Note: This article includes historical materials from the collections of Toronto Public Library. Who tells the story, and how the story is told creates tensions when trying to present content written by settlers about Indigenous people. These materials can reflect offensive historic attitudes, and in some cases, were created by individuals directly involved in acts […]
King Charles III was crowned on May 6, 2023 at the age of 74. As a constitutional monarchy, Canada recognized this historic date — the first coronation in 70 years for Commonwealth nations. In an earlier blog post, we highlighted six rarities from our archives that document past coronation celebrations in Canada. In this post, […]
Until 1905, the Ontario community of Kenora was known to settlers as Rat Portage. According to local legend, a flour mill refused to move to a place with "rat" in its name — prompting the name change. "Kenora" combines the names of two communities it absorbed: Keewatin and Norman. It's located on the Lake of […]
Rochdale College registrar Rick Waern in front of 18-storey building for Rochdale College at Bloor and Huron Streets, 1968. From our Toronto Star Photograph Archive. View on Digital Archive. Rochdale College was a cost-saving measure The University of Toronto’s Campus Co-op, a self-funded student-led housing co-operative, incorporated Rochdale in 1964 as a residence to ease […]
In the late 1960s, there was a sense of buoyancy in much of Canada due to the country's economic growth. This blog post looks back at scenes in Ontario among affluent and high-profile partygoers at the time. Below are photos are from Toronto Public Library (TPL)'s Digital Archive Ontario, a free site with over 100,000 […]
Maps are important historical documents. Not only do maps represent geographies, they reflect the worldviews of when they were made and who made them. Many early maps of North America are available on Digital Archive Ontario, a free site of digitized items held by Toronto Public Library. This blog post features four of these maps […]
Note: This article includes historical materials from the collections of Toronto Public Library. Who tells the story, and how the story is told creates tensions when trying to present content written by settlers about Indigenous people. These materials can reflect offensive historic attitudes, and in some cases, were created by individuals directly involved in acts […]
There was nothing great about the Great Depression except its length and penetration into every corner of Ontario from 1929 to 1939. Below is a brief overview of work camps, or "relief camps", in Ontario — and what led to them. Features photos from Digital Archive Ontario, a database of digitized items from Toronto Public […]
In the 1920s, Cobalt, Ontario was world famous. It was home to some of the most productive silver mines in the world. Over 600 million troy ounces (around two million kilos) of silver were produced there from 1903 to 1926. Below are images of Cobalt during its time as a mining town. The photos — […]
The Grange was just another manor for Toronto's elite until 1911. It then became the property of the Toronto Art Society — home of the future Art Museum of Toronto, renamed the Art Gallery of Ontario (AGO) in 1965. Let's look back at the history of The Grange with photos from Digital Archive Ontario, our […]