Heritage Toronto's 'Plaque Fridays' Series Highlights City's Unseen History

Heritage Toronto is actively promoting engagement with the city's historical markers through its 'Plaque Fridays' social media campaign. This initiative features weekly short-form videos that spotlight individual plaques, delving into the history of their respective locations or commemorating newly installed markers. Hosted by Heritage Toronto's plaque co-ordinator, Meg Sutton, the videos aim to make historical information more accessible and engaging. A unique element of the series involves a person in a pigeon mask or a stuffed pigeon, adding a touch of humor to potentially serious historical subjects, which the team believes makes the content more absorbable for a contemporary audience.

The 'Plaque Fridays' series has become Heritage Toronto's most successful social media content to date. Videos highlighting the history of hand laundry businesses in Toronto's first Chinatown and the City Park Apartments, a significant site for the LGBTQ+ community's growth, have garnered significant viewership. These videos blend documentary elements with a casual explanatory style, incorporating archival photos and historical context.

This video project has led to increased community interaction with Heritage Toronto, including more applications for new plaques. The organization hopes to inspire residents to consider which untold stories deserve commemoration. The plaques program itself, which has been in existence since the 1970s, currently features over 900 markers across the city, with approximately 40 new plaques added annually. Heritage Toronto emphasizes that the program is application-based, allowing for the surfacing of previously unknown histories.

The process for creating a new plaque involves thorough research, drawing from archives and community oral histories to ensure accuracy and inclusivity. This information is then condensed into a concise, approximately 250-word summary written at an accessible reading level. The entire process, from research to the installation of the physical plaque, typically takes about six months.

Heritage Toronto's efforts to reach a younger demographic and those less familiar with the city's history have proven effective. The campaign not only raises awareness of the existing plaques but also encourages people to discover the history embedded in their everyday surroundings, reinforcing the idea that history is present in every part of the city.