2002 Obit: BC's Phil Thomas

Subject: Obit: BC's Phil Thomas
From: Jon Bartlett
Date: 12 Apr 07 - 05:07 AM

Until his death, at 86, on January 26 of this year, Phil Thomas was the foremost collector of the folk songs of BC. Without his focused work over the previous 45 years, almost all of the material he found, in every part of the province, would have disappeared. Most of his informants are now dead, and his work could not now be replicated. It is thanks to him and his tenacity in collection, publication and dissemination, that the body of orally transmitted songs – from the logging and fishing industries, from the early settlers in BC, and from the days of the gold rushes – is now known.

In the mid-'fifties, Thomas became interested in folk song, and was soon dissatisfied with the absence of Canadian song. He made connection with Edith Fowke (who until her death was one of English Canada's foremost and most prolific folk song collectors) who hosted a regular national folk music CBC radio show. At that time Fowke had herself begun collecting songs in Ontario. Thereafter, every summer saw Thomas travelling his native province to collect the songs of fishing, homesteading, mining and logging, which form the basis of the PJ Thomas Collection now deposited in the Aural History Archives of BC. Over the course of some twenty-five years, he collected over five hundred items.

Songs made and sung by ordinary British Columbians are primary resources through which we can experience the history, culture, and way of life of people in this province. Without Thomas' collecting work these resources would have been irrevocably lost. The people and contexts which gave birth to the songs are long gone. Thomas caught them in their dying days and bequeathed to us a vital piece of this young province's ephemeral history.

Thomas contributed BC songs to several of Edith Fowke's books (most notably More Folk Songs of Canada (1967), The Penguin Book of Canadian Folk Song (1973) and Singing Our History (1984), and has published many articles on Canadian and especially BC folk song in a variety of journals, bulletins and magazines over the years.

Thomas' seminal work is his Songs of the Pacific Northwest (Saanichton & North Vancouver: Hancock House Publishers, 1979). The book is a unique publication in the field of folk song. Each song, from the earliest in his collection (a broadside ballad of the year 1791 relating to a fight between the Haida of the Queen Charlotte Islands and a Boston fur-trading ship) to the latest (concerning the burning of the S.S. Minto on Arrow Lake in 1968) is located in its geographical and historical landscape. Each song speaks not to long-forgotten moments of military or constitutional history but to the social history of BC citizens, and thus reflects what "ordinary people" felt and still feel about the issues confronting them. In 1980, copies of Songs of the Pacific Northwest were purchased by the Government of BC for every school in BC, and copies are to be found in most libraries. A second edition, revised and enlarged, was completed before his death and will be published in the fall of 2007.

Phil Thomas was interested in the collecting and dissemination of the songs of BC because of a deep and abiding connection to his native province. It was for him not sufficient to merely collect and publish the material – it had to be sung. His own enthusiasm for the songs infected others, and brought about in 1959 the creation of the Vancouver Folk Song Circle, now the oldest such singing collective in the country and one of the oldest on the continent. The Circle itself became the Vancouver Folk Song Society, whose purpose is to promote folk song and especially Canadian folk song, which it has done over the years by organizing twice-monthly singing sessions, a weekly radio show, two national magazines, and workshops and retreats. It has also created a host of singers, anxious to carry on Phil Thomas' work.

In 1980 Thomas produced an LP titled "Where the Fraser River Flows" of many of the songs from his collection, sung by himself and accompanied with banjo, mandolin and guitar. A CD of songs he presented at Expo 86 in Vancouver was released that year. Other singers in the folk genre such as Mad Pudding, Fraser Union, Tête-à-Tête, Linda Allen – who also produced a book of Washington state songs containing several from Phil's collection – and Jon Bartlett and Rika Ruebsaat have also recorded songs from his collection.

BC songs have been disseminated in the classical genre with John Washburn's Vancouver Chamber Choir arranging and performing several of Thomas' songs. The combined performances and CD sales of these singers over the course of over twenty-five years has exposed a very large number of people to the songs in the PJ Thomas collection.

One of biggest impacts of Thomas' BC songs collection is in the field of education. In the 'eighties CBC radio in BC and Manitoba and CKUA in Alberta broadcast a sixteen-part radio series entitled "The Songs and Stories of Canada". The series focused on the songs of Canada and the work and lives of Canadians from whom the songs came. Thirteen of the sixteen programs contain songs from the Thomas collection; three of the programs focus exclusively on these songs. Without the collecting and disseminating work of Phil Thomas, this radio series would not have been possible. Through the BC Ministry of Education "The Songs and Stories of Canada" was made into an educational kit with song-teaching tapes and an extensive teachers' guide. This kit has just been reissued on CD ROM and is being distributed to teachers throughout the province through the Lesson Aids program of the BC Teachers' Federation.

