The Financial Statements for 2021 are here
The AGM document is here
We hope that meetings in 2023 will return to in-person meetings at the Kingsbridge Retirement Community which has graciously agreed to let us use their very comfortable theatre lounge for our meetings. This is a most attractive location with comfortable armchairs and the most up-to-date audio-visual equipment. The spaciousness of this venue also allows us to offer light refreshments and an opportunity for socialization after each lecture.
The Kingsbridge Retirement Community, 950 Centennial Drive is the tall building just south of Princess Street. Ask for the theatre lounge on the lower floor. Enter by the prominent door on the east side. Someone will be at the door to give you directions and to check your double vaccination status. There is free visitor parking along the north side of the building. Express buses #501 and 502 serve upper Princess Street to very near Kingsbridge. Bus #4 offers slower service along Princess Street from downtown. Use the Centennial Drive bus stop.
Covid precautions: Please wear a mask on entry to the building, but you may remove your mask once in the room. Proof of vaccination is mandatory. The building is kept meticulously sanitized.
January 18 James Reid and Sarah Hedberg will provide an overview of the history of James Reid Funeral Home and its place in Kingston business and society since its founding in 1854.
Monday February 20 In collaboration with the Frontenac Heritage Foundation, join us to celebrate Kingston’s Heritage Month. The event will centre around the book launch and subsequent lecture of Dr. Robert Banks’ upcoming Warriors and Warships: Conflict on the Great Lakes and the Legacy of Point Frederick (Dundurn). Dr. Banks’ lecture will focus on the research and writing of the book and his personal perspectives on Kingston heritage. This will be an afternoon event at Memorial Hall in City Hall accompanied by afternoon tea.
March 15 Military historian Dr. Matthew Barrett will discuss his ground-breaking use of graphic art – cartooning – to convey historical narrative and analysis. Barrett’s pictorial chronicle of events such as the battle for Hill 70 in World War I have been widely featured in the national press.
April 19 John Grenville, former Curator and Historical Research Officer at Fort Henry and long-time investigator of Kingston’s military architecture, will report on his research into the city’s iconic Market Battery.
May 17 The point is often made that our world of instantaneous communication through the internet was foreshadowed by the telegraph in the nineteenth century. Graeme Roy, a docent and board member of the Railway Museum of Eastern Ontario, will give us an intimate glimpse of “How the telegraph connected Canadians in the early years of Confederation”. He will reinforce his lecture with a demonstration of telegraphic equipment brought from his extensive collection at the Smiths Falls museum.
September 18, 2023: Despite their proximity to Kingston, Wolfe Islanders have long prided themselves on the distinctiveness of their island culture. Professor Anastasia Riehl, a linguist at Queen’s, will report on her research into “The distinctive linguistic patterns that have evolved on Wolfe Island over many years.”
October 18, 2023: Kingston textile historian Joanna Dermenjian will report on her research on “Women’s domestic and charitable making of cloth and fibers”. In particular, she will focus on the effort made by women in Kingston and across Canada during World War II to produce quilts for distribution to soldiers, civilians and hospital in Britain and Europe.
November 15, 2023: Kingston has long relied on haunted walks and its role as penitentiary warden of the nation to bolster its tourism. Queen’s doctoral candidate Kaitlyn MacDonald’s research into what is called “Dark Tourism” will delve beyond the superficial into the historical construction behind our fascination with the abnormal and suggest ways in which such analysis may be used to enhance both our historical understanding and tourism management.
Dr. Tim Cook: “Forgetting, Remembering and Remaking Canada’s Second World War.” You can watch this presentation here
Victoria Cosby: “Kingston through Her Eyes: Harriett Dobbs Cartwright and Her Adopted Home” as part of the Society’s celebration of Heritage Month in Kingston. You can watch this presentation here.
Marc Seguin: “The Lighthouses of Kingston: Guiding Ships through the Graveyard of Lake Ontario, 1828 to 1914”. You can watch the presentation here.
Dr. Tabitha Renaud: “Without Words: The Communication Barrier between Indigenous Peoples and the Earliest European Explorers in North America.” You can watch this presentation here.
Heather Home & Janice McAlpine: “Community Archiving: the Kingston LGBTQ Archives as Collaborative Model.” You can watch the presentation here.
We presented the 2021 Sir John A Macdonald Commemorative Service from Cataraqui Cemetery. Watch the Service here
John Immerseel: “For a Better Life: Post-War Dutch Immigration to Canada with special reference to the prominent Dutch community resident in Kingston“. You can watch the presentation here
Duncan McDowall: “Edward Peacock finds Fame and Fortune in London“. You can watch the presentation here
Barry Cahill: “Icarus Revisited: The Short Life and Tragic Death of Norman McLeod Rogers“. You can watch the presentation here
Dr. Robert Engen: “Weathering the Storm: Health Protection and the Canadian Corps during the Pandemic of 1918“. You can watch the presentation here
Catherine Fogarty: “Murder on the Inside: the 1971 KP Riot”. You can watch the presentation here.
Ken Cuthbertson: “When the Ponies Ran“. You can watch the presentation here
Maurice Smith: “The Calvin Company four-master barque”. You can watch the presentation here.
Murray Sinclair and the Sir John A Macdonald memorial service. You can view the video here.
Nathan Brinklow “Mohawk Language Loss and Recovery“. You can view the video here.
Peter Gower “The changing attitude to memorializing our war dead, 1800 – 2022“. You can view the video here.
David Gordon and Sara Wehbi: “Mayor Clifford Curtis: Queen’s Economist and Municipal Reformer” You can view the video here.
During the pandemic, you might want to catch up on your reading about Kingston. We have produced a Reading List – click here to see it! Contact us here with suggestions for additions to the list.
Thursday November 24th, The Museum of Health Care is proud to present this year’s lecture by Anna Krentz, 2022 Margaret Angus Research Fellow. A Zoom presentation: register here.
Friday November 25th (PA Day) from 9am to 4pm: Splash Day at the Marine Museum. Cost is $50 per participant and space will be limited. For the health and safety of participants, masks will be worn by staff and encouraged for participants. Details here.
Monday, December 12, at 7 p.m., 285 Queen Street. The Frontenac Heritage Foundation is organizing its annual Heritage Conservation Awards. This will be held in the Upper Salon at the Renaissance Event Venue on Cash bar and finger foods. Please park on the street or in the rear parking lot.
Tuesday January 17, 7 p.m. R.C.H.A. Club, 2nd floor Jean Rae Baxter will speak: “Fort Frontenac: the Rise and Fall of New France’s Key to the West.”