Community Archives of Belleville and Hastings County

09/10/2026

We are taking part in Doors Open on Saturday (10am-4pm): come to see some of our favourite items from our holdings and find out how we can help you with your historical project!

Image is of a Blessington blacksmith's shop, taken in 1964.

A photograph showing a man working in front of a blacksmith shop in Blessington, Ontario. At the time this shop had been operating for over fifty years, but was set for demolition in order to make way for future road improvements. An Ontario Motor League sign on the right front of the barn points to...

08/18/2026

Lee Waterhouse has been sharing Daily Intelligencer stories from 100 years ago on her TikTok and pages.

08/04/2026

Our August newsletter is online at https://mailchi.mp/e052d428264c/community-archives-news-aug2026 - we have an update on our newspaper digitization project and a closer look at a Belleville Public Library quilt.

Our project to scan microfilmed local newspapers and share them on the Internet Archive has been very popular, allowing easy access to materials that could previously only been seen by visiting the archives or the Belleville Public Library.

07/09/2026

Blue Bonnet Margarine ad from the Intelligencer in January 1950. Does anyone remember adding the colour to their margarine?

07/02/2026

Our July newsletter is online at https://mailchi.mp/3954cafc9984/community-archives-news-jul2026 - with a look at the history of the Maranatha Church in Belleville and Mademoiselle Orrocco, an exotic performer from 1897.

The Maranatha Church in Belleville has a history in the city dating back to 1953, when members of the Christian Reformed Church began to meet at the Loyal Order of the Moose Hall, located at 50 Victoria Avenue.

06/17/2026

An ad from 1897, promoting an act by Mademoiselle Orrocco and her Mystifying Wonder Globe. She was available for hire at parks, theatres and summer resorts for $100 a day.

Advertisement for a performer, Mademoiselle Orrocco of New York and Montreal. "An achievement without a parallel. M'lle Orrocco and her Mystifying Wonder Globe, as she really appears propelling herself and globe up and down a silver spiral incline. The only Lady in the world who has ever successfull...

06/03/2026

Interesting headline from June 1969. Full story online at https://archive.org/details/intelligencer-june-1969/page/n391/mode/2up

05/13/2026

Processing scrapbooks of The Trentones/A Ca****la Quinte (established 1972). Grateful for black and white photography.

04/30/2026

This month's is looking at . The men in this photograph were involved in a Grand Trunk Railway strike in the summer of 1910.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/cabhc/31240276331/

The strike was reported on in the North Hastings Review here: https://archive.org/details/north-hastings-review-july-1910/page/n16/mode/1up

Photograph taken by William Spence Clarke outside the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers Hall (southwest corner of Chatham and Pine Streets) showing members of the Order of Railway Conductors and Brotherhood of Railway Trainmen involved in the Grand Trunk Railway Strike of July 18 to August 2, 1910...

04/30/2026

Z is for Zandbergen. This is one of a series of farm-related catalogues from the collection of Lewis . https://discover.cabhc.ca/farm-related-items