For links to GREAT YouTube films from 1900 era suffragettes;fashionable Parisiennes;country fairs;etc

Home Entertainment 1910. Edison wants a phonograph machine in every home. Moms aren't so sure.

The Cinematograph (description from Encyclopedia Britannica, 1911)

Down with the Nickelodeon. Editorial decrying motion picture shows.

Movie news from New York Dramatic Mirror: Theatres losing business, more.

A recent survey by Canada's Media Awareness Network claims that 94% of Canadian students, grades 4-11 have Internet. Most high speed connections but spend only 20-30 minutes a night on homework. The rest of the online time is spent building social networks or visiting a handful of high profile websites.

In a great essay, Paying the Piper  by Nicholas C. Burbules, the author reminds us that back in 1923 Thomas Edison was praising the film medium as the next great thing in education. Then in the 50's, they said the same about television and, in the 90's, they said the same about the Net.  And although hopes were high during the Internet boom of the 90's, a recent New York Times article claims that the educational software industry peaked in 2000 and has since plummeted.

Here's a quote from a Barbara Frum article in a February 1967 Chatelaine for a look at how people back then assumed computers would be for learning and not, like the TV, for entertainment.

The Learning Explosion: How it's changing our schools.

"The utopian fantasy of a wise, benevolent, responsive tutor for every pupil comes true with the computer. In a research program at Stanford, grade 1 children are being hooked up to headphones, handed a light pencil and placed in front of the computer's screen. The screen flashes a multi-choice puzzle, instructions come through the earphones and the light pencil is used to point to the children's answer. Computers respond so rapidly that thousands of students can be plugged into the same machine without overloading the system. Each student carries on his own dialogue with the console, answering questions or telling the machine to continue or reverse or judge his answers.  If he gets into trouble, he pushes help….. The use of computers belongs to the future. It's technically possible now but the obstacles are cost and pedagogical prejudice (sic)"



The Virtual Museum of Canada: celebrating stories and treasures that have come to define Canada over the centuries. This is the Net living up to its potential.

The History Society of Canada:Helping Canadians celebrate their stories. 50,000 members strong!

Fashion-Era: an expansive fashion-history website: The Nicholson girls wore Edwardian fashions.

Canadian History on the Web: the collector website of a prof at Sir. Wilfrid Laurier University

Silent Era: Great site with oodles of info on silent film. This link goes to info on Those Awful Hats.

Canadiana.org's Women's History Resource (Great)

Links for a page of this website featuring websites about The Great Transformation (The Laurier Era) 1896-1914

Link to University or Toronto's Themes in Canadian Social History Series makes a perfect companion to this website. Of special interest, The Infinite Bonds of Family by Cynthia R. Comacchio and The Promise of Schooling by Paul Axelrod