The Toronto History Lecture

Call for Lecture Proposals

The Toronto Branch of the Ontario Genealogical Society

Proposals are requested for the 14th Toronto History Lecture to be delivered on the evening of Tuesday, August 5, 2025, via Zoom.

We seek an interesting, innovative and well-presented illustrated lecture on any aspect of Toronto’s history.

At this stage your proposal should be brief and should address:

• your topic
• why the topic is interesting
• how your treatment of the topic will be innovative (previously undisclosed information? fresh insight? a new thesis?)
• your bona fides as an engaging public speaker (including, if available, a recording or links to previous speaking engagements)

Be sure to include all your contact information (e-mail, postal, telephones) and relevant online links (website/blog/social media).

While submissions are encouraged from specialist communities (e.g. genealogists, academics), prospective lecturers are reminded that this event will be open to the public and that any topic must be of potential interest to the layperson and readily comprehensible without specialist knowledge.

We expect that the lecture will be one hour in length, plus a 5–10 minute Q&A session.

We will provide the online platform and technical support for the lecture. The speaker will arrange to present from a location with a reliable high-speed Internet connection. To accommodate audience members from different time zones, we’ll record the presentation and make it available on our website for a limited time.

There will be a modest honorarium of $250 (plus HST if applicable.)

Submissions should be made via e-mail to toronto@ogs.on.ca. Deadline is May 1, 2025.

The Toronto History Lecture was inaugurated in 2011 in memory of well-known local and family historian Paul James McGrath and his love for telling people about Toronto and its past. For more information, see: https://torontofamilyhistory.org/learn/torontohistory-lecture/

The Toronto History Lecture is a project of the Toronto Branch of the Ontario Genealogical Society.

For information about past Toronto History Lecture topics and speakers, please click here to visit our website.

Feature Image: [Toronto, Ont.] Toronto Fire. 22 April 1904. Credit: Toronto (Ont.) Records & Archives Division / Library and Archives Canada / PA-055338.