Glimpses into Our Past, Volume 1, #1-50

Paul E. Blower was Assistant Head, Adult Services Department, Sault Ste. Marie Public Library, Ontario.

Other people’s local history is rather like other people’s grandchildren: all very well in their way but nothing to compare with one’s own. Nor is there anything particularly wrong with well-meaning amateurs proudly pointing to the achievements of the municipal past; it is just that an excessive concern with “our” past fails to provide any sense in which local, parochial matters fit into a larger whole.

The fifty “glimpses” included in this book originally appeared in the Saint Catharines Standard from October 17, 1981, to October 2, 1982. Each is presented on one page and consists of a black-and-white reproduction (of uneven quality) of photographs, sketches, prints, or sketches and a story written by various volunteers from the St. Catharines Historical Museum.

Outsiders will undoubtedly recognize the Henley Regatta and Ridley College as peculiarly St. Catharines institutions, but much else is of historical interest, particularly those parts of the city’s history that centre on its waterfront: the Shickluna shipyard; lake ships like the “City of London,” “Valetta,” and the “Dalhousie City”; parts of the Welland Canal; tragic drownings; and Prohibition rum running. Other stories present features of urban history common to most Canadian municipalities: early industries, military exercises, mud roads, schools, churches, grand houses of the well-to-do, bridges, firehalls, hotels, Saturday morning markets.

Throughout there is evident pride in sharing in the lives and accomplishments of the city’s pioneers, but the failure on the part of the writers to think like historians is a drawback (e.g., they do not spell out why riots between Protestant and Roman Catholic Irishmen might take place particularly on July 12; there is little interest in the Reo automobile beyond its St. Catharines connection).

Possibly, the book might have been made more useful for visitors (and as local history) if a short introduction had been provided to the city’s history — and particularly how it fits into the larger context of Ontario and Canadian history. An area map and a street map of St. Catharines would also have been useful, to indicate how residents and visitors could see for themselves the places of interest mentioned in the book.