A journey towards historical consciousness

Tuesday 2 October 2012

How others are creating visual histories

While searching for images that reveal the historicity of the Rideau Canal, I also found several websites that have already started their own visual historical narratives of the canal.
Of particular note is the Workers' Heritage Centre, who are working on an online visual tour of the canal from the point of view of the workers. Although the site is not yet fully functioning, they are "still working on this", the potential for such visual histories from this narrative point of view are quite powerful. It will be interesting to see how my visual narrative, as a current education student and beginner historical researcher and online lover, is conversation with this narrative. More on that when it's finished I guess! (there is also a link to their site in the menu on the right).
The other visual narrative of note was the paintings of Thomas Burrowes (1796-1866) that have been put together by Archives of Ontario in a section they entitle, Eyewitness: Thomas Burrowes on the Rideau Canal. In this visual narrative, they use specifically Burrowes paintings to discuss his contribution to understanding how the Rideau Canal was built.
Archives Ontario also has a number of other sections of visual archives relating to the canal that were exceptionally helpful in starting to create my narrative.
Though it is not as much a visual narrative, as a collection of historical images, the McCord Museum has a vast array of striking photographs and artistic depictions of the Rideau Canal.


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