Celebrate Brantford’s early immigrant communities with Laurier student exhibits at One Market

Nov. 29, 2022
For Immediate Release

Brantford – Wilfrid Laurier University’s Brantford campus invites the community to a Flashback Downtown Brantford public history event from Nov. 29 to Dec. 9.

Students from the HI240: The Active Historian class have created several exhibits on the history of Brantford’s early Armenian, Chinese and Italian communities, and their lives in downtown Brantford between 1900 and 1920. Three portable exhibits will be on display in the lower level of One Market until Dec. 9, at the Brantford Public Library and at Brantford Collegiate Institute during the month of December.

The public history event opened with a gala on Nov. 29 and included presentations from Laurier’s Teaching and Learning office, Laurier International, Laurier’s Special Constable Service, Canadian Industrial Heritage Centre and Brantford and District Labour Council.

On Dec. 1 from 2:30 to 4 p.m., students from programs including History, Game Design and Development, English, User Experience Design and others, will present their work and host interactive games that will help visitors experience the lives of early immigrants in Brantford.

“The students are very creative and worked hard to make this multi-day, multi-location event possible,” says Christina Han, associate professor of History at Laurier. “In class, we learned about the rich and diverse history of Brantford, and I want others to experience the dynamic history of downtown Brantford while checking out the amazing work created by our students.”

For the exhibits, the students used a spatial database of Brantford's early immigrant communities that Han created as part of a Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council-funded project.

Online registration for the opening event is encouraged.