25 January 2017

Historical Society of Ottawa: January meeting

This Friday 27 January 2017 the HSO meeting at 1 pm will hear the presentation: 
G. A. Snyder, Photographer - A Sign of the Times on Bank Street, by Howard J. Simkover

Abstract:  In 2011, a building on Bank St. was removed from the block between Laurier and Slater. The opening up of this space revealed a sign (G.A. Snider, Photographer) painted on the side of a three storey, red-brick building at the southwest corner of Bank and Slater. Intrigued by the sign, Howard Simkover decided to investigate. In doing so, he discovered the story of the Snider family, dating back to the arrival of the United Empire Loyalists. George Albert Snider, who was born in 1856, had the sign painted on the Bank St. building in 1892. He, along with his wife Agnes and son Burnet, had moved to Ottawa from Brantford three years earlier. Taking up residence above his studio, Snider took portraits and family photographs of Ottawa residents until 1896 when he gave up the profession to begin a new career in the life insurance business. Although there are plans to build an office tower on the site of the red-brick building, the developer hopes to place the Snider sign inside the lobby, thereby helping to preserve the memory of this nineteenth century photographer.

Presenter Profile: Howard Simkover, a Montreal native, graduated from McGill University in 1971 as an electrical engineer. Over the next twenty-eight years, he worked at Bell Canada, Telecom Canada and the Stentor Resource Centre. In 1999, he became a management consultant, specializing in process improvement, governance, and policy development. He has had a lifelong interest in astronomy and has been a member of the Royal Astronomical Society of Canada for over fifty years. He has lectured extensively in the field, including at the Montreal Planetarium and the Canada Science and Technology Museum here in Ottawa. Since the mid-1990s, he has developed an interest in genealogy and local history.

The usual location: Routhier Community Centre, 172 Guigues Street

No comments: