Merry Christmas

 From our house to yours.
We wish you all a very Merry Christmas!

December Book Tuesday!

 Welcome to another Book Tuesday offering for you.

Enjoy
Victorian Society of Alberta

They Came
-by Billie Milholland

 European settlement of Western Canada was both rapid and dramatic. People came from all over the world to take advantage of cheap land ($10 for 160 acres/64.7 hectares). Women most often came with parents, or followed husbands and brothers. They traded extended family life in familiar landscapes imbued with ancient histories for life in an undeveloped country with few roads and rough, new communities full of people from diverse cultures, speaking dozens of different languages.

We know the stories of men who settled and developed the West, but of the women, except for a handful of rich and famous, we know little. They Came tells the heroic stories of 113 women who came to Western Canada from somewhere else between 1890 and 1950. Following each story is a recipe, something their children and grandchildren remember fondly....

Neighbours and Networks, the Blood Tribe in the Southern Alberta Economy
-by W. Keith Regular

Neighbours and Networks explores the economic relationship that existed between the Blood Indian reserve and the surrounding region of southern Alberta between 1884 and 1939.

The Blood tribe, though living on a reserve, refused to become economically isolated from the larger community and indeed became significant contributors to the economy of the area. Their land base was important to the ranching industry. Their products, especially coal and hay, were sought after by settlers, and the Bloods were encouraged not only to provide them as needed, but also to become expert freighters, transporting goods from the reserve for non-Native business people. Blood field labour in the Raymond area's sugar beet fields was at times critical to the functioning of that industry. In addition, the Bloods' ties to the merchant community, especially in Cardston and Fort Macleod, resulted in a significant infusion of money into the local economy.

Keith Regular's study fills the gap left by Canadian historiography that has largely ignored the economic associations between Natives and non-Natives living in a common environment. His microhistory refutes the perception that Native reserves have played only a minor role in regional development, and provides an excellent example of a cross-cultural, co-operative economic relationship in the post-treaty period on the Canadian plains.

Lest We Forget

Today as we remember those who sacrificed themselves in service to Empire and in response to the commands of their Kings and countries. We must also remember that ALL the men and women who participated in WWI were "Victorians" and those who served in WWII were mostly "Edwardians".
These two titanic conflicts changed the worlds of these people in unimaginable ways. Neither the Victorians or the Edwardians, as we tend to study and re-create them, remained when the smoke and dust settled.

Not only did hundreds of thousands of them die, but the very cultural structures in which they had grown up were swept away.

In 1914 a farmer in Western Canada, a fisherman on the coasts, a labourer in the factories of Eastern Canada, or a miner in the far north, went when their King called because that was what one did.
102 years ago when the guns fell silent at 11:00 AM on November 11th they did not know that everything had changed forever, but they hoped that at least war was done with.

Alas their children found that was not true.

There are none alive now who remember the world of WWI and few indeed that remember WWII.
We owe it to them that we remember, we also owe their World, the Victorian and Edwardian World we celebrate, that it not be forgotten either.

Lest we forget.
God Save the Queen!

Photo by Neil Zeller

 

Treaty Recognition Week

 Here is a map of all the treaties made with the First Nations in Canada.

There is a good brief history of the all the treaties here.
https://www.trentu.ca/education/sites/trentu.ca.education/files/documents/TrentUSchoolofEd_TreatiesWeek_ResourcePackage.pdf

November Book Tuesday

 Here are a couple of books for you to consider on this fine November Book Tuesday!

Thanks for Reading
Victorian Society of Alberta

Settling In, Early Homes of Western Canada
- by Faye Reineberg Holt

Moving and settling in have always been a part of prairie life. From teepees to soddies, mail-order houses to mansions, early homes on the Canadian prairies were as diverse as the people who lived in them.

When newcomers from other cultures and places arrived in western Canada, one of their first tasks was to build a shelter for themselves and their families. Settling In details the different lifestyles, cultural expectations, and construction techniques of First Nations, explorers, fur traders, missionaries, NWMP, and pioneer settlers as they built dwellings in the often inhospitable prairie climate and turned houses into homes.

Archival photographs provide a visual record of the enormous variety and ingenuity characteristic of early prairie architecture in the late 1890s and early 1900s.

