Conservation / Preservation:
Architecture
The cottage itself is Ontario’s oldest-known example of the rare “vertical plank construction.” Only a handful of extant structures in Ontario were built in this unique style.
Environment
The cottage grounds have been planted with species indegenous to the area or with plants and flowers the pioneers would have brought with them in the nineteenth century.
Public Programming:
Exhibitions
- The cottage is decorated with many furnishings unique to the mid nineteenth century.
- Docents in period dress describe the road system and life of ordinary Torontonians of the 19th century,
Educational Programming
- School groups can arrange visits to the cottage.
- Evening lectures.
- Workshops on knitting, rug braiding, and other heritage skills.
Other
- Check the website for special events such as Strawberry Socials and Victoria Day Tea.
Conservation / Preservation:
Architecture
The village is comprised of many structures dating as far back as the 1820s, including log (round and squared timber), vertical plank, stacked plank, post-and-beam, and balloon construction styles. Most recently acquired building was a mail-order house from Aladdin House Company, Toronto. Architecture primarily Ontario vernacular.
Artefacts
Artefact holdings total over 10,000 artefacts, many in storage and not on exhibit in buildings. Contextual artefact exhibits in heritage buildings illustrate daily life in set time periods throughout Pickering’s development from early settlement to 1910.
Public Programming:
Educational Programming
For a fee, this institution offers full day and half day education tours and outreach programs for classrooms/meeting groups for grades preschool to high school that concentrate on daily life in Pickering from the early-nineteenth century to the present.
- Full day tours include visits to the site’s restored buildings dating from 1810, where students grind grain, haul water, work in the blacksmith shop, make soap, bake bread, and experience lessons in a nineteenth century schoolhouse.
- Multi-day tours (two – five school days) offer extended visits to each building where students participate in the full day activities and benefit from additional heritage programming.
- Tailored particularly to home schooled children, a nine week Pioneer Immersion program offers children the opportunity to fully immerse themselves in nineteenth century life.
- Heritage to Go! program sends an instructor in nineteenth century dress to teach curriculum-based programs on a wide range of themes.
Exhibitions
Exhibits are held in a temporary gallery sapce in the administrative building twice per year.
Workshops and other public programming
Summer Day Camp
- Full day camp on heritage inspired themes for campers ages 5 – 12 years.
Public Workshops on a wide range of themes and topics including:
- Themed tea workshops
- Cooking workshops
- Victorian Dance workshops
- Guest Speaker Presentations (off or on-site presentations on themes such as the Temperance Movement, Heritage Gardening, Tea, Victorian Funeral Traditions
Special Events
- Mother’s Day Tea
- Summer Solstice Suppers
- Teddy Bear Picnic
- Museum Minecraft
- A Spirit Walk: Call to Rebellion (theatrical performance about the 1837 Rebellion)
- Christmas in the Village, Winter in the Woods
Conservation / Preservation:
Architecture
Eight restored nineteenth and early twentieth century buildings, including the Gould-Carmody House (1860), Fifth Line Methodist Church (1870), and Quaker Hill Public School (1924). These structures relate to the area’s business, agricultural, and Quaker history.
Artefacts
The museum houses more than 6,000 artefacts, mainly relating to Uxbridge’s early history. Housed primarily in the museum’s historic buildings, prominent artefacts include carved furniture and musical instruments, a restored printing press and other machinery used by the Uxbridge Printing Company, three prisoners’ boxes carved by men imprisoned in Toronto for their role in the Upper Canada Rebellion of 1837, as well as agricultural tools such as an ox cart, plow, and stump puller.
Archives
The archives contains local business, school, and church records, photographs, newspapers, and municipal records and papers.
Public Programming:
Exhibitions
The museum offers several exhibits, including
- Four displays dedicated to the life and work of individuals with historical connections to the area, novelist Lucy Maud Montgomery, pianist Glenn Gould, artist David Milne, and millionaire and Toronto Mayor, Thomas Foster.
- A display of Uxbridge’s Quaker history with emphasis on the Uxbridge Quaker pioneer settlement.
- The main gallery also houses temporary exhibits. The current exhibit is A History of Play: An Exhibition of Vintage Towns and Collectibles, featuring 100 dolls, games, and cast iron and tin toys.
