The Pinhey’s Point Foundation began 2020 with great expectations for marking the 200th anniversary of Hamnett Pinhey’s arrival in Canada and the 40th anniversary of the Foundation. We were helping Pinhey descendants organize a family reunion and were hard at work on special bicentenary exhibits.
While the reunion was postponed, we continued to work on the exhibits. One is a joint project with our friends at City of Ottawa Archives highlighting the earliest books in our respective collections, both with a Pinhey provenance, and the lives of the ancestors who signed the flyleaves and through whose hands they passed.
Lockdown time encouraged people to embark on housecleaning and sorting, resulting in an increased number of inquiries and artifact donations. Some very special heirlooms were donated by a descendant to mark the 200th, and we look forward to sharing them.
Our City partners opened the house in August/September under strict protocols. Our hats off to the staff who assisted visitors. We installed small additional exhibits prior to opening. In late September the site closed for necessary repairs, and we worked with our friends at the City to facilitate that. We have also been working with a designer to move the Foundation website to a WordPress platform, and are looking for someone willing to help us post updates periodically once it is up and running.
We look forward to welcoming visitors back to the site when conditions permit!
Photo: Welcoming a new addition to the Pinhey’s Point Foundation Family. Photo: © Pinhey’s Point Foundation, 2020.