Andrew Farris – Blog

What Museums Mean to Us (or rather, Me, Andrew)

ByAndrew Farris November 19, 2020 0 Comments

I recently took the Museums For Me survey, and it made me ponder the significance museums have to me and the society in which we live. The dire threat COVID-19 poses to the survival of many museums makes these questions especially timely. 90% of the world's 85,000 museums temporarily shut this year, and UNESCO fears one in eight--some 11,000 of them--may never reopen. If museums are...

A Month of Remembrance

ByAndrew Farris November 3, 2020 0 Comments

Every November 11th people gather at cenotaphs and memorials across Canada to remember the sacrifice of those who gave their lives in service of the country, but this year will be different. 2020 marks the 75th anniversary of the end of the Second World War, the most traumatic event in modern history. This is an important commemoration because that war is now passing from living memory. In...

Reevaluating Canada’s Past in the age of Black Lives Matter

ByAndrew Farris July 1, 2020 0 Comments

This Canada Day we look inward at the way we understand national history of racism, and ask how public historians can change our society for the better. This Canada Day comes at one of the most perilous moments in this nation's history. The jubilant parades, firework shows, and breathless round-the-clock CBC coverage have been tempered by the ongoing pandemic, and given way to virtual gatherings...

Quebec has Landed in time for Saint-Jean-Baptiste Day

ByAndrew Farris June 25, 2020 0 Comments

We have an exciting announcement to make! This Saint-Jean-Baptiste Day we’ve launched coverage in Quebec City and Montreal, our first projects in Quebec. They’ve been a very long time coming. We’ve done projects across BC, the prairies and Ontario, but we’ve held off with Quebec until we were fully confident we could offer the tours both in French and English, and were familiar enough...

We’ve launched Sault Ste. Marie coverage!

ByAndrew Farris June 16, 2020 0 Comments

We're thrilled to announce the launch of Sault Ste. Marie in the On This Spot app! It's the culmination of a year long partnership with Tourism Sault Ste. Marie, the Sault Downtown Association, and the Sault Ste. Marie Museum. At the eastern end of Lake Superior, Sault's history dates back millennia--from an ancient gathering place for Indigenous peoples, to a critical outpost in the fur trade,...

Abbotsford Coverage has Launched!

ByAndrew Farris May 6, 2020 0 Comments

February 24, 2020. We’re thrilled to announce the launch of our Abbotsford coverage in the On This Spot app! We’ve been working with Christina Reid at Heritage Abbotsford to build two walking tours in Abbotsford, a rapidly growing community in BC’s Lower Mainland. The first tour gives a broad overview of Downtown Abbotsford’s history showing the community’s growth since its founding in...

On This Spot launches in Stonewall, MB!

ByAndrew Farris May 6, 2020 0 Comments

February 20, 2020 After a year in the works, we’re proud to announce the launch of 80 photo opportunities and two comprehensive walking tours! Check out our Stonewall content here! Located 25 kilometers north of Winnipeg, Stonewall got its start in the 1880s as an industrial town with a multinational workforce who toiled in the limestone quarries. The quarries and the limestone kilns that...

Edmonton Coverage is Live!

ByAndrew Farris May 6, 2020 0 Comments

A view of the Macdonald Hotel in downtown Edmonton across the North Saskatchewan River. August 7, 2019 We’re excited to announce the launch Edmonton content as part of our partnership with the City of Edmonton! You can check it out here. The project includes two walking tours, one on early history of historic Strathcona, and another focusing on John Walter, an early entrepreneur who played an...

Just in time for Canada Day we’ve launched Ottawa coverage!

ByAndrew Farris May 6, 2020 0 Comments

June 26, 2019 The coverage includes 60 historic photos we’ve recreated and a walking tour around Parliament Hill that shines a spotlight on the history of the Canadian Confederation through events in the nation’s capital, from the founding of the city in the 19th Century to the burning of Parliament in 1916, and the Cold War odyssey of Igor Gouzenko. This is a fantastic free activity for...

On This Spot spotted at the Canadian Museum Association Conference!

ByAndrew Farris May 6, 2020 0 Comments

April 19, 2019 Ross and I just got back from the CMA’s 2019 Conference in Toronto! We had a blast getting to know a ton of fascinating people in the museum business from every corner of the country. It was our first conference, (well at least mine, Ross is an old hand at trade shows), but it was a bit of a relief to find that there’s an enormous amount of interest in the services we’re...

Our Upcoming Plans!

ByAndrew Farris May 6, 2020 0 Comments

We’ve been planning this phased rollout of new content since last summer and are far enough along to announce what we’ve got in store for the rest of the spring and early summer. It’s an armful! Since we started this project in 2016 we’ve been slowly working out the kinks and gradually getting better at producing and delivering walking tours and hundreds of then-and-now photo sets,...

On This Spotting in Ucluelet

ByAndrew Farris May 6, 2020 0 Comments

March 25, 2019 We just had a great time doing photography and research in beautiful Ucluelet on Canada’s Wild Pacific Coast. We’re working with Discover Ucluelet and the Ukee Historical Society to develop a couple walking tours examining the community’s intimate relationship with the sea (there was no land connection until 1959!) and the seaplane base the Canadian military set up there...

New Year! New Us!

ByAndrew Farris May 5, 2020 0 Comments

Jan. 28, 2019. If you are reading this then it means we have successfully launched our new website! It has been in the works for the past couple months, but all those hours burning the midnight oil has finally paid off, and we are very pleased with the result and believe our partners will be too. This newsletter is one part of the redesign, and is a way for us to keep you updated with all the...