Starting a business requires a lot of hard work. Not everything will work out as planned or on time. Setbacks are inevitable, and resilience is key. To help set you up for success, we have five online course recommendations. All of these courses are free with your library card, and you can’take them at any […]
Canada’s 2016 Census revealed that visual artists in Canada earned on average $21,100 per year. More than 75% of that income was derived from employment not associated with creating and selling art. This income level seems dismal. So we've put together some resources for aspiring artists who are looking to take their talent into a […]
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 […]
Situated on the St. Lawrence seaway, Cornwall is Ontario’s easternmost city. It's also a port-of-passage joined to the United States by the Three Nations Crossing on Cornwall Island, which is inside the Ontario portion of the Mohawk Akwesasne reserve. Cornwall was settled on the land of the St. Lawrence Iroquoians, Mohawk, Huron-Wendat and Haudenosaunee (Native […]
Machine-guns are towed on boggans by the white-shrouded figures and; when needed; can be set up and in action like a flash (1941). Photo from the Toronto Star Photograph Archive. A Brief History Equipped with cross country skis, troops fighting for Finland pushed back and defeated Soviet forces in the Winter War (though Finland lost […]
Toronto Harbour, looking west, 1812 The War of 1812 came to the town of York — now Toronto — on April 27, 1813. Departing from New York's Sacket's Harbor, Commodore Isaac Chauncey's squadron positioned itself at three strategic locations. Map show the movements of American fleet. From the publication, The battle of York, published 1913 […]
The United States congress declared war on Great Britain on June 18, 1812. Britain had drawn the ire of the Americans by blockading their trade with France, stirring up uprisings from Indigenous populations and impressing (press ganging) US sailors born in Britain into the British navy. Map of Upper and Lower Canada and United States, […]
Crystal Palace (1858-1879), King St. W., n. side, at present Sudbury St. Unknown Picture, 18-?, English It was not named the Canadian National Exhibition until 1912, although the fair started back in 1858 with erection of a crystal palace at Shaw and King streets called The Palace of Industry. Sanford Fleming and Collingwood Schreiber based […]
'Arrow' & 'Gorilla', of the R.C.Y.C. fleet, opposite Toronto, Ont. Armstrong, William, 1822-1914 Picture, 1880 In 1852, eight men founded a boat club in Toronto harbour. A year later, they named it the Toronto Yacht Club. Out of patriotism to the British Crown, the club applied for a Royal Warrant. To their surprise, Queen Victoria […]
Map of the British plantations, 1739 United Empire Loyalists (or Loyalists) is an honorific that was given in 1789 by Lord Dorchester, the governor of Quebec and Governor General of British North America, to American Loyalists who resettled in British North America during or just after the American Revolution. The Loyalists were originally American colonists. […]