Working to preserve Ottawa's past
for future generations.
Ruth Hall-McMillan’s immense contributions to the Historical Society of Ottawa spanned four decades. Ruth passed away on December 8 2025, at the age of 93. Inspired by Ottawa’s 150th anniversary in 1976, with the encouragement of HSO, Ruth produced a magnificent series of oil paintings, a collection called “The Rideau Canal Before 1900”. These works, featured in a solo exhibition at Ottawa City Hall, represented a meticulously researched visual record of the canal’s 19th century history. In 1991, the HSO was honoured to publish a pamphlet by the same name, written by…
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Let’s hear your stories about Bytown and the Rideau Canal as we begin to mark 2026, the 200th anniversary of the beginning of both! All contributions are welcome. Selected submissions will be shared on a special webpage on the HSO website for all to access, including educators. Eligible contributions can be submitted in a variety of formats, including written or audio/video. We hope to also incorporate selected contributions into our many other platforms – such as our blog, the HSO Capital Chronicle newsletter, website articles and the Ottawa Stories sections…
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One of the perks of being a member of the Historical Society of Ottawa is that we occasionally receive an invitation to a fundraising event for an important heritage cause, to enjoy a delicious meal and some cultural entertainment. A banquet hosted by the Vietnamese Canadian Centre was held at the Sala San Marco Event Centre on March 28, 2026, to raise funds for the Vietnamese Boat People Museum, to be built at the northeast corner of Preston and Somerset Streets. The Historical Society of Ottawa has had a special…
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Many thanks to CTV Ottawa and CFRA iHeart radio for highlighting our bicentennial celebrations planned for 2026. Watch HSO spokesperson Ben Weiss on CTV Ottawa Morning discuss the Historical Society's bicentennial plans. And stay tuned to the end of the clip to see a 100-year old relic from the centennial celebrations in 1926 to compare civic festivities of yesteryear! Link to Ottawa turns 200 this year video. Check out our Bytown 200 story collection: www.historicalsocietyottawa.ca/resources/bytown-200
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Monday, 29 December 2025 08:10
“Unceded” Land: Understanding the Historic Land Claims of the Anishinaabe Alqonquin People
Ben Weiss
When we acknowledge that, here in the Ottawa Valley, we are on the “unceded” and “unsurrendered” land of the Anishinaabe Algonquin people, what does that really mean? A preliminary understanding of the history behind the land claims of the Anishinaabe Algonquin peopleis offered in a “Report on the Algonquins of Golden Lake Claim” prepared for the Ontario Native Affairs Secretariat in 1993. The following is the text of the report’s “Executive Summary”. Here is a link to the full report, residing on the Government of Canada website: https://publications.gc.ca/collections/collection_2018/aanc-inac/R32-492-1993-1-eng.pdf. This report…
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Sunday, 16 November 2025 11:06
Time Travelling with the Historical Society of Ottawa – Season #2!
Ben Weiss
Beginning on November 26, 2025, subscribers to Rogers TV will be able to enjoy a brand new season of our series, “Time Travelling with the Historical Society of Ottawa”, a collaboration between Rogers TV and the Historical Society of Ottawa. Each week's new episode will air Wednesday @ 7:30 p.m. and then be rebroadcast Friday at 5:30 p.m. and the following Tuesday @ 10:00 a.m. on Rogers TV Channel 22. Here is the schedule of episodes and our featured presenters: Wednesday, November 26, 2025 @ 7:30 p.m. - Call To Arms:…
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Saturday, 25 October 2025 10:21
HSO Releases a new film “Two Wars, Three Watersheds, a Slew of Surveys and a Canal” by Allison Margot Smith
Ben Weiss
Initial surveys of the Rideau corridor had been carried out as early as 1783, in the wake of the American Revolution. It wasn’t until after the War of 1812, however, that increased concern over the possibility of renewed American attacks led to further surveys of the land between the Ottawa and St. Lawrence Rivers, with a view to building a canal that would bypass the exposed American border along the St. Lawrence. In this fascinating new film, produced especially for the “HSO 2026 Bytown200 Bicentennial Storytelling Challenge” by film maker…
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Thursday, 25 September 2025 09:06
Special “HSO Bytown200 Award” to be Presented to Students at 2026 Ottawa Regional Heritage Fair
Ben Weiss
At the 2026 Ottawa Regional Heritage Fair – to mark this year's bicentennial – the Historical Society of Ottawa, founder and patron of the ORHF, will present the “HSO Bytown200 Award” to the top student project specifically pertaining to Bytown, the Rideau Canal, or the impacts of Bytown and/or the Rideau Canal on the Indigenous people for whom the Ottawa area has been their traditional home. Each year we also present the “HSO Indigenous Sacred Chaudiere Falls Award” for a student project that reflects and celebrates Indigenous history, culture and traditions in…
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Sunday, 31 August 2025 18:24
Exploring History from Home: A Review of the Bytown Museum Virtual Tour
Callie Foster
Callie Foster, an HSO member and high school student, commends the Bytown Museum’s Virtual Tour as an excellent example of how technology can make history more fully accessible to all, and can contribute to preserving these important stories for generations to come. In the age where technology is able to connect us more than ever before, we now see history made accessible through virtual experiences. The Bytown Museum’s Permanent Gallery online tour offers a captivating way to explore Ottawa’s rich past without leaving your home. This resource is so valuable…
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