Trent Valley Archives Open House, 4 April 2007

 Trent Valley Archives celebrated its annual Open House, always held the first Wednesday in April to coincide with the province-wide Archival Awareness Week. The idea of the week is to promote the importance of communities valuing their archives as the places that protect documents, newspapers, land records, minutes, correspondence, catalogues, reference books, directories and censuses, diaries, photographs, films, music for future generations. Our motto is “Without Archives there is no history.” A community operates at many levels, and we need to document all parts of our society. We should reasonably expect our public organizations to keep track of the decision-making processes for the development of public policy. However, community organizations of all kinds keep track of their activities and the people most closely involved. At some point these should be secured in archives. Businesses should keep track of their historical records, and very large businesses could reasonably have their own archives. Trent Valley Archives is willing to help people and organizations to develop their own archival systems. We are also willing to accept donations of records that are representative of what is going on in a sector of society.
 Our advertising for the open house was very impressive. Bruce Fitzpatrick talked about the Trent Valley Archives that morning on CRUZ radio where he was Mike Melnyk’s guest weatherman. The annual Peterborough Today magazine which comes as an insert with the Peterborough Examiner was published the preceding Thursday and carried an invitation to the Open House. We sent printed invitations to about 100 people; our card featured a black and white version of Jack Hamer’s excellent 1940 watercolour of Peterborough’s waterfront looking toward Quaker Oats. We also had excellent newspaper coverage. We worked closely with the Ontario Trillium Foundation and had excellent press releases to submit. We feel that Trent Valley Archives has enjoyed an excellent public profile over the past few months because of our many activities, our usefulness in providing historical information to the local media, and more recently our new logo has accompanied Elwood Jones’ weekly Saturday column in the Peterborough Examiner. Our special St Patrick’s day version of the Scandals and Scoundrels walk was an immense success; Bruce Fitzpatrick and Diane Robnik found ways to keep the 50 participants cheerful and warm on one of the worst weather days of the winter.
 At this year’s open house we celebrated two major events in one. First, the land records that were orphaned from our collections because of the Ides of July flood in 2004 have been returned and integrated into their proper locations. Researchers can now use the instruments (such as letters, deeds, bills of sale, wills) related to their family’s property. The flood had only lightly touched about 45,000 of our million documents, but because the air was so humid in Peterborough because of the heavy rains we piggy-backed some of our documents on to the Roy Studio pictures sent to Rosco in Montreal. About four-fifths of the documents were from our Peterborough County Land Records, and we eventually arranged the return of the records with the much-appreciated assistance of the Ontario Trillium Foundation, and the City of Peterborough.
 The work of getting the land records integrated was not an easy task. The records are accessible through the land abstract registers which were created in the Land Registry Office as the land transactions were made. Each document carries a unique number and they are stored in numerical order within the several townships. Alice Mackenzie is creating a finding aid to the abstract registers which we will expand in phase two to include the names of individuals tied to the abstracts. In phase 3 we want to do an item-level finding aid for those townships for which we do not have abstract registers (Cavan and Millbrook, Anstruther) and for Ashburnham and Peterborough areas that we have. The land registers for the City of Peterborough are not held by us, but we have the records for many places that later were annexed by the city. Don Willcock is our land records archival specialist and to him we entrusted the work of refiling the land records. This is an ongoing job and we are delighted that he will continue with this project through the several phases. We will try and get financial support for this work, and we would welcome any support. Gina Martin is our land records search specialist and she ran a workshop on how genealogists and local historians can effectively utilize land records. 
 John Marsh presided at our very successful Open House, 4 April 2007. He observed that “Noah only had to get a couple of animals from each species; we had thousands of documents to save.” Jeff Leal was not able to be present but Chris... brought a positive message of support. Ken Armstrong, the widely and well-respected  member of the regional grant review board for the Ontario Trillium Foundation, brought greetings, useful advice and officially presented the Trillium Award to John Marsh. Ken Armstrong commented that OTF was celebrating its 25th anniversary. Elwood Jones commented on the process that had taken us from the flood of 2004. He noted that “it takes a village to raise an archives.” We had the support of countless volunteers in the immediate aftermath of the flood, the support of local schools and Trinity United Church, the generous $8,000 grant from the Hudson’s Bay Company Foundation that helped us meet immediate out-of-pocket expenses, the helpful opinion of conservation experts from the Canadian Conservation Institute and from the Archives Association of Ontario, officials for the City of Peterborough, Rosco, Diane Robnik, our regular volunteers, and of course the Ontario Trillium Foundation.
 On this occasion, Ruth Lillico, on behalf of the local IODE, presented the original charter of the Major Bennett Branch of the IODE, to cap the significant collection of IODE papers which was described in the February Heritage Gazette. The archivist, Elwood Jones, commented that the collection is wide-ranging and will be helpful for people wanting to know about the roles women played,  especially since the 1950s, in Peterborough community life.
 Even though it was a rainy day, we hosted a steady stream of visitors all day. We extend a special thanks to the volunteers who did the spring cleaning, to those who supplied the refreshments. We had over 100 guests. We also received some new members, and new donations of archival materials as a result of the Open House and its promotion, and quite a few people bought our new publications and purchased tickets for the upcoming Scoundrel and Scandals walks.
 The Trent Valley Archives has published three trade books in local history in the past year, and has run an active fundraising program. Locally, it is becoming well-known for its entertaining and well-run historical walks. Its in-house magazine has been improving and has just celebrated its tenth anniversary of publication. A guide to the contents is on the webpage www.trentvalleyarchives.com and the magazine is a benefit of membership. Memberships are $53 (GST included.)  

