Automotive Heritage Month in Nova Scotia

Did you know Nova Scotia manufactured its own car, the MacKay Touring Car, in   Kentville and later in Amherst, in 1911?

Or that the first Toyotas assembled in Canada was at Point Edward, Cape Breton?

It’s easy to see that “the automobile has had a significant impact on the Province of Nova Scotia over the last century”.

To celebrate this impact, the Provincial Government of Nova Scotia has proclaimed July as Automotive Heritage Month.

Hobby car clubs across the province will be celebrating during the month at show and shines across the area.

To see what the National Association of Automobile Clubs of Canada does, go to their website www.naacc.ca/home.html

To see a picture and short history of the McKay 7-seat touring car, go to

http://ns1758.ca/auto/automobiles.html

History of Automobiles: The Early Days in Nova Scotia: 1899-1949

http://museum.gov.ns.ca/moi/en/home/collectionresearch/automobiles/mckay.aspx

UPDATE: Census of Lower Canada (Quebec), 1825 now available online at LAC

Just received this notice from the LAC - 

"Library and Archives Canada is pleased to announce that Canadians can now access the Census of Lower Canada, 1825 online. The Census of Lower Canada, 1825 is partly nominal and therefore only contains the names of heads of family, their occupation, and the number of residents for each family.

Users can search this new database by the names of heads of family, as well as by geographical information such as district and sub-district names".

They are available in JPG, and PDF, and there are 74,322 records.

The surname, given name(s), occupation, number of residents (classed by age – not name or relationship to head of the household), district name, sub-district name, volume number, page number, microfilm, and reference are listed in the census.

To suggest a correction, click on the Suggest a Correction link to access an electronic form

To search the census, go to www.bac-lac.gc.ca/eng/census/1825/Pages/1825.aspx

UPDATE: LAC Paywall??

According to a “leaked” document which suggests that there may be a “10-year plan to digitize documents” and we may have to pay to get access to them. Up until now, document that have been digitized have been free e.g. the land petitions of Upper and Lower Canada are free. Will we now have to pay a fee this fall to gain access to them? 

Read about the CBC report at http://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/story/2013/06/11/ottawa-library-archives-canada-paywall.html 

New Heritage Minute

Remember the Heritage Minutes that we use to see on TV back in the 1990s? They were sixty second shots about important moments in Canadian history.

  

Heritage Minutes have returned to our televisions this year, and for the month of June, "First Nations warriors who were instrumental in the Battle of Queenston Heights, a crucial fight in the War of 1812, has been released to mark National Aboriginal History Month".

To view the Heritage Minute, go to Your Community Blog at the CBC

www.cbc.ca/news/yourcommunity/2013/06/new-heritage-minute-spotlights-queenston-heights-six-nations-warriors.html and read the story.

If you want to read about the history of Heritage Minutes, go to  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heritage_Minute

Canadian postal system celebrates 250 years of service

The following is an explanation which accompanies the Benjamin Franklin anniversary stamp - 

“In 1753, Philadelphia Postmaster Benjamin Franklin was promoted to joint deputy postmaster general for the British colonies and opened the first Canadian post office in Halifax to link the Atlantic colonies with Britain. But eventually, Franklin’s involvement with the growing revolt against the British Empire made it necessary for him to leave his post.

Hugh Finlay was confirmed as postmaster general at Québec on June 10, 1763. The ambitious Finlay arranged for a courier from Montréal to New York to reach the monthly packet sailing to Britain. By 1771, weekly service was available year round. His innovations earned a profit for the British Post Office Department, which paid Finlay a fifth of gross receipts.

In 1833, the Quebec-built Royal William was the first steamer to carry mail across the Atlantic. Canada’s first railway line was established in 1836, and became quickly recognized as a way to carry mail faster and farther. In 1840, Samuel Cunard’s new steamer Britannia transported mail between Liverpool and Halifax. Following Confederation on July 1, 1867, postal systems from Halifax to Fort William, on Lake Superior, amalgamated. And on April 1, 1868, An Act for the Regulation of the Postal Service officially created Canada’s uniform postal system”.

To read more about Canada Post, there is an article about it on the O Canada site -

Benjamin Franklin featured on Canada Post’s 250th anniversary stamp  http://o.canada.com/2013/06/07/benjamin-franklin-featured-on-canada-posts-250th-anniversary-stamp

and  

The Library and Archives Canada has a database of Post Offices and Postmasters at www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/databases/post-offices/index-e.html

UPDATE: Canada GenWeb Updates Cemeteries

The following cemeteries have been updated in Alberta, Manitoba, and Prince Edward Island -

ALBERTA

Beaver:

- Kinsella God's Acre Cemetery

Edmonton:

- Westlawn Memorial Gardens & Edmonton Crematorium

Smoky Lake:

- Victoria Park Cemetery

MANITOBA

Armstrong RM:

- Immaculate Heart of Mary Roman Catholic Cemetery

Emerson Town:

- Emerson Cemetery

Franklin RM:

- Friedensthal Lutheran Cemetery

- Ridgeville / South Ridge Cemetery

Rhineland RM:

- Rosenfeld Village & District Community Cemetery

PRINCE EDWARD ISLAND

Queen's County:

- North Wiltshire United Cemetery

All on the cemeteries on Canada GenWeb have been indexed and photographed by volunteers.

Pass along your thanks to Patricia Green & Marilyn Whiting for their help indexing. And to Olga Steinke, Cheyenne Kepke, Patricia Green, Marilyn Whiting, Jim Spence, and Elizabeth Warwick for their photographs.

Go to the website http://canadacems.blogspot.com/2013/06/alberta-manitoba-prince-edward-island.html

UPDATE: Restore Canada’s Local Archives

This notice just came in from Canadian Association of University Teachers. They have been following the developments at the Library and Archives Canada -   

“In the wake of enormous public pressure, the Minister of Heritage, James Moore, is considering reinstating the National Archival Development Program (NADP).  This would be an important victory for local and regional archives across the country; CAUT unequivocally supports the restoration of the NADP.  However, funding for the program is not yet confirmed. Especially troubling is that, Minister Moore has indicated that any money for the NADP would have to come from within the already depleted Library and Archives Canada (LAC) budget.

Read more:

www.cbc.ca/news/canada/story/2013/06/09/pol-james-moore-funding-to-library-and-archives.html

The Canadian Association of University Teachers calls on all Canadians to contact the Heritage Minister and voice support for restoring the NADP, insisting that the $1.7 million annual cost of the program be added to the current LAC budget”.

To let your feeling be known, you can write to The Hon. James Moore, Minister of Canadian Heritage & Official Languages, House of Commons, Ottawa, Ontario

K1A 0A6

Find out more about the NADP see www.canadaspastmatters.ca/local-archives

For more information contact Rosa Barker: barker@caut.ca or (613)726-5166