Late last week, Glengarry Pioneer Museum curator, Jennifer Black, and her assistant, Christin Senn, alerted me to a fascinating donation that had just come in from Vivian Franklin. As I understand it, Vivian and her sister Eileen were going through the late Velma Franklin’s papers and came across a file with information on the Ontario Buildings Inventory Project and some correspondence between their mother and the project’s director, Professor Goulding.
On top of all her other duties, it appears that Velma was one of the principal volunteers responsible for surveying historic properties in the Township of Kenyon… way back in 1967.
William S. Goulding taught at the University of Toronto’s School of Architecture during the 1960’s and 1970’s. He also headed the Goulding Architectural Survey of Ontario. Financed by a grant from the Ontario Department of Tourism and Information, the project’s mandate was to find, record and assess every building built in Ontario before 1855 that was still usable. As Goulding outlined in his introduction: “In some countries of Europe and in a very few American states, a thorough record of historic buildings has been made. As a result if a new city development is to take place, if a highway is to be changed, or if one of these buildings is starting to fall down, there is a record, and on the basis of that record, some action can be taken. Without the record, there may be controversy about the historic value of a building, but it is very difficult to take effective action to save it.”
Without doing more research, I’m not sure how close the project came to reaching its goal. I do know that, when the Goulding Architectural Survey of Ontario was donated to the Ontario archives in 1979, it included originals and copies of around 550 architectural drawings created by Goulding and his students of various buildings in Toronto, Guelph and Prince Edward, Glengarry, Stormont, and Waterloo counties.
If you’re asking yourself why the cut-off date of 1855 was chosen, Goulding wrote that it: “represents the transition from the time of local craftsmen building in relatively isolated communities to the time of railroad transport beginning to produce a sudden increase In population… Before 1855 almost every building has some claim on our attention because in the settlement pattern of the province, the first half the nineteenth century was the pioneer period, and what remains to us from that period can be considered unique.”
I spoke briefly with Allan MacDonald, director of the Glengarry Archives, and he was familiar with the Inventory. It turns out that some, if not all, of Velma’s worksheets are part of the collection in Alexandria. Some day soon, I hope to drop in and have a peek at them. I’m fairly certain that one of the homes that Velma surveyed was ours. (There’s a print in the package Vivian dropped off of our log house before the renovations that the Baxters did.) I’d love to read Velma’s notes on our home’s Inventory sheet.
I also want to search the microfiche for an ad Velma placed in the Glengarry News. In one of Professor Goulding’s letters to Velma, he makes reference to an ad that cost $75. It must have been some ad to be worth $75 in 1967 dollars… or around $500 in today’s currency.
Kudos to the Franklin family for passing along these documents. While they are outside the Museum’s timeframe, I have every confidence they will join the rest of the Goulding Buildings Inventory collection in the Glengarry Archives.
Santa says “cheese!”
I know… it’s hard to get into a Christmas mindset when there are buds on the bushes and robins are hopping about. Nevertheless, I am obligated to remind you that, if you have young children or grandchildren, Santa is booked to appear at the Dunvegan Recreation Hall, 19053 County Road 24 on Saturday, December 12th from 10:00 to 11:30 AM.
Once again this year, the DRA will be offering FREE snapshots of your young tyke on Santa’s knee… plus games for the kids, story time with Santa and complimentary refreshments.
There’s no charge for the photo or any of the other Santa-time activities. All they ask is that you bring along a donation of non-perishable food items for the Alexandria Food Bank. Remember though, to check the expiration dates on the items you donate. Nearly- or fully-expired food items actually end up costing the Food Bank money; they’re not allowed to distribute out-of-date foodstuffs. As a result, they have to pay to have the items hauled to the dump.
DRA president, Ben Williams, tells me that — while the kids who do attend have a SUPER time — the event is not as well attended as one might expect. I’d like to see if we couldn’t change this. As it takes as much volunteer effort to stage the event for 35 kids as it does for 15, please spread the word. Thanks.
Dual date promise stands
For a while last week, it looked like I had messed up big time. In my November 11th column, I promised you an encore performance of Music & Mayhem: a Christmas Revue on Friday, December 11th. However, as one eagle-eyed reader pointed out, the Glengarry Pioneer Museum had originally scheduled an event on the same day and in the same venue. The result was a mad scramble to resolve the potential scheduling mix-up.
I’m happy to report that it was all a tempest in a teacup. It turns out that the Museum had to cancel their World War I: A Christmas Truce lecture on December 11th. It turned out that the person scheduled to make the presentation couldn’t make it.
So, you’ll still get two chances to see this zany, all new and completely different entertainment extravaganza. As the posters that will soon be going up describe it… the madcap, Christmas-themed revue features light-hearted music, dance and skits performed by a talented cast of amateur local thespians.
So, start your holiday season off with an evening of merriment and mirth. And help us raise money for the Alexandria Food Bank, while laughing your socks off. I’ve attended a few of the rehearsals and I assure you it is a hoot!
Both the Friday, December 4th and the second on Friday, December 11th performances will start at 7:30 PM. Admission is $10 per person and there are NO advance tickets. Seating is strictly on a first-come, first-served basis.
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