Elwood Jones and Diane Robnik 

Archives Open House from 1-4pm, 7-9pm

Trent Valley Archives hosts an Open House from 1 p.m. - 4 p.m, and 7 p.m. - 9 p.m. at Trent Valley Archives (567 Carnegie Ave., West of the Peterborough Zoo). There will be a celebration of the reopening of the Peterborough County Land Records, and the opening of the IODE fonds, along with thanking of sponsors, dignitaries and volunteers. This is a free event with light refreshments provided. For more information call (705) 745-4404.

Tuesday April 3rd
Basic Stabilization of Documents and Photographs

 Discover the correct methods of protecting your family photographs and documents.  Learn to identify quality archival materials and how to use them in your own collection.  Enjoy the fun, hands-on component to this workshop which includes encapsulating a document, mounting a photograph with photo corners you have made, and creating a small protective folder.

Two sessions:  10am-12:30pm   and    1:30pm-4pm

Cost - $35

 Thursday April 5

“If These Walls Could Talk”

Have you ever wondered about your house?  When it was built?  Who lived there?  Let the Trent Valley Archives help answer your questions with this hands on workshop on the County Land Records.  Instructor Gina Martin will show you how to navigate the records and uncover such information as Crown Patents, chain of ownership and family history.  Join us Thursday April 5^th from 10:00AM to 12:30PM for this interesting and very valuable workshop.

Cost - $25
 

Thursday April 5

 “The Wonders of Ancestry.com!”

Are the brick walls getting the best of you?  We can help!  Join us for a very informative workshop where we will show you all that Ancestry.com/Ancestry.ca has to offer.  Learn to use this very popular website to look at such things as vital statistics, census reports, ship lists and military records.  Join us Thursday April 5^th from 1:30 to 4:00PM and learn how to unlock your family mysteries! 

Cost - $25

 
**Pre-registration necessary as there are limited numbers. Please call 745-4404 to register. **

10 November 2006

Dear Friends:

For all of us associated with the Trent Valley Archives, 2006 was a banner year filled with good news. As with any organization we depend on our volunteers and our friends. We need people to help around the centre, and we had them. Keith Dinsdale remains our point man on physical issues around the place. Our financial affairs are monitored by Jeannette Cooper, working with Dave Edgerton and Wally Macht. Our website has continued to improve, and is considered the best place to start work on the history of Peterborough and its people. Art Dainton, Susan Kyle, Diane Robnik, Jeff Dafoe, and Chris Minicola have played key roles
on this front.

