History
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Urban Oral History: Understanding The Village of 1970s and ’80s, Part III
This is the third of a four-part series on urban oral history. My first conversation with Bart Birmingham (he/him) was a little awkward. After six months...
By Hannah Curtis -
Urban Oral History: A tale of two immigrant neighbourhoods, Part II
This is the second of a four-part series on urban oral history. “Explore the city you live in. Open your eyes to a new life,” advised Gregory, an...
By Rathusa Rameshkumar -
How to collect oral histories about cities in the age of COVID-19, Part I
This is the first of a four-part series on urban oral history. Do you want to learn about a city by talking to people who have been walking its streets...
By Alexa Mills -
The Tranzac Club: “Toronto’s Living Room”
As Toronto begins the process or re-opening the economy for the summer, Spacing will occasionally look at businesses and venues that have either survived...
By Susan Grimbly -
Mapping Indigenous history on the TTC
June has begun, marking the start of Indigenous History Month. The recent discovery of an unmarked grave of 215 Indigenous children at a Kamloops, B.C...
By Mnawaate Gordon-Corbiere -
Sleuthing a ghost sign on River Street
Ghost signs: The slowly fading hand-painted advertisements that cling to the sides of older buildings, redundantly promoting companies, products and...
By Jeremy Hopkin -
Chinatown: Uncovering the future in the past, and the present in the future
The new issue of Spacing includes an article by Paula Tran, “What will happen to Toronto’s Chinatown?” In conjunction with that...
By Linda Zhang -
Recording Hart Massey’s Factory and Concert Hall
In 1986, I photographed the historic, sprawling Massey Ferguson farm machinery plant in Toronto just as demolition work was getting underway. Staying one...
By Peter MacCallum -
EXCERPT: Indigenous Toronto, Stories That Carry This Place
This essay is excerpted with permission from Indigenous Toronto: Stories That Carry This Place (Coach House Books, 2021). NOW THAT WE KNOW When I first...
By Lila Pine -
PODCAST: Spacing Radio 054, Packaged Toronto
To celebrate Spacing‘s latest book, Packaged Toronto: a collection of the city’s historic design, we go deep into the history of early...
By Spacing Radio -
Research Road Redux
During the Second World War, my mother, Louise MacCallum, was among the 7,500 employees of Research Enterprises Limited (REL), a top-secret...
By Peter MacCallum -
PACKAGED TORONTO: The type of book for font lovers
Packaged Toronto is the newest book from Spacing — it focuses on the graphic design and packaging of products, pulled form the City of Toronto’s...
By Matthew Blackett