Because of Thomas' work, generations of BC schoolchildren have been singing songs from his collection. They have learned them from their teachers through "The Songs and Stories of Canada" broadcasts and kit and learned them from other singers who have visited schools and sung these songs. Between 1976 and 1983, for example, a group called "Canadian Folk Workshop" toured throughout BC singing songs from Thomas' collection in schools and at teachers' conferences. Pupils have also learned these songs from Phil Thomas himself, both during his years as a classroom teacher and later through his visits to schools after his retirement. For many years Charles Hou, a Social Studies teacher in Burnaby, took his classes on a hike along part of the Gold Rush trail. A feature of this hike was the singing of Gold Rush songs from Thomas' collection. Since Mr. Hou's retirement the hike and the singing of the songs have been carried on by his successors.

In the late 1990's, Thomas presented to the Special Collections Division of the UBC Library his folk music library, now numbering over 7,000 books and other publications.

Phil Thomas received awards from those who know him and his work best: he was an Honorary Life Member of the Vancouver Folk Song Society, the Honorary President of the Canadian Society for Traditional Music, a recipient of the G.A. Fergusson Memorial Award for excellence in teaching (thre highest award of the B.C Teachers' Federation), of the Folklore Studies Association of Canada's Marius Barbeau Medal, and of the Heritage Society of British Columbia's Personal Achievement Award. He was a Life Member of the BC Art Teachers' Association and had been honoured by the American Association for State and Local History. In May 2004 he was honoured at the 33rd Annual Northwest Regional Folklife Festival in Seattle, WA with a concert and panel discussing (and singing) the songs he had collected over the years. It would have been fitting if his own province had recognized his work on behalf of the citizens of BC - the collection, publication and dissemination of their oral song tradition.

Phil Thomas was born 26 March 1921 and educated in Victoria, BC. Following war service in India, he graduated from UBC with a B.A in 1948 and a B. Ed the following year. His teaching career began that year and continued until his retirement in 1981. Apart from one year at the New School, he taught in BC public schools, almost entirely in the Vancouver elementary system.

Thomas' interest in children's art led him in 1953 to becoming a weekend instructor for the Canadian Federation of Artists and for the Vancouver School of Art, and to his work until 1964 with the Child Art Centre at the University of BC. In that year he became the Director of the Children's Saturday Morning Classes at the Vancouver Art Gallery. He was the Founding President of the BC Art Teachers' Association and the author of its report to the Chant Royal Commission in 1958 and was made an Honorary Life Member. He was the 1983 recipient of the G.A. Fergusson Award, the highest honour of the BC Teachers' Federation.

Phil Thomas' interest in folk song began in the mid-'fifties during the early years of the folk revival. Inspired by such singers as Pete Seeger and Woody Guthrie, Phil took up the banjo and began singing folk songs. The revival in Canada at that time was essentially an "echo" to the revival happening in the United States and the repertoire was predominantly American. The absence of Canadian songs as well as his contact with Edith Fowke and her song collecting in Ontario inspired Thomas to begin collecting in BC. For nearly thirty years Thomas spent his summers traversing the province collecting songs. In the 'seventies this collection was consolidated and catalogued and housed in the Aural History Archives of the BC Provincial Museum.

With his wife Hilda and two others, Thomas founded in 1959 the Vancouver Folk Song Society. He served many years on its Board and was made a Life Member in 1975. His connection with Dr. Fowke led him to join the Canadian Folk Music Society in 1970 and to begin serving on the Society's Board in 1971. He served on that Board until his death, and was made Honorary President in 1999. He had given presentations, performances and workshops in BC folk song at a variety of festivals (notably at the Spokane World's Fair in 1974, at the First and Third Vancouver Folk Music Festivals in 1979 and 1981, at Expo 86 in Vancouver, at Folklife in Seattle and at Toronto's Mariposa Festival in 1982), on radio and TV shows, and at conferences of music educators. He was honoured at the May 2004 Northwest Regional Folklife Festival as the Pacific Northwest's most prestigious collector.

The folk songs of British Columbia reflect the diverse cultural and occupational heritage of the Province and the daily life of its people in a form that remains accessible to this day. Thanks to the work of Philip J. Thomas, current and future generations of British Columbians will continue to sing and hear those folk songs and through the songs, they will understand the lives of the people who created them and the places that formed their lives. Every BC schoolchild who sings about the Kettle Valley Line, the Fraser River Gold Rush or the Cariboo Road owes a debt to Phil Thomas; so too do the loggers, farmers and fishers, and the urban dwellers of Vancouver and Victoria who know how their predecessors lived through their songs.

- Jon Bartlett

Subject: RE: Obit: BC's Phil Thomas
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 12 Apr 07 - 05:46 PM

Good article. Is this something that you have published elsewhere?

