Event Highlights | Teatime Bus Tour [August 4, 2025]

Описание: The museums, archives, and research centres in the Peterborough area are the keepers of our community's history, and by extension the families who chose to make the Peterborough area their home throughout its rich, 200+ year history. As a result, these organizations had an important role to play during the Bicentennial of the Peter Robinson Emigration last year, welcoming descendants of these Irish emigrants from around the world to their facilities to do research on their family history.

On the afternoon of Monday, August 4, we invited these descendants (and curious community members) to join us on a "Teatime Tour" of three of the organizations that helped tell the story of the Peter Robinson Emigration and the families who participated in it in 2025.

The first stop on the tour was Hutchison House Museum, the former home of Dr. Hutchison, that was built in the late 1830s by the community to encourage the doctor to keep his medical practice in Peterborough. Here, tour participants were treated to a historical afternoon tea and a tour of the house, giving them a look into what life was like for their ancestors as they settled into their new home.

Then, the tour took participants to two organizations with rich genealogical resources that would be helpful to those researching their family history: the Kawartha Ancestral Research Association (KARA) and the Trent Valley Archives (TVA). At KARA, visitors were treated to a fantastic exhibit on the Peter Robinson Emigration, featuring photographs, newspaper clippings and other resources on the emigrant families who took part, and had an opportunity to peruse their extensive resources and chat with their knowledgeable volunteers. At TVA, visitors had an opportunity to learn about the history of the Peter Robinson Emigration and the resources available to researchers on that subject from their archivist, Elwood Jones, and explore their research library and genealogy wall.

Check out the video to see the highlights of the Teatime Tour and learn more about the importance of these organizations in our community from Nine Ships Bicentennial Administrator (and the current president of the Trent Valley Archives), Madison More.

Video Credit: Teresa Kaszuba, Bicentennial Storyteller