On this episode of Museum Chat Live! Sara and Adrian revisit their lecture on the Howe Report presented as a part of the Museum’s Virtual Museum Lecture Series in November of 2020. The lecture focussed on the Howe Report, or using it’s proper name, “The Refugees from Slavery in Canada West: a Report to the Freedman’s Inquiry Commission,” written by Dr. Samuel Gridley Howe after his visit to St. Catharines in 1863 to report on the condition of refugee Freedom Seekers to Congress. Howe’s interviews were transcribed and reveal a lot about our community in 1863.
Historic Schools of St. Catharines – Alexandra Public School
St. Catharines is the home to many built historic landmarks including educational institutions.
Museum Classroom: Historic Moments in Canada – Pandemics in History
Trigger: The following lesson plan explores the historical and present-day impact pandemics have had on Canada and St. Catharines’ communities […]
Museum Chat Live! E606 – In Conversation with Tim Cook, Historian and Author
On this episode of Museum Chat Live! We are thrilled to be joined by Dr. Tim Cook, who is a historian at the Canadian War Museum and author of 11 books on Canadian Military History in the 20th Century. In this interview with Tim Cook, our Curator, Kathleen Powell talks to him about his new book – The Fight for History: 75 Years of Forgetting, Remembering and Remaking Canada’s Second World War.
Museum Chat Live! E605 – Spooky Halloween Episode 2020
On this episode of Museum Chat Live!, we consider why we’re so interested in the paranormal and delve into a few supernatural stories connected to historic places and events in St. Catharines history.
Yearbook Flip – High School Graduation
This year, due to the circumstances of the COVID-19 pandemic, the graduation ceremonies of the Class of 2020 in St. Catharines and beyond look very different. This change in tradition and ritual does not diminish the incredible accomplishments and exciting opportunities ahead for the Class of 2020. Rather, it marks the special resiliency of this graduating class. This is a moment to create new rituals and new markers to celebrate this cohort of young people who are already proving they have what it takes to make real progress and positive change for our future.
One Hour in the Past E301 – Printing
Welcome to Season 3 of One Hour in the Past. In season one we explored a wide range of topics from the Arts and Crafts Movement to Thanksgiving. In season two we welcomed guests to join us for a trip down the rabbit hole as we researched topics like photography, sidewalks, and telephones. We’re taking this third season of the podcast down a bit of a different path. We’ll be diving a bit deeper into Canadian history by researching Prime Ministers, Maps and mapping, the Family Compact, the Fur Trade, the FLQ Crisis, and on today’s episode: the history of printing.
Museum Chat Live! E505 – Canal Crossings Miniseries: The Crossings Today
On this episode of Museum Chat Live!, your co-host Sara chats with special guest, Des Corran, about the canal crossings in-use today.
We explore not only the surviving bridges from when the Welland Canal opened in 1932, but also the construction of the underwater tunnels and the Garden City Skyway.
Museum Classroom: Virtual Tours and Programs
St. Catharines Museum is presenting free virtual tours and programs!
The St. Catharines Museum and Welland Canals Centre is happy to offer free, private, booked virtual school and educational programs and tours.
Our engaging and experienced staff are ready to take your students on a virtual tour of our permanent galleries or behind-the-scenes in our Museum’s collection. Other fun and exciting opportunities involve programs like The Travelling Museum and Jr. Engineers, which have been modified slightly to ensure enjoyment for all your students learning from home.
Museum Chat Live! E504 – Canal Crossings Miniseries: The Bridges
Most of the time, when we think of the bridges on the Welland Canal, we think of being stuck at them. The many bridges that cross the canal from Port Weller to Port Colborne are often just thought of as part of the infrastructure that gets us from Point A to Point B- with sometimes a wait in between. But, when you are stuck at a bridge, waiting for a ship to pass, have you ever really thought about what that bridge represents? We can actually tell so many stories and explore our history in new ways by talking about the crossing points on the Welland Canal.
Museum Classroom: Legacy of a Pandemic (Intermediate/Senior)
Your story matters. You have two options for recording your experiences during the COVID-19 pandemic and to reflect on how it has impacted you, your family, and your community.
Legacy of a Pandemic
As historians, it is our job look at the current global pandemic with a historical lens. How can we ensure that the stories and experiences of the people in our community living through the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic are preserved for future generations?
It is part of the mission of the St. Catharines Museum to collect and tell the collective story of our community, and, understanding this unprecedented time, we hope to document how the current health crisis is impacting our community for future generations.
