-i::-i-i-§!---i. BHS Quarterly Volume XIII, No.1 Brant Historical society 2oo6 ISSN i2oi-4o28 Spring, 2006 Memorializing Arthur Sturgis Hardy Compiled by Robert L. Deboer medallion in profile of the honourable gentleman and this inscription follows : thur Sturgis tardy was born Arthur Sturgis Hardy An Mount Pleas- Born Mt. Pleasant, Brant County, 1837 ant and served as the Died, Toronto, 19ol fourth premier of Ontario from 1896 to Who began in this Court House the practice of law. The 1899; and representing talents here developed he devoted to the selvice of his the provincial riding of Country, representing the South Riding of Brant in the Leg- South Brant (which islature of this Province for Twenty-six years and was suc- cessively, Provincial Secretary, Commissioner of Crown encompassed the City lands, Attorney-General and Prime Minister of Ontario. of Brantford) as a Lib- Erected by the Bar of Brant County in admiration of his eral from 1873 until his virtues and affection for his memory. retirement in 1899. Between 192o and 1964, four separate proposals Probably the greater interest attached to the speech of were put forward to honour Sir John Gibson, a cabinet colleague for many years of Mr. the late premier, three of Hardy, and later Lieut.-Governor of the Province. He told of his industry and immense capacity for work, and in this Arthur Sturgis Hardy which were brought to suc- regard dwelt upon the fact that the deceased statesman cessful fruition and three of always prepared his own bills instead, as now, of having which involved participation by the Brant Historical Soci- them drafted by law clerks, or highly paid professional men. ety in varving degrees. Others of the many characteristics dwelt upon, included Mr. Hardy's eloquence as a speaker and readiness in Courthouse tablet debate; his immense labor in the revision and amendment of the earlier laws of the Province; his initiation of many highly important measures, and his scrupulous and The first proposal in ig2o resulted solely from the increasing care, both as Minister and Premier, in maintain- efforts of the Brant Law Association and involved the ing absolute economy and strict regularity. "With his high placement of a bronze tablet in the Brant County Court- standing as a lawyer and marvelous ability as a prominent house, where it remains today. Reville's Hisforty o/ the Counfty o/ Branf contains the following account of the Continued on Page 3 efforts of the law association: On Thursday, April 1, 192o, in the Brantford Court Inside this issue House, the unveiling took place of a bronze tablet in memo- ry of this distinguished Brant County son, Arthur Sturgis Hardy. Although nineteen years had passed since his President's Reflections/2 demise, the attendance of representative men of Ontario, Curator's Corner/3 and citizens of Brantford, Paris and the County, amply serve Do You Remember?/6 to demonstrate that his worth and his achievements still Memberships and Donations/7 remained in active remembrance. The tablet, the admirable Happenings/8 work of the Toronto sculptress, Miss Francis Loring, is situ- Brantford Film Group/8 ated in the main entrance hall. It is surmounted by a life-like Celebrating 98 years of preserving local history Page 2 B.H.S. Quarterly - Spring, 2oo6 B.H.S. Quarterly - Spring, 2oo6 Page 3 President's Reflections een¢t®¢' ¢ e®me¢ appy New Year to all our Members! It certain- late fall that we would not need to move from our present n Feb. 15 we held our Annual General Meeting. It museum. This will allow us to make better use of the pro- ly has been a mild winter this year and the staff location. A collection of Scheak paintings and accessory was gratifyng to see more than 5o members gram and display areas and improve visitors' first impres- H at the Museum have en].oyed seeing our mem- furniture is now on display at the Museum in the Square 0 come out because we had some very important sions of the museum. Another priority is to clean up and bers a little more frequently as the weather has been so until May 4, 2oo6. issues to discuss. I would like to use this issue of the refresh the displays at 57 Charlotte St. While the current kind to us. 2oo6 has started off on the right foot here at If you have been reading your Expositor lately, you newsletter to repeat some of the remarks I made at the displays are interesting and well put together, they could be the Museum. We are excited to have Rob Michalchuk con- may have seen our Registrar, Rob Michalchuk, in the meeting. improved by better labeling and regular rotation of the arti- tinue on as Registrar thanks to the Ontario Trillium Campus pages. We are proud to have had Rob and pho- Delia O'Byrne gave a presentation on progress being facts. Foundation, which