Norwich & District Historical Society
89 Stover St N RR 3 N0J 1P0 Norwich, ON, Canada

It's nearly the end of the year, and what a year it has been! As some of you may have witnessed earlier, we are planning our first ever online Lunch and Learn! This exciting event will include live and re-recorded material, brining together songs and poetry with history and video for an event to remember. If you want to collect lunch for this event, get in touch! We will be providing a meal for collection of soup (butternut squash or turkey noodle) with a tea biscuit and a mince tart for $5 (further donations are welcome). If you would like one of these meals, order deadline is Friday, December 5th at 5pm! Get in touch by email ([email protected]) or phone (519-863-3101) to let us know! The Facebook event is here: https://www.facebook.com/events/390234932102706

Friday Feature! This week's Friday Feature marks the anniversary of the Rebellion of 1837. On December 5th, 1837, Colonel Allan McNab marched his men to Norwich to quell the uprising. Here we have a sketch by local artist Kim Harrison depicting the fate of a rebel charged with high treason. Perhaps it is a nod to the story of Norwich's Daniel Davis Bedford? ... Bedford was a young innkeeper who became sergeant to the Norwich Rebel Army. He surrendered to the British on December 17th, 1837 and was immediately jailed. Bedford was bailed on June 9th, 1938 and fled to join 400 rebels near Detroit. The rebel group was defeated at Sanwich, resulting in Bedford, among others, to be tried and hanged for high treason. For more information about the Rebellion of 1837, give our audioguide a listen at: https://m.soundcloud.com/jessica/track-9-rebellion-of-1837

To whet your appetite for the full version, here's the video of our Christmas Lunch and Learn with just the poem!

A new exhibit from Oxford County Archives, featuring material from Norwich and District Museum and Archives!

Friday Feature! As we are going through our prints and paintings collection, we find new artifacts to feature for you! This week we have this beautiful print, published in 1878 by Currier & Ives NY, depicting a mournful Sarah Curran above a poem inspired by her love affair with the Irish patriot and rebel leader Robert Emmet. She is far from the land where her young hero sleeps, And lovers are round their sighing. But coldly she turns from their gaze and weeps, For her hear...t in his grave is lying. - Thomas Moore Sarah and Robert had a secret relationship and kept in contact through anonymous coded letters. They were engaged and planned to flee to America to marry, but it never came to pass. Robert was captured by the British, was tried, and found guilty of high treason in September of 1803. The love story of the ill-fated lovers became a famous Victorian-era romantic tale.

Norwich Museum presents an online Lunch and Learn extravaganza! Join Ruth Storey, Deborah Dufton, and special guests for a reading of Clement Clarke Moore's "A Visit From St. Nicholas" AKA "The Night Before Christmas"... With a Norwich Historical Society twist!

Canadian Volunteer Service Medal, established 1943 for the Second World War. On one side of the medal, seven marching figures are depicted, representing men and women of the Army, Air Force, Navy and Nursing service; and around the rim, the inscription 1939 CANADA 1945 VOLUNTARY SERVICE VOLONTAIRE. The other side shows the coat of arms of Canada. The ribbon was issued during the war; the medal after the war. This medal was awarded to Harold Williams and was donated to the museum by Wendy Buck.

Don't forget our online Lunch and Learn tomorrow! Learn about local history, "A Visit from St. Nicholas", and more! Get a reminder from the event page, get a notification when we go live: https://www.facebook.com/events/390234932102706

Two weeks from today, Norwich and District Historical Society is hosting its first online Lunch and Learn! Join us for a local-historical twist on the Classic "A Visit From St. Nicholas"/"'Twas the Night Before Christmas", with Ruth Storey and Deborah Dufton. As for lunch, we will be providing a meal for collection of soup (butternut squash or turkey noodle) with a tea biscuit and a mince tart for $5 (further donations are welcome). If you would like one of these meals, order deadline is Friday, December 5th at 5pm! Get in touch by email ([email protected]) or phone (519-863-3101) to let us know!

Remembrance Day 2020. Norwich Soldier's Memorial.

As September begins, some changes at Norwich & District Museum. As our summer students go back to school, it will be absolutely necessary to call ahead before visiting the museum as our opening days will be less consistent. The museum will also be closed from September 6th-14th. But do get in touch to book your visit, your (home) school visit, or our butter churning experience! 519-863-3101 or [email protected]

Friday Feature! Does this painting look familiar? If you are keeping up with our Friday features, it should! Previously, we posted the studies Louise Lossing made to prepare for this painting. Can you spot how she incorporated them into the final composition?

