Conservation/Preservation:
Artefacts
- Temple: a new restoration was completed in 2011
- David Willson’s Study: workplace of the leader of the Children of Peace
- Doan Home: home of Ebenezer Doan, master builder of the Temple
- Jesse Doan log house
- Cookhouse
- Doan drive shed
- Granary
architecture
All buildings and artefacts relate to pioneer life and the Children of Peace.
- The Sharon Temple: Built between 1825 and 1832. Restoration on the building was completed in 2011.
- David Willson’s Study: Built in 1829, and was the workplace of David Willson, the leader of the Children of Peace.
- Doan Home: Built in 1819, it was the home of Ebenezer Doan, the master builder of the Temple.
- Log House: Built in the 1830s, the Log House was the home of Jesse Doan, the first leader of the Sharon Civilian Band.
- Doan Drive Shed
- Cookhouse: Used to cook the 15 major feasts throughout the year. Once a month when the temple would be used to collect donations, and on three special occasions: Christmas, the first Saturday in June (in celebration of David Willson’s birthday), and the first Saturday in September (a celebration of the harvest and illumination).
- Granary
Public Programming:
Online
175 Years of Hope: A Celebration of the Sharon Temple and The Children of Peace. http://www.archives.gov.on.ca/en/explore/online/sharon_temple/index.aspx
Music at Sharon: Sunday afternoon concerts of classical music.
Special Events
Check the website for updates. Below is a list of events in 2017:
- March 16 2017: Weaving Words Speakers Series – Stories come in all forms. A discussion of World War One and the Canadian Expeditionary Forces at the Battle of Vimy Ridge that complements our Dear Sadie Exhibit.
- April 20 2017: Weaving Words Speakers Series – Stories come in all forms. The History Hound will discuss genealogy and decorating your family tree.
- May 18 2017: Weaving Words Speakers Series – Stories come in all forms. This series will bring those stories alive in various forms to delight, inspire, and entertain audiences. This event will showcase young artists.
- June 8 2017: Heritage Celebration – This event will celebrate the purchase of the Temple by the York Pioneer Historical Society in 1917, an event which saved the Temple from destruction. Heritage Celebration will feature: delightful hors d’ouvres, historic tours, wine and craft beer, and a stunning musical performance in the one of a kind Sharon Temple.
- July 1 2017: Canada Day Community Celebration – Celebrate Canada’s history in your own backyard! Enjoy a day of music, heritage games, historic demonstrations, museum exhibits, 1937 Reenactment and Encampment, and more.
- July 23 2017: Music at the Temple – Come by to enjoy local musicians and great food in an amazing location.
- September 8 2017: The Illumination – Following the practice of the Children of Peace, the museum recreates The Illumination on the first Friday night of September every year. Candles are lit in every window of the Temple and in the twelve lanterns on the corners. The evening includes music, readings, ceremony, and light refreshments on the grounds.
- September 17 2017: Weaving Words – Weaving Words is a celebration of stories and the many ways that we will tell them, through written and spoken word, through music, film, and dance. Storytellers, writers, musicians, film-makers and other performances from a wide range of cultural and ethnic backgrounds will gather to celebrate everything that is special about who we are, where we have come from and where we are going. Through our stories we celebrate our history and our culture with all of its diversity; we celebrate the people who have made this nation great.
- September 30 2017: Culture Day at the Temple
Exhibits
- May 8 2017 – September 9 2017: Our Natural World Exhibit – There was a time when everything a person owned would be made from things you find in nature. Come examine a collection of interesting everyday objects made out of natural materials. Be inspired by your natural world; what would you make from these objects?
- May 8 2017 – September 8 2017 Richard Coates: Our Renaissance Man – Richard Coates was a man of many talents. While we know very little of his education, his life speaks to great diversity. He was the bandmaster in the Battle of Waterloo, he built 3 organs, some of the earliest surviving in Canada, and he painted beautiful banners, like “Peace” and “Plenty” that hang in the Temple today. Coates was a musician, an inventor, a painter, and an astronomer; a man of eclectic talents that we now call “Our Renaissance Man”.
