Laura Centore

OxHS Special Presentation: Woodstock Museum NHS 75th Anniversary on Wednesday, May 31, 2023!

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Please join us on Wednesday, May 31st as Karen Houston, Museum Curator, discusses the founding of the Woodstock Museum, NHS and its ties with the community and with the Oxford Historical Society.

From Karen:

“The Oxford Historical Society created a committee to oversee the founding of a museum to highlight the history of Oxford County. The committee consisted of naturalists, historians, university professors and interested citizens. The museum was incorporated in 1947 when artifacts were temporarily displayed in the county courthouse. Members of the committee worked on fundraising, preparing future exhibits, and learning museum best practises.

The committee later acquired a permanent home for the museum on the top floor of the Old Town Hall, which housed the City of Woodstock’s council chambers and mayor’s office on the main floor. Artifacts were moved into the new space and displayed for viewing.

The museum first opened on Jan. 28, 1948, on the second floor of the Old Town Hall.

Originally called the Oxford County Museum, it was renamed the Woodstock Museum in 1985 when the City of Woodstock took over operation of the museum and its collection.

Today the museum continues to reside in the Old Town Hall, which is designated as a national historic site“

Presentation on the Woodstock Museum’s 75th Anniversary will be held at the Woodstock Museum, NHS, on Wednesday, May 31, 2023. Doors open at 6:30pm.
This is a free event, all are welcome to attend.

Spirit of Christmas Tour of Homes!

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Hello Everyone,
please read this guest post from the Woodstock Museum, NHS.

Are you interested in decking your halls for the Spirit of Christmas Tour of Homes this year? Our popular holiday fundraiser is returning on Saturday, November 25 and the Woodstock Museum Advisory Committee is looking for homeowners to participate!

Contact the Woodstock Museum by Friday, June 9 to let us know if you’re interested.

You’ll receive two free tickets to the tour, a one-year membership to the museum and a restaurant gift card. Need decorating assistance? We’re happy to reach out to local businesses on your behalf! We also supply volunteer greeters for the event and plastic bags for visitors to carry their shoes.

OxHS Presents: Woodstock Museum NHS 75th Anniversary!

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Please join us on Wednesday, May 31st as Karen Houston, Museum Curator, discusses the founding of the Woodstock Museum, NHS and its ties with the community and with the Oxford Historical Society.

From Karen:

“The Oxford Historical Society created a committee to oversee the founding of a museum to highlight the history of Oxford County. The committee consisted of naturalists, historians, university professors and interested citizens. The museum was incorporated in 1947 when artifacts were temporarily displayed in the county courthouse. Members of the committee worked on fundraising, preparing future exhibits, and learning museum best practises.

The committee later acquired a permanent home for the museum on the top floor of the Old Town Hall, which housed the City of Woodstock’s council chambers and mayor’s office on the main floor. Artifacts were moved into the new space and displayed for viewing.

The museum first opened on Jan. 28, 1948, on the second floor of the Old Town Hall.

Originally called the Oxford County Museum, it was renamed the Woodstock Museum in 1985 when the City of Woodstock took over operation of the museum and its collection.

Today the museum continues to reside in the Old Town Hall, which is designated as a national historic site“

Presentation on the Woodstock Museum’s 75th Anniversary will be held at the Woodstock Museum, NHS, on Wednesday, May 31, 2023. Doors open at 6:30pm.
This is a free event, all are welcome to attend.

Beachville District Museum Presents: Onion Skins and Peach Fuzz – Memories of Ontario Farmerettes!

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Hello Everyone,
please see this guest post from the Beachville District Museum:

Bonnie Sitter and Shirleyan English will tell the story of the Ontario Farm Service Force that began in 1941 and ended after the summer of 1952. This was the time when girls aged 16,17 and 18 volunteered to become Farmerettes on market garden farms, orchards and vineyards. Learn how and why they were recruited, where they lived, what their work was and why many of them remember those summers as the best summers of their lives. The powerpoint presentation has many photos from Farmerettes who are now in their late 80s and 90s.

Bonnie and Shirelyan continues to collect their stories and photos and the book is being developed into a play for summer theatre in 2024. The push to have the Farmerettes recognized by Canada Post is looking very positive. They hoed, harvested and hitchhiked and aided in necessary food production during and after the war.

It is a story that was almost forgotten.

The presentation will take place on Tuesday, May 9, 2023 from 7:00-8:00pm.

Books will be available for $49.00 (no tax); cash, cheques and E-Transfers are accepted.

The talk will be followed by a question period, with refreshments and snacks served by the Historical Society members.

No registration required. Free to attend.

For more information contact the Beachville District Museum

Oxford Branch of Ontario Ancestors May 8th Meeting: The Hawke Papers!

