In-person meetings are held at the Kingsbridge Retirement Community in their very comfortable theatre lounge. 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 preceding each lecture: 6:30 for 7:00 p.m.
The Kingsbridge Retirement Community at 950 Centennial Drive is the tall building just south of Princess Street. Enter on the east side (the other end from Centennial Drive). Staff will be at the door to give you directions. Park in any unmarked parking space; there is also parking around Shoppers Drug Mart. Express buses #501 and 502 serve Upper Princess Street with a stop very near Kingsbridge. Bus #4 offers slower service along Princess Street from downtown. Use the Centennial Drive bus stop.
Covid precautions: Please do not come if you are feeling unwell. To help protect vulnerable residents, please wear a mask when inside the building which is kept meticulously sanitized.
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. For the Zoom link, please email kingstonhs@gmail.com before 6p.m. on the day of the meeting.
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. For the Zoom link, please email kingstonhs@gmail.com before 6 p.m. on the day of the meeting.
September 20: 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.” For the Zoom link, please email kingstonhs@gmail.com before 6 p.m. on the day of the meeting.
October 18: 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. For the Zoom link, please email kingstonhs@gmail.com before 6 p.m. on the day of the meeting.
November 15: 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. For the Zoom link, please email kingstonhs@gmail.com before 6 p.m. on the day of the meeting.
January: James and Sarah Reid: “The Story of the James Reid Funeral Home” For recording, press here.
February: Annual General Meeting. You can watch the meeting here and the update on the Murney Tower from Dr. Tabitha Renaud, the Tower’s Director, and Simge Erdogan-O’Connor, the Manager and Curator, with the latest news on what activities been happening, and the plans for 2023 here The Financial Statements for 2022 are here The 2023 AGM document is here
March: Military historian Dr. Matthew Barrett “Graphic art – cartooning – to convey historical narrative and analysis” For the recording, press here
January: Dr. Robert Engen: “Weathering the Storm: Health Protection and the Canadian Corps during the Pandemic of 1918“. You can watch the presentation here
February: Catherine Fogarty: “Murder on the Inside: the 1971 KP Riot”. You can watch the presentation here.
March: Ken Cuthbertson: “When the Ponies Ran“. You can watch the presentation here
April: Maurice Smith: “The Calvin Company four-master barque”. You can watch the presentation here.
June: Murray Sinclair and the Sir John A Macdonald memorial service. You can view the video here.
September: Nathan Brinklow “Mohawk Language Loss and Recovery“. You can view the video here.
October: Peter Gower “The changing attitude to memorializing our war dead, 1800 – 2022“. You can view the video here.
November: 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.
January: Dr. Tim Cook: “Forgetting, Remembering and Remaking Canada’s Second World War.” You can watch this presentation here
February: 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.
March: Marc Seguin: “The Lighthouses of Kingston: Guiding Ships through the Graveyard of Lake Ontario, 1828 to 1914”. You can watch the presentation here.
April: 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.
May: Heather Home & Janice McAlpine: “Community Archiving: the Kingston LGBTQ Archives as Collaborative Model.” You can watch the presentation here.
June: We presented the 2021 Sir John A Macdonald Commemorative Service from Cataraqui Cemetery. Watch the Service here
September: 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
October: Duncan McDowall: “Edward Peacock finds Fame and Fortune in London“. You can watch the presentation here
November: Barry Cahill: “Icarus Revisited: The Short Life and Tragic Death of Norman McLeod Rogers“. You can watch the presentation here
Wednesday March 29, Marine Museum of the Great Lakes at Kingston presents Nautical Nights #6 “The Politics of the Niagara River” with Daniel MacFarlane. Book Now>
Friday March 31, in the Upper Hall at The Spire, at 1 p.m, the Sinclair brothers will be treating the Frontenac Heritage Foundation to a detailed discussion about the Maintenance and Restoration of Traditional Windows.
Saturday April 15, 2:00 – 3:30 pm, Michael Dupuis, author of Bearing Witness: Journalists, Record Keepers and the 1917 Halifax Explosion will talk on The Halifax Explosion 1917 at the Kingston Frontenac Public Library,- Isabel Turner Branch. Online registration is now open on the Programs and Events section of KFPL’s website .
Saturday April 22, 2:00 – 3:30 pm, Michael Dupuis, author of The Winnipeg General Strike: Ordinary Men And Women Under Extraordinary Circumstances and The Reporter And The Winnipeg General Strike will talk on The Winnipeg General Strike at the Kingston Frontenac Public Library,- Isabel Turner Branch. Online registration is now open on the Programs and Events section of KFPL’s website .