Beryl Mildred Cryer (1889–1980) was a Canadian writer about Indigenous cultures on
Vancouver Island.
Biography
Beryl Mildred Cryer was born in England in 1889, and migrated to Canada with her family as a child. She lived in
Chemainus, BC for much of her life. She died in
Welland, Ontario in 1980.
Work
An educated woman from a privileged background, and married to a businessman, Beryl Cryer was both a homemaker, and a journalist and newspaper columnist. She was introduced by her neighbour
Mary Rice (Tzea-Mntenaht) and also by
Jennie Wyse (Tstass-Aya) and other Elders, to cultural traditions and narratives of the
Hul'qumi'num
Halkomelem (; in the Upriver dialect, in the Island dialect, and in the Downriver dialect) is a language of various First Nations peoples of the British Columbia Coast. It is spoken in what is now British Columbia, ranging from southeastern ...
people and this connection was key, allowing her to receive the stories of places and people that feature in so much of her writing.
The stories that she gathered from Elders, mostly women, through her relationship with Mary Rice were the source of many newspaper articles about Indigenous life and history on Vancouver Island, including oral narrative stories published between 1929 and 1935 in the ''
Victoria Daily Colonist Sunday Magazine.''
She also published the book
Flying Canoe: Legends of the Cowichans' in 1949.
Highlighting the unique value of Cryer's work, scholar Sarah Morales reflects that Cryer didn't guide her interviewees, but rather listened carefully and recorded the stories of the Elders just as they were told to her, resulting in a richness and completeness not found in other
ethnographic sources.
Legacy
Cryer's writings, and the stories passed on through her by many
Hul’qumi’num Elders, have been an important and unique resource both to Indigenous and settler communities, and to scholarship in the social life and history of
Vancouver Island. These works include:
* Chris Arnett and Beryl Mildred Cryer
''Two houses half-buried in sand: Oral traditions of the Hul'q'umi'num' Coast Salish of Kuper Island and Vancouver Island'' Vancouver: Talonbooks, 2007.
* John Lutz,
Makúk: A New History of Aboriginal-White Relations'' Vancouver: UBC Press, 2014.
* The
Two Houses Half-Buried in Sand Digital Map' which aims to revive the legacy of Beryl Cryer's Hul'qumi'num contributors, providing a visual, interactive interface that locates these stories in place and mobilizes Hul'qumi'num perspectives of ancestral landscapes and waters on and around Vancouver Island, the
Gulf Islands, the lower
Fraser River
The Fraser River is the longest river within British Columbia, Canada, rising at Fraser Pass near Blackrock Mountain in the Rocky Mountains and flowing for , into the Strait of Georgia just south of the City of Vancouver. The river's annual d ...
, and beyond.
Cryer's correspondence related to her research and writing is held by the
BC Archives
BC most often refers to:
* Before Christ, a calendar era based on the traditionally reckoned year of the birth of Jesus of Nazareth
* British Columbia, the westernmost province of Canada
* Baja California, a state of Mexico
BC may also refer to: ...
.
Further reading
* Arnett, Chris, and Beryl Mildred Cryer
''Two houses half-buried in sand: Oral traditions of the Hul'q'umi'num' Coast Salish of Kuper Island and Vancouver Island'' Vancouver: Talonbooks, 2007.
(1858-1980)
* Cryer, B.M. “1898, The Halhed Family.” I
''Memories of the Chemainus Valley: A history of people: Saltair, Chemainus, Westholme, Crofton, Thetis, Kuper and Reid Islands'' hemainus, B.C.: Chemainus Valley Historical Society, 1978. pp:229-240.
* Littlefield, Loraine. “Beryl Cryer and the stories she collected.” ''SHALE: Journal of the Gabriola Historical & Museum Society'' no. 6 (April 2003): 9-13. Retrieved from: https://www.nickdoe.ca/pdfs/Webp2142c.pdf
*
University of Victoria, Anthropology, Ethnographic Mapping Lab
''Two Houses Half-Buried in Sand: Reviving the Legacies of 1930s-era Hul'qumi'num story-tellers''
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Cryer, Beryl Mildred
1889 births
1980 deaths
20th-century Canadian women writers
20th-century Canadian writers
British emigrants to Canada