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Hello Everyone,

Please see this guest post from Oxford Branch of Ontario Ancestors:

“Please join the Oxford Branch of Ontario Ancestors for a Zoom meeting on Monday, May 8th at 7 pm for the presentation: The Hawke Papers and Anthony Hawke, Chief Emigrant Agent 1833-1864

Speaker Wendy Cameron will begin an introduction to the Hawke Papers with their 21st century return to Ontario, a wonderful tale of archival good fortune. A highlight is six large volumes of letters chronicling government aid to immigrants in every year from 1835 into 1869. Other treasures include ten volumes of registers (lists) kept at Toronto. They record immigrants as they arrived in the city and left for a next destination in Canada West/Ontario, and they date between 1857 and 1892.

Please visit our website at https:\\oxford.ogs.on.ca to pre-register.  Everyone is welcome.”

Liz Buchanan
Oxford Branch Publicity Coordinator Ontario Ancestors

Join the OxHS for Tonight’s Presentation: The Big World of Joe Boyle!

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Joe Boyle’s Machine Gun Brigade

Hello Everyone,

It has been a 100 years since Joe Boyle’s Repatriation and Brian ‘Chip’ Martin has prepared a special presentation honouring this event!
Please join the Oxford Historical Society and Chip Martin on Wednesday, April 26 at 6:30pm at the Woodstock Museum, NHS for his presentation: The Big World of Joe Boyle!

He grew up in Woodstock, made millions in the Klondike, challenged for hockey supremacy with miners from there, contributed to the First World war in unconventional ways and hobnobbed with European royalty.

Along the way, Joe Boyle was dubbed the “King of the Klondike,” and “Saviour of Romania.” It was quite the life for an Ontario boy whose efforts saw him decorated by Great Britain, France, Russia and Romania, but was considered persona non-grata by officials in his own country. He became so close to the queen of Romania that was he was forced to leave the country whose Crown jewels, reserves and archives he managed to rescue at the risk of his life.

Boyle caused fits to the Canadian government because he acted as a soldier of fortune and would not follow orders or explain his wartime activities. In the end, he depleted his own fortune and the Queen of Romania stepped in to provide suitable markers for his gravesite following his untimely death in London, England exactly 100 years ago. And it wasn’t until 40 years ago that his remains were brought to Woodstock with the help of the Canadian armed forces that had considered him a rogue pariah when he was alive

Joe Boyle is a figure not unlike Gravenhurst medical doctor Norman Bethune, who was considered a hero in a faraway land, but virtually unknown at home. Boyle’s story is of epic proportions.

From Chip Martin – The Big World of Joe Boyle

Chip Martin’s latest work – From Underground Railroad to Rebel Refuge: Canada and the Civil War; will be available for purchase, $25.00, cash only. For more information about this book go to: OxHS Upcoming Events

This presentation will take place at the Woodstock Museum, NHS. Doors open at 6:30pm and the meeting will start at 6:45pm. This is a free public meeting, all are welcome to attend.

OxHS Upcoming Presentation on Wednesday, April 26, 2023: The Big World of Joe Boyle!

by
Joe Boyle’s Machine Gun Brigade

Hello Everyone,

It has been a 100 years since Joe Boyle’s Repatriation and Brian ‘Chip’ Martin has prepared a special presentation honouring this event!
Please join the Oxford Historical Society and Chip Martin on Wednesday, April 26 at 6:30pm at the Woodstock Museum, NHS for his presentation: The Big World of Joe Boyle!

He grew up in Woodstock, made millions in the Klondike, challenged for hockey supremacy with miners from there, contributed to the First World war in unconventional ways and hobnobbed with European royalty.

Along the way, Joe Boyle was dubbed the “King of the Klondike,” and “Saviour of Romania.” It was quite the life for an Ontario boy whose efforts saw him decorated by Great Britain, France, Russia and Romania, but was considered persona non-grata by officials in his own country. He became so close to the queen of Romania that was he was forced to leave the country whose Crown jewels, reserves and archives he managed to rescue at the risk of his life.

Boyle caused fits to the Canadian government because he acted as a soldier of fortune and would not follow orders or explain his wartime activities. In the end, he depleted his own fortune and the Queen of Romania stepped in to provide suitable markers for his gravesite following his untimely death in London, England exactly 100 years ago. And it wasn’t until 40 years ago that his remains were brought to Woodstock with the help of the Canadian armed forces that had considered him a rogue pariah when he was alive

Joe Boyle is a figure not unlike Gravenhurst medical doctor Norman Bethune, who was considered a hero in a faraway land, but virtually unknown at home. Boyle’s story is of epic proportions.

From Chip Martin – The Big World of Joe Boyle

Chip Martin’s latest work – From Underground Railroad to Rebel Refuge: Canada and the Civil War; will be available for purchase, $25.00, cash only. For more information about this book go to: OxHS Upcoming Events

This presentation will take place at the Woodstock Museum, NHS. Doors open at 6:30pm and the meeting will start at 6:45pm. This is a free public meeting, all are welcome to attend.

