On today’s episode of VMLS via Podcast special guest Andy Panko explores the Welland Canal Construction Railway, a railway built specifically to service the construction of the Welland Ship Canal. His lecture is titled “The busiest piece of railway in Canada” and was originally presented on October 5, 2021.
VMLS via Podcast: Adventures in Housekeeping
As the 20th century dawned with new excitement and a look forward to the next century, St. Catharines was in a period of growth and prosperity. Did that rosy picture translate into the home and domestic life? Look behind closed doors and catch a glimpse of the domestic sphere and how it was changing with the new century.
Museum Chat Live! E801 – Hearing History: Foghorn
This episode is the first in the Hearing History series, which explores the history of St. Catharines through sound. Close […]
Life in the Year Books: Historical Records After the Underground Railroad
As a source, high school yearbooks certainly bring light to the achievements of Black students through the decades of the 20th century, but beyond this, they also offer unique insight into how these students navigated such a formative period of their lives. Though the Black student population in St. Catharines’ high school was small through most of the 20th century, students of colour made considerable impact in their school communities, from their academic successes to contributing their talents to clubs and sports teams. Black experiences, visible on the pages of local yearbooks, shows us all aspects of student life: friendship, school spirit, team participation, and aspirations.
VMLS via Podcast: A Model City
On today’s episode of VMLS via Podcast we’ll hear a presentation from our own Sara Nixon with her lecture titled ‘A Model City: the 1913 St. Catharines Board of Trade Yearbook’. The lecture was originally recorded on May 11, 2021.
Museum Chat Live! E705 – Heritage Advocacy
On this episode of Museum Chat Live!, we discuss what heritage advocacy looks like on the local level, on the ground and at the grassroots. To help us navigate the many layers to identifying, protecting, and enhancing community heritage, we’ve invite Andrew Humeniuk onto the podcast. Andrew is a member of the the St. Catharines Heritage Advisory Committee and Executive Director of The Brown Homestead here in St. Catharines.
VMLS via Podcast – The Fight for History with Dr. Tim Cook
On today’s episode of VMLS via Podcast we’ll hear from war historian and author Dr. Tim Cook. Tim’s book ‘The Fight for History’ looks at the significance of remembering the Second World War. This lecture was originally presented on April 27, 2021.
VMLS via Podcast – The General: A Symposium with the Brock University Historical Society.
Today’s lecture, is a bit different. We were happy to host the students of the Brock University Historical Society in symposium on the series on April 13, 2021. You’ll hear lots of different voices and stories on this episode. For more information on the work of the Brock University Historical Society, please visit their Facebook page: facebook.com/brockhistoricalsociety.
VMLS via Podcast – Historic Welland Canals Mapping Project
Today’s lecture, originally presented on March 30, 2021, was presented by special guest Colleen Beard, map librarian emeritus at Brock University. Colleen’s Historic Welland Canals Mapping Project has mapped the routes of the three early Welland Canals and her presentation takes us through her website.
One Hour in the Past E506 – Museums
On this final episode of One Hour in the Past’s 5th season, Kathleen and Adrian take a deep dive – and one that is quite meta – into the history of Museums.
VMLS via Podcast – For King and Country
On this episode of VMLS via Podcast: A lecture originally presented in March 16, 2021, examines the experiences of soldiers from St. Catharines who fought in the Boer War.
Museum Chat Live! E703- Cemeteries and Historic Interpretation
On this episode of Museum Chat Live!, co-hosts Abbey and Sara look at the development and evolution of the museum’s Guided Spirit walks over the past 11 years. To help us understand the Museum’s Spirit Walk journey, we speak to Adrian Petry, Visitor Services Coordinator at the St. Catharines Museum and Welland Canals Centre. We also sit down with Guided Spirit Walk actors Ian Ashman and Kathie Leblanc to discover what is like to portray local historical figures and the impact Guided Spirit Walks has on the community.
One Hour in the Past E504 – Extreme Weather
On this episode of One Hour in the Past, Kathleen and Adrian explore the history of extreme weather and whether a tornado can move a 110 ton dinosaur.
VMLS via Podcast: No Exit: Dead End Streets of St. Catharines
Today on VMLS via Podcast: the history of urban development in the city be exploring the city’s dead-end streets.
One Hour in the Past E504 – Elections
On this episode of One Hour in the Past, Kathleen and Adrian explore the history of elections, with some interesting rabbit-hole discussions of the Chief Electoral Officer and campaign posters.
One Hour in the Past E503 – Electric Vehicles
On this episode of One Hour in the Past, Kathleen and Adrian explore the history of electric vehicles.
One Hour in the Past E502 – Computers and Cell Phones
On this episode of One Hour in the Past, Kathleen and Adrian explore the history of computers and cell Phones and with just one hour for their research, end up in some very strange places.
One Hour in the Past E501 – Summer Music Festivals
On this episode of One Hour in the Past, Kathleen and Adrian explore the history of summer music festivals and their research led them to some unexpected places.
VMLS via Podcast – Marking Time
Today’s lecture features Supervisor of Historical Services and Curator Kathleen Powell with a discussion of ‘Marking Time’ an exhibit that was on display here at the Museum, which featured textiles and fashion from the Museum’s collection which help to mark life’s significant milestones. It’s a bit more visual than our some of the other lectures, so visit our YouTube Play list to watch the lecture in-full.
VMLS via Podcast – Where They Walk: the Making of the Annual Guided Spirit Walks at Victoria Lawn Cemetery
Today’s lecture features Adrian Petry, visitor services coordinator here at the Museum. In this presentation, he looks at the research that goes into creating our annual Guided Spirit Walks at Victoria Lawn Cemetery, and how dark tourism like ghost walks have influenced the practice public history and the public’s imagination of historical personalities.
