The Story Behind Sarnia's Art Movement

Gallery Lambton is physically changing locations and adopting a new name; the Judith & Norman Alix Art Gallery is slated to open later in 2012. Have you ever wondered where and when Sarnians first had an opportunity to be inspired by great art? The answer lies in the efforts of a local women's group who fund-raised for Red Cross during WWI and the networking skills of local lawyer Norman Gurd.

Gurd followed his father Robert Gurd into legal practice, pursuing his studies in Toronto and returning to Sarnia in 1896 to work with the firm Kittermaster & Gurd. A strong believer in the library system, Gurd is credited with creating and popularizing the slogan, "The library belonds to you, do you belong to the library?"

Early art exhibition catalogue from Sarnia Public Library

Gurd's enthusiasm for the library system brought him closer to the network that would bring art to Sarnia. It was the Women's Art Conservation Committee (later the Women's Conservation Art Association) that purchased the first paintings to be hung in the Sarnia Public Library. The committee was an offshoot of the Women's Conservation Committee created during the First World War to raise funds for Red Cross. These ladies collected waste such as paper, cloth, fats and metals, which were in turn sold to local scrap dealers.

When WWI came to a close, the Women's Conservation Committee was seeking an alternative recipient for the financial fruits of their fund-raising efforts. Committee president Frances Flintoft wrote to Norman Gurd on July 25, 1919: "We have felt for some time past, that we should have displayed in the library, good pictures which would have an educating influence upon the public and would show them what good Art really is. There is no opportunity of this kind in Sarnia." She reflected on this process in a letter on March 2, 1929: "... turn our organization into an art association when the war was over - to buy Canadian pictures by Canadian artists and to form the nucleus of a permanent collection to have in the Public Library until such time as Sarnia should have an art gallery."

First two pages of a letter from Women's Conservation Art Committee President Frances Flintoft, March 2, 1929 reminiscing about the birth of the art movement in Sarnia.

After fulfilling the Red Cross's needs, the Women's Art Conservation Committee had $300.00 left and put this money towards the purchase of three paintings in March, 1920. George L. Smith records in his book, Norman Gurd and the Group of 7, that the pieces purchased were A.Y. Jackson's "Spring Lower Canada," H.B. Palmer's "Sawing Logs" and J.W. Beatty's "Winter near Toronto." [These links will take you to Gallery Lambton's online catalogue: note in the Credit Line, "Gift of the Sarnia Women's Conservation Art Association."] Other paintings purchased by the committee included Tom Thomson's "Chill November" (in December, 1920) and Lawren S. Harris's "Mongoose Lake" (in February, 1925).

Tom Thomson's "Chill November."

Sarnia Public Library was proud to display these paintings, offering  Sarnians a safe place to gather and appreciate art. Gurd expressed in a letter to Dr. Locke, head of the Toronto Public Library on November 3, 1919, that he would like to acquire "good pictures which would be truly representative of Canadian Art." What came to be known as the Sarnia Public Library and Art Gallery held various exhibitions and encouraged the sale and appreciation of authentic Canadian artwork.

Sarnia's art community was born out of the desire to allow the public easy access to great art; the patriotic desire to promote/display Canadian art; and the fund-raising efforts of grassroots community groups.

The Lambton Room is fortunate to have some interesting documentation of art's introduction into Sarnia. We have preserved much of Norman Gurd's correspondence, including a series of letters received from A.Y. Jackson in the 1920s discussing exhibitions and the sale of artwork. Our collection of catalogues from exhibitions at the Sarnia Public Library is also interesting, along with our biographical information on Gurd and newspaper clippings documenting his contributions to Sarnia.

Letter from A.Y. Jackson to Norman Gurd, February 16, 1925. Jackson and Gurd are corresponding about the availability of paintings for upcoming exhibitions. Jackson writes: "I am afraid we cannot find any more Thomson canvases. They are practically finished. We have a small one in the building which we are sending to Wembley. There are a few unfinished ones around but no great quality in them. The family are holding quite a number of sketches but will not sell them..."

Local History Gem! The Sarnia Observer Negative Collection

The Sarnia Observer Negative Collection is one of the most interesting and accessible collections at the Lambton Room. It is comprised of over 58,000 negatives of photographs that appeared in the Sarnia Observer in the 1950s and 1960s. In this blog post, I'm going to examine what makes this collection so interesting, and take a look into the future by acknowledging a recent donation from the Observer with new decades of material!

Sarnia Observer Negative: Sep. 29, 1950, SCITS Blue Bombers

The Sarnia Observer Negative Collection was almost lost before it could begin. According to the story handed down by past generations of Lambton County history enthusiasts, local historian and writer George Smith discovered that the Observer was discarding its collection of old negatives. As I mentioned in an earlier blog post, Where Did Our Collection Come From?, the story goes that Mr. Smith fished the negative collection from a dumpster behind the Observer office. We are fortunate for George Smith's zeal for Lambton County's history!

