From digging through primary sources to walking Ottawa Street North, Arslan Tariq and Olivia Walker have spent their last semester of school learning more about the history of Hamilton.  

Their work is part of a hands-on history course, called 4HP3 Heritage Placement. Tariq and Walker, both fourth-year honours history students, have been working with the City of Hamilton’s Heritage Trust Division.  

They’re investigating whether a section of Ottawa Street North — between Main and Barton streets — could be a candidate for heritage district status, creating a building inventory and conducting archival research on the district’s historical development.  

They surveyed Ottawa Street and its buildings, taking photos and notes. They looked into what makes each building unique, when it was built, and whether it should be given conservation status. 

“We’ve learned a lot about the diversity of Hamilton,” Tariq said. “The East End was the way that the city was expanded from its downtown core.”  

The street was also the site of the first-ever Tim Hortons, built in 1964. (The original building has since been demolished and a new Tim’s built in its place.) 

 “We can see that living history present in the area,” Tariq said.  

This week, Tariq and Walker will present their findings before the city’s Municipal Heritage Committee. Their audience will include at least one city councillor.  

Preparing for a presentation to significant city figures is a bit of nerve-wracking experience, the students said.  

“We were nervous definitely, at first, because it sounds like a big ask,” Tariq said. But project supervisors reassured them that most of the members of the committee are, at heart, just people who are passionate about the history of the city.  

“I think they’re going to be super open and excited to see our presentation,” Tariq said.   

Pickle plants, Irish immigrants and 1930s nightlife

The course is “an excellent opportunity for students to translate their historical training to practical work in the heritage sector,” said instructor Shane Lynn.  

As opposed to a typical, fourth-year seminar course, which are more research intensive, the heritage placement gets students out of the classroom.  

They get to work with heritage partner institutions across the Hamilton region, and complete a project that typically results in lasting, public-facing output. 

Other projects this semester have included creating an exhibit on the history of the Dunnville Bick’s pickle plant with the Cayuga Library and Heritage Centre; contributing to research on Irish immigrant workers at Hamilton Waterworks with Hamilton Civic Museums; and curating a textile history exhibit on the outfits of the Brant Inn, a renowned nightlife institution during the 1930s-60s.  

Two other students, Antonia Gasparro and Laura De Simone, have been assisting with educational programming and artefact research for a future exhibit at the McMaster Museum of Art. 

They’ve helped with tours and programming, offered fresh perspectives on projects, and gained hands-on experience installing the upcoming The Great Sea exhibit. 

The experience has given them both many skills to carry forward after their time at McMaster, Gasparro said, and helped ease them into working in the museum world.  

The staff at M(M)A have been really wonderful and so down to Earth, said Gasparro. “ It’s great to not be scared and to be very welcomed into the community as youngsters.”  

Their supervisor at the museum, Nicole Knibb, said it’s been “amazing” to have them there this semester.  

De Simone and Gasparro are “more like colleagues [who can] bring things to us that we need.”  

“We have a good legacy of care,” Knibb said. “We love our artworks, and we love our building, and we love our collections…. they need to be cared for, and we love when people are interested in that.” 

“This is a great place to be, and everybody wants to help people learn and succeed,” Knibb said. “You’re the next generation of museum people.”  

Check out the 4HP3 student projects and findings at the end-of-term symposium on Thursday April 3 in CNH 607B from 2:30 p.m.to 4:30pm.