Tag Archives: Brockville Museum

Leeds & Grenville Branch – October 2023 Presentation: Brockville Schools

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

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

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

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.

Museum Hours Changes

The Brockville Museum will be closed from December 24th, 2021 through January 3rd, 2022 inclusive.  Beginning in January, 2022 the Museum will open Monday through Friday from 10 am until 4 pm, rather than the Tuesday – Saturday which has been the practice in 2021.

Access to the Leeds & Grenville Branch Archives

Update Effective November, 2021

With the Proof of Vaccination policy:

• All Museum visitors will be asked if they pass screening (don’t have symptoms)
• Museum Front Desk volunteers will ask for and check Vaccine Certificate and government-issued ID for visitors (not for staff and volunteers). They will do this for Archives visitors as well.

The Brockville Museum is now open for visitors to its exhibits by appointment only and with capacity limits.  The Museum building, which houses the Archives of the Leeds & Grenville Branch, is open Tuesday through Saturday between 10:00 am and 4:00 pm.

The Leeds & Grenville Branch of OGS is working to re-open our Archives to visitors beginning Tuesday, September 14th, but only by appointment.  Our space limitations are such that we can only accommodate two visitors at a time in order to maintain physical distancing.  Masks must be worn to enter the Museum building, and while in our Archives space.

In order to book an appointment, please leave a message on our Voice Mail system (613-342-7773) or by email at [email protected], telling us your name and contact information (email and telephone preferred), the date and time you would prefer to visit, and alternates if possible.  We would also like to know the names or locations that you wish to research so that we can determine which resources we have available to assist.  Our Archives appointments will begin at either 15 minutes before the hour, or 15 minutes after, to avoid arrivals of Museum visitors and Archives visitors at the front desk at the same time.

Once we receive your request we will reach out to our researchers to determine whether we can accommodate your request, and match up the request with a researcher.  Any further instructions about on-site requirements will be given when we confirm your appointment.  We will advise the Museum once we confirm your appointment.  This process will take at least 48 hours to complete, so please be patient with us.  We are all volunteers.

Please note that drop-ins CANNOT be accommodated at this time.  If you have any questions, please either leave us a voice mail or send us an email and we will get back to you as soon as we can.

Brockville Museum Feasibility Study

Brockville Museum
Brockville Museum

The Brockville Museum, home to the Archives of the Leeds & Grenville Branch, is undertaking a feasibility study to plan for a new Museum, and as part of that study is asking for input!  If you use the Leeds & Grenville Branch Archives, or participate in our programming, we are asking you to take a few minutes to tell the consultants about your vision and needs for a new Museum space.  You can find out more about the study at the Museum’s website here:  www.brockvillemuseum.com/aboutus.

The community consultation process includes an online survey, open until the end of the year, which asks questions about usage, needs (and wants) for a new facility.  Please take a few moments to share your thoughts on the Museum’s future by answering the survey questions

Our Branch’s vision for a new facility includes an integrated research space that would combine the Museum’s research materials with ours, and with resources from the City of Brockville.  This would allow researchers to access the resources they need to build their family history, as well as meeting space and adequate safe storage space.  What is YOUR vision.

Closed For The Holidays

Credit: Library and Archives Canada / Acc. No. 1991-12-46 / Gift of Joan and W. Ross Murray, Whitby, Ontario.

Merry Christmas from Leeds and Grenville Branch.  Our Archives will be closed Monday, December 24th, re-opening Wednesday January 3rd, due to the closure of The Brockville Museum during that time.

We wish you all the blessings of the holiday season, and a happy, healthy and successful New Year!  Enjoy time with family and friends, and make some family history memories to cherish!