The photographic negatives are valuable because they allow us to create prints of images that appeared in the newspaper in the 1950s and 1960s. We have the newspapers on microfilm, but the pictures often do not show up well on microfilm, and when they are printed the results are often disappointing. With the Sarnia Observer Negative Collection, we can locate the original negatives and make significantly better quality scans and prints of the images.

Sarnia Observer Negative: Remembrance Day Parade, 1952

Summer students have been working with the Sarnia Observer Negative Collection for over ten years to increase its accessibility. The entire collection of 58,000 negatives has been indexed by summer students, and this index is available online. The Lambton County Libraries, Museums and Gallery web page has a link to the "Museum Catalogue." In this catalogue, you can browse the Sarnia Observer Negative Collection by searching for "Sarnia Observer Negative" in the drop-down search bar (the direct link is here). All of the photographs are indexed by event, location, and names of the individuals. In recent summers, students have begun the long process of scanning the negatives and uploading the images to accompany these database descriptions

Currently, the Observer is in the midst of compiling space in its downtown office. I was fortunate enough to speak with some staff from the Observer at the end of 2011 regarding some material that was going to lose its current office space. That material included negatives from the mid-1980s to early 2000s, as well as some original bound volumes of the newspaper. I was more than happy to take this material off their hands! The generous donation is now safely stored in our vault where it will be preserved. It will take numerous summer students and a lot of perseverance, but we look forward to the day when these additional negatives are also indexed and uploaded to the museum catalogue. A huge thank you to the Observer for donating this material to our archives!

Sarnia Observer Negative: Apr. 20, 1950, Ken Maidman Kayaks in Sarnia Bay

St. Clair Excursions on the Tashmoo

American company White Star Lines operated the Tashmoo or "The Glass Hack," a beloved ship that provided passenger service between Detroit, Port Huron and Sarnia. This speedy paddle wheeler took countless Lambton residents on pleasant excursions down the St. Clair River between 1901 and 1936.

The Tashmoo was built at Wyandotte, Michigan in 1899 and classed as a lake and river boat with a capacity for up to 3,500 passengers. During summer months she made daily excursion trips, and in the St. Clair River alone called at Algonac, Port Lambton, Marine City, St. Clair, Stag Island, South Park, Port Huron and twice at Sarnia. Leaving from Sarnia, a trip aboard the Tashmoo including a stop at Stag Island cost just under a dollar, about 80 or 90 cents. Jean Elford provides a charming description of a passenger's experience aboard the Tashmoo in the evening: "Hundreds of electric lights twinkled and were reflected on the great stretches of glass that enclosed the dining room and ballroom on A deck, the sixteen private parlours on B deck, and the aft portion of C deck. With the rest of her in darkness, she gave the illusion of floating above the water, and as she went the music of Finzel's orchestra added all that was needed to make her wonderfully romantic."

In the Sarnia Observer on August 20, 1983, O.N. (Red) Wilson reminisced fondly about the Tashmoo: "There are still those among us who dived into the bubbly wake cast up by the paddle wheels when the big ship left the dock. It took a lot of hard swimming to keep from going under the froth that refused to keep the swimmer afloat... While the ship was docked at Sarnia the 'water rats' dove for the pennies tossed into the water by passengers. The more successful dove, retrieved the slanting coins, tucked them into their mouths and kept right on chasing the money. They did it also with the Northern Navigation boats."

The Tashmoo was also known for her speed. After the ship's first summer of work, an official of the White Star Line bragged that she could outdistance the City of Erie or the City of Buffalo. The boasts were taken seriously and on June 4, 1901 a race was set up between the Tashmoo and the City of Erie. Both ships took the lead at some point during the hour-long race, but the City of Erie edged out the Tashmoo with a speed of 21.76 miles per hour to the Tashmoo's 21.70 miles per hour.

Unfortunately, Lambton residents would not enjoy whimsical summer nights aboard the Tashmoo forever. In the evening of June 19, 1936 while approaching the Livingstone channel below Grosse Ile, a trembling altered Captain McAlpine. The ship had hit a rock and an eight inch hole was quickly bringing in water. The captain wisely zipped the ship to shore and the crowd went ashore to the music of the orchestra, quite unaware that circumstances were more dire than just an engine malfunction. Once damages were assessed it was determined that the $750,000 price tag it would cost to repair the boat was too high, and the Tashmoo was sold for scrap. She had a wonderful 36-year run and created countless fond memories of airy summer nights.

