Know History Inc.

Know History attended the Canadian Historical Association’s annual conference in Montreal last month! We connected with old friends and colleagues and attended some fantastic panels that featured insights from CIRNAC, Global Affairs Canada, and Parks Canada. It was great to be a part of discussions on public history programs in Canada, reconciliation, commemoration, and community-engaged scholarship. See you next year!

Earlier this June, Know History joined the Diefenbunker: Canada's Cold War Museum, for a week of exciting fieldwork in Sanirajak, Nunavut! Our mission? To capture a full virtual tour of FOX Main, an early warning radar station from the 1950s DEW Line. This radar chain, stretching from Alaska to Greenland, was built to detect Soviet bombers during the Cold War. We are supporting the Diefenbunker in creating a virtual exhibit on the DEW Line, featuring a 360-degree tour, visual and written history, and oral histories on the DEW Line’s impact on the Inuit. The team captured an astounding 36,506 photos! 

Thank you to everyone who joined us for the Indigenous History and Heritage Gathering! Your presence, insights, and shared experiences made this event truly special. Below are a few images from the event!

National Indigenous Peoples Day is a day to honor and celebrate the resilience, cultures, and contributions of Indigenous peoples across Turtle Island. At Know History, we are proud of the strong relationships we have built with First Nations, Métis, and Inuit communities across the country and look forward to sharing and preserving more incredible stories with you all.

This June, we proudly celebrate Indigenous Peoples Month! We are honoured to partner with First Nations, Inuit, and Métis communities to share important stories that need to be told. Join us in celebrating the rich traditions of Indigenous peoples and check out some events in Ottawa and Calgary these upcoming weeks: Ottawa: Celebrate the Summer Solstice Indigenous Festival and enjoy pow wows, Indigenous arts, crafts, workshops, food, shopping, and family fun from June 21 to 23 at Madahoki Farm! Learn more here: https://lnkd.in/gNAwM95 Join the National Art Centre for a life-drawing session where you can capture the dynamic beauty of powwow dances and their regalia on your own paper. Participants will bring their own material and work with art facilitators to create drawings that capture both the movement of the dancers and their regalia: https://lnkd.in/eE3sGuN7 Calgary: Aboriginal Awareness Week Calgary returns this year with the theme of “Inspiring Our Youth for Change.” Head to Enmax Park on June 22 for a full day of activities, like an Indigenous arts and craft market, a hand games tournament, a traditional powwow, a free barbecue and more: https://www.aawc.ca/ The University of Calgary and Heritage Park Historical Village are honouring National Indigenous Peoples Day with the latest edition of Campfire Chats. Running from 4 to 6:30 p.m., the free event focuses on Indigenous music and culture with performances by Eya-Hey Nakoda, Armond Duck Chief, Craig Ginn, The Denby Family and Olivia Tail Feathers: https://lnkd.in/egDUjB6d Head to the National Music Centre (NMC) to celebrate Indigenous dance, music and song on June 21: https://lnkd.in/ezKVa7rC

How can you say history is just about the past when a 3-year-old boy gets to meet a 104-year-old WWII veteran?   Recently at the opening ‘Faces of Canada Today’ at the Juno Beach Centre, little Joseph Goudie got meet a soldier who was born 101 years before him. Many of Know History’s staff (including Joseph’s father Mark) fell in love with history due to core memories like this. We hope that we can continue to bring these kinds of experiences to the young and the young at heart.

Last week, Know History had the honour of attending the 80th Anniversary of D-Day celebration at Juno Beach. Historical researcher Casandra Masse shared the experience with us through her perspective: As I sat during the 80th Anniversary of D-Day celebration at Juno Beach, moments of such complete silence descended periodically throughout the crowd. Surrounded by hundreds of people, I could hear the waves lapping against the shore, birds singing in the trees, and a child asking for her mother in the distance. This quiet was such a show of respect and solemnity that the weight of the shared history we were all there to remember settled even deeper within me. On June 6th, Mark Goudie and I attended the 80th Anniversary celebration of D-Day. The day was shared by hundreds of visitors: including modern and WWII veterans, current soldiers in uniforms, dignitaries (Prime Minister Trudeau, Prime Minister Attal, and Prince William), and Canadian (as well as French) civilians. With dignitaries paying their respects to the D-Day veterans, the JBC staff assisting those veterans to return to the beach they once stormed, and the cheers from the crowds as those WWII soldiers were acknowledged; I truly believe those words ‘We will remember them’ will continue to be honoured.

Where in the world is Know History? Can you guess? Canada’s impact goes beyond borders, and our team is all about exploring and sharing our country’s history, culture, and global presence.

The Indigenous History and Heritage Gathering has officially begun! Day one invited attendees to workshops and fieldtrips around the city. We hope all attendees found the workshops useful for future projects aimed at uncovering and sharing Indigenous history!

Here's me and Know History Inc.'s head of digital services, Thomas Van Dewark, hanging by the campfire at the American Alliance of Museums annual meeting in Baltimore last week. Director of business development, Ashley Henrickson, who organized and led the mission, served double duty as photographer for this memory. As you can see, we kind of leaned into the 'Canadians telling stories' theme at the booth, for which we received lots of positive feedback. To Bradford Gyselman, Jason Farr, Basma Saad, and everyone else who helped get us there, huge thanks!! You're the best. AAM throws a fine conference - not to mention big. It was KH's first corporate presence, and the opportunity to speak with several hundred attendees, old friends and new, was both thrilling and, at times, a bit overwhelming. Venue staff at the Baltimore Convention Center were welcoming and super helpful, and the vendor hall was almost as educational as the many superb booths, displays, and product samples. (I may post separately on some of those.) We were delighted to see the Royal Ontario Museum and the Canadian Museum of Human Rights having displays, and great Canadian museum leaders such as Tony Reich and Gail Lord in attendance. Seeing Michael Plamondon and colleagues from Origin Studios Inc, as well as friendly reps from Haley Sharpe Design, brought back for me wonderful memories of working on the Canadian War Museum. Alin Tocmacov was also there, a brilliant designer and old mate, who I spied in deep conversation at a neighbouring booth and tracked down to shake a paw. Dean Phelus, AAM's masterful editor-in-chief and organizer extraordinaire, who I've known since Jesus was in diapers, broke free of his many duties to share an adult beverage with us, a personal highlight for me. We even found a few hours Sunday afternoon, after our exhibit was packed up, to take in a Baltimore Orioles big win over the Seattle Mariners. On the return voyage, a 7-hour flight delay in Toronto (thanks for nothing, Air Canada), came close to breaking the magic, but I fell in with a few marvellous fellow travellers so the time passed and no harm done. We're already looking forward to Los Angeles in 2025. Will the plaid shirts and campfire theme be back? Will there be moose, beavers, lacrosse sticks, or maple syrup at the KH booth? See you there, eh?! Warm thanks to everyone who said hello in Baltimore. We appreciated every visitor and every chat. It's a great field, and we're honoured to be working in it. #museums #publichistory #history #aam #baltimore