Nova Scotia Heritage Day Honours Viola Irene Desmond

Nova Scotia will be celebrating its first Heritage Day public holiday this month, and on 16 February 2015, it will recognize Viola Irene Desmond (née Davis, 1914-1965), an African Nova Scotian woman from New Glasgow who challenged the province's systemic racial discrimination.

This incident, in which she refused to sit in the balcony of a movie theatre, was 9 years previous to the Rosa Parks bus incident in the United States. She was convicted of a minor tax violation on her movie ticket, which was used to enforce segregation in the movie theatres of Nova Scotia.

She fought the violation all the way to the Supreme Court of Nova Scotia the following year, and she won.

In the Nova Scotia Archives, they have the court case documents, newspaper coverage, and also background reading at the following sites -

Court Case Documents - http://novascotia.ca/archives/virtual/desmond/court.asp

Newspaper Coverage - http://novascotia.ca/archives/virtual/desmond/results.asp?Search=&Start=21

Background Reading - http://novascotia.ca/archives/virtual/desmond/background.asp

Check the Canadian Week in Review every Monday morning for the latest in Genealogy, Heritage, and History news in Canada.

If you missed this week’s edition, it is at http://genealogycanada.blogspot.com/2015/02/canadian-week-in-review-02-february-2015.html

It’s the ONLY news blog of its kind in Canada!

It has been a regular post every Monday morning since April 23, 2012.

Peterborough Archives to re-open soon

Did you know that the Peterborough Archives―located in Peterborough, Ontario―has been closed over the past two years in order to build a new onsite storage facility? The collections have now been returned from temporary storage, and the grand re-opening will take place on February 12, 2015.

For details on the Museum Renewal Project, go to http://www.peterboroughmuseumandarchives.ca/What_s_On/Museum_Renewal.htm

Plans are underway for a large public open house to be held on May 24, 2015.

The following records are held in the archival facilities of the museum and archives -

• Personal letters, correspondence, journals, and diaries of individuals.
• Maps, civil plans, records, and surveys
• Photographs and albums
• Early business records of notable Peterborough companies
• Early catalogues and promotional material
• Clubs and associations records and minute books
• Early Peterborough Examiner newspapers Records of Peterborough County Court, 1830-1900

The website is http://www.peterboroughmuseumandarchives.ca

Their Facebook page is at https://www.facebook.com/pages/Peterborough-Museum-Archives/112608310308

Check the Canadian Week in Review every Monday morning for the latest in Genealogy, Heritage, and History news in Canada.

If you missed this week’s edition, it is at http://genealogycanada.blogspot.com/2015/02/canadian-week-in-review-02-february-2015.html

It’s the ONLY news blog of its kind in Canada!

It has been a regular post every Monday morning since April 23, 2012.