[{"id":"8337","cataloger_name":["Leah,Van Dyk"],"partnerInstitution":["University of Calgary"],"collection_source_collection":["Earle Birney fonds"],"source_collection_label":["Earle Birney fonds"],"collection_contributing_unit":["University of Calgary, Archives and Special Collections"],"source_collection_uri":[""],"collection_image_url":[""],"collection_source_collection_id":[""],"persistent_url":["https://searcharchives.ucalgary.ca/index.php/earle-birney-fonds"],"item_title":["Earle Birney reading an anti-Christmas poem written for Gaudy Night at Massey College"],"item_title_source":["Transcribed from the artifact"],"item_title_note":["Label of recording title. Label reading \"also: Mens Sportwear Dept; Oil Refinery\". Box stamped JS 0X6."],"item_language":["English"],"item_production_context":["Studio recording"],"item_identifiers":["[7.2]"],"rights":["The Public Domain Mark (PDM)"],"creator_names":["Birney, Earle"],"creator_names_search":["Birney, Earle"],"creators":["[{\"url\":\"http://viaf.org/viaf/97679781\",\"name\":\"Birney, Earle\",\"dates\":\"1904-1995\",\"notes\":\"\",\"nation\":[],\"role\":[\"Author\",\"Performer\"]}]"],"contributors":["[{\"url\":\"\",\"name\":\"\",\"dates\":\"\",\"notes\":\"\",\"nation\":[],\"role\":[]}]"],"Performance_Date":[1966],"material_description":["[{\"side\":\"\",\"image\":\"\",\"other\":\"\",\"extent\":\"1/4 inch\",\"AV_types\":\"Audio\",\"tape_brand\":\"CBC Radio - Canada\",\"generations\":\"\",\"Conservation\":\"\",\"equalization\":\"\",\"playback_mode\":\"\",\"playing_speed\":\"7 1/2 ips\",\"sound_quality\":\"Excellent\",\"recording_type\":\"Analogue\",\"storage_capacity\":\"\",\"physical_condition\":\"Good\",\"track_configuration\":\"\",\"material_designation\":\"Reel to Reel\",\"physical_composition\":\"Magnetic Tape\",\"accompanying_material\":\"\",\"other_physical_description\":\"\"}]"],"material_designations":["Reel to Reel"],"physical_compositions":["Magnetic Tape"],"recording_type":["Analogue"],"AV_type":["Audio"],"digital_description":["[{\"file_url\":\"\",\"file_path\":\"\",\"filename\":\"Birney_MsC_13.7.2\",\"channel_field\":\"\",\"sample_rate\":\"\",\"duration\":\"T00:23:25\",\"precision\":\"\",\"size\":\"385.76 MB\",\"bitrate\":\"\",\"encoding\":\"\",\"contents\":\"\",\"notes\":\"\",\"title\":\"\",\"credit\":\"\",\"caption\":\"\",\"content_type\":\"\",\"featured\":\"\",\"public_access_url\":\"\"}]"],"Dates":["[{\"date\":\"1966\",\"type\":\"Performance Date\",\"notes\":\"Date taken from creation dates listed for item level descriptions in archival finding aid for the Earle Birney fonds Item number 7.2\",\"source\":\"\"}]"],"Location":["[{\"url\":\"https://nominatim.openstreetmap.org/ui/details.html?osmtype=R&osmid=4323&class=building\",\"venue\":\"Massey College, University of Toronto\",\"notes\":\"\",\"address\":\"4, Devonshire Place, Toronto, Ontario, Canada\",\"latitude\":\"[43.6649588]\",\"longitude\":\"[-79.39736752484228]\"}]"],"Address":["4, Devonshire Place, Toronto, Ontario, Canada"],"Venue":["Massey College, University of Toronto"],"City":["Toronto, Ontario"],"content_notes":["Title based on contents of file.\n- Studio recording of an Anti-Christmas poem requested for Gaudy Night at Massey College, where Birney is in residence.