Edwardian Farm
– by Alex Langlands, Ruth Goodman & Peter Ginn

Following on from the hit BBC series Victorian Farm, this book accompanies a new 12-part BBC series. This time, Ruth Goodman, Alex Langlands, and Peter Ginn take a leap forward in time to immerse themselves in an Edwardian community in the West Country. In the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, Morwellham Quay was situated in a bustling and commercially prosperous region—a stunning rural landscape encompassing rolling farmland, wild moorland, tidal river, coast, and forest, which supported a vibrant and diverse economy. Ruth, Peter, and Alex will spend a year exploring all aspects of this working landscape—restoring boats, buildings, and equipment; cultivating crops; fishing; rearing animals; and rediscovering the lost heritage of this fascinating era as well as facing the challenges of increasingly commercial farming practices, fishing, and community events.

Ladies Fashions 1867 to 1907

This poster shows the high class Ladies fashions across our entire time period.
Elegance that could only be dreamt about for most people in the Territories I expect.

Thanks for reading.
Victorian Society of Alberta

Happy Thanksgiving!

 

From all of us at the Victorian Society of Alberta, to all of you, wishing you a happy, healthy Thanksgiving!

 

Treaty 7 Day!

Treaty 7 is the last of the Numbered Treaties made between the Government of Canada and the Plains First Nations. 

It was signed on 22 September 1877 by five First Nations: the Siksika (Blackfoot), Kainai (Blood), Piikani (Peigan), Stoney-Nakoda, and Tsuut’ina (Sarcee). 

The following comes from the Canadian Encyclopedia.

~~~~~~~~~ 

Historical Context
 

"In 1870, the newly created nation of Canada acquired Rupert’s Land from the Hudson’s Bay Company. Rupert’s Land was an enormous area of land stretching north and west. One year later, British Columbia entered Confederation    based in part on the promise that a transcontinental railway would connect it to the rest of Canada within 10 years. In order to construct the railway and encourage future settlement, the government considered it necessary to extinguish Aboriginal title to the land (see Indigenous Territory). Bound by the terms of a Royal Proclamation by King George III in 1763, Canada was responsible for the protection of its Indigenous people and promised to preserve their rights to unceded (unsurrendered) traditional territories.

"The mid-19th century was a time of upheaval for the Indigenous nations that eventually signed Treaty 7. There had been repeated outbreaks of smallpox, and the buffalo herds upon which they had relied began to diminish, in part due to increased competition from Cree and Métis hunters (see Buffalo Hunt). At the same time, settlers from the United States set up trading forts and introduced whiskey into communities, causing significant chaos at trading forts. In 1874, the North-West Mounted Police (NWMP) arrived under Colonel James Macleod  and put an end to the trade. The First Nations were thankful and, by many accounts, came to trust Macleod. However, the extent to which this trust determined their willingness to sign a treaty has been disputed."

~~~~~~~~~

The Treaty allowed for the settlement of Western Canada by Europeans but it is not clear at all that the Tribes who signed Treaty 7 and the other numbered treaties realized hat they would be forced to give up their lands forever.

Again from the Canadian Encyclopedia.

~~~~~~~~~ 

"It is generally agreed that none of Indigenous nations involved in the treaty realized they were surrendering their land, and that none would have agreed to it had they understood the consequences. For the most part, the treaty did not have the effect the First Nations desired: Cree    and Métis hunters continued to trespass, the buffalo disappeared, and settlers continued to arrive. The promised support for the transition to an agricultural lifestyle did not take place, and in most cases the land was unsuitable. Only two years after signing the treaty, a local Catholic priest who had encouraged the nations to sign a treaty described in a letter to David Laird    their extreme poverty: “I have never seen them so depressed as they are now; I have never seen them before in want of food… They have suffered fearfully from hunger.” He went on to argue that, as to the question of whether the Treaty 7 nations understood “the real nature of the treaty” — land surrender — “my answer to this question is unhesitatingly negative.” There was, and remains, widespread feeling that the government has not lived up to its promises or dealt fairly with them.

"The difference between written and oral cultures — including the settlers’ favouring of written documents over oral tradition in terms of legality — has led many elders to claim that there were promises made during the negotiations that never made it into the text of Treaty 7. It is probable that this is the case, given the translation difficulties, differing cultural understandings of binding agreements and the haste with which the government wanted to conclude the negotiations. All the nations involved in Treaty 7 — now represented by the Treaty 7 Management Corporation — have since been involved in claims negotiations with the federal government relating to land surrenders, improperly performed surveys and fraudulent deals, many of which are still ongoing."

~~~~~~~~~

The Canadian Encyclopedia entry has lots more information on Treaty 7 and the other numbered treaties. Please check it out, highly recommended.

