Scrapbook sheds light on what being a teen girl was like on Bell Island in the 1930s

When Newfoundland was a British colony in the 1930s, it wasn’t considered a place at the forefront of fashion.

But for teenager Viola “Olie” Bown of Bell Island, it seems to have been a passion.

Bown’s notebook — a former coal ledger — is full of fashion clippings and knitting patterns in the Everywoman’s Notebook, a scrapbook created by Bown, which is now housed in the archives of The Rooms in St. John’s.

“She definitely had an eye for the glamour,” archive technician Ellen Power told CBC News.

“We were getting this pop culture from outside the province. And definitely who’s on the forefront of trends and fashion? It’s often teenagers. I love that idea of her, you know, carefully clipping out things from different parts of the world and putting them in here.”

The ninth of 12 children, Bown moved to Bell Island from St. John’s when she was young, Power said. Bown’s father ran a coal business in St. John’s in the 1910s, and Olie used his coal ledger to create the scrapbook.

Power said records show Bown had an affinity for English literature and art in school. She worked as a nurse later in life in Halifax and Winnipeg, and as the assistant superintendent for nurses in Newfoundland in the late 1940s.

But Bown’s scrapbook shows her love of fashion. Newspaper clippings show design patterns and clothing to knit.

The book was donated to The Rooms by Bown’s nephew after it spent years in a family home. Power said she sees it as an important tool to look into the lives of teenagers of the time.

“In the ways of teenagers everywhere, she’s got her name written about five different ways to see which decorative signature she likes best,” Power said.

“People don’t think of teenage girls as an important part of history, often. And I like this, it’s sort of an example of we know her to have been a creative, artistic person, and here’s an example of her making her identity.”

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