1

James Gibson was born in 1929.
He is included in this exhibit because he grew up in Toronto, but now resides in St Catharines.

James' interviews took place on July 22 and 26, and on August 27, 2008. His interviewers were Lyn Royce (LR) and Natalie Przybyl (NP), accompanied by Wilma Morrison (WM) and Lynette Roberts (LR2).

2

James Gibson - Dad's Book and Birthdate Records
22 July 2008
Peer Street, Niagara Falls, Ontario, Canada

Credits:
Recorded by: K.E. Lyn Royce and Natalie Przybyl
Transcribed by: K.E. Lyn Royce and Natalie Przybyl

3

James Gibson' s father's record of his children's birthdates - part 1
1929-1935
Toronto, Ontario, Canada
TEXT ATTACHMENT


Credits:
Courtesy James Gibson

4

James Gibson's father's record of his children's birthdates - part 2
1936-1938
Toronto, Ontario, Canada
TEXT ATTACHMENT


Credits:
Courtesy James Gibson

5

Complete Letter Writer, reference book of James Gibson`s father
1900-1910
Toronto, Ontario, Canada
TEXT ATTACHMENT


Credits:
Courtesy James Gibson

6

James Gibson - No Money, but They Dressed!
22 July 2008
Peer Street, Niagara Falls, Ontario, Canada

Credits:
Recorded by: K.E. Lyn Royce and Natalie Przybyl
Transcribed by: K.E. Lyn Royce and Natalie Przybyl

7

Gibson Family Portrait - James Gibson, 3rd from right, is about 16 years old
20th Century, circa 1945
Toronto, Ontario, Canada
TEXT ATTACHMENT


Credits:
Courtesy: Jimmy Gibson

8

James Gibson - 6 Kids in 10 Years during the Depression
22 July 2008
Peer Street, Niagara Falls, Ontario, Canada

Credits:
Recorded by: K.E. Lyn Royce and Natalie Przybyl
Transcribed by: K.E. Lyn Royce and Natalie Przybyl

9

Housing, typical of Augusta Street, Toronto, during James Gibson's childhood
23 March 1939
Toronto, Ontario, Canada
TEXT ATTACHMENT


Credits:
City of Toronto Archives, Series 372, Sub-series 33, Item 507

10

Excerpted from the recorded interview with James Gibson (with Wilma Morrison; Lyn Royce interviewing):

JG: And there, Spadina was off that way, there was this street here, there was a coupla houses there, and this big field. Then the Bowens, and a few houses, then Augusta. This large field. I can remember one day, they began to work in this field, and they were gonna, somebody was gonna to turn it into housing, you know. Lots; separating it into lots, but there was trenches, ah, separating, I don't know why they had trenches, but there was, it was trenches to us kids. And we used to play war in these trenches, okay? All right? And naturally in war, you get wounded. Right? The only ones that got wounded were the girls [laughs very heartily]. And I was the doctor. Okay? And I remember this Jewish girl, her, I still know her name, her name is Minku [sp?], I wish I could see her today. Minku... she was heavy, but she was round; heavy and round. And Minku was always sick. Always got wounded. And I was the doctor that always... fixed up Minku. Sometimes, I'd look in her ears; sometimes, I'd look in the eye... 'Open your mouth, Minku!' all that and I'd look in her throat...

WM: Let's not go any farther...

JG: I'd have to...

WM: No!

JG: I'd have to look at her chest.

WM: No.

JG: Well, Minku wasn't developed then, okay.

WM: Oh.

JG: I'd look at her chest, and then if there was anything in her behind I had to look there too.

WM: Whoa!

JG: Alright? Well there wasn't anything on Minku that I didn't look at [laughs].

WM: Mhmm! And did she get cured?

JG: And I fixed her!

WM: Oh!

JG: I fixed her!

WM: Oh, okay.

JG: Can you imagine? We had lollypop...

WM: NO!

JG: ...lollypop, popsicle sticks... [laughs heartily]

WM: Playin' doctor.

JG: All right, cured 1, then we'd go back to war, I guess, okay?

LR: So how long did you live in Kensington?

JG: Oh geez, I don't know.

11

James Gibson - Blowing up the Tree
22 July 2008
Peer Street, Niagara Falls, Ontario, Canada

Credits:
Recorded by:K.E. Lyn Royce and Natalie Przybyl
Transcribed by: K.E. Lyn Royce and Natalie Przybyl

12

James Gibson - Working the Sideshow at the Canadian National Exhibition
22 July 2008
Peer Street, Niagara Falls, Ontario, Canada

Credits:
Recorded by: K.E. Lyn Royce and Natalie Przybyl
Transcribed by: K.E. Lyn Royce and Natalie Przybyl

13

Member of the African Exhibit at the CNE, possibly James Gibson
circa 1937
Toronto, Ontario, Canada

Credits:
CNe Archives, Photo Collection, C1, File 214, Midway Shows, c. 1937

14

CNE African Exhibit, circa 1937
c. 1937
Toronto, Ontario, Canada

Credits:
CNE Archives, Photo Collection, C1, File 214, Midway Shows, c. 1937