Thanks for reading.
Victorian Society of Alberta

Happy Labour Day!

The  Labour Day holiday was established in Canada by parliament order in 1894.

This article from Alberta Government's Retro Active website talks about the history of Labour Day in Alberta. 

Enjoy
Victorian Society of Alberta

Labour Day in Alberta, 1894-1914

As a social historian, I am fascinated by the history of holidays and public celebrations. Holidays are one way that political authority and popular culture influence each other: governments decide which holidays to recognise, but the people decide how to celebrate them. Records of these celebrations offer a unique window into the past, yielding insight into how our culture and society has (or has not) changed. In honour of this year’s September long weekend, I took the opportunity to look back at how Albertans celebrated Labor Day in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.

 

The Calgary Lathers’ Union, Local 221, participating in an early twentieth-century Labour Day parade (ca. 1908). Courtesy of the Provincial Archives of Alberta, IR231

The Parliament of Canada passed legislation in 1894 setting aside the first Monday in September as a statutory holiday. The proclamation of this new holiday was one of the many recommendations in the final report of the Royal Commission on the Relations of Labour and Capital (1889), which had investigated conditions in factories and industrial worksites across Canada. Given the range of problems exposed by the Commission – including low wages, unsafe working conditions, and the widespread use of child labour – a new holiday was perhaps less urgently needed than other reforms. Nonetheless, the idea of a new holiday received widespread support, and Canada celebrated its first Labour Day on September 3, 1894.

In the heavily-industrialised cities of eastern Canada, this legislation merely caught up with what was already happening in many urban communities, where organised labour had started to take root in the late nineteenth century. Skilled workers such as carpenters, printers, stonemasons and pipefitters organised into craft unions to protect their particular interests. Leaders of these craft unions began to push hard for a holiday that recognised the importance of their labour, and many cities responded by declaring Labour Day a civic holiday in the 1880s. By the time Labour Day was declared a national holiday in 1894, workers in cities like Toronto, Hamilton and Montreal had already been celebrating it for many years.

By contrast, in the relatively new and lightly-industrialised cities of Alberta, the first Labour Day passed with little fanfare. “To-day is Labour day, or rather, no labour day,” the Edmonton Bulletin dryly commented in September 1894, “and as a consequence, the stores in town are closed.” Within a few years, however, each Labour Day was met with greater enthusiasm, and Albertans enjoyed the holiday in ways that would be familiar to us over a century later.

Continued at link.

Rain Gear 1900

This video from TheHistoricalHiker on YouTube shows the creation of a 1900 rain cape.
She also discusses the various materials used in period as well as why she decided to use waxed cotton. 

Enjoy
Victorean Society of Alberta

The Victorian Man

This blog, Notes From the Victorian Man , has a great array of posts, photos, and links for Men during the Victorian age.

Definitely worth keeping an eye on.

As an example of the kind of posts check out this one from August 2019.

Enjoy
Victorian Society of Alberta

 

Working Men, ca. 1880s

 One of my favorite sort of Victorian photographs to find are group photos of people done in the setting that the group gathers in (versus in a studio). More faces from the period for your money and generally more candid, showing a real moment from the time. Church, school, and family groups are exciting enough but there is something especially real about people photographed where they worked. I think this is the only one in my collection. By the suits on the boss men, it appears to be from sometime in the 1880s but could conceivably be early 1890s. Here is the full photo followed by detail shots of it divided into four quadrants. Lots of wonderful details of every day working guys. Hope you enjoy it and that it helps with your recreation of every day men's working dress at the end of the Victorian period if that is up your alley like it is mine.

 

Happy 115th Birthday Alberta!

On Sept. 1, 1905, the Canadian Parliament passed the Alberta Act, which created the province of Alberta from the former Northwest Territories.

(Photo from Calgary Herald archives)

September Book Tuesday

Today is the 1st of September, and also the first Tuesday of September so here is a couple of Book Tuesday selections for you.

Enjoy

Victorian Society of Alberta

 

 Sharing the Good Times, A History of Prairie Women’s Joys and Pleasures

- by Faye Reineberg Holt

 

Leisure and pleasure may never have been the top priority of prairie women, but the pursuit of joy has always been important. Today, the common perception of western women during the early settlement years is one of an overworked, stoic martyr. In a life filled with household drudgery, there could be no energy left for laughter and fun. That perception is as misleading as the generalizations that women didn't want or have political power in the years before the First World War, that they did not work outside the home or that all women desired marriage and children. The lives of western Canadian women settlers were difficult, it's true, but history has often overlooked the fun, joyfulness and frivolity to be found even in the midst of hardship. Filled with excerpts of the writing of women from 1870 to 1960, interviews, and many archival photos, this book takes a look at the lighter side of prairie women's lives. From love, marriage and family, to community activities, arts and crafts, sports, travel and much more, this book is a lively complement to any history buff's collection.

