Given the current state of the USA, this Halloween decoration might be a little too on the mark.
Jamie Bradburn
@jbcurio.bsky.social
Writer/researcher/public historian for hire, specializing in Toronto/Ontario history that ties into the current zeitgeist. Former Sunday Star quizmaster and Historicist. Crafts award-winning stories. Walks a lot. Has adventures with stuffed porcupines.
My latest newsletter is an experiment in focusing on single topic, one that you may notice I treat with sarcasm. jamiebradburn.substack.com/p/53-the-pay...
53: The Pay to Play Edition
Am I a visionary leader in my field?
jamiebradburn.substack.com
My latest newsletter is an experiment in focusing on single topic, one that you may notice I treat with sarcasm. jamiebradburn.substack.com/p/53-the-pay...
53: The Pay to Play Edition
Am I a visionary leader in my field?
jamiebradburn.substack.com
This is a very serious problem for libraries, archives, and knowledge-keepers of all kinds. If you don’t control access to your collections, *you do not have collections.* If we do not have permanent access to records, stories, & sources of knowledge then our histories and memories are not our own.
Shannon Mattern@shannonmattern.bsky.social · 3d ago"In 2022, Wiley removed over 1,300 ebooks from academic library collections; [they said] perpetual access is not an option for subscribed content. In 2025, Clarivate,... announced they would stop offering libraries perpetual access licenses for ebooks and primary-source digital collections."
One thing I have been surprised by so far doing my quickie trip to Essex County: how many municipal election signs are already out, given that voting day is not until late October.
Today the porcupines got to enjoy a taste of my childhood trips to Fort Malden National Historic Site before sitting and relaxing along the Detroit River.
From the June 30, 1972 North Toronto Herald, a quick photo and blurb about Lloyd Robertson, then the anchor of The National.
Amused that the latest Toronto addition to Newspapers_dot_com's collection is one of the most useless papers ever published in the city (currently hosting issues from 2015-2017)...the Sun/Postmedia's subway paper!
Is it a bit too early to bag off bike rings for Taste of the Danforth?
Qwilly and Qwillamina winding down the long weekend at their new picnic table. Look forward to future adventures with these two.
From the vaults: a look at the first edition of Caribana, a Centennial project which evolved and endured into the current Caribbean Carnival #TOHistory jamiebradburnwriting.wordpress.com/2022/07/28/c...
Come Out to Caribana ’67
Originally published as a “Historicist” column on Torontoist on July 27, 2011. “Laughing girls in leopard skins dance along Bloor St in Saturday’s Caribana ’67 parade. Toronto’s 8,000 W…
jamiebradburnwriting.wordpress.com
Here’s a neat @letterboxd.social list I created tracking films that drew the ire of the Ontario Board of Censors. boxd.it/KszCg
Film meets Regulation: The Ontario Board of Censors
This list is a companion piece to The Downtown Theatre Instagram account and newsletter. From 1911 until 2019, the Ontario Board of Censors (or the Ontario Censor Board, later the Ontario Film Review...
boxd.it
A beautiful night for some outdoor music in the city, in this case in The Beaches. This is the city Toronto is.
General question: does anyone know why every so often lately I notice a small group of street preachers outside the Linsmore Tavern at night, the type who pretty much believe everyone is going to hell for their "sins" unless you accept their interpretation of historical religious figures?
Doing research tonight about the decline of Sears and Sears Canada under Edward Lampert, which should really be a cautionary tale on how badly somebody can destroy a company while strip mining its assets and letting the retail experience deteriorate.
Side research find: I think Columbia House was trying to be...hip with this ad? Source: Inside Sports, October 1994 #vintagead
Just a friendly reminder that if you hire me to do historical work, it will be produced without the intentional use of AI. (Disclaimer #1: as with anything in life, accidental use is possible, but not intended). (Disclaimer #2: should not be confused with anything written by somebody named Al).
"We’re genuinely in a choose-your-own-adventure moment." There's enough doomsaying and playing on our worst aspects and fears for the fun and profit of those who feel they can profit from uber-negativity. I'm supporting positive, constructive visions of the city from whoever they emerge from.
John Lorinc@johnlorinc.bsky.social · 2w ago#topoli New from me on @spacing.bsky.social: Against the ominous backdrop of @bradbradford’s fear-mongering & the ‘tough on crime’ messaging from Ford & Carney, the island airport victory showcases the power of positive thinking in an election year. spacing.ca/toronto/2026...
Excited to share a series of maps reconstructing how property moved from the first patentees to a local gentry in Toronto's west end and the first subdivisions along the major western roads (Queen, Dundas, and Davenport). See the maps and the story behind them: brockton-history.ca/2026/07/27/w...
I know this is satire but, back in reality... I was in my local No Frills yesterday and saw fresh bags of Taylor Farms bagged salads. Which proudly boasted that their contents were Canadian! The "patriotic" label did not entice me to buy their products.
The Onion@theonion.com · 2w agoProfits Soar As Taylor Farms Rebrands As Biological Weapons Manufacturer
Reading of the death of Bill Oddie of the 1970s British comedy team The Goodies made me go back to watch this 1975 episode "Clown Virus"...which maybe shouldn't be shown to some military authorities south of the border lest they get some ideas. archive.org/details/s01e...
archive.org
There are now seventy articles about Toronto cinemas and our moviegoing history up at The Downtown Theatre. Here's a list of the articles by theatre: thedowntowntheatre.substack.com/p/theatres
Theatres Index
The following is a comprehensive list of all the cinema and moviegoing spaces documented in The Downtown Theatre dispatches.
thedowntowntheatre.substack.com
*WE* did this, fellow Torontonians. We flooded the biased federal survey and flooded our MPs' inboxes and made them get a spine and stand up to Ford and push a weak kneed federal cabinet. www.thestar.com/politics/fed...
Federal government grounds Billy Bishop airport expansion
The just-concluded public survey suggested strong public opposition to the project, according to a federal government official.
thestar.com
Many times in Toronto history, businessmen and politicians have promoted plans to expand the Toronto Island airport. Many times they have failed. Here's a piece I wrote for Toronto Today @torontotoday.ca about some of those failed visions. www.torontotoday.ca/local/histor...
Billy Bishop Airport has always been a political hot potato. Where did it start?
Historian Jamie Bradburn guides readers through the history of Billy Bishop Toronto City Airport, where Premier Doug Ford is attempting to fast-track a plan for jet service
torontotoday.ca
This is a massive blow to transparency in Canada, which was already bleak. It means Canada is keeping Canadians in the dark about their own past.
The Hill Times@hilltimes.com · 2w agoLibrary and Archives Canada has ended proactive declassification activities, a move access and archival experts say removes one part of an already limited federal system for making older records easier to process and release. www.hilltimes.com/2026/07/21/a...