Calling all flower lovers and gardeners! We have a Friday challenge for you. Can you identify all the flowers in this beautifully hand-painted bouquet? List them off in the comments below

Next week is Homelessness Enumeration week in Oxford. Monday through Thursday volunteers with the Oxford Housing Action Collaborative will be out at different ...locations across the County with surveys. If you are currently couch surfing, staying at one of the local shelters, or don’t have a place to stay they want to hear from you. Enumeration is happening at the Tillsonburg Branch on Thursday November 26, between 11 am and 5 pm. If you would like to participate in the survey but would prefer to do so over the phone, call 1-877-280-1391. See more

Friday Feature! This week's feature from our collection exhibits the artistic process! Here we have a study that has a composition on both sides on a piece of board. The first is of sheep in various positions upon the grass. The back side depicts a detail of a tree amid a landscape. Artists often use studies to better understand their subject before incorporating them into a larger composition. Norwich's own Louise Lossing created this intriguing piece. Fun Fact! Louise was ...the great great-granddaughter of our town's founder Peter Lossing! Donated to the museum by Katherine Lossing.

Norwich Museum volunteer Jessica on Museums! It's difficult to volunteer at the moment, but if you are interested in experience with museums or working with us we're always ready to discuss what we can do to engage our local community in their history

#ScenicSunday Featuring our hidden gem, the train out back!

Visions of sugar plums dancing through your head? Order a lunch to go with our online Christmas Lunch and Learn event next week, and you'll have sugar plums to eat, too! Some of these contain nuts, so be sure to let us know if you are allergic. Lunches also include a soup (turkey noodle or squash), a tea biscuit, and a mince tart. There is a $5 charge for lunch, and you must pick it up from the Museum before 10:30am on Wednesday! Get in touch to order one, and confirm your attendance at the event on the Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/events/390234932102706

Still time to get your pie orders in! Let us know by 4pm today if you would like apple or pumpkin pies for Thanksgiving weekend, in support of your local Museum

Not much time left to get in your pie orders! Email [email protected] letting us know how many apple and how many pumpkin pies you want to order! Collection is this Thursday afternoon and all day Friday!

Did you know that many of the trees outside the Museum were donations? This #ScenicSunday we wanted to highlight three: 1) Maple donated by Norwich Junior Farmers celebrating 100years of Junior Farmers in Oxford County 2) Oak tree planted in memory of Neil and Anna MacPherson 3) Red Maple donated in memory of Major Sheldon S. Carroll

For the evening crowd - we still have some pies left! As the Museum is closed Sunday/Monday, please email or leave an answering machine message telling us what pies you would like and we will get back to you on Tuesday!

There are still pies left! Get your order in today! If you order Sunday/Monday there may be some delay in getting back to you but you will hear from us by the end of the day on Tuesday.

It's October! We're well into Fall and Spooky Season, and we're planning celebrations here at Norwich Museum! Remember to order your apple and pumpkin pies by phone or email for Thanksgiving weekend. Unfortunately, Norwich and District Historical Society will not be hosting our annual Heritage Dinner this year. However, we are planning some socially distanced Halloween celebrations - keep an eye on our page for more announcements to come!

It's time for Norwich Museum and Archives' Fall Pie Sale! This time around we have 20 apple pies and 20 pumpkin pies which will be available for pick up October 8th and 9th in time for Thanksgiving weekend! We regret that we will not be able to offer delivery this time as we no longer have our summer students. Pies are 9" and cost $15.00 each.... Place your order at 519-863-3101 or at [email protected] before October 6th, 2020! We hope you will enjoy some home-made pies for a good cause!

As we say goodbye to September, here is the September issue of The Ladies Home Journal published in 1919. Which you could purchase for a total of 15 cents! The artwork on the cover is titled "The Honeymoon Express" painted by Harold Brett. #museumfinds

Announcing Norwich Museum and Archives' Fall Pie Sale! After the tremendous success of our summer pie sale, we would like to announce our Fall pie sale! Details will be available on October 1st, when pie sales open. Keep an eye out!

New donations are always exciting! This medal, awarded for second place in the Norwich Beard Contest during the Canadian centennial year, was among a number of items donated by Barb Crittenden, won by her husband, Ralph Crittenden. If you have the first place medal, we're interested! Also: anyone still sporting their lockdown beards want a 2020 competition?

We hope everyone is having a great #ScenicSunday!!! Looking for something to do in the upcoming week? Come and give us a visit by calling or emailing us to book your appointment

Disposable paper dress, anyone? For a brief period in the 1960s, everything was becoming disposable. For a brief period between 1966 and 1968 paper dresses became the must-have fashion: cheap, brightly coloured, easy to alter with scissors and tape. While the shift dress was the original and most common, jumpsuits, evening gowns, and underwear were also produced. One manufacturer even produced raincoats and bikinis! Within a couple of years, the political mood shifted (pun un...intentional) from disposable items, and cheap, longer-lasting materials like polyester were being used for clothing. This, coupled with the fact that paper dresses were uncomfortable to wear, but a swift end to the fashion. Did you ever wear a paper dress? This paper dress was donated to the museum by Helen Stover.

This #museumfind is Truman Van Valkenburg's tool chest, featured in our main gallery! Van Valkenburg was born in North Norwich Township in 1834. When he was 17 he traveled to Chicago to be an apprentice cabinet maker with his uncle. When he returned to Norwich he built many houses and barns. Van Valkenburg passed away in 1916 but his tool chest continued to by used by his son in the 1930s. Tools inside span a time frame of 1850-1920 including housing framing tools, brackets, hardware tools, and augers.