Mann Cemetery

Queensway North

Holborn's House

10 Queensway North

Haffie House

181 Church Street

Gunn House

191 Church Street

Keswick United Church

177 Church Street

Allegro Dance Academy (formerly Christian Church)

180 Church Street

Green Cottage Gallery & Gift Shop

187 Queensway South

Stephen Leacock Theatre of Performing Arts

130 Gwendolyn Boulevard

Keswick Public School

25 Queensway North

Radial Building

227 Church Street

Orchard Beach Lakefront Bar & Grill

221 Lake Drive North

The Stephen Leacock Theatre will act as the main site for this event, featuring exhibits, refreshments, general information, the Georgina Historical Society, and showings of the film Sunshine Sketches of a Little Town.

SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 21,

1pm - 4pm

Open House at the Church, located at 3252 Ravenshoe Road (East of Woodbine Ave).  Come and join your friends and neighbours to explore the history of the church and village of Ravenshoe. Refreshments available.

Sunday, September 22nd - 2:00 p.m. - Anniversary service with a time of fellowship and refreshments to follow.

 http://www.ravenshoeunitedchurch.com/

The Georgina Historical Society were the successful recipients of a Young Canada Works and Service Canada grant that allowed three students to work in the museum field over the summer.

Elise Blohm-Gagne (Service Canada) is in her fourth (and final) year of her honours double major in History and Gender Equality & Social Justice degree at Nipissing University. Following this she plans to get her BEd from Nipissing and become a high school teacher. An avid reader and "history geek", she is thoroughly enjoying working at the GPV&A surrounded by all the history.

As Summer Programming Assistant, Elise is working with the Heritage Quest camp alongside Camp Counsellor, Sandy Gross. 

Billie Clark (Young Canada Works) is a second-year student at Trent University studying English Literature. Billie is a resident of Beaverton.

As Summer Programming Assistant, Billie is working with the Soldier's Life camp alongside Camp Counsellor, Bruce Whittaker. 

Billie & Elise work together on creating new programs and implementing existing ones for youth. The Village is offering a camp for 4-9 year old children called "Child's Play" that was created by them.

Nicholas Entecott (Young Canada Works) is a second-year student at Algonquin College in the Applied Museum Studies program. As Historical Interpreter, Nick's responsibilities include improving visitor experience. Nick is also learning the Collections process to assist with donations.

• Melissa gave a historic walking tour of Sutton at the Festival on High, on July 27th (pictured on the right with a group of attendees)
• Doors Open Georgina: Uptown Keswick is looking for volunteers. Visit our website for info on how to help.
• Photos of Keswick? We're writing histories for the upcoming Doors Open Georgina and are in need of images of the Church & Queensway area, including Lake Drive. Street scenes, individual houses, families, etc. There is no specific date range that we are looking for; 30 years ago or more distant are appreciated. Please contact Melissa at [email protected] or (905) 476-4301 x2284 to discuss.
• Summer Camps are in full swing. There's still room in the Child's Play camp for 4-9 year old children. Week of August 26-30. $95 for the week. Call (905) 476-4301 x2354 to register.
• The Georgina Historical Society will be selling their Quilt Raffle tickets here and there until the big draw on November 22nd.
• The Village closes for the season on September 1st. We're already booking school visits for the fall!

• www.anitamaedraper.com may hold some genealogical tidbits you weren't expecting to find. Under her "Author Memories Blog" Anita has posted images of the 1911 courtship letters between Noah Draper of Saskatchewan and Ethel Nelson of North Gwillimbury Twp. Anita includes transcripts of the letters and researches local names (there are many besides Nelson & Draper), places, and events that are mentioned in the letters. Photos, newspaper articles, and genealogies put the letters into context for the reader. Fascinating stuff!
• www.ancestry.ca released the 1921 Canadian census on August 8th! Family Historians, you may now say farewell to your summer friends and plunk yourself in front of the computer for the rest of the year.
• www.blurb.ca Congratulations to Helen Westgarth & Richard Westgarth for their book Udora: Moments in Time. The book was created online using Blurb.ca which provides free online book-making tools for you to create the book. You then order the printed book from Blurb. The GPV&A has a copy in the reference collection for your viewing pleasure.
• www.buildingstories.co (from their site): 

  "Building Stories is an online interactive inventory and mobile application that enables Canadians to take a direct role in identifying important community heritage assets.

  Building Stories will add significantly to the tools available to engage the public, explain the importance of heritage and build community confidence. Building Stories can help identify properties to place on municipal registers, to identify areas as Heritage Conservation Districts and to expand the volunteer base of the conservation movement."

  Building Stories Mobile can be found at several app stores.

We recently received something that we call a "door-step" donation. This is an after-hours anonymous donation. Unfortunately in cases such as these we are unable to accept the item into our collection. We cannot accession these as artifacts, use them for decor, hands-on educational purposes, nor can we sell them. Without paperwork (a Deed of Gift) we do not legally own the property.

There are no abandoned property laws in Canada that state that an object becomes the property of the finder, no matter how much time has passed. Without legal ownership, we cannot use the item in any way. By accepting the items left at our doorstep we are accepting responsibility for the care of them. This would require devoting resources to someone else's property. If we did not devote resources and the object was to be damaged while in our care, in theory, the original owner could return and ask for the item back. They could take legal action against us for not keeping our (implied) promise to care for it as any other object in our collection.

We have recently received a door-step donation and more recently a (literal) drop-and-run donation. If you are the owner of one of these donations (one made on June 3, another on July 13, and a third on August 6) please contact us at the Pioneer Village, otherwise the items will be donated to a thrift store (they are now counted as lost & found items). They are currently left untouched as we have received them- one in a box, another in a bag, third left loose.

For the full Parameters for Acceptance and Acquisition Procedure, as they appear in the Collections Management Policy, please click here. 

If you would like to discuss donating to the collection, please contact Melissa Matt at [email protected]

Georgina Historical Society Board and Village Summer Staff are not authorized to accept on behalf of the Georgina Pioneer Village & Archives.