Photographs of secretarial staff at Lightning Fastener, ca. 1935

Lightning Fastener Co. Ltd. was a zipper manufacturer located on Niagara Street in St. Catharines. It was founded by Gideon Sundback, the inventor of the modern fastener. Sundback was born in Sweden, but settled in the United States in 1905. It was here that he designed and patented a “separable fastener” in 1913. Although he lived in Hoboken, New Jersey, he decided to establish a manufacturing facility for his invention in Canada, choosing St. Catharines over other locations such as Fort Erie and Hamilton. At the height of its success, the company employed more than 500 people and produced more than 50 million zippers annually. Over time, the company had difficulty remaining competitive and was forced to close in 1981.

Ann Eliza Hepburne Rooth fonds, 1837-1897

Ann Eliza Hepburne was born in Chippawa, Ontario, in 1821, to William Hepburne and Susan Shannon. In 1842, she married William Anthony Rooth in St. James Cathedral in Toronto. They continued to live in different parts of the Niagara region, including Drummondville, Welland and Port Colborne. William was the editor and proprietor of the Drummondville Reporter, as well as an accountant and insurance agent, and later worked for the Customs Service in Port Colborne. He died in 1878, and Eliza in 1899. Both are buried in Drummond Hill Cemetery in Niagara Falls, Ontario.

Broadside advertising a Real Estate Auction in the Village of Niagara Falls [New York], July, 1836.

Benjamin Rathburn (1790-1873) was a builder, banker and hotel-keeper who was well-known for his work in the development and expansion of Buffalo in the 1830s. He also conducted business in the Village of Niagara Falls. He purchased large tracts of land (largely on credit) with the intent to sell the land at a profit. However, the sales did not meet his expectations and Rathburn found himself over-extended on credit, ultimately leading to his financial ruin.Jesse P. Haines (1793-1877) was an American cartographer who is credited with mapping the Villages of Lockport and Niagara Falls, New York.

Broadside advertising a Real Estate Auction in the Village of Niagara Falls [New York], July, 1836.

Benjamin Rathburn (1790-1873) was a builder, banker and hotel-keeper who was well-known for his work in the development and expansion of Buffalo in the 1830s. He also conducted business in the Village of Niagara Falls. He purchased large tracts of land (largely on credit) with the intent to sell the land at a profit. However, the sales did not meet his expectations and Rathburn found himself over-extended on credit, ultimately leading to his financial ruin. Jesse P. Haines (1793-1877) was an American cartographer who is credited with mapping the Villages of Lockport and Niagara Falls, New York.

Indenture between William Dickson [Jr.] and Robert M. Wilson, February 7, 1859.

William Dickson (1799-1877) was the son of the prominent Niagara businessman and politician William Dickson (1769-1846). William was educated in Edinburgh, Scotland, and settled in Galt, Ontario, upon his return to Canada. His father had business affairs in Dumfries and Galt, which he left in his sons charge when he retired to Niagara in 1837. William had an older brother, Robert, and younger brother, Walter, both of whom served in the Militia and became involved in politics.

Thomas Millard Senior land grant, 1797

Thomas Millard Senior was born in Middlesex, Connecticut, in 1728. He served as a Private with Butler’s Rangers. In July 1784, Thomas and his wife Mary, along with their 4 children, were on a list “to settle and cultivate the lands opposite Niagara”. He took the oath of allegiance at Niagara around 1784-85.

Catherine Everingham land grant, 1802 [photocopy]

Catherine (Lemon) Everingham was the widow of James Everingham, a private with the first Battalion of Colo Delancys Regt. of the Jersey Volunteers. He died in the American Revolutionary War in 1796, leaving his wife and two children settled on two hundred acres of land in the Township of Willoughby. No certificate had been awarded to James Everingham for this land. Catherine subsequently petitioned the government to grant her the land that she had settled on with her family.