 

 Victorian Farm, Rediscovering Forgotten Skills

– by Alex Langlands, Peter Ginn & Ruth Goodman

No electricity, no gas, no flushing toilet . . . and no tractor! Could you survive a year on a Victorian farm? In this fascinating time-traveling experiment a team of historians spend a year recreating farm life in 1885. Accompanying the television series, this book follows the team as they try to run a farm using only materials and resources that would have been available to them in the Victorian era. This was a crucial period in the history of Britain—rapid industrialization had radically changed life in the cites but rural communities used a mixture of centuries-old and pioneering modern practices. Packed with informative text and photographs from the farm year, this book reveals exactly what the Victorians ate and wore and how they managed their animals, farmed the land, and organized their lives. In-depth features describe revolutionary advances in more detail, including new inventions, new breeding methods, and advances in agricultural science. Practical projects allow you to join the historians in rediscovering Victorian crafts, cooking, and home care.

 

Providing a real insight into life on a Victorian farm, this series is also a fascinating reminder of how history comes full circle. The organic diet of 1885, use of natural products for cleaning and healthcare and interests in crafts and gardening are of increasing relevance today as we look for a more responsible way of living over 120 years later.

August Book Tuesday

A couple of fascinating entries for our Book Tuesday feature.

Enjoy

Victorian Society of Alberta

Ranching Under the Arch

Stories from the Southern Alberta Rangelands

-by D. Larraine Andrews

"In a remarkable story . . . that helps to explain southern Alberta’s uniqueness, Andrews makes it clear that the land and the people cannot be separated." - Canada's History

"If you are at all connected to ranching in the Canadian West. . . this book will suit the most exacting of historians and is a recommended read." - Canadian Cowboy Country

"This is probably the most comprehensive history of foothills ranching since L.V. Kelly's book The Range Men was first published in 1913. Yet it is superior to this early volume in that it covers a greater time period, right up to modern day ranching." - Alberta History

Victorian Pharmacy

Rediscovering Forgotten Remedies and Recipes

- by Jane Eastoe

Providing hints, tips, recipes, and historical background, this book explains how many traditional remedies are still in use and how to make them at home
 
Here is the story of consumer medicine—how drugstore healthcare emerged in just 50 years and how consumers still rely on hundreds of formulations and products that can trace their origins back to the 19th century. Sun cream; treatments for insomnia, dandruff, or warts; perfumes; and soaps are all as important today as they were 100 years ago and are stocked by the local pharmacist. This book takes a look at which products were on offer, whether they were effective, and how they are used today, showing that while the names of products on the pharmacy shelf have changed over time, consumers' hopes and aspirations remain much the same as their Victorian predecessors. This is also the story of the growth of the drugstore, and how families have come to rely upon them as dispensaries of healthcare.

Heritage Day Long Weekend 2020

Normally on this August long weekend we are at Days of Yore in Didsbury. While we are all missing being there, seeing our old friends, making new ones and talking with our visitors, we are looking ahead to next year with great relish. Until then, below are a couple of recipes that are camp favourites for Days of Yore.

We hope you have a wonderful Heritage Day weekend!

We'll see you at Days of Yore in 2021!

Great-Grandma Coleman's Oatmeal cookies

2 1/2 c oatmeal
2 1/2 c flour
1 c sugar
Salt
1 tsp baking soda
1 c lard
Sour milk or buttermilk

Mix all dry ingredients. Add lard and sour milk to roll. Roll and cut with a glass (round cookie cutter). Bake on greased cookie sheet until slightly golden (350°F, approx 12 minutes)

Date filling:
1 c chopped, pitted dates
1/2 c sugar
1/2 c water

Cook in a saucepan, spread on a cookie, top with another cookie to make a sandwich.

Old Fashioned Lemonade
(from the Anne of Green Gables cookbook)

1 1/2 c sugar
1 1/2 c water
Finely grated peel of 1 lemon
1 1/2 c lemon juice (best squeezed from lemons)
Ice cubes
Cold water
Lemon slices and fresh mint (optional)

Measure sugar, water and lemon peel into a saucepan, bring to a boil for 5 minutes, stirring constantly. Remove from heat, let cool. Add the 1 1/2 c lemon juice, stir. Pour the lemonade syrup into a jar with a lid. This can be kept in the refrigerator for 2-3 weeks.

