Working to preserve Ottawa's past
for future generations.
Thursday, July 24th, 2025 dawned sunny and hot as our Museum Club undertook its walking tour of Sandy Hill and its guided tour of Laurier House. In response to the extreme heat predicted for the day, our organizer, Callie Foster, a summer co-op student, and our walking tour lead, Ben Weiss, had arranged to split the group offering a walking tour both before and after the Laurier House tour, so some of our participants could avoid the hottest part of the morning, if they chose to do so. As such,…
Published in
Special Events
Tagged under
Given rising international tensions, sixteen members of the Historical Society of Ottawa’s Museum Club sought shelter in the Diefenbunker, Canada’s Cold War Museum, on the afternoon of Sunday, June 29th, 2025. Our guide informed us that the facility had been commissioned by Prime Minister John Diefenbaker in 1959, though he never visited it, and that it became fully operational in 1962. Designed to protect 535 senior government and military officials, all men, it could survive a blast from a 5-megaton atomic bomb at a distance of 1.8 km. A full-scale…
Published in
Special Events
Tagged under
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…
Published in
Society News
Tagged under
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…
Published in
Society News
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…
Published in
Society News
The Historical Society of Ottawa’s Museum Club began its 2025 season on Friday May 2nd, 2025. On that afternoon, fifteen members and guests received a private guided tour of the Bytown Fire Brigade Historical Society facility at 2880 Sheffield Road, by their President, Peter McBride. Peter kept us all enthralled and entertained for 1 ¾ hours. The Bytown Fire Brigade Historical Society was formed in the early 1980s, being incorporated as a non-profit in 1983. Its mission is to collect, preserve, conserve, restore, and display the artifacts and apparatus that…
Published in
Special Events
Tagged under
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 @…
Published in
Society News
Tagged under
On the afternoon of April 26th, 2025, members of the Historical Society of Ottawa, along with many members of the general public, gathered at the Main Branch of the Ottawa Public Library for the presentation of the 2024 / 2025 François Bregha Storyteller awards. Following the ceremony, the large crowd, numbering some 75, settled in to listen to one of the recipients, Denise Chong, speak to us about many of the aspects of being a non-fiction writer. Denise Chong, an Order of Canada recipient, is the highly acclaimed author of…
Published in
Speakers Presentations
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.
Published in
Society News
Tagged under
Page 2 of 14
Quick Links
About
Supporting Partners
