Cloyne_trillium

Jeff Green | Dec 06, 2007

On December 1, the Cloyne and District Historical Society's annual FamilyChristmas Party was a little more festive than usual as MPP for Lanark Frontenac Lennox and Addington, Randy Hillier, joined them to make a very special announcement and presentation. Thanks to a $27,200 grant from the Ontario Trillium Foundation, the historical society will be able to improve access to their archival holdings.

In presenting a plaque from OTF to mark this special occasion, MPP Hillier said, “History is our greatest teacher because it records people's experiences. To progress and move forward beyond tomorrow we must first fully understand where we were yesterday. Historical societies are key to this: recording the efforts of our ancestors and recognizing the importance of our unique heritage of independence and self reliance…”

Over the next two years, the grant will help as the society starts to create a comprehensive archive of all their paper, photographic and audio holdings. With their ultimate goal of providing this archive on the web, this project will help ensure their vast collection of historic materials is available to people near and far. Volunteers will be able to use the new archives to create exhibits to place in local stores, schools and halls because the information will be properly catalogued.

The second part of the initiative will help the society to publish the fifth printing of the popular local history book: The Oxen and the Axe. First published in 1974, its popularity continues as new people move to the area, new cottagers come to appreciate the area, as family members grow up and leave the area wanting to take a piece of history with them and as former residents move back wanting to increase their knowledge of the community.

The Cloyne and District Historical Society was established in the early 1970's as the Pioneer Club, devoted to recording and preserving the history and heritage of the local area. While the organization's mission remains that of recording and preserving area history, a third objective is to educate the local community and visitors about the region's rich heritage. This latter goal is achieved most notably through the operation of the Pioneer Museum. Members expand their collective knowledge through interviews, documents, physical research of buildings, cemeteries and villages, and through the discovery of new artifacts.

Approximately 1,000 persons, comprising schoolchildren, cottagers, residents of both

Frontenac and Lennox and Addington counties, campers and visitors passing through the area, visit the Society's Pioneer Museurn each year.