Durham Region Area Archives Group

Archives Awareness Week is an annual event in which archives throughout Canada take the opportunity to show off the fabulous work they are doing throughout the year. This year members of DRAAG are working together to host our first joint event.

On April 4 we will be hosting the first Preserving Your Family History Event.  Join us at the Northview Public Library in Oshawa from 2 pm until 8 pm. Members of DRAAG institutions will be on hand to assist you with repairing and preserving precious documents and photographs from your collection.  Members will also be available to assist with digitizing items and providing the most up-to-date methods for digitally preserving your family archives.  The event will have several other information stations so check back here for further information in the coming weeks.

Welcome to the on-line prescence of the Durham Region Area Archives Group.

The Durham Region Area Archives Group (DRAAG) is an advocacy and support group for the history of Durham Region. The group, made up of Durham’s archives and libraries, works to  promote and preserve the shared documentary heritage of Durham Region. Click on any of the local archives to learn more about the collections!

This Months Header

This month the header features photograph from the collection of the Whitby Archives.  Metcalfe Foods opened in 1936 and was located on the west side of Highway 12 (Brock Street) just south of the CPR train tracks. The cannery, which produced canned peas and corn, was destroyed by fire in 1943 but was bought and restored by Stokely Van Camp in the same year. The cannery closed in 1990 and the building was demolished four years later. This is a panoramic photograph of the staff at Metcalfe Foods in 1939, at the beginning of the Second World War. Notice how most of the employees are women

Photo: Staff of Metcalfe Foods Limited, 1939.
Photographer: G. McIntosh