This year the Waterloo Historical Society and the Waterloo Regional Heritage Foundation decided they would like to combine their annual meetings. Usually these events were held on different dates and in different places but it was thought that they would try amalgamating. It was thought the Waterloo Region Museum would be the ideal venue in the hopes of attracting more people to attend this day-long event. The Historical Society theme was “ Discovering Heritage” and there were 15 exhibitors in attendance including the Historical Society of St. Boniface and Maryhill Community. The Waterloo Historical Society was also distributing their volume 105 for the year 2017 to all their current members attending and had copies available for sale as well.
The Waterloo Regional Heritage Foundation awards were handed out as part of the Waterloo Historical Society’s meeting in the afternoon. Congratulations to Historical Society of St. Boniface and Maryhill Community members Stephanie Massel and Diane Strickler who received awards on Saturday, May 12th at 1:30 p.m.
Stephanie’s Award of Excellence was for her many years of service on the board of the Waterloo Regional Heritage Foundation, and for her advocacy work on heritage issues with the KW Association of Real Estate Agents and the City of Kitchener’s planning policies.
Diane received the Dr. Jean Steckle Award for Heritage Excellence. This award is in recognition of outstanding contribution to the preservation of heritage in Waterloo Region.
Guest speaker in the Christie Digital Theatre was Curtis B. Robinson, PhD Candidate with the Memorial University of Newfoundland. He is studying social history of intelligence and recruiting in German-Canadian Ontario. He spoke on “Security Measures in Southern Ontario in the First World War: An Historical Comparison.” He compared the difference in security at the home front between Central Ontario which was Toronto and Central Ontario to Southwestern Ontario which included Berlin and local area. He writes, “Was it handled differently in Berlin because it was a historically German city or did the district commander have other priorities?”
