Tallying the Tales of the Old-Timers

Barbara B. Aitken is a public services librarian in the Douglas Library
at Queen’s University, a board certified genealogical record specialist, and a member of the Association of Professional Genealogists.

Joan Finnigan, the author of more than 10 books on the Ottawa Valley, is
a fine storyteller and oral historian. This volume, her fifth
oral/social history of the Ottawa Valley, comprises 21 tales and stories
that she gathered on her trips up and down the Valley, sitting in the
kitchens of loggers, trappers, and retired OPP constables, among other
Valley people. Finnigan retells the stories as she heard them, perfectly
capturing the idioms, the folk language, and the wonderful Valley humor
that come through in these stories. Complementing the life stories of
these Valley people are fine photographic illustrations.

Tallying the Tales of the Old-Timers would be a welcome addition to
Canadiana collections in public and academic libraries.