RHSC - Ottawa Valley Branch / SRHC - Section Vallée de l'Outaouais

09/26/2026

: In celebration of Ottawa's 200th anniversary this weekend, we highlight the city’s coat of arms which features an astrolabe in the shield. The astrolabe is an ancient astronomical instrument that served as a star chart and model of the sky.

:Ottawa célèbre son 200e anniversaire cette fin de semaine. Pour l’occasion, nous mettons en vedette les armoiries de la ville, dont l’écu arbore un astrolabe. L’astrolabe est un ancien instrument astronomique qui servait autrefois à s’orienter grâce aux astres.

City of Ottawa / Ville d'Ottawa
Vol. IV, p. 113
Creator / Créateur: English Kings of Arms
Painter / Artiste-peintre: Cathy Bursey-Sabourin
Calligrapher / Calligraphe: Nancy Ellis

https://www.gg.ca/en/heraldry/public-register/project/213
https://www.gg.ca/fr/heraldique/registre-public/projet/213

09/03/2026

08/12/2026

07/15/2026

06/24/2026

NEW ACQUISITION ALERT! 🍽🏥

The Bytown Museum recently acquired this dish from the former Strathcona Hospital.

Ottawa’s Strathcona Hospital opened in 1903 and closed in 1953. It was located in Sandy Hill, where the Sandringham Apartments are located today. It was constructed as an isolation hospital to treat contagious diseases such as diphtheria and scarlet fever.

In the 1950s, the Strathcona Hospital became one of six designated treatment centres for Polio in Ontario, treating patients from Pembrooke to Morrisburg. The hospital closed in 1953 when a new isolation facility opened at the Ottawa Civic Hospital (the East Lawn Pavillion).

[Bytown Museum, 2026.3.1]