Guided Spirit Walks 2019 Behind-the-Scenes: STORIES THAT DIDN’T MAKE IT
This year’s Guided Spirit Walk research process started with general themes that could be explored. This year’s theme “Glimpses of […]
Pride in St. Catharines
At the beginning of June, the St. Catharines Museum put out a call out to our online followers to send […]
Pride in St. Catharines: A Call to the Community
June is Pride Month. The St. Catharines Museum cares for artifacts of all colours of the rainbow but, like many […]
Yearbook Flip: High School History Lesson
The St. Catharines Museum currently has 259 yearbooks catalogued in its archival collection. The yearbooks span the years 1913 to […]
Museum Chat Live! E310 – The Fallen Workers Part 5
This is Part 5 in a Museum Chat Live! podcast mini-series detailing the Fallen Workers of the Welland Canal. Click […]
We Did Our Bit: WWI Exhibition Favourites Part 6 – Ordinary Objects, Extraordinary Stories
This is the sixth and final installment of the We Did Our Bit WWI exhibit-closing series. This post was contributed by […]
Museum Chat Live! E308 – The Fallen Workers Part 4
This is Part 4 in a Museum Chat Live! podcast mini-series detailing the Fallen Workers of the Welland Canal. Click […]
Museum Chat Live! E307 – The Fallen Workers Part 3
This is Part 3 in a Museum Chat Live! podcast mini-series detailing the Fallen Workers of the Welland Canal. Click […]
Museum Chat Live! E306 – The Fallen Workers Part 2
This is Part 2 in a Museum Chat Live! mini-series detailing the Fallen Workers of the Welland Canal. Click here […]
One Hour in the Past E104 – The Arts & Crafts Movement
On this episode…
Kathleen and Adrian jump into the world of the styles and forms of Arts & Crafts architecture, design, decor, and explore a little into the lives of the founders of the movement. They end this episode with a discussion about great examples of Arts & Crafts architecture in St. Catharines.
Museum Chat Live! E303 – Holodomor
April is International Genocide Awareness Month and will also mark the opening of a new, temporary exhibit created by the Ukrainian Canadian Congress (UCC) about Holodomor – or Ukrainian Genocide of the 1930s.
We sat down with Natalie Duduch, a child of a Holodomor survivor, and a member of the Niagara Chapter of the UCC to talk about Holodomor, the Congress’ education efforts, and the exhibit that will be here at the Museum from April 4 to November 31, 2018.
One Hour in the Past E101 – Hats
Did you ever notice that a simple information search can lead you in strange and wonderful directions? As in Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, historical research can lead you down a winding rabbit hole that might take you off your original path and lead you to new and amazing historical places!
This podcast starts with that premise.
BHM Part 4: How to Reconcile the Good and Bad Parts of Our History
Stories like the establishment of the Refugee Slaves Friends Society here in St. Catharines, or the popular Emancipation Day Picnic, held at Lakeside Park from the 1920s to the 1950s to celebrate the 1833 Act for the Abolition of Slavery, are enjoyable to share and to consume because they can help us to feel better about ourselves and our past while living in troubling times. Unfortunately, history is messy. We love organization and labels as much as you do, but history is complex and accurately telling stories includes acknowledging the bad parts too. Recognizing messy histories can actually help to clean up and heal the impacts that history has on our community today. Reconciling the good with the bad parts of our history can help us to move forward.
BMH Part 2: Family Legacies – The Nicholson-Smith Family
With Family Day around the corner, we chose to use the second installment of our Black History Month blog series […]
Museum Chat Live! E301 – Company Town
In this podcast study guide (to go along with your reading of the book) we take a look at the idea of Merritton, one of the 4 former cities that amalgamated into St. Catharines, and it’s development as a ‘company town’ alongside the historic Welland Canals. Of course, the history of Merritton, and the history of any place, is far more complex than could possibly be analysed in a brief study-guide podcast, and so this episdoe should not be considered a complete history of the town, but rather the presentation of one idea as a just one part of explaining its rich history.
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.
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.
A Walk Around Town – Walk N – The Circus is Back in Town
Excerpt from “Walk N” in “St. Catharines A-Z” by Junius, originally published in the St. Catharines Journal on August 7th, […]
Museum Chat Live E108 – The Fallen Workers
A staggering 137 men lost their lives as a result of accidents that occurred during the construction of the Welland Ship Canal. This number is shockingly high. To our knowledge, it is the largest loss of life in the history of Canadian government infrastructure projects.
aMUSE 5 – The Fifth and Final Series
The series was created in response to the idea that the Museum is viewed by many in the community as important but not a part of their daily lives. Many believe we are an important institution in the community but can’t identify what we do or what kinds of objects we have in the collection. We think its vitally important to get our collection out and seen by the people for whom we steward those very objects.
aMUSE: Lost Architecture
The Last aMUSE of 2016 Our final aMUSE pop-up exhibition of 2016 focused on the lost and remaining 19th century […]
Diana Sweets Community Reunion
When people from St. Catharines recall Diana Sweets, they often talk about a certain feeling about the place. It felt […]