Working to preserve Ottawa's past
for future generations.
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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We are saddened to learn that long-time HSO member and WWII veteran Elsa Lessard has passed away at the age of 103. A “WREN”, a member of the Women’s Royal Canadian Naval Service, and Bletchley Park “Secret Listener” during WWII, Elsa has been described as a national treasure” by the CBC’s Adrienne Arsenault and by Admiral Topshee, Commander of the Royal Canadian Navy. Read the Ottawa Citizen obituary. Listen to a CBC interview with Elsa. Read more about the story of the WRENs in Bytown Pamphlet #104: Our "Capitol" Wrens.…
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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 request that submissions be received by November 30, 2025. We hope to also incorporate selected contributions into the HSO’s many other platforms – such as the HSO blog,…
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The HSO’s Ben Weiss was honoured to be invited to address the 200 or so Rotary Club youth gathered in Ottawa on May 25, 2025, for the opening day of the Rotary Club’s annual Adventure in Citizenship conference. The day also included a visit to the House of Commons by the conference’s 16-18 year olds, the day before the arrival of King Charles III and the Opening of Parliament. The “Adventure in Citizenship” program was established by the Rotary Club of Ottawa in 1951. Each year, approximately 200 senior high…
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For those with a passion for history, delving into the past becomes an exciting adventure in “Time Travelling”! These new 30-minute episodes of “Time Travelling… with the Historical of Ottawa”, recorded in collaboration between the HSO and Rogers TV, provide a phenomenal opportunity to sit back and enjoy some wonderful stories shared by more than a dozen the Ottawa area’s most engaging historians. Beginning in April 2025, a new episode was broadcast each week on Rogers TV Channel 22 (or Channel 23 in the case of the French-language episodes). And…
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Beginning on April 2, 2025, subscribers to Rogers TV will be able to enjoy a fascinating new weekly series, “Time Travelling with the Historical Society of Ottawa”, a collaboration between Rogers TV and the HSO. 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, April 2 @ 7:30 p.m. "Go Exploring" with Paul Weber Wednesday, April 9 @…
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The French version of the series “Time Travelling” will being airing on May 14, 2025 on Rogers TV 23. Timeslots will be as follows: Dominique Lajoie “Château Laurier: Si les murs pouvaient parler” – May 14, 2025 Rick Henderson “Philemon Wright et son village” – May 21, 2025 Wednesday 9:00pm (mercredi 21h) *original timeslot* Thursday 12:30pm (jeudi 12h30) Thursday 8:30pm (jeudi 20h30) Friday 4:00pm (vendredi 16h) Monday 11:00am (lundi 11h) Both shows will be available on the TV Rogers YouTube site at a later date.
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The HSO team was happy to attend Ottawa’s Heritage Day celebrations at City Hall on February 18, 2025.
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It’s quiz time! Again this year, the Historical Society of Ottawa had the honour of preparing the 2025 “Great Ottawa History Challenge”, published every February during Heritage Week in the Ottawa Citizen. Here’s your chance to see how much you know about Ottawa’s past: https://ottawacitizen.com/news/ottawa-history-quiz
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