\n- Mixture of plagiarism, found texts accounted and unaccounted for.\n- Opens with a carol from the 16th century, which Birney reads in Middle English. Birney indicates when he is reading quotes. Includes Gaudy Night prayer.\n- Birney also reads holiday prose poem \"Saved by Santa from a Poet's Death: A True Story,\" and two other poems \"Eaton's Men's Sportswear Department\" and \"Oil Refinery.\" “Oil Refinery” was written after Birney spent the night in an oil refinery on the Pacific coast, and it is cast in Anglo-Saxon meter and style.\n"],"contents":["Earle Birney  \n[00:00:00]  \nReads \"Anti-Christmas poem\".  \nEarle Birney  \n[00:12:50]  \nReads \"Saved by Santa from a Poet's Death: A True Story\".  \nEarle Birney  \n[00:20:12]  \nReads \"Eaton's Men's Sportswear Department\".  \nEarle Birney  \n[00:21:10]  \nReads \"Oil Refinery\"."],"Note":["[{\"note\":\"\",\"type\":\"\"}]"],"Related_works":["[{\"url\":\"\",\"citation\":\"\"}]"],"_version_":1853670558517952515,"timestamp":"2026-01-07T15:00:02.734Z","score":3.8301067},{"id":"8353","cataloger_name":["Leah,Van Dyk"],"partnerInstitution":["University of Calgary"],"collection_source_collection":["Earle Birney fonds"],"source_collection_label":["Earle Birney fonds"],"collection_contributing_unit":["University of Calgary, Archives and Special Collections"],"source_collection_uri":[""],"collection_image_url":[""],"collection_source_collection_id":[""],"persistent_url":["https://searcharchives.ucalgary.ca/index.php/earle-birney-fonds"],"item_title":["Earle Birney reading from Ice, cod, bell or stone and Near False Creek mouth."],"item_title_source":["Transcribed from the artifact"],"item_title_note":["Label of recording title and included poems taped to box. Box stamped JS 0X6."],"item_language":["English"],"item_production_context":["Studio recording"],"item_identifiers":["[7.4(.2)]"],"rights":["The Public Domain Mark (PDM)"],"creator_names":["Birney, Earle"],"creator_names_search":["Birney, Earle"],"creators":["[{\"url\":\"http://viaf.org/viaf/97679781\",\"name\":\"Birney, Earle\",\"dates\":\"1904-1995\",\"notes\":\"\",\"nation\":[],\"role\":[\"Author\",\"Performer\"]}]"],"contributors":["[{\"url\":\"\",\"name\":\"\",\"dates\":\"\",\"notes\":\"\",\"nation\":[],\"role\":[]}]"],"Performance_Date":[1966],"material_description":["[{\"side\":\"\",\"image\":\"\",\"other\":\"\",\"extent\":\"1/4 inch\",\"AV_types\":\"Audio\",\"tape_brand\":\"CBC Radio - Canada\",\"generations\":\"\",\"Conservation\":\"\",\"equalization\":\"\",\"playback_mode\":\"\",\"playing_speed\":\"7 1/2 ips\",\"sound_quality\":\"Excellent\",\"recording_type\":\"Analogue\",\"storage_capacity\":\"\",\"physical_condition\":\"Good\",\"track_configuration\":\"\",\"material_designation\":\"Reel to Reel\",\"physical_composition\":\"Magnetic Tape\",\"accompanying_material\":\"\",\"other_physical_description\":\"\"}]"],"material_designations":["Reel to Reel"],"physical_compositions":["Magnetic Tape"],"recording_type":["Analogue"],"AV_type":["Audio"],"digital_description":["[{\"file_url\":\"\",\"file_path\":\"\",\"filename\":\"Birney_MsC_13.7.4-2\",\"channel_field\":\"\",\"sample_rate\":\"\",\"duration\":\"T00:26:41\",\"precision\":\"\",\"size\":\"439.60 MB\",\"bitrate\":\"\",\"encoding\":\"\",\"contents\":\"\",\"notes\":\"\",\"title\":\"\",\"credit\":\"\",\"caption\":\"\",\"content_type\":\"\",\"featured\":\"\",\"public_access_url\":\"\"}]"],"Dates":["[{\"date\":\"1966\",\"type\":\"Performance Date\",\"notes\":\"Dates supplied through research for copyright.