Category Archives: Upcoming Lectures

Wednesday, September 17th, 2025, 7:00 pm (Atlantic), in-person at the Lindsay Children’s Room on the 2nd floor at the Halifax Central Library, 5440 Spring Garden Road, Halifax, Nova Scotia. Click here for the Zoom link.

Dr. Arthur McCalla is Professor in the Department of History at Mount Saint Vincent University. He specializes in nineteenth-century European intellectual history, but in 2024 published On Life’s Slippery Rink: 200 Years of the Halifax Curling Club to mark the bicentenary of the HCC, of which he has been a member since 2006.

Abstract: 
This talk draws on the records of the Halifax Curling Club, founded 1824, to show how over its first century—which included its founding by a Royal Navy officer, immigrant Scots early membership, links to Governors-General, and participation in curling exchanges with Scotland—the HCC contributed at a local level to British Empire-wide attempts to construct a unified imperial identity, ultimately placing the sport of curling in the service of the concept of “imperial Scottishness.”

Wednesday, October 15th, 2025, 7:00 pm (Atlantic), in-person at the Lindsay Children’s Room on the 2nd floor at the Halifax Central Library, 5440 Spring Garden Road, Halifax, Nova Scotia. Click here for the Zoom link.

Madhuparna Gupta is an Instructor it the Department of Global Development Studies, and a Research Associate at the Gorsebrook Research Institute, Saint Mary’s University, Canada. She has over seventeen years of experience in teaching and research. She received her Ph.D. in International Relations from Jadavpur University, India, and served as an Assistant Professor of Political Science in Kolkata, India, before immigrating to Canada. She has authored books, edited academic volumes, and published research papers on the themes of Political Science and International Relations in peer-reviewed journals. She has delivered lectures in international conferences, participated in panel discussions and has public presentations on the themes of Canada-India relations, International Development, Human Rights and International Security. 

One of her research articles titled, “Bonds of Empire” was published in Canada’s History, and its Podcast titled, “India and Canada: Bonds of Empire”, was the winner of the Canadian Ethnic Media Award (CEMA) in the Podcast Category in 2023. 

Abstract: 
This presentation explores the connection between the provinces of Nova Scotia (Canada) and Bengal (India) by virtue of the British and French colonial endeavours, where the eventual triumph of England had culminated in their emergence as British colonies. This research presents a comparative study on the nature of British administration in these provinces. Using selected themes, it explores whether similar or contrasting measures were being pursued that had resulted in their emergence as colonial cousins.

Wednesday, November 19th, 2025, 7:00 pm (Atlantic), in-person at the Lindsay Children’s Room on the 2nd floor at the Halifax Central Library, 5440 Spring Garden Road, Halifax, Nova Scotia. Click here for the Zoom link.

Abstract: 
Members of the East Port l’Hebert Community Mapping Project will discuss their work.

Wednesday, December 10th, 2025, 7:00 pm (Atlantic), in-person at the Lindsay Children’s Room on the 2nd floor at the Halifax Central Library, 5440 Spring Garden Road, Halifax, Nova Scotia. Click here for the Zoom link.

Major Ken Hynes, CD, MA, Royal Canadian Artillery (retired), served for 30 years in the Canadian Army, both across Canada, in the United States, and overseas. He is the former Chief Protocol Officer of the Royal NS International Tattoo and was Curator of The Army Museum Halifax Citadel from 2012 until retiring from the post in 2022, when he received the Certificate of Merit from the Lieutenant Governor of Nova Scotia. In 2023, Major Hynes was invested with the Queen Elizabeth II Platinum Jubilee Medal for his services to heritage and culture.

Abstract: 
Included as a chapter in my new book: “Service and Sacrifice – Extraordinary Nova Scotians in the Great War”, my talk will draw on the life and times of Lt Col Guy MacLean Matheson (Big Baddeck) and the mascot of the 25th Battalion (NS Rifles), Robert the Bruce (RTB). RTB was a small Belgian goat, acquired and chosen by the Battalion as their mascot during the unit’s service in Flanders and France, during the Great War, from 1915 to 1919. Both Guy and RTB came home with the Battalion in 1919 and their story is one of perseverance and comradeship – a strange and notable tale in the military history of Nova Scotia.