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In anticipation of the live question and answer period from the International Space Station with NASA Astronaut Drew Feustel, we are choosing for our post this week a “Sketch of a Comet, or something like one” by Angus MacLeod in 1864 (V009). It is a lovely little watercolour with a
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In honour of the first day of Spring, we thought we’d provide readers with an image of some melting ice! For much of its earlier existence, Kingston was a key commercial shipping centre on the Great Lakes. Prior to the opening of the St. Lawrence Seaway to navigation in 1959,
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In celebration of #InternationalWomensDay the three photos above are of the Letters Patent for the Suffrage Headquarters Limited, Toronto. The directors were August Stowe-Gullen, Margaret Gordon, Flora MacDonald Denison, Leslie Rose Stowe and Margaret Johnston. Incorporated October 20th, 1910 the headquarters were located at 259 ½ Yonge Street. This copy
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Designed by a consortium of local architectural firms, the Onshore Olympic Sailing Facilities revitalised a badly blighted Portsmouth Harbour area for use in the 1976 Olympics. The building was designed in four main sections: competitor’s facilities, a measuring area, an administration and media office area and a restaurant and roof
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With next week being Valentine’s Day we wanted to share this archival tale of love. We stumbled across this wonderful drawing in the March 4, 1924 issue of the Queen’s Journal. After doing a bit of research, we realized that this drawing was done by our benefactor, Kathleen Ryan (neé
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Once upon a time, everyone in Kingston knew George Masoud. He was the ice cream king of Kingston (his store can be seen in the above photograph on the left side) who owned numerous rental houses and the Superior Restaurant. He assisted Jewish, Christian, and Muslim congregations, and established a
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20 years ago this week, the St. Lawrence Valley was cleaning up from over 100 mm of freezing rain, resulting in one of the largest natural disasters in Canadian history. Downed branches and ice-laden trees made for precarious conditions. This lovely photograph from the Whig-Standard shows a gathering of just
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From one year to the next, Kingston continues to grow and change in small but significant ways. From the addition of bike lanes to the eviction of the Marine Museum of the Great Lakes, each and every alteration gives and takes from the city. While downtown Kingston often gets a
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This gorgeous photo was taken on a glass negative plate in 1901. Visible on the train is the label “K & P Ry No. 1”, marking it as the very first locomotive of the Kingston and Pembroke Railway Company. The photo was taken at the Carworks yard, which was located
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With all the construction, and proposed construction, that is ongoing in our fair city we thought it was a good time to take a look at some of the early aerial photographs we have at the Archives. Taking to the air offers a fresh perspective on our ground level reality.
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In acknowledgement of Ontario’s #TreatiesRecognitionWeek our image is a sketch from Edmund Morris’s notebook that we hold at Queen’s University Archives (Locator 2140). In 1906, Edmund Montague Morris was commissioned by the Ontario government to accompany the Treaty party that travelled to the James Bay region of northern Ontario to
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Halloween brings thoughts of witches and goblins. And in this part of Ontario, it reminds us of a local celebrity in this regard: Mother Barnes, the Witch of Plum Hollow. The picture above is the only known likeness of her that we have in all the research files from the
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