Constructing the St. Clair Tunnel

With Electro-Motive making waves in the media recently, I settled on a locomotive theme to start off the year. In September of 1891, Sarnia made international waves with the opening of the St. Clair Tunnel. The tunnel was a marvel of technology and a symbol of our relationship with our neighbours to the south.

Cutting the tunnel

The Port Huron Daily Times released a special "International Tunnel Opening" edition on September 19, 1891. Here are some of the key excerpts from that lengthy and detailed edition that recreate the excitement and technological pride that seized these communities with the tunnel's opening:

"The greatest sub-marine [sic] tunnel on the North American continent has been completed and is now  in practical use. It extends from Port Huron, in the state of Michigan, to Sarnia, in the Canadian province of Ontario, and connects the Grand Trunk Railway system of Canada with the lines operated under Grand Trunk management west of the St. Clair river, and with the Flint & Pere Marquette and other Michigan railways. The tunnel was built and is owned by the St. Clair Tunnel Company, organized under special act of the Canadian parliament...

Sketches appeared in the newspaper quoted here.

"The idea of the tunnel was conceived, and the work was projected by Sir Henry Tyler, president of the Grand Trunk Railway Company, and through his efforts the money to construct it has been secured... The total actual cost of the whole work will approximate very closely to $2,700,000...

"To an engineer the completed work presents some novel problems. Cast iron has been used before for tunnel lining to a limited extent, and tunnels have been built before through soft material, but no tunnel, under so great a river, through such soft material and located so near to the river bottom, has ever before been built, and no tunnel of such magnitude has been lined with cast iron...

Lowering the shield

"The weather on Saturday, September 19, the day fixed for the formal opening of the tunnel, was warm and pleasant. The inaugural train, consisting of seven coaches, left Point Edward promptly at 12:30 o'clock, Sir Henry Tyler giving the signal for it to start. At the Sarnia station a stop was made to take on guests from that town and Port Huron, and the train then proceeded to Sarnia junction and the tunnel depot. At this point [an address] was presented to Sir Henry Tyler by Mayor Watson... An engine was then coupled to the seven coaches and at 1 o'clock the train started down the grade to the portal of the tunnel. As the train entered the tunnel there was a great cheering by the assembled crowd. it took just three and a half minutes to make the run from portal to portal. As the train pulled out of the tunnel on the Port Huron side whistles began to blow and continued until the train had passed through the arch and on to the new depot at Twenty-second street..."

Specially decorated locomotive for the first tunnel run

Supplement to the Sarnia Observer, celebrating "one of the great engineering feats of the age."

Try the website Electric Lines in Southern Ontario for more information about the St. Clair Tunnel Company, fast facts about the tunnel, and more details about its construction.

Discovering the Village of Sombra

In this blog post, we'll take a quick look at the Village of Sombra and its earliest settlers/growth and take a look at the Sombra ferry's history.

The village wasn't always known as Sombra; in its earliest inception, the village was called "Lewisville." The earliest settler were Abraham Smith and Samuel H. Burnham in 1821. Lela Sutcliff related in an article in the London Free Press on March 11, 1961 that "1835 was the year the nucleus of the present village began and the first few houses to comprise it were erected." Samuel Burnham's son, Morgan Lewis Burnham, did much of the original construction; because of this, Lewis Burnham was considered the "father" of the village and it was dubbed "Lewisville" in his honour. It was some years later that the name should switch to Sombra. The village would blossom as a town hall valued at $1,800.00 was built in 1867.

The ferry has a rich and interesting history. The first ferry in Sombra was The Silent, a sailboat run by Samuel Whiteley. When there wasn't any wind, he would use a rowboat to ferry customers across the river. He charged 10 cents a round trip. An old Irish woman is reported to have gotten on his case for those exorbitant prices, cornering him with this gruff statement: "You just take a stick in your hand and charge 10 cents for that?!" (Gazette, November 18, 1981). A second ferry was opened by William Bell and taken over by the American Joe Miller, causing competition for Whiteley's operation. It is rumoured that during one exceptionally sore argument, each ferry would only go to the middle of the river, where passengers were made to switch boats! The feud would end when Whiteley eventually bought out his American competitor.

To learn about establishments and events in Sombra if you feel like going for a visit, check out the website Discover Sombra Village. Don't miss the Sombra Museum if you go visit!

If you would like some extra details about what the Village of Sombra had to offer in 1856, please look over this excerpt from an article that appeared in the Toronto Leader, April 28, 1856:

Grand land sale by public auction, in the village of Sombra, at the town of Port Sarnia, on Thursday inst., 200 town lots of the above Village...

The local advantage of the Village, in addition to those already mentioned, are great; it being situated half-way between the towns of Port Sarnia and Chatham, the County Towns of Kent and Lambton - and the principal depot for supplying wood to the innumberable fleet of Steamers continually plying the noble river in front...

