Contributions To The History of Music in Canada
Perhaps Camp Naivelt's most significant heritage attribute is its long and vibrant association with Canada's musical heritage.
For example, the founding members of Canada's best known folk group, The Travellers, met as children at Camp Naivelt and formed the group there. Their version of Woody Guthrie's This Land Is Your Land is a virtual Canadian anthem.
In July 1960, a summer evening concert was recorded at Camp Naivelt featuring the teenage voice of camp member Zal Yanofsky, who later co-founded the rock band, Lovin' Spoonful with John Sebastian.
The tape also features the young voice of another Naivelt attendee, Sharon Hampson, later a member of the children's group Sharon, Lois and Bram.
Singer, songwriter, Eddie Schwartz who wrote, Hit Me With Your Best Shot for rock star Pat Benatar also went to Camp Naivelt as a child.
Estelle Klein, the first artistic director of the Mariposa Folk Festival was another alumnus of Camp Naivelt.
Legendary American folk singer Pete Seeger (1919-), who composed, Where Have All The Flowers Gone, If I Had A Hammer, the civil rights anthem, We Shall Overcome and Turn, Turn, Turn performed at Camp Naivelt on several occasions - sometimes with a folk group he and Woody Guthrie (composer of This Land is Your Land) formed in the 1940s called "The Almanac Singers". Seeger would visit the Camp for several days at a time from the 1940s to the 1980s.
Seeger co-founded the legendary folk group, "The Weavers". Their rendition of Goodnight Irene was a major pop hit in the 1950s. In the 1955 he, along with other members of "The Weavers", were blacklisted after Seeger refused to answer questions before the House Un-American Activities Committee.
In the 1960s Seeger sparked the revival of American folk music. Pete Seeger provided major hit records for Peter, Paul and Mary, "The Byrds", Joan Baez and "The Kingston Trio". Seeger is a two-time Grammy award winner. In 1994 he was given the nation's highest artistic award as a recipient of the Kennedy Center Honors and the Presidential Medal of the Arts. In 1996 he was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
Paul Robeson (1898-1976), the great American baritone, stage and film actor and political activist, also visited Camp Naivelt and performed there. Like Seeger, he too faced persecution during era of Senator Joseph McCarthy, HUAC and "red-baiting" for his support of the Soviet Union, civil rights and labour unions. Robeson is best known for his performances in the musical, Show Boat and Shakespeare's Othello.
American folk singer Phil Ochs, best known for the 'protest song' I Ain't A March'n Anymore visited Camp Naivelt and held an impromptu performance.
In 2010 Brampton City Council passed a heritage designation bylaw under the Ontario Heritage Act, recognizing Camp Naivelt's significant cultural heritage value. Camp Naivelt's historical and cultural associations are documented in the Heritage Designation report. For example, the report includes photographs of Pete Seeger visiting in the 1950s. The York University Archives has extensive photographic material on Camp Naivelt.
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