I am available for speaking engagements on the following topics:
Wendy Smith
researcher/writer/webmaster
Contact me
26 May, 2016— Edward Harbord, 3rd Lord Suffield: Likely namesake of Toronto's Harbord Street and Forgotten Hero of the British anti-slavery movement.
Toronto Public Library, Palmerston Branch.
I spoke about:
(1) Lord Suffield's role in the decades-long British campaign to end slavery throughout the British empire;
(2) the anti-slavery movement in Upper Canada/early Ontario; and
(3) the subdivision and development of park lots 14 to 19 — where Harbord Street ran arrow-straight from east to west — through the centres of huge estates owned by three prominent Toronto families: the Baldwins, the Denisons, and the Crookshanks. Why did these families agree to name this road "Harbord"?
With lots of early Toronto maps and subdivision plans.
20 March, 2016— The Toronto Park Lots: Founding of a City, with notes on the Treasury Loyalists, who arrived in Upper Canada from England in the spring of 1792.
— Toronto Branch, United Empire Loyalists' Association of Canada.
10 March, 2016 — Telling Stories with Maps.
— University of Toronto geography class GGR225 (Marcel Fortin): Power of Maps and Geographic Information.
December 5, 2015
York Pioneer & Historical Socety
Presentation on the naming of Toronto's Harbord Street circa 1854, titled:
Introducing Edward Harbord, 3rd Lord Suffield -
Likely namesake of Toronto's Harbord Street and Forgotten Hero of the British anti-slavery movement
FLYER
October 28, 2015
Ontario Black History Society (AGM)
Presentation on the naming of Toronto's Harbord Street circa 1854, titled:
Introducing Edward Harbord, 3rd Lord Suffield -
Likely namesake of Toronto's Harbord Street and Forgotten Hero of the British anti-slavery movement
September13, 2015
Community History Project (Tollkeepers Cottage) -
Presentation on the naming of Toronto's Harbord Street circa 1854, titled:
Introducing Edward Harbord, 3rd Lord Suffield -
Likely namesake of Toronto's Harbord Street and Forgotten Hero of the British anti-slavery movement
March 25, 2014 @ 6pm
Riverdale Historical Society
Presentation on the TORONTO PARK LOT PROJECT,
titled:
"What's a Park Lot? With notes on JOHN SCADDING and Riverside Lot 15."
November 27, 2013 -
Toronto Historical Association, General Meeting
Presentation on the TORONTO PARK LOT PROJECT,
titled:
"What's a Park Lot?""
September 25, 2013 -
Community History Project (Tollkeeper's Cottage)
Presentation on the TORONTO PARK LOT PROJECT,
titled:
"1793 — John Graves Simcoe and the Founders of Toronto."
May 21, 2013 -
Harbord Village Residents Association, Spring Meeting
Presentation on the TORONTO PARK LOT PROJECT,
and introduction of a theory on the naming of Harbord Street.
March 21, 2013 -
University of Toronto, Faculty of Information, Graduate Studies:
INF2102 — Geographic Information Systems (GIS) in Libraries
(Instructor Marcel Fortin) -
Presentation on the TORONTO PARK LOT PROJECT as an example of web-based mapping.
February 23, 2013
Urban+Digital Toronto
Open Data Day
Lightning Talk: The Toronto Park Lot Project
Annex Gleaner, January 16, 2016
"Harbord’s history a mystery:
Was the street named for a tireless English abolitionist?"
by Annemarie Brissenden.
blogTO, August 1, 2015
"What is the oldest neighbourhood in Toronto?"
by Chris Bateman
As historian Wendy Smith notes, the westward push was limited by an "ordnance boundary" located 1,000 feet east of Fort York. The cannons that were meant to protect York from invasion needed a clear line of sight and so, at the time, nothing could be built closer to the military base.
blogTO, November 22, 2014,
"Explore the complex history of Toronto with this map"
by Chris Bateman.
Canadian Architect, October 28, 2014,
"Winners of the 2014 Heritage Toronto Awards announced".
UrbanToronto, October 23, 2014,
"Winners Announced at 40th Annual Heritage Toronto Awards"
by Marcus Mitanis.
Mike Filey, The Way We Were, The Sunday SUN, July 16, 2013, p.64:
Following Nathan Ng's recent website gift to Toronto history buffs, one that features a huge collection of historic maps of our city, Wendy Smith has also created a computer website that fans will find of similar interest. Thanks to both Wendy and Nathan for bringing the study of our community's past into the 21st Century. High school history teachers please take note.
Christopher Moore's History News (blog), December 20, 2012,
"Exploring early Toronto online".
The TORONTO PARK LOT PROJECT — an exploration of the earliest days of the TOWN OF YORK, founded in 1793 by John Graves Simcoe, first Lieutenant-Governor of Upper Canada.