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…

Are you looking for a volunteer opportunity to get involved in local heritage? Do you want to give back to your community? Do you want experience working with a dynamic group of people who are passionate about our city? The Edmonton and District Historical Society is seeking to fill two voluntary board member positions starting…

This past fall saw some significant impacts to the heritage landscape in Alberta, driven by changes put in place by the provincial government. This includes folding the Alberta Historical Resources Foundation, cuts to the Provincial Heritage Organizations (including the Historical Society of Alberta), and cuts to certain grant streams. At the moment, none of these…

On November 26, we celebrated the EDHS Christmas party at the Prince of Wales Armouries. This year the festive evening featured Dr. Linda Many Guns, who spoke on the wide diversity of knowledge in the Americas before the arrival of Europeans. The evening started with a traditional Christmas dinner. Dr. Many Guns, a professor in…