\",\"source\":\"\"}]"],"Location":["[{\"url\":\"\",\"venue\":\"\",\"notes\":\"\",\"address\":\"Toronto [?], Ontario, Canada\",\"latitude\":\"\",\"longitude\":\"\"}]"],"Address":["Toronto [?], Ontario, Canada"],"City":["Toronto, Ontario"],"content_notes":["Title based on contents of file.\n- Readings which do not appear in Selected Poems\n- “Most of a Dialogue”: A long monologue/half a dialogue. Imagine a Canadian woman talking to an American woman.\n- “Bueno Aires”: Headed by a quotation from Argentinian poet Rafael Alberti.\n- “Orphiasco”: Homage to novelist Ivy Compton-Burnett.\n- “Can. Hist”: A short course in Canadian history.\n- Strait of Anian: initially going to read “Prairie Counterpoint” then decides not to read it on this tape and instead read “Reverse”.\n- “Driftwood”: Written for friend Einer Neilsen of Bowen Island.\n"],"contents":["Earle Birney\n[00:00:00]\nReads \"Most of a Dialogue in Cuzco\".\nEarle Birney\n[00:09:35]\nReads \"Buenos Aires: 1962\".\nEarle Birney\n[00:15:04]\nReads \"Orphiasco\".\nEarle Birney\n[00:16:07]\nReads \"Can. Hist.\".\nEarle Birney\n[00:17:00]\nReads \"Fine Arts\".\nEarle Birney\n[00:17:20]\nReads \"Candidate's Prayer Before Master's Oral\".\nEarle Birney\n[00:18:36]\nReads \"Testimony of a Canadian Educational Leader\".\nEarle Birney\n[00:22:10]\nReads \"Reverse on the Coast Range\".\nEarle Birney\n[00:24:40]\nReads \"Driftwood\"."],"Note":["[{\"note\":\"\",\"type\":\"\"}]"],"Related_works":["[{\"url\":\"\",\"citation\":\"Near False Creek Mouth; The Strait of Anian\"}]"],"_version_":1853670558522146816,"timestamp":"2026-01-07T15:00:02.734Z","score":3.8301067},{"id":"8354","cataloger_name":["Leah,Van Dyk"],"partnerInstitution":["University of Calgary"],"collection_source_collection":["Earle Birney fonds"],"source_collection_label":["Earle Birney fonds"],"collection_contributing_unit":["University of Calgary, Archives and Special Collections"],"source_collection_uri":[""],"collection_image_url":[""],"collection_source_collection_id":[""],"persistent_url":["https://searcharchives.ucalgary.ca/index.php/earle-birney-fonds"],"item_title":["Earle Birney reading from The Strait of Anian."],"item_title_source":["Transcribed from the artifact"],"item_title_note":["Label of recording title and included poems taped to box. Box stamped JH 2W5."],"item_language":["English"],"item_production_context":["Studio recording"],"item_identifiers":["[7.5]"],"rights":["The Public Domain Mark (PDM)"],"creator_names":["Birney, Earle"],"creator_names_search":["Birney, Earle"],"creators":["[{\"url\":\"http://viaf.org/viaf/97679781\",\"name\":\"Birney, Earle\",\"dates\":\"1904-1995\",\"notes\":\"\",\"nation\":[],\"role\":[\"Author\",\"Performer\"]}]"],"contributors":["[{\"url\":\"\",\"name\":\"\",\"dates\":\"\",\"notes\":\"\",\"nation\":[],\"role\":[]}]"],"Performance_Date":[1966],"material_description":["[{\"side\":\"\",\"image\":\"\",\"other\":\"\",\"extent\":\"1/4 inch\",\"AV_types\":\"Audio\",\"tape_brand\":\"CBC