Oxford Local History Day – Saturday, April 22, 2023!

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Hello Everyone,

This guest post is provided by Oxford County Library:

Oxford County Library is proud to host the 3rd annual Oxford Local History Day!

Join us at Ingersoll Library on Saturday, April 22nd from 11AM – 3PM

Discover engaging presentations that will bring to light the story of Oxford.

Visitors to Oxford Local History Day will experience collections, exhibits & featured stories from archives, museums & heritage groups from around Oxford County. 

Experience an Exhibit with History Experts:  

Oxford County Library will feature: The Stone Houses of Zorra project – delve into the stories behind rural edifices of Oxford.

Ingersoll Cheese & Agricultural Museum, Oxford Historical Society, Beachville Museum, Oxford Ancestors, Ingersoll Pipe Band, Heroes of Zorra, Plattsville & District Heritage, Zorra Heritage Committee, Tavistock & District Historical Society

Snap a ‘Step Back in Time Selfie’ in the Ingersoll Historical Photo Booth.   

Grab a prop, smile & transport yourself to the streets of 1900s Ingersoll, courtesy of our green screen photo booth.  Bring the family!

Take in a Presentation:

11AM: The Lost Architecture of Ingersoll:
Join Ingersoll Museum curator, Scott Gillies, as he explores the buildings which once graced our neighborhoods and are now lost to the mists of time!

NOON: A Community 10,000 Years in the Making:
Join UWO Associate History Professor, Cody Groat as he delves into:  “The lands that we know as Oxford County have been occupied for over 10,000 years. This presentation will give a brief history of Indigenous settlement to the present day, as well as cultural change over time.”

1PM: Heroes Past but Always Present:
130 years after five Zorra farmers won the Tug-of-War World Championship at the Chicago World Fair, the small community of Embro still remembers them. This is the story of Zorra’s “Men of Might that Feared the Lord”.  Presented by the Zorra Heritage Committee

1:30PM: Bob Hayward: Farm to Fame:
Zorra Township native Bob Hayward, became a Canadian hero and international celebrity by driving the hydroplane, Miss Supertest III, to the pinnacle of powerboat racing. Presented by the Zorra Heritage Committee

2PM: The Oxford Militia in the War of 1812:
Join local historian, Bob Rennie, as he explores how the citizens of Oxford County had many significant decisions to make during the War of 1812 & the profound impact it had on their lives.

For more event information visit Oxford County Library at Oxford Local History Day 2023
or call 519 485-2505.

Oxford County.  We’ve made history!

Oxford County Archives Virtual Exhibit!

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Hello everyone,

Please read this guest post from the Oxford County Archives:

“The Oxford County Archives has created a new online exhibit celebrating the history of human-animal relationships. The exhibit provides virtual visitors with a peek into archival records featuring animals, including photographs, artwork, old by-laws, greeting cards, posters, newspaper material, and more. Virtual visitors will also delight in stories about some of the more famous animals in Oxford County’s history.

The inspiration behind the exhibit was National Pet Day (April 11) and Archives Awareness Week (April 3-7), which provide staff with an opportunity to showcase these specific records and spread awareness of the importance of keeping archival records and the stories attached to them. Visitors can browse through categories to explore animals at work, animals in art and entertainment, wild encounters and many more. The exhibit also celebrates the role of animals in Oxford County’s rich farming history, from helping to clear and plow fields before the invention of engine-powered farm equipment to offering nutritional sustenance in the form of milk, eggs and animal meat.

Learn more and visit the exhibit online at https://archives.oxfordcounty.ca/Archives/Exhibits.”

Oxford Branch Ontario Ancestors April’s Zoom Presentation – Barn Raising, Threshing & Quilting Bees!

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Hello Everyone,

please see this guest post from the Oxford County Branch of Ontario Ancestors:

Barn Raising, Threshing and Quilting Bees: The Stories Farm Diaries Tell, will be presented by Catharine Wilson, with stories from her recent book, “Being Neighbours,” about barn raisings and quilting bees in Ontario, 1830-1960.
Employing farm diaries, she takes the audience into families’ daily lives, the intricacies of the labour exchange, their workways, feasts, and hospitality to uncover the subtle social politics of mutual dependency, the expectations neighbours had of each other, their relationships, and ways of managing conflict and crisis. 
Dr. Wilson is a History Professor, University of Guelph, and Director of the Rural Diary Archive website.

This meeting will be a virtual Zoom meeting on Monday, April 10, 2023 at 7pm.

All are welcome to attend. Pre-registration is required.

To register for this event click on this link: Zoom Meeting Registration for Oxford County Branch Ontario Ancestors.