VMLS via Podcast – Lost and Historic Architecture of St. Catharines
This next lecture will wrap up our VMLS podcast for 2021 just as the lecture itself wrapped up our first lecture series in the spring of 2020. ‘Lost and Historic Architectures’ was presented by yours truly on June 23, 2020. After this, we’ll be taking a little break but we’ll back with more lectures in January 2022, so stay tuned, and as always, enjoy the lecture.
VMLS via Podcast – Racetracks and Runaway Carriages
Another guest joins us for the lecture today. Dr. Keri Cronin is a historian of visual culture and faculty at Brock University with a special focus on the history of animals. Her lecture titled ‘Racetracks and Runaway Carriages’ Dr. Cronin looks at the history of horses in St. Catharines. This lecture was originally presented on Jun 17, 2020. Enjoy the lecture.
VMLS via Podcast – Archaeology of a 19th Century Shipyard
dramatic arts students from Governor Simcoe Secondary School appear in my discussion of the Shipyard Strikes from 1861 and how we turned some dramatic history into a play. And Dr. Kimberly Monk joins us to talk about the history of the Shickluna Shipyard, along with the thrilling story of the archaeological dig she is leading at the yard. This lecture was originally presented on June 9, 2020.
VMLS via Podcast – The Horseless Revolution
On today’s lecture, we join Curator and Supervisor of Historical Services Kathleen Powell as she talks about the history of Packard Electric and the early manufacturing of Oldsmobile and REO cars here in St. Catharines. The lecture was originally presented on June 2, 2020.
VMLS via Podcast – Tracing the Tracks of the Underground Railroad
On today’s lecture, we join our public programmer Sara Nixon as she traces the tracks of the Underground Railroad and examines the legacy of Freedom Seekers arriving in St. Catharines in the 1850s. This lecture was originally presented on May 26, 2020.
One Hour in the Past E404 – Restaurants and Taverns
On this episode, we welcome Christine Girardi, Assistant Curator from the Niagara Falls History Museum to join us for a discussion on the history of taverns and restaurants.
VMLS via Podcast – Open for Business: The Welland Canal in 1830
The story of the first full operating season of the Welland Canal in 1830 is interesting because it challenges the dominant narrative of a well organized, well financed, well run, and generally successful endeavour, when in actuality, it was plagued with problems and failures.
VMLS via Podcast – The 1918 Pandemic in St. Catharines
On today’s VMLS via Podcast is Kathleen’s lecture on the 1918 Spanish Flu Pandemic in St. Catharines, presented May 12, 2020.
VMLS via Podcast – Next Stop: the NS&T
Virtual Museum Lecture Series via Podcast In the spring of 2020, we began to offer history lectures through our Virtual […]
Museum Chat Live! E610 – Play & Museum Interpretation
On this episode of Museum Chat Live!, we chat with St. Catharines Museum Visitor Services Coordinator Adrian Petry to talk about the role and interpretive value of play in museums, and to take a closer-look at the inspiration and thinking behind some of St. Catharines Museum’s play-based programs.
One Hour in the Past E403 – Military Rations
On this episode, we welcome Michael Ashford from the Niagara Military Museum, located in Niagara Falls, Ontario to discuss one hour of research into military rations.
Museum Chat Live! – E609: Museum Work in a Pandemic
On this episode of Museum Chat Live!, we consider how museum work has changed over the past year in the face of a global pandemic. As with many professions and fields, the pandemic has laid bare the challenges in museum work, but has also brought clarity to our strengths and resilience. We’re here to get into the nitty gritty and ask how museums have had to drastically shift focus, innovate to reach audiences, remain relevant in our communities, and continue our overarching purpose, as custodians of the past, to preserve and interpret history in entirely new ways.
One Hour in the Past E402 – Mealtimes
This season on One Hour in the Past, we are cooking up some food fun! Each episode this season takes down the research rabbit stew of food and food related topics! We will also be joined by some special guests from other museums around the Niagara region.
On this episode, we welcome Sarah Kaufman, the Managing Director/Curator of the Niagara-on-the-Lake Museum to discuss the timing of food consumption: mealtimes.
Museum Chat Live! E608 – Introducing STC StoryLab
We are thrilled to introduce our newest community-based project: STC StoryLab! This is a multi-year oral history collection project led by the St. Catharines Museum and Welland Canals Centre to collect and share the oral history of the St. Catharines community. On this episode of Museum Chat Live, we share what STC StoryLab is all about, why we want your stories, and how you can get involved.
Museum Chat Live! E607 – The Howe Report Revisited
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.
Museum Chat Live! E602 – Victorian Tweets: Who Were the Victorians?
As modern, progressive people of the 21st century we enjoy a certain distance from the romanticized and contradictory Victorian period but are we really that different from our Victorian ancestors?
On this first episode of the special podcast series, we’ll explore what it means to be Victorian. We’ll hear some of the tweets and their original sources on this podcast, read and recoded by some familiar voices of staff and volunteers.
One Hour in the Past E304 – Maps and Mapping
Have you ever noticed 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!
Museum Chat Live! E601 – Creating Where’s the Pig?
On this episode of Museum Chat Live!, we take you on a journey through the creation of the St. Catharines Museum’s Where’s the Pig? virtual adventure series and dig a little deeper into its inspiration and why this kind of museum work is so important!
REPOST: Museum Chat Live! E404 – Guided Spirit Walks
We are gearing up for the 2020 Guided Spirit Walks season, now a virtual experience that you can enjoy from the comfort of your home!
To highlight what it takes to produce our Guided Spirit Walks program each year, we are resharing this 2019 Museum Chat Live! episode, where we chat with cast and members of the creative team about the walks. While this years’ production will look very different than previous years, we are continuing to put our all into creating a high-quality, meaningful experience for you.