The First Christmas Card, 1843

The article from the Independent, UK, connects both the first Christmas card (1843) and Jingle Bells to drunkenness and encouraging intemperance. This was in the heyday of the temperance movement. They also suggest that Americans would not know what Christmas pudding or Christmas crackers were. Don’t you think most Canadians would know http://www.independent.co.uk/voices/comment/hold-your-temperance-new-life-for-the-first-christmas-card-9937920.html […]

The Complete Jane Bown: An Interactive Guide to her Lifetime in Photographs

“SHARP-ELBOWED”: Jane Bown among a scrum of male photographers fighting for a shot of Bette Davis at the London Palladium, 1975. Photograph: Central Press/Getty Images http://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/interactive/2009/oct/22/jane-bown-photography Jane Bown, born March 13 1925, died December 21 2014 The Observer published its first Jane Bown photograph in December 1949, initiating a romance between Britain’s […]

Iconic 1953 Hockey Photo

This iconic photo showed up on Facebook as an inquiry about the circumstances. I figured a hockey town like Antigonish might be a good source for more information. Please share any comments or memories of this game on this site. Here are some of the comments so far on FB: I took this from […]

Merry Christmas from the Imagine Antigonish team

A reminder of Christmas Past when the ornaments for the Christmas tree were handmade. What do you think the Archibald boy is wearing — a nutcracker uniform??? Christmas 1922, Archibald home on Church Street. Photo courtesy of Antigonish Heritage Museum

19th century American history and health is the focus of Video Games Sponsored by National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH)

http://hyperallergic.com/168185/video-games-on-smallpox-and-thoreaus-walden-get-government-funding/?utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Thomas+Kinkade+and+the+Jesus+of+Zionsville+a+Christmas+Tale&utm_content=Thomas+Kinkade+and+the+Jesus+of+Zionsville+a+Christmas+Tale+CID_2b1cdf39154d5269a4223db617cb3889&utm_source=HyperallergicNewsletter&utm_term=Video%20Games%20on%20Smallpox%20and%20Thoreaus%20Walden%20Get%20Government%20Funding A 19th-century Philadelphia smallpox epidemic and Henry David Thoreau’s transcendental retreat into the woods are the subjects of two video games awarded grants by the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) on December 8, 2014. Both of the 19th-century American history games are structured to transport users into the often unpleasant past, one where you’re a […]

Mindcraft: A century of madness, murder and mental healing

http://digitalstories.wellcomecollection.org/pathways/1-mindcraft/index.html Just this month, the Wellcome Collection (UK) released Mindcraft, an interactive digital story using their archives on mental health and the use of mind control. Mesmer, Svengali, and Freud are presented as the 19th century pioneers in the field of mental health. The case of Anna O and the “talking cure” is featured. Bertha Pappenheim, referred […]

Dorothea Lange’s 1936 iconic photograph of the Great Depression

MIGRANT MOTHER: Photographer Dorothea Lange, 1936 This iconic photo of the Migrant Mother taken in California by Dorothea Lange during the Great Depression, acknowledges the power of black and white photography to enter the national conference. But this is also a story of the inequality between the photographer and the photographed: Yet it seems […]

Afghani Photo-Artist Hanifa Alzida refused visa to enter Canada to exhibit her photography

http://ottawacitizen.com/entertainment/local-arts/afghan-artist-denied-entry-for-violence-against-women-symposium A prominent Afghan artist celebrated in several countries for her dramatic photos illustrating the silencing of women is being denied the opportunity to speak in Ottawa by the Canadian government. Hanifa Alizada, a photo-artist and art teacher at Kabul University, has been refused a visa to enter Canada to deliver a speech about […]

Town Point Heritage Walk October 2014

So glad to have a photo of our vidoegrapher, Antoinette Karuna, and Silvio, sound engineer. Philip Girvan (here with Thomas) took on the role of the Acadian priest during our participatory pilgrimage with the Hierlihy founding settlers of Antigonish.