Pursuing Play: Women’s Leisure in Small-Town Ontario, 1870-1914!

Hello Everyone,

Please see this guest post from the Annandale NHS:

Annandale NHS is excited to announce that we are now selling copies of Pursuing Play: Women’s Leisure in Small-Town Ontario, 1870–1914 (University of Manitoba Press), by Rebecca Beausaert. Rebecca Beausaert is an adjunct professor in the Department of History, University of Guelph, and co-founder and co-director of the “What Canada Ate” website. She was also Annandale House’s summer research assistant from 2003-2006.

Life in the Canadian countryside at the turn of the twentieth century is often generalized as insular, backwards, and arduous. These assumptions are redressed in Rebecca Beausaert’s Pursuing Play, which highlights the complexity of small-town culture through a lively examination of women’s efforts to negotiate space for themselves and their leisure pursuits. Amply illustrated, Pursuing Play draws on diaries, letters, and newspapers to investigate women’s recreational activities—including sports, “armchair travelling,” gambling, and Spinster Conventions—in Dresden, Tillsonburg, and Elora between 1870–1914.

                Copies are $35.00 (taxes included)!

For information about this purchasing the book, contact the Annandale NHS at 519-842-2294.


If you would like your event or article published (relating to Oxford County ON or South-Western ON), on the Society’s blog please email us at info@oxhs.ca

Deadly Swindle: An 1890 Murder in Backwoods Ontario that Gripped the World!

Hello Everyone,

Please see this guest post from the Woodstock Public Library:

Woodstock Public Library is excited to be hosting the following Local History author book talk event on Thursday, January 9, 2025 from 6:30pm until 8:00pm.  It is a registered program event. Join author Ian Radforth, writer of the recent non-fiction boo; “Deadly Swindle: An 1890 Murder in Backwoods Ontario that Gripped the World” for a fascinating discussion about one of Canada’s most sensational murder cases and how the regional and international press ran with it.

This is an RSVP event, please use this link to register: https://woodstock.bibliocommons.com/events/672a71e98fc0a328000b3110

For information about this event, contact the Woodstock Public Library at 519-539-4801.


If you would like your event or article published (relating to Oxford County ON or South-Western ON), on the Society’s blog please email us at info@oxhs.ca

OxHS Presents: Where Heroes Lay – Ingersoll Rural Cemetery Walking Tour!

Hello Everyone,

Please join Scott Gillies on Saturday, November 9, 2024 at 10am for a free walking tour of the Ingersoll Rural Cemetery to thank our Veterans!

In honour of Remembrance Day, please join Scott Gillies for a tour of Ingersoll Rural Cemetery to learn about the life of some of the local Veterans.

Please share this poster – Where Heroes Lay – and invite your friends to join you on a wonderful walking tour!


If you would like your event or article published (relating to Oxford County ON or South-Western ON), on the Society’s blog please email us at info@oxhs.ca

Ontario Ancestors Present – Zoom Meeting Monday October 21, 2024 at 7pm!

Hello Everyone,

Please see this guest post from the Oxford Branch of Ontario Ancestors:

Please join us on Zoom on Monday, October 21st at 7:00 pm when speaker Peg Perry will tell the story of David Morton Gerrie, a member of a Zorra township farm family, was one of the many young men who perished in the Great War. In October, as we prepare for Remembrance Day, we will tell his story using his diary, accompanied by photographs captured with his camera. Along this journey, we will explore resources, beyond the typical birth, marriage, and death records, which help family storytellers to create vivid and comprehensive portraits of individuals.

Pictured above Morton and his beloved Indian Motorcycle in the front yard of the family farmhouse on Hwy 2 just outside of Ingersoll

Please visit our website at https://oxford.ogs.on.ca and click on the link “Register Here” for the zoom meeting.  The meeting is free and we welcome everyone.

Liz Buchanan
Oxford Branch Publicity Coordinator
Ontario Ancestors

Ph: 519-421-1700


If you would like your event or article published (relating to Oxford County ON or South-Western ON), on the Society’s blog please email us at info@oxhs.ca

OxHS Presents Ingersoll Rural Cemetery Walking Tour!

Hello Everyone,

Please join Scott Gillies on Saturday, August 10, 2024 at 10am for a walking tour of the Ingersoll Rural Cemetery!

Learn about some local families and interesting individuals who helped to shape Ingersoll!

Please share this poster – OxHS Presents Ingersoll Rural Cemetery Walk – and invite your friends to join you on a wonderful walking tour!


If you would like your event or article published (relating to Oxford County ON or South-Western ON), on the Society’s blog please email us at info@oxhs.ca