Back in 2011, I was brainstorming ideas for future projects with local historian Stephen Otto. He was intrigued by what the BBC and
New York Times had both published at the time: lists of important, historic objects that helped define a place. We surmised that compiling a list for Toronto would be an entertaining and revealing project.
Five years later, and with over 300 objects identified with the help of over 50 local know-it-alls, we had our list:
This deep dive into finding the objects led me to Wayne Reeves, the Chief Curator of the City of Toronto’s museum collections. The long hours in which Wayne allowed me to photograph these items at the City’s warehouse storage facilities gave me great insight into the variety and vast amount of objects within the collection (over 150,000!). But I was more than just curious about these products; I was completely smitten by them.
why not come over here and do this. msnbc s sarah dallof is in columbia. more threats of flooding there with rivers cresting and also evacuations. what else are you seeing? reporter: well, this was one of the hardest hit areas in the peak of that flooding. you can tell because there s that orange x on the door behind me. that means a task force had to come through here and clear the house, make sure nobody was trapped inside. the good news is, the water has receded but now look at this. this is what homeowners are now facing, a lifetime of possessions, of memories, of everything they worked for now on their front lawn. you have everything from things that can be easiily replaced lie a washing machine but you have important heirloom pieces that have been handed down. this homeowner tells me everything happened so quickly, they didn t even have time to grab any family photos. those are now swept away with the water. they are now rinsing everything off here trying to see wha