Military Lecture Series
Military Lecture: John Norton – Teyoninhokarawen and the Indigenous Great Lakes 1780s-1820s
Guelph Civic Museum 52 Norfolk Street, Guelph, Ontario, CanadaJohn Norton was born to a Cherokee man and a Scottish woman in 1770, and adopted by the Mohawks in the 1790s. He rose to important military and diplomatic leadership positions among the Haudenosaunee (or Iroquois) of the Grand River north of Lake Erie, wrote the most extensive Native-authored text of his generation, and strove…
Military Lecture: From Wartime Refuge to Peaceful Hippie Haven: Generations of Youth on Grindstone Island
Learn how a private island on Big Rideau Lake, Ontario was presented, experienced, and embodied as a refuge for youth endangered by or alarmed by war. Between 1917 and 1963, the island was the summer home of Admiral Charles Kingsmill and his family. During their tenure, among many things, they hosted British child evacuees during…
Military Lecture: Black Military History of Niagara, “I never knew that”
Guelph Civic Museum 52 Norfolk Street, Guelph, Ontario, CanadaThis presentation focuses on military history of Black Canadians from the end of the American Revolution to the present. Doors open at 6:30, and the presentation starts at 7:00 with a question period immediately following. Black Military History of Niagara, "I never knew that", is presented by Jim Doherty. The lecture will premiere in-person at…
Military Lecture: “It was hell, that’s all”: Artillery and the Senses in the Canadian Corps, 1914-1918
Guelph Civic Museum 52 Norfolk Street, Guelph, Ontario, CanadaThe First World War on the Western Front was overwhelmingly a war of artillery. Both sides’ firepower dictated what form the war would take, driving men to dig trenches to conceal and protect themselves, but even then, artillery was responsible for over half of Canadian casualties. Given the significance of its role, it is no…
Military Lecture: The Royal Canadian Air Force at 100: A material retrospective with Mike Bechthold
Guelph Civic Museum 52 Norfolk Street, Guelph, Ontario, CanadaIn 1968, the RCAF Flyers, winners of the 1948 Olympic Gold Medal for ice hockey, reunited for a charity game. Here, the vice chief of the defence staff, Lieutenant-General F.R. Sharpe speaks with four members of the team: Lieutenant-Colonel Hubert Brooks, Chief Warrant Officer Andy Gilpin, Sergeant Red Gravelle, and Captain Frank Boucher. The jersey…
Military Lecture: Endgame: The Secret Force 136 by Catherine Little
Guelph Civic Museum 52 Norfolk Street, Guelph, Ontario, CanadaCatherine Little explores contributions of early Canadian-born Chinese to Canada’s Second World War efforts and the sacrifices its members made to show their loyalty to a country that had utterly disregarded them. Doors open at 6:30 and the presentation starts at 7:00, followed by a question period. Endgame: The Secret Force 136 is presented by…
Military Lecture: Evacuation of the British Airborne from Arhneim 1944 by the 23rd Royal Canadian Engineers
Civic Museum 52 Norfolk Street, Guelph, Ontario, CanadaBill McVean talks on the role of Canadian engineers in the evacuation of British 1st Airborne paratroopers from Operation Market Garden at Arnhem-Oosterbeek, Netherlands in 1944. After nine days of fighting at Arnhem (A Bridge Too Far) about 2400 of surrounded British Airborne troops were evacuated across the Rhine River to safety on the south…
Military Lecture: The Good Allies: How Canada and the United States Fought Together to Defeat Fascism during the Second World War by Tim Cook
Civic Museum 52 Norfolk Street, Guelph, Ontario, CanadaTim Cook, Canada’s preeminent war historian, introduces his new book, “The Good Allies: How Canada and the United States Fought Together to Defeat Fascism during the Second World War.” Doors open at 1:00 pm and presentation starts at 2:00 pm, followed by a question period. Books will be available for purchase, with a book signing…
