Established 1998

Brampton Historical Society

PAMA Archives- Archives Tour - Christmas in Peel On December 4th, 2025, members of BHS braved a particularly cold night to attend a unique tour of the Region of Peel Archives and vault located at PAMA on Wellington St. Our tour guides were Archivists Kyle Neill and Jacob Keszei. The theme of our tour was Christmas in Peel. Kyle presented a wonderful sample from the Archive collection. Some of the items shown to the group were: Christmas family pictures from glass plate negatives to pictures in the 1940s, novelty Christmas cards from early 20th century, photo Christmas cards from Williams Perkins Bull, and a child’s letter to Santa from the Benares family. Kyle also provided the background stories to the displayed items and the people who provided the artifacts. The history of the Dapper Cat, a treasured Christmas postcard from 1910 and fondly regarded as the Archive posterchild, was just one of those funny stories. Within the vault, Kyle showed a couple of vintage maps of Brampton. The 1980s promotional map of commercial businesses in Brampton was popular amongst the attendees. Jacob provided quick tours of the PAMA galleries and the jail and answered our questions about the Archives work. Currently, the majority of the Archives are composed of paper documents such as cards, letters, maps, documents, and photographs. When asked about the impact of digital media on the important work of the Archives, Jacob pointed out that this presents the most challenging issue for all archivists. The reason is the rapid change in technology. Generally, technology changes about every ten years. As a result, software becomes obsolete (and no longer available) and any data/documents created and stored with this same software may be lost. Indeed, a complex problem. Kyle and Jacob advised our members that the Region of Peel Archives has an extensive (and growing) collection of artifacts. This vault is one of several locations used by the Archives team. Most importantly, the Archives’ records are available to the public by appointment. We are fortunate to have such a great resource in our community. A good time was had by all. Many Thanks to Kyle & Jacob!

Past Events

2019 Annual BHS Bus Trip to Guelph

​​Places visited:  Guelph Museum, John McCrae House and local bus tour around Guelph

2018 Annual BHS Bus Trip to Cobourg and Bowmanville

All Aboard - The Railways of Peel

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 On July 26th, 2025, 25 BHS members enjoyed a private tour of the PAMA exhibition "All Aboard - The Railways of Peel".  The tour was led by Dr. Thomas F. McIIwraith, retired Professor of Historical Geography at the University of Toronto at Mississauga.  Dr. McIIwraith is a railway enthusiast who researches the history of railroad construction and its impact on society. He is one of the historians who partnered with PAMA to put this wonderful exhibit together.  In his introduction to our tour, Dr. McIIwraith described the importance of the railways to successfully move people and goods in the nineteenth century when road travel was too slow and impractical.  Interestingly, he pointed out that while the use of the railroads declined after WW2,  once again interest and investment in railroads are increasing as a solution to escalating congestion on today's roads.