When you're ready for some lemonade, put 2 ice cubes into the bottom of a glass, pour 1/4 c syrup over the cubes, add 3/4 c cold water and stir. Add lemon slices and mint for garnish if desired. Makes enough syrup for 14 glasses of lemonade.

Meanwhile... on the other side of the World

Modern digital film analysis can truly bring the past to life.

Here is a film from 1902 of street scenes in Halifax England.

From the YouTube header:

Second pass at this old film of Halifax, England in January 1902.  Updated version of an earlier, longer upload of the same film.  Speed corrected and added in sound for ambiance.  Film by the Mitchell and Kenyon company

 Enjoy this glimpse into the world of 1902.

Victorian Society of Alberta

Corsetry & Couture

This is a fascinating blog, filled with useful information on fashion during our period.
Highly recommended.
Here is a sample of a post to "whet yer whistle".

Thanks for reading.
Victorian Society of Alberta
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Defining 1880s Style- The Silhouette

 When it comes to mid to late 1880s style, it’s easy for one to conjure up visions of dresses with severely sculpted lines that were largely defined by an extremely angular “shelf bustle.” Naturally, as with all fashions, they manifested themselves in both extreme and moderate versions but it was the more extreme versions that caught the attention of the press and assorted satirists. One of the most oft-repeated quips was “one could set a tea service on top of the bustle.” 

 

From Fliegende Blätter; Band LXXVIII (1883), p. 147.

 

 

 

 

 

Here’s just one example from an 1883 German humor magazine in which the women is likened to a Centaur.

 

 

 

 

Interestingly enough, the above cartoon was made in 1883 when the bustle was re-emerging- perhaps they were ahead of the fashion curve? 😉

All joking aside, to a great degree, 1880s style was defined by the “shelf bustle” as shown in the picture below:

Evening Dress, American or European, c. 1884 – 1886, silk;
 The Metropolitan Museum of Art (C.I.63.23.3a, b)

Structure was everything in Victorian fashion and below are some examples on how the distinctive 1880s silhouette was created:

Bustle, c. 1885; Los Angeles County Museum of Art (M.2007.211.399)

Please check out the rest of this excellent article at:

Lily Absinthe

Corsetry & Couture

July Book Tuesday

The next entry for our Book Tuesday feature.

Enjoy
Victorian Society of Alberta

The Cowboy Cavalry 
The Story of the Rocky Mountain Rangers
 - by Gordon E Tolton

When Native and Métis unrest escalated into the Northwest Rebellion of 1885, settlers in southern Alberta's cattle country were terrified. Three major First Nations bordered their range, and war seemed certain. In anticipation, 114 men mustered to form the Rocky Mountain Rangers, a volunteer militia charged with ensuring the safety of the open range between the Rocky Mountains and the Cypress Hills. The Rangers were a motley crew, from ex-Mounties and ex-cons to retired, high-ranking military officials and working, ranch-hand cowpokes. Membership qualifications were scant: ability to ride a horse, knowledge of the prairies, and preparedness to die.

This is their story, inextricably linked to the dissensions of the day, rife with skirmishes, corruption, jealousies, rumour, innuendo and gross media sensationalizing . . . all bound together with what author Gordon Tolton terms “a generous helping of gunpowder.” Tolton’s meticulous research reveals unexplored perspectives and little-known details.

How to be a Victorian 
– by Ruth Goodman

Ruth Goodman believes in getting her hands dirty. Drawing on her own adventures living in re-created Victorian conditions, Goodman serves a sour bustling and fanciful guide to nineteenth-century life. Proceeding from daybreak to bedtime, this charming, illustrative work celebrates the ordinary lives of the most perennially fascinating era of British history. From waking up to the rapping of a knocker-upper man on the window pane to lacing into a corset after a round of calisthenics, from slipping opium to the little ones to finally retiring to the bedroom for the ideal combination of love, consideration, control and pleasure, the weird, wonderful, and somewhat gruesome intricacies of Victorian life are vividly rendered here. How to Be a Victorian is an enchanting manual for the insatiably curious.

Happy Dominion Day!

Or as we say in these modern times...

Happy Canada Day!

Wishing everyone a safe, happy and fun Canada Day, 

from all of us at the Victorian Society of Alberta.