- May 8 2017 –October 31 2017: Coming Home: Quaker Beginnings in York Exhibit – Everyone comes from somewhere, and each of their journeys are different. Coming Home: Quaker Beginnings in York, shares the journeys of three families: the Hughes, Starrs, and Lundys, as they immigrate to York to make a new home. In honor of Canada’s 150, the Sharon Temple invites the public to share in the experience of early Quaker settlers as they journey across unknown lands, experience many trials, and finally, form a community. This is the story of a group of settlers that made more than a house, they made a home
Tours
Call to arrange a guided tour of the site, although tours can be given to people who just drop by during our hours of operation.
Conservation / Preservation:
Archives
The United Church of Canada Archives includes the General Council Archives and the Central Ontario Conferences Archives serving Bay of Quinte, Hamilton, London, Manitou and Toronto Conferences. Material types within our collection include textual records, photographs, audiovisual and architectural records.
The collections include the following:
- General Council records, photographs and audiovisual records.
- Records of antecedent denominations, including Methodist, Presbyterian, Congregationalist, and union, prior to establishment of the United Church in 1925.
- Records created by individuals and organizations affiliated with the United Church of Canada, including those of former staff, including those operating overseas, and ecumenical and interchurch organizations.
- Records of 15 Indian Residential Schools, operated, prior to 1925, by the Methodist and Presbyterian churches and afterword by the United Church of Canada, primarily in British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan, and Manitoba.
- Conference and presbytery records for Bay of Quinte, Hamilton, London, Manitou, and Toronto.
- Microfilm collection including, baptismal, marriage, and burial records, including those of the Methodist, Presbyterian, Congregational and Evangelical United Brethren Churches, and, notably, the Wesleyan Methodist Baptismal Register for the period 1826-1910.
Library
- Presbyterian, Congregational and Evangelical United Brethren Churches, and, notably, the Wesleyan Methodist Baptismal Register for the period 1826-1910.
Conservation / Preservation:
Artefacts
- Historic ceramics, including some by notable ceramics artist, Oleksa Bakhmatyuk (1820-1882).
- Ukrainian woodwork, including crosses, musical instruments, boxes, plates and bowls, chests and toys.
- Religious pieces such as crèche, icons, crosses, bibles and prayer books
- Historic and contemporary jewelry and other adornment.
- Reproductions of historic costumes of Ukrainian nobility from the eighth to the eighteenth century; folk dress, ritual cloths, kylyms, and household textiles.
- Prints, engravings, etchings, lithographs, silk screenings, and currency and stamps from the period 1918-1920.
- Pysanky representing many regions in Ukraine.
Public Programming:
Exhibits
Large rotating and traveling exhibits dealing with historic and contemporary Ukrainian handicrafts and art, Ukrainian immigrants in Canada, and Christianity. Each exhibit is inaugurated with a public lecture.
Educational Programming
Educational programs are developed for each exhibit and can be accessed by school teachers and students of all grades.
Conservation / Preservation:
Archives
- Marriage and burial records.
- Parish personnel records and biographical information about prominent parishioners
- Pew records listing individuals who owned and rented pews, and related correspondence.
- Photographs and sound recordings.
- Records of parish deliberations, decisions, actions, administration, correspondence, and finances.
- Pictorial records including site maps, engineering and architectural drawings.
- Records of special events of the congregation.
- Music written and arranged for the Cathedral.
Museum
- Bibles, prayer books, and a small reference library.
- Organ pipe and portable organ.
- Coat of arms, paintings, drawing, prints, icons.
- Memorial plaques and busts.
- Textiles: embroideries, flags, and regimental colours.
- Woodenware and furnishings: crosses, candlesticks, carvings, prayer desks, seats and chairs.
