Brockville Museum

16 posts

Leeds & Grenville Branch – April 2026 Presentation: Our American Neighbours: Brockville’s Relationship with the United States – With Alice McMurtry

Meetings

Join us on Monday, April 6th, 2026 at 7:00 pm via Zoom for a presentation by Alice McMurtry, Community Program Coordinator at the Brockville Museum. Her topic is Our American Neighbours: Brockville’s Relationship with the United States.

Alice’s presentation will be an overview of the economic, industrial, and transportation connections between Brockville and the United States (upper New York State in particular), and how this relationship has changed over time.

Alice McMurtry joined the Brockville Museum team in the summer of 2022. With over a decade of experience in historical interpretation in museums, she has worked in various cultural heritage sites across the province, including the City of Toronto History Museums, the Village at Black Creek, the Bata Shoe Museum, and the Ontario Heritage Trust. As the Community Program Coordinator at the museum, she researches, develops, promotes, and delivers a variety of interpretive programs for a range of audiences.

To register for this presentation, click here.

Leeds & Grenville Branch – March 2025 Presentation: A History of Brockville Photography Studios

Meetings

Join us on Monday, March 3rd at 7:00 pm via Zoom for a presentation on A History of Brockville Photography Studios by Alice McMurtry from the Brockville Museum.

This presentation will shed a light on some of the leading names in photography’s early days in Brockville. We will explore how photographic technology has changed over time, and look at photography’s impact on the development of tourism in Brockville. This talk will be highlighted by photographs from the Brockville Museum collection. Do you have family photos taken by a Brockville photographer?  Learn more about the photographers who took them, and the studios they operated.  It may even help you to identify “mystery photo” sitters!

Alice McMurtry is the Community Program Coordinator at the Brockville Museum, where she develops public and educational programming for a range of audiences. She has extensive museum experience, having worked at the Royal Ontario Museum, the Ontario Heritage Trust, the City of Toronto History Museums, the Bata Shoe Museum, Black Creek Pioneer Village, and other cultural institutions across the province. She holds a Master’s in Museum Studies and an Honours BA in History and English Literature from the University of Toronto. To register for this presentation, click here

Leeds & Grenville Branch – Picnic on August 30th!

Events

Hello, Leeds & Grenville Branch Members and friends!
 
We’re excited to announce that we are taking a lesson from Kingston Branch about getting folks together to talk genealogy! Although late in the “picnic” season, we are hoping to entice members and friends from Leeds & Grenville to join us for a picnic on Friday, August 30th beginning at noon, at Brockville Museum’s patio located on the Kincaid Street side of the Brockville Museum.  This is an informal affair, just to get together with those who love family history, and talk about our successes, challenges and activities.
 
Bring your own food and beverage, and a comfortable chair. Bring a friend, if you like! There is limited two-hour free parking in front of the Museum and on Kincaid Street, and we don’t anticipate exceeding that timeframe.
 
Should the weather not cooperate, we’ll send out a cancellation notice that morning, along with a “rain date”.  But we remain hopeful that it won’t rain on our gathering!  We hope to see many of you who haven’t had a chance to talk genealogy lately!
 
See you on August 30th!

Leeds & Grenville Branch Council

Leeds & Grenville Branch – October 2023 Presentation: Brockville Schools

Meetings

Join us on Monday, October 2nd at 7:00 pm via Zoom when Alice McMurtry, Community Program Coordinator at the Brockville Museum will educate us on Brockville Schools.  This presentation will focus on the history of some of Brockville’s schools, the historic and the more recent. These stories are all gathered from the Brockville Museum’s research files and archival collection, providing insight into the educational landscape of historic Brockville. The presentation will last about 35-40 minutes. So join us on Monday, October 2nd at 7:00 pm on Zoom and learn about some of the schools your ancestors may have attended in Brockville!   To register for this presentation, click here.

Family History Display at the Brockville Museum

Events

The Leeds & Grenville Branch of Ontario Ancestors – the Ontario Genealogical Society invites you to visit our display at the Brockville Museum on Family Day, Monday February 20th, 2023 from 10 AM to 4 PM. The Brockville Museum is located at 5 Henry Street, Brockville, Ontario K6V 6M4.

We will have family trees, displays and family history materials about three early Brockville families: the Buells; the Sherwoods; and the Schofields.

We will also have used publications for sale (local census, newspaper and cemetery records) for $2 to $5.

Join us for this interesting Family Day activity!

Leeds & Grenville Branch Presentation – March 2023 – Families Behind the Portraits of Frederick William Lock

Meetings

Join us on Monday, March 6th at 7:00 pm on Zoom when we will host a presentation jointly with the Brockville Museum about the Portraits of Frederick William Lock.  Mr. Lock painted in the Brockville area beginning about 1853, and among his works in the Museum’s collection are portraits of several leading Brockville citizens of the time.  The portraits from this collection are on display in the Museum’s Art Gallery until December of 2023, and the Leeds and Grenville Branch has partnered with the Museum to offer glimpses of the lives of the citizens in these portraits, and their genealogical roots.  Our presentation is entitled Families Behind the Portraits.

The Sherwood and Buell families were among the first settlers to arrive in Leeds County in the 18th century, and were instrumental in the development of the area, filling such roles as sheriff and surveyor, and turning tent homes into stone houses on the St. Lawrence River.

In the presentation Museum staff will talk about the artist (who married into a local family), and Branch volunteers will uncover the lives of those citizens portrayed in Lock’s portraits.

The Leeds & Grenville Branch of Ontario Ancestors is housed in the Brockville Museum, and is happy to showcase why local history and family history are so intertwined.

Everyone is welcome to join our online Zoom meeting, but registration is required.  You can register at this link:  https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZElf-GtrTgrEtYK3Kbvovoho0CGRDO_e0QA. 

We look forward to seeing you on March 6th!

Updated Archives Hours

Information

Following the departure of our summer student the Archives will only be available BY APPOINTMENT for researchers.  Beginning after Labour Day we will be back on a Monday-Friday schedule, with volunteers on duty by appointment.  However, the Museum building will be closed to visitors September 6-18 inclusive in order to make some necessary repairs.  We hope this will not inconvenience visitors.  To book an appointment beginning September 19th, please email us at [email protected] or call 1-855-697-6687 and leave a message. Please let us know your preferred dates, and keep in mind that our volunteers normally work in the afternoons from 1-4 pm.