Presentations

I'm available to give in-person presentations on the topics below.  Each is a lively, profusely-illustrated talk of about one hour.  Fee is negotiable.  If you would like to book a presentation, please use the Contact form to the left.

AIN’T WE GOT FUN: CALGARY AND THE ROARING 20’S

The War to End Wars was over, and women had won the right to vote. We did it, we won, so let’s party! We often see the 20’s through an American lens -- gangsters, speakeasies, shocking fashions, fast jazz, scandalous movie idols, relaxed morals, crazy stunters, a booming economy and shady stock deals - till it all came crashing down in 1929.  But what were the Roaring 20’s like in Calgary?  How loud was Calgary’s roar?

CALGARY’S RAILWAY STORY

Cowtown?  Oiltown?  For much of our history, “Railtown” would have been a better description, and not just for transportation and jobs.  Our location, our layout, out street system, our industries, several of our parks and districts, even the Calgary Tower and our south C-Train route – you’ll be amazed at how much of modern Calgary is the creation of our railways.  And they make for lots of good stories, too.

CALGARY WELCOMES THE CAR

Calgarians with money and a sense of adventure embraced the newfangled automobile with open arms, and by 1912 it was reported that we had the highest number of cars per capita of any city in North America. Grab your duster and goggles and crank up your engine for an excursion into the novelty, freedom, thrills and spills of early motoring in Calgary.  You don’t even need a licence – there weren’t any!

COUNTDOWN: CALGARY’S 20 OLDEST HOUSES

Here are the stories behind the twenty oldest still-standing houses in Calgary, all of them truly remarkable survivors.  Some are palaces and some are pretty rustic, and some were built even before Calgary was incorporated as a town.  Come and see if your favorite old house makes the list!

DOWNTON ABBEY’S CALGARY CONNECTIONS

How many connections could there possibly be between the aristocratic English world of the Downton Abbey TV/movie series and the colonial outpost of Calgary?  You might be surprised to learn of at least a dozen, some of them quite amazing.  You don’t have to have watched the show to enjoy the presentation.

GLORY DAYS: CALGARY’S FIRST “BIG CITY” INTERSECTION

From prairie grass to the C-Train, the intersection of 7^th Avenue and 1^st Street West hosted Calgary’s tallest building (twice), our first traffic light, two church fires, parades, ice shows, a 15,000-person outdoor prayer meeting, gargoyles and Greyhounds.  It won our early skyscraper wars, published the Herald on two different corners and was buzzed at high speed by a warplane – below roof height!

HERITAGE PARK TELLS CALGARY’S STORY

Heritage Park Historical Village features exhibits, artifacts and stories from all over Alberta. Though it’s in Calgary, it was never intended to represent Calgary.  But if you know where to look, you’ll find it to be an amazing repository of the city’s history.  So let’s explore Canada’s largest “living history museum” through a Calgary lens!

LITTLE TOWN ON THE PRAIRIE: CALGARY, 1883-1886

Rapid growth. Rivalry with Edmonton. Corporate interests outweigh public opinion. A strike is forcibly put down. A bribed official skips town. Citizens question police methods. A store clerk working alone at night is murdered. Political dithering and stalemate. Demands for public safety. Sound familiar? But this was in a Calgary of dirt streets, log cabins and false fronts, smaller than your high school. And then came the Great Fire!

MORE THAN MEETS THE EYE: THE STORY OF MIDNAPORE

It’s that place you speed through on your way to the big box stores at Shawnessy.  But it’s also the oldest part of Calgary, home of Western Canada’s first irrigation project, Alberta’s first manufacturing industry, Calgary’s oldest existing church, Calgary’s last grain elevators, and it was the first Calgary suburb built south of Fish Creek.  Meet a colorful gallery of adventurers, eccentrics, ranchers, missionaries and ordinary people too.  And why on earth is it named after a city in India?

SECRET MISSION:  THE STORY OF OUR MISSION AND ITS DISTRICT

Behind its trendy boutiques and eateries lies Calgary’s Secret Mission.  With its French street names and large Catholic presence, the Mission District is as old as Calgary itself.  This is the story of how Father Lacombe’s independent little village across 17th Avenue became one of the most fascinating spots in modern Calgary.

WHEN AVENUES COLLIDE: ROAD RIDDLES AND MAP MYSTERIES

Avenues are supposed to be parallel – so why do some intersect?  Why is 13th St only two blocks long?  Why does 17B St precede 17A St?  Why is Tomkins Square a triangle?  Was Maggie of Maggie Street the same person as Margaret of Margaret Street, four blocks away?  Why is there no college on College Lane?  Why are there some NW addresses south of the Bow River?  Why does your GPS tell you to “Turn onto Anderson Road South West East”?  Let’s explore Calgary’s quirky road system!

YOU MIGHT REMEMBER THIS: CALGARY 1950-1980

Not so much a talk as a series of photos of Calgary from the 1950’s to the 70’s, this presentation is sure to get long-time Calgarians playing “I remember”.  Newbies will discover fire boxes and fallout shelters, test patterns and trolley buses, Safety Roundup and the Skywalk, Woodward’s and water towers, and more.  We’ll finish by comparing the views from the Calgary Tower in 1971 and today.

 

And three others, not about Calgary:

RIDE THIS TRAIN: THE BASICS OF RAILROADING

All aboard for an introduction to the fascinating world of North American railroading, past and present.  Topics include History, Building a Railway, What is a Train?, Locomotives, Passenger Trains, Freight Trains, Operating a Railway, and Why Railways Matter.  Come and unlock your inner railroader!

LET US NOW PRAISE FAMOUS MEN ORDINARY PEOPLE

Almost everyone in Canada has an immigration story in their family’s past.  This is the story of my great-grandparents and grandparents, leaving England to start new lives in Manitoba and then Alberta before it became a province.  Join them for the sea voyage, the railway trip on a colonist car, and the trials and tribulations of homesteading – twice – before settling in Calgary in 1917. Then we'll learn a bit about life in northeast Calgary through the Armistice, Spanish Flu, Depression and Second World War.

THE FABULOUS FIFTIES – OR WERE THEY?

Today millions of people hold up the 50’s as a golden age of peace and prosperity, patriotism, respect for authority, happy families, safe streets and wholesome, shared values.  Yet other millions mock, and even deride, the 50’s for those very things.  How could this bland decade have sparked the “culture wars” that divide us 70 years later?