- Ironwork: bell, fencing, weathervane.
- China.
- Brass and silver, both liturgical and secular.
- Créche collection.
Public Programming:
Exhibitions
Two regular exhibits include The September Art Show to mark Toronto Arts Week, and The Crèche Exhibit of Nativity Scenes from Around the World in December. Other exhibits are held throughout the year such as,
- Black History, (opening February 5, 2017).
- The Cathedral during the War of 1812, focusing on Bishop Strachan’s role in the Battle of York and the Cathedral’s use as a field hospital.
- Vision and Devotion, organized in partnership with the Ontario Society of Artists, focusing on the society’s connections to the Cathedral. The exhibit displayed art by the society’s members housed within the Cathedral.
- A celebration of the Diamond Jubilee of Queen Elizabeth II and the links between the British monarchy and the Cathedral (to close October 28, 2012).
Tours
- Specially organized Cathedral Tours for school classes normally engaged in the study of medieval history, Canadian history, art, architecture, religion, the Cathedral itself, and the broader theme of the Anglican Church and Christianity (the focus of tours catering to the grade 11 World Religions curriculum). Tours also focus on memorials and biography, church windows, carvings, military history, prominent local historical figures, and church architecture.
- Tours of special exhibits.
- Tours of Toronto’s Old Town and churches elsewhere in Toronto.
Public Lectures
The Archives and Museum Committee offers public lectures related to exhibitions and / or publications related to the history of the Cathedral and its parishioners.
Publications
Occasional publications related to Parish, Cathedral, and neighbourhood history.
Public Programming:
Exhibitions
- The Melville White Church reflects the religious beliefs of the original Scottish Presbyterian pioneers in the Caledon area. The Church was named after Andrew Melville who was an early follower of John Wesley, the founder of the Presbyterian Church in Scotland in the 17th century.
- The Melville Church is one of the last remaining Ontario timber frame churches predating the Victorian era. Its history began in 1820 and continued until the dissolution of the congregation in 1964.
Other
Once restored, the society will rent the Melville White Church for weddings, recitals, heritage displays, readings, exhibits and other community functions.
Conservation / Preservation:
Archives / Library
- Episcopacy of the Archdiocese of Toronto – Administrative records of the Bishops, Archbishops and Auxiliary Bishops of Toronto documenting their ecclesiastical challenges and daily activities. This includes papers of Bishop Alexander Macdonell, who was the first bishop of the Diocese of Kingston, which from 1826-1840 included the territory of the current Archdiocese of Toronto. The papers are described at the file or item level up to the end of Archbishop Pocock’s episcopate. Finding aids, including item level descriptions, are available for research use up to 1961, which marks the end of Archbishop James C. Cardinal McGuigan’s active episcopate.
- Administrative Records of the Archdiocese of Toronto – Documents pertaining to the day-to-day business of the offices and agencies of the Archdiocese, including some subject based collections such as the World Wars, Catholic Cemeteries, Education, etc. The most commonly accessed collections are the Parish Historical Records, and Architectural Drawings.
- Other Collections – Ancillary records regarding Archdiocesan committees and commissions, as well as Catholic institutions and organizations working within the Archdiocese.
- Special Collections – Collections determined by material format. In the past, these items were often removed from other areas of the archives to facilitate preservation and access. Special collections (including photographs, rare books, artwork, textiles, and artifacts) enrich the administrative records of the other three parts of our holdings.
Artefacts
Examples of Special Collections include: Artifacts, Altar Stones, Diocesan Seals, Medallions, Papal Bulls, Relics and Textiles.
Public Programming:
Digital
Weekly posts to blog, The Archivist’s Pencil. http://archives-archtoronto.blogspot.ca/
Other
This archives provides reference service for phone and email inquiries as well as in-house research assistance. Researchers are welcome to book an appointment after consulting with the reference archivist and determining a course of research that is consistent with ARCAT’s policies.