Elisha B. Sherwood letter, February 26, 1845

Elisha Barber Sherwood (1810-1905) was a Presbyterian minister. He began his career as a minister in the Church at Wilson, Niagara County, N.Y., subsequently becoming pastor at various churches in New York, Michigan, and Missouri. He is the author of Fifty Years on the Skirmish Line, a review of his ministerial work.

Roberta "Bobbie" Styran fonds, 1707-2013, n.d.

Roberta “Bobbie” Styran was born and rasied in Fredericton, N.B. She graduated from McMaster University with a B.A. (1962) and M.A. (1964), before furthering her studies at the University of Toronto, where she received a Ph. D in History. From 1967 to 1978, she taught Medieval History at Brock University, where she developed an interest in the Welland Canal. She began a collaboration with Prof. Robert R. Taylor of the History Department at this time, researching the history of the Welland Canals. She later moved to Toronto and worked for the Ministry of Education, but returned to St. Catharines in 1988 to facilitate her work with Prof. Taylor. The two have co-authored several books, including The Welland Canals: the Growth of Mr. Merritt’s Ditch; Mr. Merritt’s Ditch: A Welland Canals Album; The Great “Swivel Link”: Canada’s Welland Canal and This Great National Object: Building the Nineteenth-Century Welland Canals. Bobbie travelled extensively, visiting many canal and industrial revolution sites in Great Britain and the United States. She was active in many canal associations, including the Canadian Canal Society (where she served as president and editor of the Society’s newsletter), the American Canal Society, and the Council of Inland Waterways International. She also helped to found the Welland Canals Preservation Association and organized and chaired the 2004 World Canals Conference at Brock University. In 2009, she received the W. Gordon Plewes Award from the Canadian Society for Civil Engineering, an award that recognized her services to Canadian engineering history.

Preservation of Agricultural Lands Society (PALS) fonds, 1954-2015, n.d.

Preservation of Agricultural Lands Society [PALS] held its first meeting at Brock University on June 21, 1976. Its first executive consisted of Robert Hoover, Rick Teather, Debbie Kehler and Bill Forster. Some objectives of the organization were "to seek the preservation of valuable farm areas from non-agricultural expansion and development and to foster development and support of federal, provinicial and local policy which will provide a secure financial future for farming." Gracia Janes and John Bacher are some of the organizations' well known advocates. The organization was active in raising public awareness of the issues surrounding encroaching development onto existing agricultural lands. The organization is still active today [2016] in educating the public and attempting to influence governments at all levels to protect valuable agricultural lands.

Les ressources didactiques : typologie d’usages en lien avec la méthode historique et l’intervention éducative d’enseignants d’histoire au secondaire

Les manuels d’histoire ont souvent fait l’objet d’analyses concernant leur contenu et leur qualité, mais rarement leurs usages en classe. Cette thèse vise à décrire et analyser comment des enseignants d’histoire du Québec au secondaire utilisent le manuel et toute autre ressource didactique. Le problème consiste à mieux connaître ce qui se passe en classe depuis l’implantation de la réforme curriculaire, en 2001, et comment les conceptions des enseignants influencent leurs pratiques en lien avec l’exercice de la méthode historique. Ce travail décrit des pratiques enseignantes selon leur intervention éducative, les ressources didactiques utilisées et l’activité de l’élève en classe. Pour ce faire, la collecte de données est réalisée au travers d’un sondage en ligne (n= 81), d’observations en classe et d’entrevues (n=8) avec les participants. Les enseignants d’histoire utilisent souvent le manuel, mais leur intervention n’est pas structurée par son contenu ou ses exercices. Les cahiers d’exercices ou le récit de l’enseignant semblent structurer principalement leurs interventions. En fait, leurs conceptions sur l’enseignement et l’apprentissage en histoire déterminent le plus souvent l’usage du manuel et des autres ressources didactiques d’une manière traditionnelle ou d’une manière qui exerce authentiquement la méthode historique. Afin de décrire ces différents usages, la thèse propose une typologie qui distingue les différentes modalités mises en place afin d’utiliser les ressources didactiques et exercer la méthode historique. Trois principaux types sont énoncés : intensif, extensif et critique. Un quatrième type a été ajouté afin de mieux nuancer les différentes pratiques enseignantes rencontrées : extensif-méthodique. Ce dernier type s’explique par une pratique enseignante qui concilie les types extensif et critique selon les besoins de l’enseignant. La thèse souligne la persistance de pratiques transmissives et magistrocentrées qui limitent un exercice authentique de la méthode historique, alors que le curriculum vise un enseignement constructiviste et que plus de ressources sont disponibles pour les enseignants.

