Go to page content

Album Rock

English student publishes work of creative non-fiction and poetry

Research | Books at Memorial

Part art history, part road trip, part detective story.

Album Rock began when English student and award-winning author Matthew Hollett stumbled across an intriguing photograph from the 1850s on the Corner Brook Museum and Archives website.

Paul-Émile Miot was one of the first photographers to visit Newfoundland. His photo, Rocher peint par les marins français (Rock painted by French sailors), shows the word “album” painted on a prominent rock in Sacred Bay, on Newfoundland’s Great Northern Peninsula.

More than 160 years later, the landmark is still known as Album Rock. But what’s the story behind this curious scene? And who are the sailors posing on the rock?

Perceptions of place

A lively and insightful work of creative non-fiction and poetry, Album Rock touches on the history of photography in Newfoundland, Miot’s travels around the French Shore and the power of naming in shaping our perceptions of a place.

It’s also a celebration of curiosity and the joy of delving into the mystery of a peculiar photograph.

Album Rock is published by Boulder Publications.

Latest News

Off to Oxford

Political science and chemistry joint major N.L.'s 2024 Rhodes scholar

Expressions of interest

Memorial University to host inaugural EDI-AR conference

Dec. 6 vigil

Silent vigil to be held each day during week of Dec. 4-8

‘Ignite curiosity’

Seventy-five events inspire researchers at Memorial University

Memorial roots

Faculty of Medicine welcomes all-alumni leadership team

A Coast Lines conversation

A Q&A with Memorial's book club featured author Shelly Kawaja