granted us a continuation of our data- tographer Stephanie Rymon-Lipinski prepare an exhibit made under the Heritage Partners initiative. A key point Members and visitors who have done research at the base project. He will be inputting the artifact collection on behalf of the Brant Museum & Archives. Using photo- was that a consulting firm is now working on a feasibility museum may have had the opportunity to take advantage into the Past Perfect database which will provide ease of graphs from the museum's collection, the exhibit gives study. This study will determine whether the partners of our electronic database. Completing this database - access for our collection, both for staff and researchers. the youth of Brantford a vision of what downtown Brant- should proceed to work towards a new heritage centre and, which will eventually include electronic images of our pho- This New Year we welcomed a new co-operative stu- ford was in its heyday, compared with present-day pic- if so, where it should be located. This is an exciting project tographic collection, our artifacts and parts of our archival dent from Pauline Johnson Collegiate. Jordan Davey, a tures of the same areas. Visitors are asked to match the that could see the development of one of the largest muse- records - is another priority. We are very close to having Grade 9 student, will be assisting with curatorial work old photos with present-day photographs to test their um and archival centres in Ontario. It is also an ambitious entered digitized images of all of our 7,ooo photographs until June. He will be leaning different aspects of this knowledge of Brantford history. The exhibit is called into the database, and we have taken the first steps to pho- project that will demand huge investments for capital fund- type of work, including collections management, archival ``Brantford: Changing Faces" and is on display at the Ford ing and operating costs. One of the consulting firm's first tograph and digitally record our textile collection. We have research, exhibit research and design. Plant, 1 King St., until the end of March. tasks will be to assure us that the museum's partners - and recently acquired a new high-quality printer with the finan- In 2oo5 the Museum in the Square had a couple of This year looks to be a promising one. From our pro- that includes the City, County and other levels of govern- cial assistance of the Friends of the Archives of Ontario, issues which deterred the development of temporary ment, as well as the proponents - are all on board. If we get and can now professionally reproduce and frame photo- gressive changes in the programming room to new and exhibits in the gallery space. There were several leaks in exciting exhibit ideas, the Brant Museum & Archives is a positive response from this study, it will provide a long- graphs at the museum. We used our new equipment to term road map for our future development. develop an interactive display at the Ford Plant, an art the exhibit space that prevented us from displaying arti- planning to give tourists and local visitors a vibrant loca- facts. The staff were also preparing for a move to another tion to discover the history of this great area. In the meantime, the society needs to look after its own gallery and music venue located at 1 King St. The exhibit business. The year has started well with the election of a runs to the end of March. space in the Market Square Mall, but were informed in Carrie Sorensen larger Board of Directors that includes a number of new Some of you may have noticed that you are getting e- faces. They have had their first few meetings and have mail reminders about our meetings. We need to make bet- already developed some priorities for 2oo6. A publicity ter use of technology at the museum and we hope to make Memorializing Arthur Sturgis Hardy committee has been set up as a sub-committee of the Mem- our database available directly to researchers and ultimate- Continued from Front Page bership, Marketing and Promotions committee. They have ly to potential visitors to do virtual tours of our facility over struck a Centennial Celebration committee to develop a the Internet. and effective counsel he could, by exclusive devotion to his pro- Failed proposal series of celebratory programs for our looth anniversary in There is much more that I will review in future newslet- fession, have derived a large income and become financially 2oo8. Finally, a fundraising committee is being developed ters. In summary, while 2oo5 was a busy year, we have a lot independent, whereas it is well known that after twenty-six The second proposal intended to honour the memory of and approval has been given to recruit an Executive Direc- of work on our plate in 2oo6.