November 9, 2016 

 

City of Toronto Museums and Heritage Services and the Archives of Ontario are collecting personal stories about T. Eaton Co. Limited employees who fought in the First World War. Public input is needed to help identify those soldiers and provide some personal history about them for a planned exhibit called Eaton's Goes to War that is to be displayed at the City's Mackenzie House museum next fall.

 

“We need to draw attention to these stories so we can express our gratitude and remember those who helped bring us peace and freedom that define our great city and country,” said Mayor John Tory. "If you know of someone who might be in these photographs, please take some time to look at the online collection and to share their story with us."

 

The public can access the archival photos of soldiers and learn more about this project by visiting http://www.toronto.ca/mackenziehouse and following the links to the picture archive.

 

During the First World War, each time a Toronto T. Eaton Company employee enlisted and was sent overseas, a portrait of the employee was displayed prominently in the Toronto store. 

 

More than 2,000 portraits survived to become a part of the T. Eaton Company records at the Archives of Ontario. In 2014, the Archives created an online exhibit of the photographs called Eaton's Goes to War. The City's Mackenzie House exhibition will expand the online exhibit with personal stories from individuals in the collection's photographs.

 

“The Archives of Ontario is a great resource to discover an abundance of Ontario’s history, including the T. Eaton Co. records,” said John Roberts, Chief Privacy Officer and Archivist of Ontario.

 

The public can take an advance look at the project this month by visiting an installation on display throughout November on the south side of the College Park building at 444 Yonge St.. The public can also view the Archive of Ontario's online exhibit at http://bit.ly/1ssv3PU.

 

Mackenzie House is one of 10 historic sites owned and operated by the City of Toronto that aim to engage the public in telling Toronto's story. More information about City museums is available at http://www.toronto.ca/museums. The public can also interact with museums at https://twitter.com/TOhistoricsites and https://www.facebook.com/historictoronto.

 

This news release is also available on the City's website: http://bit.ly/2eLqjIR

 

Toronto is Canada's largest city, the fourth largest in North America, and home to a diverse population of about 2.8 million people. It is a global centre for business, finance, arts and culture and is consistently ranked one of the world's most livable cities. For information on non-emergency City services and programs, Toronto residents, businesses and visitors can visit http://www.toronto.ca, call 311, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, or follow us @TorontoComms.

 

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Media contact: Shane Gerard, Strategic Communications, 416-397-5711, This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.