RTHS Projects

The Society at any one time will have a variety of projects underway. These projects are accomplished by volunteers, often in cooperation with the Rideau Branch of the Ottawa Archives.

The projects described are the ones that are currently being worked on. As they are completed they will be taken off this page and new ones will appear.

Publishing Project

The Publishing Project has a goal of making local history available to anyone interested. This is accomplished by providing encouragement and assistance, as possible, to authors who want to do a book, or already have a manuscript that address local history.

The Society also addresses, where possible, the need to republish local history books that have been popular but are now out of print.

The books below are examples

The Speaker/Trip Series

An important project is the speaker series that is held in conjunction with the monthly meetings of the Society.

The speakers are chosen and recruited by the Executive. The presentations are of the order of 45 minutes to an hour and include slides, movie clips and artefacts, and sometimes even a history game of some kind.

The speaker gives his presentation after a short business meeting and then we have refreshments and a chance for further questions or to just chat with the speaker.

Speakers are chosen for their subjects of interest that may or may not be some facet of local history. Recent speakers on local history have included Colin Churcher on the "History of Ottawa Railways" and Paul Kitchen on the "History of Hockey in Ottawa". Other speakers have spoken on subjects such as Hadrian's Wall in England, and battles of the War of 1812.

Instead of having the June and September meetings, the Society usually arranges a trip to a historical site of interest. One such trip toured the Rideau Locks between Kars and Smiths Falls. Another, June 2008, will visit Upper Canada Village to attend the dedication and opening of the Orange Hall moved down from Kars in the fall of 2007.

Barns Appreciation Project

The Barns Appreciation Project began in 2006. It represents an attempt to gather a photographic record with supporting documentation of the barns in the former Rideau Township before they all disappear.

Between 12 and 15 volunteers have been working of the project. We now have 1000 pictures from over 300 sites. The next phase to get interior photographs and supporting is just getting underway.

The picture below is of the Thomson barn on Lockhead Road, which was the first sawn lumber barn in Rideau.

Recognizing People & Historical Events

The Society uses its views of history to recognize people who have make significant contributions to gathering & recording the history of Rideau or to the growth and development of Rideau.

Examples include a plaque recognizing the contribution of the Thomson family to Rideau and local agriculture (see the barn above and the plaque below), and a portrait of Moss Kent Dickinson.

Revitalization of the Society

This project is currently underway. It has several goals including current communications methods such as the newsletter and the website (this is the new one), in order to attract additional interest in the Society.

We are also trying to attract a younger audience by diversifying the interests of the Society to include subjects such as the history of hockey in Ottawa, and the life stories of the early settlers covered in the Rideau Warriors series published recently in the "Esprit de Corps" magazine.