Ralph Pastore Pioneers Scholarship 2013

Dr. Ralph Pastore

The Amina Anthropological Resources Association (AARA) is announcing a new scholarship for archaeology graduate students studying Newfoundland and Labrador topics. The Pioneers Scholarship is an occasional scholarship and this year it is named to honour Ralph Pastore and is valued at $1400.  Amina is an non-profit organization started by archaeologist Latonia Hartery to raise "funds to research, preserve, protect and promote cultural, natural heritage and artistic resources in northern locations, and to inform the public about those resources through educational and public-relations programs."

In 2007, Amina awarded its first Pioneers Scholarship, which was named in honour of Elmer Harp to Matthew Walls, a graduate student who completed an MA at the University of Calgary and moved on to a PhD at the University of Toronto where he is studying qayaqs in Northern Canada and Greenland.  The Amina directors are working towards making the Pioneers Scholarship an annual award which will be named to recognize researchers who have made important contributions in the field of archaeology and distribute those funds to new archaeologists at the start of their careers. The current scholarship recognizes Ralph Pastore, a Historian and Archaeologist dedicated to uncovering the story of Newfoundland's Beothuk people.  The funds for the Pastore Scholarship were raised through contributions from Ralph’s brother John, sisters Kathleen Miller and Mary Ann McClain, as well as Tom Campbell and Mary Mogford of Newcastle, Ontario, Amina Anthropological Resources Association, and Adventure Canada.

Ralph Pastore at Boyd's Cove, NL

Ralph was an inspiration to many archaeologists in Newfoundland.  He was drawn to the Beothuk people as a historian, but soon exhausted the written sources documenting the Beothuk.  He found that his curiousity was not satisfied by the historic record alone, so he turned to archaeology and went out and dug for new information to answer his questions.

The deadline for application for the scholarship is September 15, 2013 and the $1400 award will be dispersed to the successful applicant in December.  Applicants must be MA or PhD students researching a topic in Newfoundland and Labrador Archaeology.  Application details are available on the Amina website here.

Photo Credits:
1,3: Photos from www.aminainc.org courtesy of Laurel Doucette
2: Screen capture from www.aminainc.org