Radio - Canada\",\"generations\":\"\",\"Conservation\":\"\",\"equalization\":\"\",\"playback_mode\":\"\",\"playing_speed\":\"7 1/2 ips\",\"sound_quality\":\"Excellent\",\"recording_type\":\"Analogue\",\"storage_capacity\":\"\",\"physical_condition\":\"Good\",\"track_configuration\":\"\",\"material_designation\":\"Reel to Reel\",\"physical_composition\":\"Magnetic Tape\",\"accompanying_material\":\"\",\"other_physical_description\":\"\"}]"],"material_designations":["Reel to Reel"],"physical_compositions":["Magnetic Tape"],"recording_type":["Analogue"],"AV_type":["Audio"],"digital_description":["[{\"file_url\":\"\",\"file_path\":\"\",\"filename\":\"Birney_MsC_13.7.5\",\"channel_field\":\"\",\"sample_rate\":\"\",\"duration\":\"T00:27:01\",\"precision\":\"\",\"size\":\"445.12 MB\",\"bitrate\":\"\",\"encoding\":\"\",\"contents\":\"\",\"notes\":\"\",\"title\":\"\",\"credit\":\"\",\"caption\":\"\",\"content_type\":\"\",\"featured\":\"\",\"public_access_url\":\"\"}]"],"Dates":["[{\"date\":\"1966\",\"type\":\"Performance Date\",\"notes\":\"Dates supplied through research for copyright.\",\"source\":\"\"}]"],"Location":["[{\"url\":\"\",\"venue\":\"\",\"notes\":\"\",\"address\":\"Toronto [?], Ontario, Canada\",\"latitude\":\"\",\"longitude\":\"\"}]"],"Address":["Toronto [?], Ontario, Canada"],"City":["Toronto, Ontario"],"content_notes":["Title based on contents of file.\n- “Prairie”: Poem in sections, written back in 1945. Includes poetic speaker in addition to Birney, an old farmer (?).\n- The rest of the poems have to do with the Second World War.\n- “For Steve”: Elegy for his friend Steve Cutwright. They trained together before Steve joined the Air Force. Died as Birney was preparing to ship over to Europe. Written in 1943.\n- “And the Earth”: Written in Ash, Surrey, England. The title line comes from a poem by Shelley.\n- “Invasion”: Next spring (from the previous poem), in southern England 1944. Just before D-Day, when bombers were flying overhead at a rate of one thousand a day. Written for Margaret Crossland.\n- “D-Day”: Written on the evening of D-Day in Surrey. Birney “feeling very much out of it.”\n- “Caverned”: Written later that same year (1944), when in Belgium. Written for two Belgians who hosted Birney, were compelled to host Birney but were not compelled to be his friends. Wrote this poem for them when he left for Holland.\n- “VE-Night”: Back in England after hospitalization. Walked out of the hospital to the center of London on VE Night, wrote this poem in a pub some point that night.\n- “Death”: Written just before coming home, 1945."],"contents":["Earle Birney\n[00:00:00]\nReads \"Prairie Counterpoint\".\nEarle Birney\n[00:05:32]\nReads \"For Steve\".\nEarle Birney\n[00:14:45]\nReads \"And the Earth Grow Young Again\".\nEarle Birney\n[00:17:30]\nReads \"Invasion Spring\".\nEarle Birney\n[00:19:04]\nReads \"D-Day\".\nEarle Birney\n[00:20:40]\nReads \"Within these Caverned Days\".\nEarle Birney\n[00:23:00]\nReads \"VE-night\".\nEarle Birney\n[00:24:45]\nReads \"Death of a War\"."],"Note":["[{\"note\":\"\",\"type\":\"\"}]"],"Related_works":["[{\"url\":\"\",\"citation\":\"The Strait of Anian\"}]"],"_version_":1853670558522146817,"timestamp":"2026-01-07T15:00:02.734Z","score":3.8301067}]