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)