I can’t quite fathom how this much time has passed, but 2013 will be my 20th trip to the Family History Library in Salt Lake City, Utah. A number of my travel mates seem anxious to add to their list of visits, and you’re invited, too. We’ll fly from Toronto […]
Yearly Archives: 2012
13 posts
POST UPDATED JUNE 2023 Whenever you’re doing urban research, particularly in North America, city directories should be a first stop. For Toronto, the first directory was published in 1833—a year before the Town of York even became the City of Toronto. Over the next 25 years, five more directories were […]
The invasion is over! Well, it was a small invasion—ten Genealogy Summer Campers and their camp leaders visited archives and libraries all across Toronto last week. Genealogy Summer Camp started on Sunday, August 12, with a picnic supper in the peaceful quad of the University of Toronto’s Massey College. We […]
Capturing images of original documents at a library or archives has never been easier. There are so many choices of technology it is tough to keep up—for both researchers and the library and archives staff who make policies about their use.* Next week, I’ll be leading Genealogy Summer Camp participants […]
On Saturday, May 26, 2012, as part of Doors Open Toronto, I got a peek inside the fine art vault containing a portion of the City of Toronto’s Art Collection. The vault and the offices of the Arts Services department are located in the south St. Lawrence Market, right above […]
Charles Ashworth Pipon was not a politician or a celebrity, but the circumstances of his death and funeral were major news events in his hometown of Toronto in the summer of 1906. I came across his modest gravestone in St. James Cemetery —and this story—a few years ago. Charles was […]
The best thing we can do to get to the truth of an historical event or to understand an ancestor’s life is to look at all the information available. All the documentation we can get our hands on. All the background we can learn about the family, social, political, economic, […]
I’ve spent several hours this week—and endless hours over the years—perusing items from the manuscript collection in the Toronto Reference Library’s Baldwin Room. This week, my explorations have been in preparation for a hands-on class I’m teaching there. Rather than chasing a specific fact, my aim has been for variety […]