Educational Programming
The Historical Centre offers tours and workshops to school children of all ages and tailors programming to the Ontario Curriculum. Workshop topics include daily life in nineteenth century Uxbridge, communications and newspaper history, and agricultural history. Museum staff and volunteers also visit schools.
Conservation/Preservation:
Architecture
A rare Regency cottage built in 1837.
Artefacts
Contains many original furnishings, artefacts, and some of Howard’s watercolours of early Toronto.
Public Programming:
Tours and educational programming
A wide variety of workshops, educational programs and community events for all ages on the lives of the Howards and their legacy of High Park.
Seasonal Events
Christmas in the Park (from late November to early January), includes tours and workshops concerning the history of the cottage.
Colborne Lodge Gardens (from early April through summer); focuses on recreated gardens surrounding the cottage.
Conservation/Preservation:
Campbell House is designated under the Ontario Heritage Act for its cultural heritage value. The Sir William Campbell Foundation maintains the 1822 building and collects, preserves, and displays artefacts from the early 19th century, befitting the home of Chief Justice William Campbell.
Architecture
This early nineteenth century house is designed with a Georgian platinum architectural style and is one of the oldest remaining buildings from the original Town of York.
Artefacts
Although the original house’s contents were auctioned by William Robinson, Campbell House is furnished with artefacts that are typical of an upper-class nineteenth century home, including:
- portraits, paintings, pictures, models
- china, cutlery, pots, cooking fireplace
- piano from 1801
- bed, bath, dressers, cabinets, dining table, chairs
Public Programming:
Exhibitions
- On the second floor of Campbell House there is a diorama of the York township in 1825. The diorama displays the neighbourhood of Campbell House’s original location. In addition, there is a blown up map of the township above the diorama, as well as photographs of Campbell House being moved to its present location.
- Beside the York township diorama, there is also a diorama of Sir William Campbell acting as a judge in the renowned legal dispute between Sir William Lyon Mackenzie vs. Samuel Peters Jarvis.
- A room for various rotating exhibits is located in the ballroom. Exhibits do not necessarily have historical themes.
Educational Programming
- Culinary classes are offered through George Brown Culinary School and through Campbell House. Classes teach participants historic recipes and use historic cooking methods.
- A Museum Training Program is offered for 13 to 17 year olds. Activities include crafts, cooking and learning history.
Other
- Plays are occasionally held in the house and move room to room.
- The Types Trial: re-enactment of famous trial where William Lyon Mackenzie took the Family Compact to court-for secondary students specifically.
- Dancing: Traditional Scottish Dancing accompanied by fife music.
Tours
Tours are guided, upon payment of an admission fee or occasionally by “pay what you can.”
Public Programming:
Exhibitions
The organization curates an annual photography exhibition. This years theme is Building Stories 2012: A Photo Exhibit of Transportation in Toronto. Past exhibits include Building Stories 2011: A Photo of Toronto’s Industrial Past and Building Stories 2010: A Photo Exhibit of Toronto’s Aging Spaces.
Historical Plaques
For nearly half a century, the Historical Plaques program has commemorated key people, places, and events in Toronto’s past. The program encourages Torontonians to apply for plaques and find funding support within their communities to make them happen. Heritage Toronto provides expertise in historical research and writing, plaque design and fabrication, and installation of plaques on buildings and in public spaces.
Plaques fall into three broad categories:
- Century House enamel plaques with street address numbers. These celebrate any house that has been part of the architectural landscape of Toronto for over a century.
- Official bronze recognition plaques for structures listed or designated on the City of Toronto’s Heritage Register.
- Commemorative and interpretive enamel panels, complete with maps and images that highlight people, places and events significant to the history of Toronto.
Tours
The Tours program was introduced in 1994 to provide residents and visitors with an opportunity to learn about the heritage and architecture of the city. All tours are researched, designed, and led by local historians, community groups, and professionals who volunteer their time and energy. The Tours season runs from April to October each year.