Maggie

Subject: RE: Obit: BC's Phil Thomas
From: Jon Bartlett
Date: 12 Apr 07 - 08:20 PM

Hi Maggie. It'll be in the next issue of the Canadian Society for Traditional Music's Bulletin.

Jon Bartlett

Subject: RE: Obit: BC's Phil Thomas
From: Stewart
Date: 12 Apr 07 - 08:23 PM

I feel very honored to have known Phil since I moved to Seattle and met him at my first Rainy Camp in 1997. I saw him at every RC since with the exception of one or two. At our first meeting he introduced himself and we talked for quite a while. In fact we always talked, he mostly, and he was also noted for his long scholarly introductions to his songs, ending with Hilda saying "Phil, just sing the song now!" The last time a saw him at RC, a little over a year ago, he was obviously grieving over Hilda's death, and I transcribed to CD a home-made tape of Hilda singing one of her most touching songs. He was very grateful to have that.

Some years ago I purchased his "Songs of the Pacific Northwest" as a used book over the internet. When I showed him my copy where it was stamped inside "Property of such-and-such School in B.C." he said "Damn! and to think we gave those books free to all the schools." He then took the trouble to give me some corrections and updates to some of the pages.

Phil could have nothing to do with religion, organized or otherwise, and we would talk about that as two former Unitarians who had managed to kick the religion habit. There was always something interesting to talk to Phil about.

Phil always had a kind word for me, and I guess that's what I appreciated most about him. I will miss seeing him at Rain Camp, but treasure his memory.

Cheers, S. in Seattle

Subject: RE: Obit: BC's Phil Thomas
From: Deckman
Date: 12 Apr 07 - 08:46 PM

I only met him once, and most fitting, it was at John Dwyer's memorial hoot. He was tall, lanky, but exuded an aura. I know him mostly through the respect that many of our NorthWest singers exhibit, as well as his book.

Jon ... thank you for posting this. Bob Nelson ... still in Everett

Subject: RE: Obit: BC's Phil Thomas
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 13 Apr 07 - 12:12 AM

My sister Katy and I sat behind Phil and Hilda at Dad's memorial hoot. I'd heard about Phil from Dad many times over the years, so was looking out for him, but we hadn't introduced ourselves yet when someone requested "Amphioxus." I'm sure he was clued into our identity because Katy and I sang the entire song while everyone else let Bruce Baker sing the verses from a book and only joined on the chorus. Phil remarked at the end of the song that "someone knows the words!" You get to know what someone has in their repertoire. I still get calls and emails from people asking about songs they knew my father used to sing, so I'm sure the same thing will occur with Phil's collection. People know what kind of songs he might have come across. And in his instance, he made sure to put it in place at the university where people can access it. What foresight! (I think he must have given the collection to UBC in the mid-1990s, because he'd already done it by the time Dad died in Nov. 1997. We spoke about his collection around that time.)

Maggie

Subject: RE: Obit: BC's Phil Thomas
From: Jon Bartlett
Date: 13 Apr 07 - 01:38 AM

Yes, the initial gift was in the 90's (I catalogued the first 5,000 or so) but he never stopped: he was continually buying to augmnent the collection. I don't know what UCLA have in the way of a folk music collection, but I suspect that Phil's is one of the largest on the West Coast.

Jon Bartlett

Subject: RE: Obit: BC's Phil Thomas
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 13 Apr 07 - 11:21 AM

Sorry--a few too many pronouns in that last post. I was leading up to the fact that Phil figured out who we were because he knew who would logically know that song. Afterwards he turned and introduced himself to us. I agree with Bob, Phil really was a presence in the room.

Thanks for all of your work, Jon.

SRS

Subject: RE: Obit: BC's Phil Thomas
From: Mudjack
Date: 13 Apr 07 - 02:13 PM

I too have had the honor and privledge to meet and talk with Phil at Rainy Camp. He and Hilda were folks I always looked forward to seeing again. A wealth of information on most any area folk songs and now I realize that I had only seen the surface of his vast knowledge. Like Stewart mentioned, always had a kind word.
Thank you Jon for your posting of Phil's accomplishments. I will copy/paste to my own document to save and treasure it.
Mudjack

Subject: RE: Obit: BC's Phil Thomas
From: Stewart
Date: 14 Apr 07 - 02:06 PM

Just to keep this from falling off the bottom of the page, I'll add something more.

As I recall, when I entered the main lodge at Rainy Camp for the first time in 1997 there was this tall, lanky man standing there. He immediately came up to me, introduced himself, and from then on we became good friends. No pretensions, just very friendly and open. That's how I remember Phil.

Cheers, S. in Seattle

Subject: RE: Obit: BC's Phil Thomas
From: Stewart
Date: 16 Apr 07 - 04:11 PM

Days Like This - sung by Hilda (see link to mp3). A tribute to Phil.

Cheers, S. in Seattle