 153 years looks good on you Canada!

New Feature Book Tuesdays!

Welcome to our new monthly feature!

BOOK TUESDAY

On the first Tuesday of every month(ish) we will be sharing books that have useful, entertaining, and interesting information on Victorian history.

Each post will have one book that deals with the History of Western Canada and one that deals with the greater Victorian World outside of Western Canada.

To get things rolling here are the first two books for you to check out.

Thanks for reading.
The Victorian Spectator.

~~~~~~~~~~ BOOK TUESDAY ~~~~~~~~~~

Ranching with Lords & Commons

By John Craig

 Ranching with Lords & Commons, originally published in 1903, tells the fascinating story of Alberta's famous Oxley Ranch from the perspective of John R. Craig, Oxley's former manager. Craig's passion and knowledge shine through in this overview of what the cattle business was really like when ranching got underway in the late 1800s. In writing about his experiences, Craig's intention was to provide "faithful reproductions of actual facts in the pioneer life of the western cattleman." This story—and the history it reveals—provides an entertaining and informative account of the early days of Alberta's cattle industry.

 

I feel I am justified in presenting a narrative which has the double merit of novelty and truth, and which at the same time serves to relieve me from responsibility for the shortcomings and eccentricities—to put it mildly—of the aristocratic cattlemen with whom it was my lot for some years to be associated, and who are indicated in the title as lords and commons.—John R. Craig

Available at AMAZON and fine used bookstores.

~~~~~~~~

The Victorian Internet:
The Remarkable Story of the Telegraph and the Nineteenth Century's On-Line Pioneers

by Tom Standage

 The Victorian Internet tells the colorful story of the telegraph's creation and remarkable impact, and of the visionaries, oddballs, and eccentrics who pioneered it, from the eighteenth-century French scientist Jean-Antoine Nollet to Samuel F. B. Morse and Thomas Edison. The electric telegraph nullified distance and shrank the world quicker and further than ever before or since, and its story mirrors and predicts that of the Internet in numerous ways.

Available at AMAZON



I am running a regular post "From the Wire" on our FaceBook page with interesting little bits of telegraphic history.
Check it out!
--Ed.
  

Happy Victoria Day!

From all of us at the Victorian Society of Alberta, to all of you, happy Victoria day!

Victorian Society of Alberta

Homesteaders

Another "Living History" series.
This one is set in Manitoba.
Participants have to live on the land for 1 year as if they were newly arrived homesteaders.
A fascinating look at how some modern couples handle the rigours of 19th C frontier in Canada.
The series is 9 parts here is the first one:

The remainder are available here on YouTube

Thanks for reading.
The Victorian Society of Alberts

24 Hours in Victorian England

This series of four videos from Britain are an entertaining, and relatively informative, look at how ordinary people lived and worked in Victorian England.

While conditions for most people in Britain at the time were pretty miserable it is because of those conditions that so many people came out to Canada to start over. For though the "primitive" and "frontier" life in Western Canada was rough, it was much better than being back home.

The rest of the episodes are available on Reel Truth History Documentaries channel on YouTube.

Thanks for reading.

Victorian Society of Alberta

The World is Changing...

And we, alas, must change with it.

The Global Covid-19 pandemic has forced the cancellation of every single event that we would have held or attended this Summer. These cancellations are the right thing to do and we support the efforts of everyone to contain and defeat this pandemic.

However we know your interest in Victorian history has not gone away, and neither has ours, so over the course of the Summer we will be posting lots of interesting information for you to peruse. We hope that you will find these posts entertaining as well as informative, and we welcome your comments. Each post will have a label that will make it easy to search for later.

If you would like more information on anything we have posted, have interesting ideas to share, or questions for us to research, feel free to reach out to us on our Social Media pages or by email to victoriansocietyofalberta at gmail.com

Please be safe and we look forward to seeing you at events in the future when this is all settled.

Greetings!

Welcome to the online home of the Victorian Society of Alberta! 

 We hope you enjoy your visit, learning a little more about us and the era we represent.

While the Victorian era started in 1837 with Queen Victoria’s ascension to the throne, our group focuses on the time of 1880-1914, as this is when the settlement of western Canada started to become a focus of the Canadian government.

Please feel free to meander through our page. 

If you’d like to communicate with us, correspondence should be directed to:

victoriansocietyofalberta at gmail.com

We’d love to hear from you! 

Or, if you’d rather, please come and say hello in person at one of the events we are attending. 

New members always welcome!