Historic Sources

An Ornamental Christmas!

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Hello Everyone,

This guest post is provided by Kathleen Watkins, the Culture & Heritage Program Coordinator for the Annandale National Historic Site in Tillsonburg, ON.

1950’s Etched Christmas Balls

This year, in celebration of Christmas, the Pratt Gallery created a virtual school program “An Ornamental Christmas” highlighting the history of Christmas ornaments.

Here is the link for their YouTube video: An Ornamental Christmas

Pictured on the left is a reproduction of a 1900 European Christmas ornament.

Community Partners & Sponsors

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The Oxford Historical Society would like to thank the Canadian Heritage Museum Assistance Grant Program for the generous grant that we received. This grant will be used in maintaining our Resource Centre, which is home to a large number of documents and records relating to Oxford County.

Along with the Canadian Heritage Grant the Society also receives grants from other organizations like Oxford Community Foundation and the City of Woodstock. These grants enable us to publish books, bring in guest speakers, hold special events like the Christmas Tour of Homes, and take part in many activities throughout the year.

The Society throughout the year works with many different organizations to bring about various events and publications. The Pattullo Press newsletter is published with the Woodstock Museum, NHS, as were the books Quizzical History and Defined Under Pressure. Together with the WERC centre we offer a Person’s Day celebration, an event held in mid-October to honour women being recognized as Persons and therefore could sit in Canada’s Senate. Tours and teas with the Woodstock Public Library and Château la Motte.

There are many more examples of how the Society and other local organizations have worked together to bring events and share local history with the residents of Oxford County. In honour of these associations a new page was added to our website: Community Partners & Sponsors page!

Postcards! Postcards! Postcards!

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Hello Everyone,

Woodstock, ON Aerial View 1919, D.W. Collection

Do you keep your postcards? Have you ever collected them on your travels as a way to remember the sites that you visited?

If you answered ‘yes’ to any of these questions then you are not alone.

Postcards are a wonderful way to keep in touch with families and friends, a quick note to let them know that you’re thinking of them. Sometimes they are whimsical and other items they show local business, sporting events, tourist destinations. The photos used on postcards are often of a professional quality and thus are good keepsakes of your travels.

  • Feeding the Cat, D.W. Collection
  • Woodstock, ON Courthouse Lawn Bowling, D.W. Collection

Not only do postcards serve as keepsakes they are also a very good source of visual historical records. They let you see how a city looked throughout the decades. The Society has two fantastic collections of postcards, both from long time members. The John Gruszka (J.G.) Collection contains postcards from most of the cities in Oxford County and the Don Wilson (D.W.) Collection contains mostly images of old Woodstock. Pictured below are three views of Dundas St., in Woodstock, Ontario from different eras.

  • Woodstock, ON Dundas St. 1907, J.G. Collection
  • Woodstock, ON Dundas St. 1920’s, D.W. Collection
  • Woodstock, ON Dundas St. 1950’s, D.W. Collection

Historic buildings and churches are often favourite photographic choices for postcards. Showing below are some of the historic churches from Oxford County.

  • Dereham, ON – Methodist Church, J.G. Collection
  • Embro, ON – Congregational Church, J.G. Collection
  • Ingersoll, ON – Various churches, J.G. Collection

Next time you’re travelling or are needing historical pictures for your project, contact the Oxford Historical Society – we might just have the postcard that you need!