La science historique et le rapport aux savoirs des manuels québécois du cours collégial «Histoire de la civilisation occidentale» : analyse épistémologique et critique

Alors que l’enseignement de l’histoire au Québec visait jadis à promouvoir l’acquisition par les élèves de contenus spécifiques, nationalistes et religieux, depuis plusieurs décennies des volontés scientifiques et politiques cherchent à réorienter la discipline. L’histoire enseignée doit dorénavant orienter son approche sur celle de la science histoire. D’une focalisation sur la transmission de contenus, on vise maintenant l’apprentissage d’un mode spécifique d’appréhension du réel : la pensée historienne. Cette étude soulève la question de la correspondance entre l’histoire enseignée et l’historiographie savante actuelle dans un contexte de changement de paradigme épistémologique et des rapports au savoir que cela implique. L’hypothèse posée est que l’histoire enseignée – telle qu’elle apparait dans les manuels d’histoire occidentale à l’usage des cégépiens et cégépiennes – n’a pas suivi l’évolution historiographique des dernières années, précisément quant à leur posture épistémologique.

Représentation des rébellions de 1837 dans les manuels scolaires québécois

Ce mémoire explore l’influence de l’évolution des représentations historiques des rébellions des patriotes, telles que formulées par les historiens réputés, sur les manuels scolaires québécois publiés entre 1982 et 2006. Il démontre qu’entre ces deux années, qui correspondent à deux réformes scolaires successives, les conceptions des rébellions de 1837 ont beaucoup évolué dans l’historiographie universitaire. Ce mémoire montre pourtant que les manuels scolaires issus de la réforme de 2006 demeurent attachés à un récit historique caractéristique d’une historiographie plus ancienne.

Català als salons Éclairés [Ressenya del llibre Partinuples: précis sur la romance catalane; Histoire du vaillant chevalier Tirant le Blanc: facsímils d'unes desconegudes impressions franceses de 1779 i 1783]

Ressenya del llibre Partinuples: précis sur la romance catalane; Histoire du vaillant chevalier Tirant le Blanc: facsímils d'unes desconegudes impressions franceses de 1779 i 1783. L’obra és un compendi sobre la llengua i la literatura catalanes i un resum del Tirant lo Blanc

Vida y muerte empresarial estudios empíricos de perdurabilidad subproyecto :morbilidad y perdurabilidad empresarial. caso: Colchones El Dorado

Colombia es un país de creación de empresa: “entre enero y noviembre de 2011 se crearon 227.555 nuevas empresas lo cual representa un crecimiento del 6.7% si se compara con el mismo periodo en 2010” ; estas inician con la ilusión de un emprendedor que pretende que su idea crezca y se desarrolle a través de los años hasta que logre convertirse en una organización sólida con un futuro estable o lo que podría describirse con una sola palabra: Perdurable. Lo más importante para lograr esa perdurabilidad es que los líderes y directores de estas empresas tengan claro preguntas como: ¿Donde están?, ¿Hacia dónde van? ¿Cómo lo van a lograr? y ¿Qué herramientas tiene para lograrlo?, ya que de esta planeación estratégica depende que su equipo de trabajo pueda alinearse con este objetivo y así obtener los mejores resultados.