Author Archive for: Jaan Pill
Entries by Jaan Pill
Further details regarding Mimico’s Town Hall
I’m pleased to share with you the following comments from Paul Chomik: “There is not, and never has been a community named ‘Mimico-by-the-Lake’. That is simply the name of Mimico’s second Business Improvement Area (BIA) which does not contain or represent any residents – it only represents some of Mimico’s businesses. The community should never […]
The Mimico Town Hall was located on the east side of Church Street north of Mimico Avenue
I have revised a previous post, which was based on information that had been earlier communicated to me. The revised paragraph now reads as follows: As I understand, the “heart” of Mimico is usually considered to be Mimico Ave. and Lake Shore Blvd West. A twelve-storey building is going up on Superior Avenue. The Municipal […]
We’ve put together a 26-minute online video about Colonel Samuel Smith and his homestead
The story of Colonel Samuel Smith and the efforts to keep his homestead site in public hands are highlighted in these speaking notes for an October 2011 talk about the colonel. The sale of Parkview School, announced in August 2011, turned out to be a ‘good news’ story, thanks to the efforts of Etobicoke-Lakeshore MPP […]
With recent German heritage films, according to Anne Fuchs (2008), bad history emerges as a good story. I have added updates to this Dec. 18, 2011 post.
Phantoms of War in Contemporary German Literature, Films and Discourse (2008) is part of a publishing series at the University of Birmingham entitled New Perspectives in German Studies. The paragraph I have chosen to focus upon is on p. 143 of Chapter 5, which is entitled: “Narrating Resistance to the Third Reich: Museum Discourse, Autobiography, […]
The coolie speaks: Chinese indentured laborers and African slaves in Cuba (2008)
The coolie speaks by Lisa Yun describes particular experiences in a slave society in the Americas. The book’s introduction begins (p. xv) with a quotation from George Orwell’s 1942 essay on Rudyard Kipling, in which Orwell notes that “We all live by robbing Asiatic coolies, and those of us who are ‘enlightened’ all maintain that […]
Archaeology in the school system: The Archaeological Resource Centre (Karolyn Smardz)
I recently read an article by Karolyn Smardz Frost entitled Archaeology in the school system: The Archaeological Resource Centre. To be more precise, the article was written when the author’s name was Karolyn Smardz. The article offers a great overview of what can be done with archaeology in schools as occurred in the Toronto Board of […]
Barbara J. Little (2007) relates the story of a runaway people
Recently I’ve been reading Historical Archaeology: Why the Past Matters (2007) by Barbara J. Little. I began by reading the second paragraph on p. 111 which notes that Charles Orser and Pedro Funari have identified and investigated several historical sites where fugitive communities used to live in the capital of Macaco, also known as Serra da Barriga (Potbelly […]
David Juliusson has shared a list of valuable resources for helping us to position Samuel Smith as a historical figure
We owe thanks to David Juliusson, Program Officer, Historic Fort York, City of Toronto, for sharing some great resources regarding the history of warfare it relates to the story of Colonel Samuel Smith: Crowder, Norman K. Early Ontario Settlers, A Source Book. Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing Co., Inc., 1993. Fernow, Berthold, ed. Documents relating to the Colonial History of the […]
Ron Williamson shares an overview of early North American warfare in “The House of Cut-Off Heads”
Recently I read Chapter 8 of a book entitled The taking and displaying of human body parts by Amerindians (2007). Beautifully written and informative, the chapter is by the Canadian archaeologist Ron Williamson. The full title of the chapter is: “Otintsiskiaj ondaon” (“The House of Cut-Off Heads”): The history and archaeology of Northern Iroquoian trophy […]