THE WESTMOUNT HISTORICAL ASSOCIATION HOSTS A NUMBER OF EVENTS EACH YEAR. THESE INCLUDE TWO LECTURE SERIES, SEVERAL WALKING TOURS, AND EXHIBITIONS OF PHOTOGRAPHS AND OTHER MATERIAL FROM OUR ARCHIVES.
PLEASE CONSULT OUR WEBSITE REGULARLY FOR UPCOMING ACTIVITIES OFFERED BY THE WHA.
The three talks in the WHA’s 2024 Fall Lecture Series focus on the contributions of individuals who have documented different aspects of Westmount’s history, architecture and streetscape. The series opens with a lecture by a direct descendant of the Hurtubise family in Westmount. It is followed by a lecture by the two authors of the seminal work “Westmount: a Heritage to Preserve”, which documents Westmount’s built heritage. The final lecture will introduce Edith Mather, former resident of Westmount, and street photographer in Montreal in the 1960s and 1970s. The December Social will be returning with the display of varied treasures from the WHA Archives.
Thursday, September 19, 2024 Westmount Room
Maison Hurtubise: Ancestry of the First Family of Westmount’s oldest house
Speaker: Donlon O. Hurtubise, Ph.D., retired geologist
Built in 1739, the Hurtubise House first couple were Jean Hurtubise and Marie-Anne Tessereau. All lines of their ancestry are explored back to first arrivals in Quebec from France in the 1600s. Their intriguing ancestral story is unraveled in the context of the history of French Montreal (1642-1763) with a touch of what genetic genealogy (yDNA) tells us of their past.
Thursday, October 17, 2024 Location (by exception): Victoria Hall
To know everything about Westmount: IMPOSSIBLE
Speakers: Pierre Beaupré, architecte senior & Josette Michaud architecte senior, Ateliers Beaupré Michaud; authors of the 1988 Heritage Study of Westmount
Briefly, the speakers will reveal to you: Who opened to them the Westmount doors / What were their preparatory and simultaneous experiences / The research process in archives / The field survey overall Westmount / The report writing and illustrating / What they learned from this study / Which were the new doors opened to them flowing the Westmount heritage study.
Thursday, November 21, 2024 Westmount Room
Edith H. Mather: Montreal and Westmount Street Photographer
Speaker: Zoë Tousignant, Curator, Photography, McCord Stewart Museum
This presentation will introduce Edith H. Mather, a photographer who systematically documented Montreal’s changing urban landscape during a pivotal moment in the city’s history. Her major body of work, produced in the 1960s and 1970s when she was living at the corner of Greene Avenue and Sainte-Catherine Street, will be discussed within the larger context of street photography as practiced in Montreal.
Wednesday, December 18, 2024 Location: The Gallery at Victoria Hall
December Social: A Taste of Treasures from the WHA Archives Join us for the WHA’s traditional December celebration at The Gallery at Victoria Hall where we will enjoy drinks and sweets, and an exhibition featuring a display of selected items from the archives of the WHA.
Westmount Public Library, 4574 Sherbrooke St. W.
Victoria Hall, 4626 Sherbrooke St. W.
from 7 to 9 pm
Admission for events free for members. $5 for others at the door.
For more information contact www.WHA.quebec
Series prepared by Louise Carpentier & Irina Nazarova
Due to the pandemic, the April lecture was co-sponsored by the Westmount Public Library and given remotely in 2021, and David Lanken exhibited his work at the Gallery in Victoria Hall in the spring of 2022.
