December #builtheritage chat

This month's #builtheritage twitter chat focused on preservation and the holidays.  There was an abundance of good festive promotion ideas,  examples of seasonal events, and First portion of the chat focused on the question, How can you use the holidays to promote your historic site? Some of the proposed activities included:Displaying old holiday photos on … Continue reading December #builtheritage chat

Heritage Gift Giving

Tree of booksIt's that time of year where many of us are scrambling to find the perfect gift for a loved one.  Recently, a number of blogs and organizations have been posting gift suggestions for the heritage lovers in your life. Some of my favourite posted so far, include: National Trust for Historic Preservation holiday … Continue reading Heritage Gift Giving

Jill Lapore and the Politicization of Birth Control

Margaret SangerThe latest issue of the New Yorker contained an interesting article by Harvard history Professor Jill Lepore on the history of politicization of birth control and abortion.  Unfortunately the original article, Birthright, is behind the New Yorker's pay wall, however an NPR interview and the New Yorker Out Loud provide a decent summary's over … Continue reading Jill Lapore and the Politicization of Birth Control

Canada Reads Non-Fiction 2012

Yesterday, the shortlist for CBC's Canada Reads 2012 was announced. This year the contest is focusing exclusively on works of non-fiction and the shortlist includes a couple of history based works. The list includes:The Boy in the Moon by Ian BrownCockeyed by Ryan Knighton  The Game by Ken DrydenLouis Riel by Chester BrownOn a Cold … Continue reading Canada Reads Non-Fiction 2012

Heritage Preservation and Adaptive Reuse: Evergreen Brick Works

A recent Dwell feature focused on the Evergreen Brick Works development in Toronto. This 12 acre site is located at the former Don Valley Brick Works yard, which operated for over 100 years and during its prime produced more than 43 million bricks a year. When Don Valley Brick Works closed in the 1980s the … Continue reading Heritage Preservation and Adaptive Reuse: Evergreen Brick Works

Citing in Popular Publishing

Recently, while at a friend's house I picked up a local history book that was sitting on their coffee table. The book focused on the history of Espanola Ontario that was written by a local history enthusiast. In the introduction of the book, the author stated that he had not made an effort to record … Continue reading Citing in Popular Publishing

Main Street Sudbury, circa 1910

This week's Northern Ontario historical image is of the Main Street of Sudbury, circa 1910. The image is from the Archives of Ontario and is part of the Photographs of the Audio-Visual Education Branch series.The Archives of Ontario also holds a number of historical maps of the communities within the Sudbury district. Many of these … Continue reading Main Street Sudbury, circa 1910

Fort William Grain Elevator

This week's Northern Ontario historical photograph highlights a part of Thunder Bay's history. The photograph is of the CPR grain elevators in Fort William, circa 1920. Fort William, Port Arthur and outlying townships amalgamated in January 1970 to form Thunder Bay. Fort William was established as a trading community and was essential in the movement … Continue reading Fort William Grain Elevator

Northern Ontario Historical Photo of the Week: Algoma Steel

The idea to do a weekly photo series was inspired by Andrew Smith's recent Historical Photograph of the Day feature over and on his blog and Kayla Jonas' blog series on photography of Hamilton buildings. In the upcoming weeks I plan to focus on historical Northern Ontario images and to highlight the variety of sources … Continue reading Northern Ontario Historical Photo of the Week: Algoma Steel

The Impact of UNESCO Designation in Djenné, Mali

A recent episode of The Current on CBC radio examined the impact of The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) on communities that are designated World Heritage Sites. The Current looked specifically at the designation of Dejenne. The episode looks at the contrast between preservation concerns and the needs of the people who … Continue reading The Impact of UNESCO Designation in Djenné, Mali