The Plan: Pin Seniors’ Memories to Digital Maps

Imagine walking through your neighbourhood and being able to pull back the curtains of time as you go. What do people remember from decades ago? What family stories do they have to tell? What used to be where that condo now stands? What did newcomers experience years ago, and have things changed?

These are the questions we want to answer with our newest project, Mapping our Memories.

It’s ambitious we know, but here’s the plan: Build a team to explore memories and historical details about our neighbourhoods and make them easily accessible by linking them to digital maps. We will be focusing mainly on the west end of Toronto – Roncesvalles and High Park, Parkdale, Swansea, the Junction and Weston, but we will post good stories from across the city!

To help us through the process, we will hold free workshops offering coaching in interviewing, writing, research, photography, audio and video. In return we will ask you to interview seniors and record the their memories.

The Mapping our Memories project was inspired by 94-year-old Lois Broad and the great popularity of her video, Growing up in the Junction. She is a gifted story teller. Watch her video here.

Writing Workshops

During the pandemic, Toronto Star journalist Cathy Dunphy led our two writing workshops for the Mapping our Memories project on Zoom.

And our interviewers and writers have come up with some terrific stories. For example:

The Ruth Frocks story: It’s a long way from a Siberian gulag to Ruth Frocks, a women’s clothing store at 1637 Queen St. W. But Adam Eckardt’s children tell how their father traversed that distance of more than 15,000 kilometres and how he and his wife Phyllis built an extraordinarily successful business at that Parkdale location.
The Sinking of the Athabascan: Sue Ferguson’s dad was a stoker on the destroyer HMCS Haida and played an important role in the rescue of some crew members from the torpedoed Athabascan during World War II. Sue’s family lived on Beresford in Bloor West.
Alminta Dawson: A talented musician, Alminta sang in public for the first time at a British Methodist Episcopal Church in Windsor, where her father was pastor, at age 3, but her singing career really got its start at the Lansdowne Tavern in the mid-1950s at the NE corner of Dundas St. when she was in her mid-30s after she had been widowed. Alminta bought a house at 208 Lansdowne Ave. Alminta’s granddaughter Adrienne Dawson also told us about the first time she saw Alminta perform in public — at the now closed Eton Tavern. Watch her story on video.

Questions? Call us at 647-313-1654 or email info@backlanestudios.ca.
Mapping our Memories is funded in part by the Government of Canada’s New Horizons for Seniors Program.

About our Instructor

Cathy Dunphy brings a wealth of experience to the project.

A staff writer for more than 25 years at the Toronto Star, she is also the author of a biography of Henry Morgentaler, two young adult fiction books based on the popular Degrassi High TV show, screenplays for television and a four-part mystery series for radio.

Cathy has taught at Ryerson and worked with seniors to produce a podcast series called “I Was Here. at the Chang School of Continuing Education. Do you have any questions about her course?
Email catherinedunphy@rogers.com

Researching your ‘hood online

Jessica Algie, from the City of Toronto Archives, presented free Zoom workshops on how to find out about Toronto buildings and neighbourhoods online. She discussed the resources available, and using the building where Back Lane Studios is located as an example, she showed what she managed to find from available sources.

To find links to resources Jessica mentioned in her presentation, click here.

To watch her presentation on YouTube, click here.

Portrait Photography

Inspired by the wildly successful Humans of New York series, which combines portrait photography with engaging personal stories, we offered Zoom workshops for portrait photography. Our photography teacher Diana Nazareth held a series of workshops starting Thursday, Sept. 16, from 1:30-3:00pm, and Thursday, Sept. 30, 1:30-3:00pm. On Sept. 23, at the same time, Diana will be available for consultations for trouble-shooting and advice. Participation is limited to 20 participants, who may use their smart phones or digital cameras. This was a free workshop series! Read more here.