Announcing our new Audio Tour! 

We are extremely excited to launch our brand-new audio tour as a part of our First World War exhibit: Doing Our Bit: World War One from St. Catharines to the Western Front this coming Family Day, Monday, February 15!

The new audio tour features a great collection of letters, diaries, and newspaper articles that supplement the war-time experience of St. Catharines soldiers who went overseas.

We’re quite excited!

Why We’re So Excited

Despite the long-time-coming nature of the audio tour and it’s technological challenges, the audio tour is such an great way to get more of our collection to the ears of visitors.

The collection of letters, diaries, and newspaper articles, specifically apart of the First World War collection, is purely massive. There really isn’t enough room in an exhibition hall to show all that we have, and if there was, it would be too much to take in, in one visit.

We have been sharing many of these World War One primary sources in our various interactive public programs including the innovative ‘Stories from the Front’ which feature the sources in dramatic readings paired with photographs and music, and our annual theatrical Guided Spirit Walks at Victoria Lawn Cemetery.

Nicholas MacLaurin as a Welland Canal Force recruit.

Irene Romagnoli, Brenda Schultz, Armand Romagnoli, and Des Corran as readers in ‘Stories from the Front’

Armand Romagnoil as Col. Sir Frederick Benson.

But now that we have this additional platform for sharing the, honestly, piles of information, our visitors will be able to dig deeper into the story and experiences of St. Catharines Soldiers who served in the trenches.
It’s always cause for celebration when we’re able to achieve our main goal – sharing the stories of our city with our visitors – so directly!

Here! Take a sample listen to one of the tracks included on the audio tour:

Thanks to our Curator and Donators

The audio tour (and the exhibit itself) would not have been possible without the diligent research of our curator Kathleen Powell, and the various donations of photographs, letters, postcards, diaries, and newspaper articles that provided us with these stories to use as stellar examples of life in the trenches.

Thanks to our Volunteers and Staff

We must also thank our volunteers and staff who shared their time and talent to make the audio tour a reality and lent their voices to the tour;

Des Corran
Deborah Hawkins
Paul Lewis
Adrian Petry
Kathleen Powell
Armand Romagnoli
Irene Romagnoli
Cameron Stewart

Thanks also to…

Human Resources and Skills Development Canada, and the Enabling Accessibility Fund.

City of St. Catharines Accessibility Committee for their contribution to the project.

Next time you visit…

So the next time you come to visit the Museum, make sure to borrow a ‘listening wand’ from the Front Desk and let our audio guide take you on a new museum experience.

Adrian Petry is a public historian and the public programmer at the St. Catharines Museum and Welland Canals Centre.