Digital
- Heritage Map of Toronto: a google map highlighting archaeological sites, museums, plaques and heritage walks: http://www.heritagetoronto.org/discover-toronto/map
- iTours: audio downloadable self-directed tours: http://www.heritagetoronto.org/discover-toronto/itours
Heritage Toronto Awards
An important event on the city’s cultural calendar, the Heritage Toronto Awards celebrate outstanding city builders and their contributions to the promotion and preservation of Toronto’s heritage in five main categories:
- Community Heritage
- Media
- Book
- Short Publication
- William Greer Architectural Conservation & Craftsmanship
The nominees for the Community Heritage Award are also considered for the Members Choice Award. A Special Achievement Award is also announced, with the recipient named by the Heritage Toronto Board of Directors.
Other
- Annual Heritage Toronto Awards,
- William Kilbourn Memorial Lecture.
- Comprehensive list of history-related organisations and locations in the city.
- A program of heritage plaques and markers ,
Conservation / Preservation:
Museum
- Artistic copies of Shevchenko’s art.
- Several editions of Shevchenko’s Kobzar and a large facsimile copy of Shevchenko’s diary.
- Ukrainian handicrafts and folk art, including traditional clothing, Ukrainian eggs, embroidery, wood carving, and musical instruments.
- 1861 Taras Shevchenko death mask is the most valuable item in the museum’s collection.
- Paintings, etchings, illustrations, posters and artefacts of Ukrainian and Ukrainian Canadian cultural life.
- Two important monuments of Shevchenko that document the cultural endeavors of the AUUC in Toronto.
Library
- A substantial collection of books and pamphlets by Shevchenkiana, including facsimiles of the first edition of Shevchenko’s first collection of poetry.
Public Programming:
Exhibitions
- Shevchenko’s life, art, and poetry, including a prominent exhibit on Shevchenko’s time in exile in the Russian Far East, with paintings documenting a Russian military expeditions to the Aral Sea.
- The history of Ukrainian immigration to Canada, including passports, naturalization certificates, and other papers documenting the migration of Ukrainians to Canada, union cards, and Workmen’s Compensation cards.
- Ukrainian handicrafts, furniture, and folk art.
- The works of contemporary Ukrainian painters and sculptors.
Education
The museum offers tours to schoolchildren as well as to university students and scholarly organizations.
Conservation / Preservation:
Architecture
- Restored homes of three early settlers.
- A nineteenth century church, blacksmith shop, cider mill, general store, and sawmill.
- A 1930s-era train station.
Archives
- Files on nearly 900 families who have lived in the Markham area, published and unpublished genealogies and family trees, birth, marriage, and death records from Markham and surrounding areas dating back to the early nineteenth century, local census records, and other genealogical materials.
- Index of land deeds, assessment roles, and voter’s lists.
- Miscellaneous documents including deeds, ledgers, diaries, journals, and photographs.
Public Programming:
Exhibitions
Changing exhibits that included photographs and various artefacts from the Museum’s collection in addition to those loaned to the museum by local individuals and families.
Education
Day and half day programs for students from kindergarten to high school focusing primarily on early life, including work, transportation, home life, and leisure, in the area. In the Museum’s research facility, high school students learn how to work with primary research materials.
Conservation / Preservation:
Architecture
Four original, in situ buildings remain on the grounds. These consist of two historic homes, the former paper mill and the remains of the brewery complex. The Cottage has been restored to the 1940s reflecting life on the home front in East York while Helliwell House has been restored to reflect workers’ lives in the late 1890s. The paper mill has been restored to a fully-accessible theatre and gallery now known as the Papermill Theatre and Gallery.
Artefacts
The Museum’s collection consists primarily of artifacts related to the time periods to which the two historic houses have been restored.
Archives
Archival materials related to Todmorden Mills and East York are housed at the Toronto Reference Library, City of Toronto Archives, and Archives of Ontario.
Environment / Nature
The site contains a 9.2 hectare wildflower preserve that is being re-naturalized to pre-European contact.
Public Programming:
Exhibitions
The artifacts on display in the historic houses reflect the time periods to which the homes have been restored.
Education / Tours
Guided tours of the two historic houses and grounds are available year-round. Educational, curriculum-linked programs are available to school groups. Seasonal guided walks of the wildflower preserve are also provided.
Art Gallery
The Papermill Gallery regularly exhibits the works of local artists, community art groups and emerging artists.
Theatre
The Papermill Theatre offers performance space for theatre, community celebrations and corporate events.
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.