Our terrific publications program which led to new books on the Burleigh Road and on the Mills of Peterborough County, as well as more obituaries from the Examiner, and our ambitious reprinting of part of Mulvany’s classic 1885 work called for the work of dozens of people led by Susan Kyle, Doug and Mary Lavery, Diane Robnik, and Elwood Jones. The books on the Burleigh Road and the Peterborough Mills gave us credibility in local publishing that we have never had before and suggest that we could do well by looking for other titles that
promote history and genealogy in this region. The Heritage Gazette of the Trent Valley has been much appreciated by our memberships and the cumulative improvements have led to a 40 page quarterly with colour cover. The diversity of the materials in each issue has been the subject of favourable comment from our members and we have been encouraged by our members making suggestions for future articles and features.

Even as we work with other organizations, we have strengthened our position with
respect to regional genealogy. We have made Ancestry.com available to our members without additional fees. Andre Dorfman continues to ensure the growth of our database of county genealogies. Toni Sinclair, Rosemary McConkey, many individual researchers sharing their findings and data have contributed immensely to our sense of well-being.

We supported the County of Peterborough’s sponsorship of the International Plowing Match; John Marsh, Diane Robnik were the point people on this project but we had several people volunteer at our booth, and several people aided Elwood, John and Don in producing the Time Line Chart that gave added interest to our location. The county was also pleased that we produced a special issue of the Heritage Gazette of the Trent Valley which focused on the history of the Plowing Matches, and on rural themes, most notably the barns. We took a
very proactive role in the International Plowing Match, and have reached our widest audience ever. We have secured our reputation as the best place for starting historical research on any topic that relates to Peterborough County or its people.

We expanded our walking tours with the immensely successful Scandals and
Scoundrels Pub Crawl. We launched new cemetery walks that have solidified our reputation for effectively communicating the importance of cemeteries to an understanding of local people, and placing them in manageable themes that expand people's understanding of what was important about our past. We have made progress in getting the safe return of the documents that were affected by the July 2004 flood. We have improved our visibility in the local media, with good TV coverage, and good articles in the Examiner and Peterborough This Week; all made possible by the solid research, visionary program planning, and the continual
activities. We co-operated with the Examiner in the production of their major initiative to mark the centennial of Peterborough becoming a city.

We have made improvements to our storage areas by the addition of shelves inside existing units; we have fewer boxes piled on top of other boxes. We have engaged Carol Sucee to be the TVA librarian and she is looking for ways to make our collection of books and periodicals more accessible; we need to upgrade to library software and we are currently looking at possible programs. We have continued to make improvements in our website, and are very thankful for a new agreement with Nexicom that will ensure continuing improvements and great support.

For some months we explored the possibility of moving to a larger facility. We have been in this facility since September 1998, and so it is time to consider and develop our new ten-year plan. We learned that we need to have some funds or angels available to ensure that we can move fast and quickly on good situations. Had we been able to move in March we could have secured a move that became impossible in August. If we decide to stay where we are, then we need to look at strategies for growth within this site. Success has a way of
creating fresh problems and fresh opportunities.

We also continued looking for ways to ensure a future for county and regional archives in our area. Since our founding in 1989 we have learned a great deal. And we have learned that there are limits on what we can ever achieve. However, we are encouraged by our rewarding experiences working with, among others, the Burleigh Road Historical Society, the Peterborough Historical Society, the Ontario Genealogical Society, the Archives Association of Ontario, the new Architectural Conservancy of Ontario, Peterborough branch, the City
Heritage Branch, and with the county of Peterborough.

Over the year we made additions to our genealogical resources, our archival fonds, and our library holdings. In the November Gazette we featured the Marlow Banks fonds. We have received many other collections and are working on developing finding aids for all of them. Peter Adams has donated his historical research on Peterborough provincial and federal elections. Dr John Martyn has donated his medical history archives which has proved to be immensely important, and quite complex. Bruce Hodgins donated a scrapbook of official World War I photographs, together with captions for the newspapers. Among genealogy collections we might single out the research of the late Walter Dunford; his study of the Scott and Dunford families was exemplary and tells much about how genealogical research could be carried out in former years.

