Upheavals

 These are items from the Centre Block Fire of February 3rd, 1916, in which the building was destroyed.

The government was determined to rebuild.

There are several displays here on the South African War, which bridged the 19th and 20th centuries. Canadian soldiers went overseas to join British colleagues in fighting the breakaway Boer republics in a guerrilla war often overlooked in history.

A video display features a series of photos of that war.

A few years later, Ottawa citizens would find themselves involved in the Great War.

Assassin

 This is a print of the original, Fathers of Confederation, by Robert Harris, done in 1885. The original is long gone, destroyed during the fire that brought down Centre Block in 1916. 

Hard work made Confederation a reality. The country was established.

For a number of years after the American Civil War, Irish American veterans of the Union engaged in the Fenian Raids. The Fenian Brotherhood had been founded in 1858, and their objective was to hold Canada for ransom to force the British to given Ireland independence. The ceremonial sword in this case was presented to Lt. Col. Brown Chamberlin for his role during the Raids.

Thomas D'Arcy McGee was a politician, journalist, and lawyer who had once been a Fenian in his native Ireland, but whose world view had changed to see the value of Parliamentary democracy, particularly in the context of Canada with British bonds. The Fenians deemed him a traitor. In 1868, coming home to his Ottawa boarding house from Parliament, he was shot in the back of the head by a Fenian assassin.

He had turned out to be the most eloquent of the Fathers of Confederation, and his loss was deeply felt, particularly by Prime Minister John A Macdonald and his wife, who were his close friends. 

This is the original plaque that marked the assassination spot.

At the time, it was common to do a death mask in plaster. This was not possible due to the damage to his head. A cast of his hand was made instead- a fitting tribute to a writer.

I finish today with a Union flag. This one has particular historical significance. It was flown from the  original Centre Block on the night of the terrible fire of 1916 that saw its destruction.

Country

 The cabinets here are full of curiosities of the Victorian era.

This painting is by Annabella McLeod, titled View Of The Ottawa River Looking Southeast Towards Parliament Hill and the Entrance of the Rideau Canal, painted in the 1880s.

Surgical methods of the era could be strange.

The 1860s saw the Confederation movement and the union of the Canadian colonies into one country as part of the British empire. While the Bytown Museum is by nature a local history museum, because this is the capital, part of its story is national in scope.

One of the most famous photographs of Canadian history- the Fathers of Confederation at the Charlottetown Conference of 1864.

Busts of two of the Fathers, and particularly driving forces of Confederation. John A. Macdonald and George-Etienne Cartier were co-premiers of the Canadas

Capital

 This is a model of Queen Victoria, who selected Ottawa initially to be the capital of the United Canadas, and subsequently the capital of the country as a whole when Confederation made the Canadian colonies into a country of its own.

A capital meant the building of Parliament.

Some said she pointed at a map and that's how the capital was chosen. Others said she looked at art sent to her of the region. Realistically, with its place at the boundary between the former Upper and Lower Canada, and its place some distance from the American border, Ottawa made sense for the capital.

These are items from the old Russell Hotel.

There had been a trend of moving capitals around in the colonies before Ottawa was settled on. Now the governor-general would come to town.

This dress belonged to Lady Minto, wife to Lord Minto, one of the governor-generals.

The Victorian era was transformative, as well as contradictory.

Sarah Olmstead had immigrated to Canada, where in 1808 she married Philemon Wright II. His father founded what is now Hull. He died a few years later. Sarah subsequently married Nicholas Sparks, who bought land that was subsequently made use of for the Rideau Canal. An unknown artist completed a portrait of her late in life, and it resides here.