Events
Meetings & Lectures: In a volunteer organization such as the GHS,
meetings are social, educational and a lot of fun. At every meeting, the Guelph
Historical Society welcomes a guest to speak on an aspect of history. These
lectures take place on the first Tuesday of October, November,
December, February, March and April. Meetings are held in the hall of St. Andrew's Church,
at the corner of Norfolk and Suffolk streets, at 7:30pm, and are
followed by refreshments. All are welcome, although we do ask for a $5 donation
from non-members. We hope to see you there!
Annual Bus Trip: Our annual bus trip has in recent years taken members and their friends
to the beautiful and history-rich towns of Ancaster, Dundas,
Goderich, St. Mary's, Fergus, Elora, Lucan, and Erin.
2009-2010 Lecture Series
Lectures are held in the hall of St Andrew's Presbyterian Church at the corner of Norfolk and Suffolk
streets, starting at 7:30 pm.
Tues., Oct 6, 2009: Lecture
The History of Guelph Police Service
Title: "Discovering Guelph's Legal Past Through Police Eyes -
The History of the Guelph Police 1827 to 2009"
Guest Speaker: Sgt. Doug Pflug, Media Officer,
Guelph Police Services
Sgt. Pflug will cover the daunting process that he and fellow
committee members took to create the new book
"Fingerprints Through Time: A History of the Guelph Police." Join
us as he shares excepts from the book, examine some
historical artifacts and discover some newly acquired movie
footage.
Tues., Nov 3, 2009: Remembrance Lecture
Topic: "Canadian Forces: Wherever They Are Needed"
Guest Speaker: Dr. William Winegard
Dr. Winegard will offer his unique perspective on
Canada’s proud history of service.
Tues., Dec 1, 2009 at 7:30 p.m.
"Natural Beauty and Natural Bounty:
Guelph and the Environment, 1827-1927"
Guest speaker: Dr. Debra Nash-Chambers
Please note the change of location for December meeting only:
Knox Presbyterian Church, 20 Quebec St., Guelph (Parking in Baker Street Lot)
poster
Debra Nash-Chambers will present an adaptation of her conference paper from the “History on the
Grand: Environment and Industry Program”. The lecture will explore the natural advantages of the townsite
and the importance of the location and natural resources on the growth of the community, the character of its development, and the impact of industrialization on the local environment. Well into the 20th century, civic boosters praised the inherent beauty and bounty of Guelph in promotional material designed to
attract workers, investors and industrialists to the city. Debra Nash-Chambers is a professor in the Department of History at Wilfrid Laurier University and
Past-President of the Guelph Historical Society.
Tues., Feb 2, 2010: University of Guelph Lecture
Topic: "The Early Settlement of Ontario: The Untold Story"
Guest Speaker: Dr. Catharine Wilson, Department of History, University of Guelph
Catharine Wilson challenges notions of early Ontario as a
freeholding society with evidence that tenants were a
common and important part of the economy. She details
why tenancy has been overlooked and what it was like to
be a tenant farm family with statistics and human dramas
drawn from various parts of the province including
Wellington County.
Tues., Mar 2, 2010: Lecture
Topic: "Building the Wall"
Guest Speaker: Ross Irwin, Guelph Historical Society
The beautiful stone wall confining the Speed River through
Royal City Park was built with relief labour in the 1930s.
How it came about and political problems in its
construction will be presented along with a brief
introduction on the early recreational use of the river and
the development of Guelph's early park system in 1909.
Tues., Apr 6, 2010: Lecture
Topic: "Change and Continuity in Local Architecture: The
Wellington County Museum and Archives' Gordon
Couling Collection"
Speaker: Elysia De Laurentis, Wellington County Museum
Artist and Professor, Gordon Couling, not only witnessed
changes to Guelph's streetscapes and surrounding
countryside, but spent years documenting their
transformation. This talk will offer a sampling of the
thousands of photographs through which he recorded the
creation, destruction, and evolution of buildings in Guelph
and Wellington County between 1950 and 1983. This
collection is an invaluable resource for architectural
historians and those interested in the history of their
homes.
(event calendar last updated: October 17, 2009)
See also past events.
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