R.
King to thank for sharing the local superstition that a lid left off a kettle as tea was steeping was a sure sign a stranger would soon come knocking. But it was not until a project dubbed Missus Monday took off that researchers at the Newfoundland and Labrador university were able to put a full name to their mysterious source. They now know Mrs.
King’s first name was Myrtle, and she worked as a switchboard operator in St. John’s, N.L.
The project of the university’s Folklore and Language Archive aims to find the first names of women who contributed remedies, recipes and local beliefs, but were only credited as a “missus,” with their husband’s last name and often his first name or initials. Nicole Penney, an assistant archivist at the centre said men and unmarried women had their first and last names included, but the tradition was to identify married women with their husbands’ names. “We wanted to put it out there that these women had lost their names, basically,” Penney said in a recent interview.
“They’re all amazing pieces of folklore, and these women deserve the recognition.” From fairies that lure berry pickers over cliffs to “charmers” that can heal toothaches, Newfoundland has a rich folklore tradition that began with the English and Irish fishermen who began settling on the island in the 17th century. Fascinated, an American anthropologist named Herb.