Your library card now gives you free access to Ancestry Library Edition — from anywhere! Remote access to Ancestry Library Edition ends as of December 31, 2021. Unfortunately, we are no longer able to offer at-home access as an option for this service. As of January 1, 2022, access to Ancestry Library Edition will continue […]
To kickstart the decade's first leap year, I turned to Toronto Public Library's Digital Archive Ontario for historical photos and unexpected items tied to leap years. What you'll find below is a small selection of what I discovered. It includes photos from our Toronto Star Photograph Archive of individuals born on "leap day", February 29. […]
Horseshoe Falls (part of Niagara Falls). Toronto Star Photograph Archive, 1985. Tourists, honeymoon couples, traffic jams and wax museums. These might come to mind when we think of Niagara Falls. But in winter Niagara Falls is transformed into a peaceful, frozen wonderland that has attracted tourists for decades. Lamp posts, trees and buildings near the […]
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 […]
Below are posters — also known as "broadsides" — from Canada during the Second World War. They're all from Toronto Public Library's vaults (well, shelves, not actual vaults) and available on Digital Archive Ontario. Made by different government agencies, this batch of World War II posters generally promote one of five key messages. Before we take a closer […]
Now-defunct Canadian Northern Railway in 1910, linking Sudbury mines to other parts of Canada from Quebec City to Vancouver. Toronto Public Library. Imagine you're on a road trip, driving west along the Trans-Canada Highway toward Sault Ste. Marie. Being the passenger, you're tasked with handling the GPS device. As you go, you see the towns […]
Technician using a Geiger counter to measure radioactivity of various items at Chalk River in 1948. Toronto Star Photo Archive. What comes to mind when you hear the word “nuclear?” Many remember hiding under school desks as nuclear conflict loomed during the Cold War. Today, we might think of North Korea, which has been testing […]
The City of Toronto’s history of traffic management has had some interesting milestones, beginning with the institution of Toronto’s first automated traffic lights at Bloor Street and Yonge Street, the heart of the downtown city core, on August 8, 1925. Page one of the August 8, 1925 issue of the Toronto Daily Star offered readers […]
Stonewall: Celebrating 50 years of activism Another Pride week has come and gone in Toronto, and this year we celebrated the 50th anniversary of the Stonewall Riots and the beginnings of the Gay Liberation Movement. For this special occasion, I decided to do some digging into the Toronto Star Photograph Archive to see what I […]
As summer weather comes to Ontario, many people hit the road to "cottage country." You may have a favourite hotspot to enjoy the outdoors — but do you know how the region developed into what it is today? Each area has its own unique history (including its Indigenous land status, as mapped on Native Land). […]