aMUSE is popping up at Rodman Hall!

The role of gender in advertising has been an issue in society since the advent of modern media and advertising methods. Over the years media sources have used methods that concentrate on sex and stereotypical images and ideas of the parts men and women play as consumers. Such methods have constructed a paradigm of how we view females and the roles they play in society, the most prominent being the housewife which began in the early 1950s.

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Fire Insurance Plans Print Series

The plans continue to remain an important resource in my work as a public historian at the Museum today. I often find myself considering research questions by first checking the city’s business directories spanning the last 150 years, and the fire insurance plans. They aren’t perfect – they are static and only cover certain geography – but the visuals are priceless. 

And that’s why we just couldn’t keep these plans to ourselves.

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A Walk Around Town Walk O – Junius Predicts the Future of St. Catharines

Excerpt from “Walk O” in “St. Catharines A-Z” by Junius, originally published in the St. Catharines Journal on August 14th, […]

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One Dominion: On the Path to Confederation

In our research, we found a handful of St. Catharines politicians and businessmen whom were adamantly against Confederation. These men were part of a movement usually referred to as the Anti-Confederate movement. Plenty of politicians across the new Dominion, now vilified by time and memory, were against a political union for a surprisingly wide variety of reasons.

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Books & Brews 150

Our Fall 2017 Books & Brews series opens space for the voices of Indigenous, female, and French-Canadian authors to consider the impacts of colonization on what it means to be Canadian. The books we have selected explore Canadian-ness and the Canadian experience through the intersections of race, class, culture and identity.

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A Walk Around Town – Walk M – Telegraph Poles or Pine-wood Candles?

 Excerpt from “Walk M” in “St. Catharines A-Z” by Junius, originally published in the St. Catharines Journal on July 31st, […]

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#VintageSTCM: 50 Years of the St. Catharines Museum

The Museum’s vision and mission are a bit different than it was 50 years ago. Our community’s identity, how we study and present history, and the nature of museum-going have changed drastically over the last 50 years. And the Museum has changed with it. We now focus on an inclusive narrative for all those who live in our diverse city. The exhibit serves as a reminder of where we have come from and where we hope to go.

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History InSite 2017

If you’re a history keener (like us) and are interested in taking a guided walking tour, you can meet Museum historians at the Festival Hub/Interactive Village on James Street on the hour between 11 am and 4 pm on Saturday and Sunday, April 29 and 30, 2017

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Narratives of Fugitive Slaves – Part 4

“I think slavery is the worst and meanest thing to be thought of. It appears to me that God cannot receive into the kingdom of heaven, those who deal in slaves. God made all men – He is no respecter of persons – and it is impossible that he should, on account of my colour, intend that I should be the slave of a man because he is of brighter skin than I am.” – Henry Atkinson, (pp 94).

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Narratives of Fugitive Slaves – Part 3

“Rents and provisions are dear here, and it takes all I can earn to support myself and my children. I could have one of my children well brought up and taken care of, by some friends in Massachusetts, which would much relieve me, but I cannot have my child go there on account of the laws, which would not protect her. This is a hardship: but had I to struggle much harder than at present, I would prefer it to being a slave. Now I can lie down at night in peace – there I had no peace even at night, on account of my master’s conduct.” – Mrs. Ellis (pp 63-64).

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Narratives of Fugitive Slaves – Part 2

I have seen hundreds of escaped slaves, but I never saw one who was willing to go back and be a slave. I have no opportunity to see my friends in my native land. We would rather stay in our native land, if we could be as free there as we are here. I think slavery is the next thing to hell. If a person would end another into bondage, he would, it appears to me, be bad enough to send him into hell, if he could.

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Narratives of Fugitive Slaves – Part 1

St. Catharines played an important part in the success of the Underground Railroad. In railroad speak, the city was a destination, or terminal for refugee slaves. Many who made it to Canada settled in the city, which for reasons associated with the success of the Welland Canal, was, by mid-19th century standards, a thriving and bustling city rivaling Hamilton and London in population and industrial activity.

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Know Your Neighbours – Air Commodore Leonard Joseph Birchall, Savior of Ceylon

Leonard Joseph Birchall was born in 1915 and raised in St. Catharines. He attended Connaught Public School the St. Catharines […]

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