My blogosphere adventures began in 2014 and, from the very beginning, posting little stories and noticings has brought me great pleasure. Recently my output has slowed to a trickle but stuff on the internet endures, and with the wonderful support of the Halifax Bloggers site (thanks, Kate and Michael!) folks continue to find my material and sometimes they contact me with a few small rewards. Here are some examples of what I’m talking about.
Rockhead Prison
Around 1970 I visited the recently closed Rockhead Prison, in the in the far north end of the Halifax peninsula, and took some artsy photos of the abandoned buildings. See the whole collection of photos here.
The story of Rockhead has been elusive, until now. The new publication, The Undesirables: A History of Rockhead Prison by Katie Ingram, shines a spotlight on the life of the prison and its prisoners. I was delighted that she asked to use several of my photos in her book, and for the cover! When she brought me a copy we of course took a selfie.
No more boring art.
At the Art Gallery of Nova Scotia until January 25, 2026 is an extraordinary installation, No More Boring Art, created by artists Teresa Hubbard and Alexander Birchler, based in Austin, Texas. Their meticulous research reveals forgotten stories behind one of the most significant works of the conceptual art movement, John Baldissari ‘s No more boring art, created and exhibited at the Nova Scotia College of Art and Design in 1971.
Some of my blog posts recount memories and photos of Halifax in the 1960s and 70s and these were useful background for Teresa Hubbard, who first interviewed me in 2019 about what it was like to be a young person in Halifax and around the Art College in 1971. More recently she had challenging questions like, was there a bus stop across from the Anna Leonowens Gallery on Coburg Road in 1971 and what did it look like? It turns out random memories from 50 or 60 years ago can be more interesting and useful than you might imagine.
I’m honoured that the artists included a photo from my post on demonstrations in their brilliant installation.
Encounter on the Urban Environment
I’m a huge fan of a National Film Board documentary about a week in January 1970 when 12 experts from “away” came to Halifax to listen to and question folks in Halifax. They learned about issues that still sound very familiar: poverty, housing, poor planning, lack of respect and trust between all levels of government. I produced a post suggesting the film was essential viewing for people who cared about Halifax.
I have always had questions about how Encounter could have come about. Now there is a great tell all book, Seven Days in Halifax: When citizens confronted the racists, liars and incompetents who ran their city by Robert Ashe. My blog post turns up when Encounter is searched, and Formac, the publishers of the book, reached out and generously sent me a copy, just because. You’ll find it essential reading too.
Here the new book sits on some photos of mine from back in the day.
Great-great-grand parents Daniel and Alice Bailey
And finally a miraculous discovery that brought to life a fragment of my own family history from 150 years ago! In October I got a message from a stranger in Ontario saying she had a Bible inscribed “ Mr and Mrs Daniel Bailey” of Westport. Could this be the same Daniel Bailey I mentioned in a blog post about returning two family quilts to their home on Digby Neck? Why yes, I believe those were my great-great-grand parents.
The Bible had been purchased in the 1990s in an antique shop in a small Ontario town and we have no idea how it got from Brier Island to there. The fancy cover is embossed in gold with “D & A Bailey”. This type of theatrical Bible was popular when it was originally purchased in the early 1870s and made a conspicuous show of piety when displayed in your parlour. What really attracted my attention is that I knew a tiny bit about a Bailey family Bible and perhaps this was it.
My grandmother Mary (born in 1867) wrote a memoir describing her adventures growing up on Brier Island with grandparents Daniel and Alice Bailey, and then travelling the Atlantic with her seafaring parents. Young Mary had a treasured French doll named Luella (porcelain head, real hair, and kid body). Grandma wrote “I played with [Luella] when I wanted to and when I was tired of her put her on the parlor table by the family Bible.”
There is a photo of Mary holding her doll Luella c1870.
Luella survives, so we can now imagine the fancy doll sitting next to that fancy Bible. Today the image of that scary doll + gold-encrusted Bible in a Victorian parlour might feel a tad creepy, but I’m sure in 1870 it felt innocent and sweet.
Found in the Bible was a single photo of an unidentified man. There is no known photo of Daniel Bailey so there is not a zero chance it could be him. My great-great-grandfather could have a face!
Here is a quilt made by Alice Bailey in front of the grave stone for her and husband Daniel.
So there
See what a gift these little surprise encounters have been for me? Many small acts of trying to remember past times. Working against the downward spiral of forgetting.
Postscript
Luella has now found a forever home in the Maritime Museum of the Atlantic, along with other artifacts associated with my grandmother and her life at sea. The doll has made appearances on the Museum’s social media accounts at Halloween, because if you look into Luella’s big blue eyes for a little too long, you get the heebie-jeebies.
Photo Maritime Museum of the Atlantic
