Now that winter is here and we face the new COVID-19-related need for more social isolation, a slice of Alberta History from Norah L. Lewis’ article Goose Grease and Turpentine may provide some perspective on our notion of hardship.  Lewis reviewed the women’s pages of farm and ranch newspapers and magazines spanning 1900 to 1920…

On Tuesday, October 27th, long-time EDHS board member Christine Prokop presented our Speaker Series offering, “A Mystery from Norway.” The mystery started with an email to EDHS in 2019 from Victor Iversen, a gentleman in Norway, that included a photo of a small town streetscape. Victor was hoping to confirm family lore that his grandmother, Agnes…

On Tuesday September 22nd EDHS relaunched our new season of the Speakers Series with a book launch for Volume III of the Edmonton House Journals. Edited by Ted Binnema and Gerhard J. Ens, and published by the Historical Society of Alberta, this book covers the period from 1826-1834. It provides a fascinating look into the…

In November 2017 the Board drafted a three year strategic plan, where we laid out our mission, mandate, and vision, and defined our audience. We also created a series of goals around branding, collaboration, publishing, communication, board development, and financial planning. Each goal included multiple strategies, with benchmarks to ensure we were making progress. We…

EDHS has received some sad news. Due to health reasons, Jim Higgs, our instructor for History in the Classroom, has announced his retirement. The confusion over how schools will handle covid-19 in the fall added to Jim’s predicament, as there’s currently no guarantee that his presentations would have been permitted in “closed” classrooms. Jim has been the…

The Edmonton and District Historical Society held their Annual General Meeting on Thursday, June 18. Due to the ongoing situation around Covid-19, this year’s AGM was held virtually. Our appreciation goes out to all of our members, especially the 24 who were able to join us over Zoom to attend. Thankfully there were few technical…

It should come as no surprise that we are unable to hold our Annual General Meeting in its usual form this year. In keeping with current restrictions on large gatherings, John Rowand Night was not held in 2020. Instead, the AGM will be a brief, business-like affair offered through an online platform on Thursday, June…

Covid-19 is on everyone’s mind, including the board and members of the Edmonton and District Historical Society. In response to the pandemic, we’ve postponed our recent talk “A Mystery from Norway”, which will instead run during the 2020/21 season.  After careful consideration, we have also cancelled John Rowand Night in April. The board passed a…

On Tuesday, February 25, EDHS welcomed Dave Clarke for a Speaker Series presentation on the history of film censorship in Alberta. In a deep dive into the surviving records at the Provincial Archives of Alberta, Dave discovered that Alberta’s maverick reputation carried over to its approach to film censorship. Alberta cut and banned films more…

On Tuesday, January 28th, another healthy crowd of EDHS members and history buffs joined us at the Old Timers’ Cabin, this time for Matthew Dutczak’s presentation, “Best Edmonton Mall.” Matthew, a “self-appointed mall historian,” started looking into the history of West Edmonton Mall some years ago as a hobby, and has indulged his amateur interest…