The Township of Sombra, of which this Village is the first center, is the best Township of land in the County of Lambton and is fast filling up with enterprising and industrious settlers. The Village has only been in existence three years, and already contains four Merchant's Shops and a large Hotel with as good accommodations as any west of London, one Blacksmith Shop, Tin Shop, Tailoring and Shoe Shops, Tannery, School House and Church... and is the principal place of import and export for a considerable portion of the County.

Remembrance Day Reflections, The Petrolia Cenotaph

This Remembrance Day, the Lambton Room has chosen to highlight one of Lambton County's WWI memorials: the cenotaph in Petrolia's Victoria Park.

The cenotaph in Petrolia was unveiled on September 24, 1922. Designed by Toronto sculptor Emmanuel Hahn, it features symbolic detailing like the cross the figure is holding, the flag draped behind him and the poppies and chains at his feet.

Advertiser-Topic, Sept. 28 1922, p. 1

The ceremony to celebrate the unveiling began at 2pm, and the program issued to attendants read on the front cover: "Erected in Memory of the Boys from the Municipalities of Petrolia and Enniskillen Who Laid Down Their Lives in the Great War." Hymns and patriotic songs were played by the Petrolia Citizen's Band; Mayor Preston gave the opening address; and the actual unveiling of the cenotaph (by Major Fairbank) was followed by a general salute. The Advertiser-Topic reported on September 28 that, while the day dawned brightly, "the mercury feel and a strong wind arose, which... did not prevent the gathering of an immense crowd" as citizens attended the important event.

The main address was given by Reverend William Raithby, pastor of Petrolia Baptist church who served for three and a half years during WWI and was a well-respected member of the community. His address included the following:

We are here to unveil and dedicate this memorial to those who, courageously enlisting, turning aside from life's prospects and enjoyments and daring to stem the tide of hate that threatened to engulf the world, passed by the way of death and did not return.

The monument should remind us that the freedom, peace and safety we enjoy have been secured at a price greater than which no man can pay. [Advertiser-Topic, Sep. 28, 1922 p. 1, 3]

In 1916 Petrolia opened a recruiting station for the 70th Battalion. Featured below is a picture of recruits standing in front of the station. From left to right, their names are: Jack C. Reid, Clayton McRitchie, Verne Mandeville, -----, Leo Kelly, Major C.O. Fairbank, Smith (from Buffalo), Lt. Tom Murray, Bloss Scott, -----, Ross McRae, Bill Balls, and Murray McQueen. [the gentleman in the bowler in the background is Mr. Fisher, caretaker of the Masonic Temple]. Two of those names are now listed on the Petrolia Cenotaph: Verne Mandeville and Murray McQueen never returned from the Great War.

This Remembrance Day, take a moment to reflect on the men who were lost in the County of Lambton and across Canada.

 

 

Ontario Genealogical Society's 50th Anniversary

The Ontario Genealogical Society celebrated its 50th birthday on October 15. Here is some background and history on the non-profit corporation that promotes the study of genealogy across Ontario.

Founded in 1961, the Ontario Genealogical Society developed with the sponsorship of the Pennsylvania German Folklore Society of Ontario at the University of Waterloo. Dr. G.E. Reaman served as the OGS's first president. The society published its first newsletter, Bulletin, in August of 1962; it would continue to be published three times a year until 1968, when it became a quarterly. The mid-1960s were a period of growth, with the OGS's first seminar on April 18, 1964 (with 125 individuals in attendance) and the adoption of a constitution in 1966. Membership broke the 250 barrier by February of 1967.

1871 Census Indexing Announcement

In 1971, the OGS had already established five branches: Toronto, London, Hamilton, Ottawa and Bruce-Grey. New branches would develop across the country over the following years. By the 25th anniversary in 1986, the OGS had 5,000 members in 25 branches; annual seminars with distinguished speakers; quarterly newsletters to keep members informed; and several indexing projects on the go, including work with the 1871 Census of Canada.

The OGS continues to work on interesting and genealogically important projects, including the transcription of cemetery tombstones and inventories of records from places of worship.

Poster from Lambton Branch 10th Anniversary

The Lambton Branch of the OGS was founded in 1984. Branch members are currently involved in a variety of interesting projects, including the indexing of birth, marriage and death notices from local newspaper the Petrolia Advertiser Topic. A recent investment in sophisticated scanning technology shows a determination to preserve the past while maintaining a connection with the new digital age.

The OGS has a proud history and is always happy to welcome new members. As part of the 50th anniversary celebrations, the OGS is encouraging individuals across Ontario to donate copies of their family histories, to better consolidate and preserve the excellent genealogical research that has been conducted across the province.

Happy Birthday, OGS!