The work of creating finding aids for over 150 collections remains time-consuming. However, we have good news on that front, too. Alice McKenzie is compiling a guide to the abstract registers in the Peterborough County land records. Anne Nighswander has developed a useful digital finding aid to the scrapbooks of Leitha Kidd. We have different people working on the finding aids for the Peter Adams papers. Jill has begun work on the Trent Glass architectural collections; we have plans of several buildings for which the company supplied new windows. We are working on the excellent photograph collection accumulated by the family of C. Hillier Williamson, author of the history of Omemee.

It takes the support and effort of many volunteers and friends to make an organization hum like this. It also helps that we have had such strong leadership from our only paid staff person, Diane Robnik. She has gone the extra mile in so many ways, perhaps, most notably for her initiative and organization in making our ghost walks a terrific must-see for visitors and residents of Peterborough.

At this time it is fitting that we remind readers of our annual campaign for donations to ensure that The Trent Valley Archives has the financial resources to support all of these efforts and more. We think our target of $12,000 would be easily met if each member gave an extra $50 at this season of good will. But we will gratefully receive all donations for the cause.

If you have appreciated receiving your Heritage Gazette, or if you are glad that we
have produced great books, or that we continue set the standard for helping researchers, or enjoyed one of our interactive cemetery tours or ghost walks, or found really useful information on our website, or for whatever reason, your support at this time will be really appreciated.

It is worth knowing that our Trent Valley Archives Trust Fund will accept memorial gifts or endowment gifts if you have a specific project that you would like to support over a long time period. Our trust committee can give assistance on how to plan long-term giving, too.

Send gifts to Trent Valley Archives, 567 Carnegie Avenue, Peterborough ON K9L 1N1. If you wish to give a gift to a friend or relation, you might do that at the same time. Some people like to tie their gift to their membership renewal and that too is very helpful. Thanks to all of you. Your support means the world to TVA.

Sincerely,

John Marsh
President

Click to view a PDF verson of this letter: 

Media Release: September 12, 2006

For Immediate Publication:

Diane Robnik, a young aspiring historian, has written her first book, a terrific guide to The Mills of Peterborough County. The book has been published by the Trent Valley Archives where Diane works as an Assistant Archivist. The work culminates three years of intensive research and Diane has identified nearly every saw, grist and flax mill in Peterborough County from 1818 to the present. The well-illustrated book also contains fascinating stories about people and the mills.

The work is an effort at retrieving a history that is rapidly disappearing. The wooden buildings have disintegrated with time, and the technology of generating power and moving goods over huge distances has eliminated the need for many of the mills, except of course those such as Quaker Oats which became major manufacturing sites. Mills were often the first indicators of technology in towns and villages and they met very real needs for supplying lumber to build houses and buildings and flour for the daily bread. Diane has identified some 200 mills built in Peterborough County over the last 180 years. Mills used water power and later steam to operate their machinery, and the numerous rivers in the Kawarthas provided ideal and diverse mill sites. The book will be welcome to local historians and genealogists, and fills an essential gap in the knowledge of our local past.

The Mills of Peterborough County is a beautifully-illustrated 230 page guide. The soft-cover book is available from the Trent Valley Archives, Titles Bookstore, and other local bookstores at $27.95. Discounts are available to those ordering at least five copies. Please contact Trent Valley Archives, 745-4404 for details.

The Trent Valley Archives is pleased to announce a special launch for The Mills of Peterborough County to take place at the Lang mill, Sunday October 1, 2006 from 11-4pm during the Applefest celebration at Lang Pioneer Village.  Access to the Grist Mill during the Applefest Special Event is $9.00 for Adults, $8.00 for Students & Seniors, $5.00 for Children aged 5 – 14, under 5 are free and a family pass is $25.00. For more information on Applefest, please visit the Lang Pioneer Village website or phone them at 705-295-6694.

For details contact Diane Robnik, Assistant Archivist,
Trent Valley Archives
567 Carnegie Avenue
Peterborough ON K9L 1N1
705-745-4404
www.trentvalleyarchives.com

Photo credit: Trent Valley Archives, Ashburnham mill by the bridge over the Otonabee, by artist Edwin Whitefield, 1854.