Beryl Mildred Cryer (1889–1980) was a Canadian writer about Indigenous cultures on
Vancouver Island
Vancouver Island is an island in the northeastern Pacific Ocean and part of the Canadian province of British Columbia. The island is in length, in width at its widest point, and in total area, while are of land. The island is the largest ...
.
Biography
Beryl Mildred Cryer was born in England in 1889, and migrated to Canada with her family as a child. She lived in
Chemainus
Chemainus is a community within the municipality of North Cowichan in the Chemainus River, Chemainus Valley on the east coast of southern Vancouver Island, British Columbia, Canada.
Founded as an unincorporated logging town in 1858, Chemainu ...
, BC for much of her life. She died in
Welland, Ontario
Welland is a city in the Regional Municipality of Niagara in Southern Ontario, Canada. As of 2021, it had a population of 55,750.
The city is in the centre of Niagara and located within a half-hour driving distance to Niagara Falls, Ontario, N ...
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
Vancouver Island is an island in the northeastern Pacific Ocean and part of the Canadian province of British Columbia. The island is in length, in width at its widest point, and in total area, while are of land. The island is the largest ...
. 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 Gulf Islands is a group of islands in the Salish Sea between Vancouver Island and the British Columbia Coast, mainland coast of British Columbia.
Etymology
The name "Gulf Islands" comes from "Gulf of Georgia", the original term used by Geor ...
, the lower
Fraser River
The Fraser River () is the longest river within British Columbia, Canada, rising at Fraser Pass near Blackrock Mountain (Canada), Blackrock Mountain in the Rocky Mountains and flowing for , into the Strait of Georgia just south of the City of V ...
, and beyond.
Cryer's correspondence related to her research and writing is held by the
BC Archives.
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.
The British Colonist(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
The University of Victoria (UVic) is a public research university located in the municipalities of Oak Bay, British Columbia, Oak Bay and Saanich, British Columbia, Canada. Established in 1903 as Victoria College, British Columbia, Victoria Col ...
, 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