stcmuseum podcasts

In this edition of Hearing History, Sean cues up the sound of roller skates and takes us through the history of this wheeled footwear and the effects it has had on culture, business, and sports in St. Catharines. Tie up you skates and come along for the ride!

Sean jumps into another sonic journey through history with a deep dive into the steam whistle. Find out where this sound originated and what role it has played in the history of St. Catharines.

This episode features an edited recording of a live panel discussion hosted by the Niagara Falls Museum on November 19, 2025. The discussion was all about Spirit Walks and featured representatives from the St. Catharines Museum, the Niagara-on-the-Lake Museum, and the Niagara Falls History Museum.

Throughout our celebration of season 10 we've put together a few "supercut" episodes looking back at some of our favourite moments and episodes. We revisited the series we put together about the history of the bridges of the Welland Canal, and we revisited the series about the Victorians called Victorian Tweets. On today's last episode of season 10, we bring you a supercut compilation of our favou...

This podcast episode includes an interview with Foster Festival playwright and actor Jamie Williams and director Emily Oriold. Representing the museum are Visitor Services Coordinator Adrian Petry and Public Programmer Sean Dineley. The group discusses the exciting upcoming production, A Niagara Christmas Carol, which is a reimagining of the classic Charles Dickens tale set around the Welland Cana...

On this episode of Hearing History, Sean explores the sound of a pry-cap bottle and the history of carbonated beverages in St. Catharines, including breweries and soft drink makers.

This episode in the Hearing History series explores the history of the Lakeside Park Carousel through the sounds of its incredible band organ!

It's time for the big reveal. After an interesting discussion about pablum (ironic, we know), Adrian reveals the theme (and subthemes) that linked together the episodes of this season! For footnotes to this episode, please visit stcatharinesmuseumblog.com

In the most scientific episode since the infamous gyroscope episode in season 7, Kathleen and Adrian try to tackle the fascinating and very technical history of the wirephoto. For footnote to this episode, please visit stcatharinesmuseumblog.com

Bet you didn't know how an electronic organ works! Well, now you do! In another attempt at explaining science, Kathleen and Adrian explore the history of this impressive instrument, talk family electronic organs, and sports! Footnotes to this episode can be found at stcatharinesmuseumblog.com

How does the mail get sorted? One of the first computerized and automated mail sorters was the Route Reference Computer. Despite its "state secret" level of confusing technical aspects, we learned a lot about the mail in this episode. Please visit stcatharinesmuseumblog.com for footnotes to this episode.

On this episode we're explore the important history of the electric powered wheelchair, and our research takes us through the history and importance of mobility aids today. For more info and the footnotes to this episode, visit stcatharinesmuseumblog.com

We're cracking open season 8 of One Hour in the Past with the history of the egg carton. The episode is filled with a surprising amount of unintended egg puns and lots of egg-sellent history. Enjoy the episode! For more info and the footnotes to this episode, visit stcatharinesmuseumblog.com

Throughout our 10th season, we will be including several “supercut” episodes which revisit clips from some of favourite episodes, themes, and series over the last ten years! Enjoy this look back on our Season 6 miniseries about the Victorians which was produced during the run of our temporary exhibition Victorian Tweets. The exhibition translated Victorian happenings from newspapers, diaries, lett...

On this episode of Museum Chat Live! we're chatting local food history and baking as we wrap up our (now beloved) Food, Glorious Food Blog Series. The series was a chance for Abbey Stansfield (public programmer) and Kathleen Powell (curator) to explore local food history by baking through historic recipes in our collection. This bake-off was a way to explore food history in a first-hand way and dr...

On this episode of Museum Chat Live! Sean discusses trends in museum outreach programming. He explores how museum interpretation has evolved over the years, and how history is interpreted out in the community in St. Catharines, across Canada, and around the world. This episode includes an interview with Visitor Services Coordinator Adrian Petry and a peek into what outreach programming the museum...

November 30th, 1824 is an important day in the history of Niagara. A handful of businessmen who had less than a year before formed the Welland Canal Company met at Allanburg to shovel and turn over the first sod, marking the beginning of construction of one of the most important infrastructure projects in Canadian history. As those events usually go, speeches were delivered amongst the small group...

The 10th season of our Museum Chat Live! podcast is here! My, oh my, how time flies. It’s like one day you’re recording an episode about the Welland Canal and the next its… history… Anyway! Have a listen to this little preview to help set the stage for all the awesome things we have planned for the upcoming year on Museum Chat Live!

Enjoy this look back on our series on bridges across the Welland Canal!

In this 3-episode series, host Sean Dineley lets a sampling of long-time St. Catharines residents do most of the talking. The people whose stories you will hear have all been participants in the museum’s StoryLab program. This ongoing oral history project is all about getting the diverse experiences and perspectives of real St. Catharinites into the museum’s collection. By conducting, recording, a...

This podcast episode is in our Hearing History series, exploring local history through sound. Today’s sound is the film projector, which has been a constant feature of downtown St. Catharines for nearly 130 year! This episode follows the history of film and traces this medium’s presence in the Garden City, including cinemas, drive-in theatres, and our own home-grown stars of the silver screen! Gra...

We are thrilled to bring our hit Virtual Museum Lecture Series to the podcast. With over 40 lectures on Youtube, we’re so happy to bring the lecture audio to the podcast format so that more of you can enjoy these fascinating stories and join in on the historical adventures. On today’s episode we’re sharing to provide a lecture presented on December 13, 2022 which provided an update on her work at...

We are thrilled to bring our hit Virtual Museum Lecture Series to the podcast. With over 40 lectures on Youtube, we’re so happy to bring the lecture audio to the podcast format so that more of you can enjoy these fascinating stories and join in on the historical adventures. On today’s episode we’re sharing "Ponderous Fraus, Mynheers, and Jaded Farm Horses, or Early St. Catharines Before the First...

Welcome to One Hour in the Past, a podcast series presented by the St. Catharines Museum and Welland Canals Centre. Have you ever noticed that a simple information search can lead you in strange and wonderful directions? As in Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, historical research can lead you down a winding rabbit hole that might take you off your original path and lead you to new and amazing hist...

We are thrilled to bring our hit Virtual Museum Lecture Series to the podcast. With over 40 lectures on Youtube, we’re so happy to bring the lecture audio to the podcast format so that more of you can enjoy these fascinating stories and join in on the historical adventures. On today’s episode we’re sharing "Our Gallant Employees: Corporate Commemoration in Port-War Canada," with special guest Jona...