by Amy Zoethout | Dec 8, 2025
“Once you overcome the one inch tall barrier of subtitles, you will be introduced to so many more amazing films” -Director Bong Joon Ho
Multilingual Movie Nights celebrate the many languages spoken in Huron County with a film and free refreshments!
All films to be screened in their original language(s) with English subtitles. Multilingual Movie Nights are the third Thursday of each month in the museum theatre this winter and spring! Movies are screened with a light snack and a hot or cold drink. Please RSVP to help us know the quantities of snacks needed! No purchase is required beforehand. Upon arrival, movie nights are included with paying regular admission to the museum, free for museum members, or free/by-donation with your Huron County Library card. Walk-ins are still welcome as capacity allows!
Snacks served at 6:45 p.m. Movie to begin promptly at 7 p.m. Refreshments available while they last! Please note that films may not be appropriate for all audiences. A rating has been provided when possible. Films should be assumed to be for a mature audience.
Jan. 15: In the Fire of War (2024) – Two teenagers are forced to take control of their own destiny amid the chaos of New Zealand’s first land wars in 1864.
- Runtime: 1 hr, 55 minutes
- Country: New Zealand
- Language(s): Māori
- Rated: not rated
Feb. 19: Sir (2018) – A Mumbai man falls in love with his house help, a widow with the dream of becoming a tailor.
- Runtime: 1 hr, 39 minutes
- Country: India
- Language(s): Hindi & English
- Rated: PG
March 19: Perro Bomba (2019) – Perro Steevens is a young Haitian immigrant living Chile. The stability of his life is disrupted when a childhood friend arrives.
- Runtime: 1 hr, 23 minutes.
- Country: Chile
- Language(s): Spanish
- Rated: unrated
April 16: Peak Everything / Amour Apocalypse (2025) – To help combat his eco-anxiety, kennel owner Adam orders a therapeutic solar lamp and falls in love with the woman at the other end of the technical support phone line.
- Runtime: 1 hr, 40 minutes
- Country: Canada
- Language(s): French
- Rated: 13+ (Quebec)
May 21: It was Just an Accident (2025) – An Azerbaijani auto mechanic, was once imprisoned by Iranian authorities, thinks he recognizes one of his former torturers.
- Runtime: 1 hr, 43 minutes
- Country: Iran
- Language(s): Persian (Farsi)
- Rated: PG
June 18: Rafiki (2018)
Despite a political rivalry between their families, love blossoms between close friends Kena and Ziki, and they are forced to choose between happiness and safety in a conservative society.
- Runtime: 1 hr, 22 minutes
- Country: Kenya
- Language(s): Swahili
- Rated: PG
by Amy Zoethout | Apr 12, 2023 | Archives, Blog, Collection highlights
“I shall have to take my chance amongst the rest. I have only once to die at any rate.” – excerpt from a letter written by Joseph Hodskinson, March 29, 1862
The American Civil War doesn’t usually come to mind when thinking about Huron County history, but a recent donation to the Huron County Archives reveals the devastating impact the war had on a Brussels family.
Joseph Hodskinson immigrated to Canada from Scotland around 1851 with his wife Margaret and daughter Celina. The family settled in the Brussels area where Joseph worked as a farmer before he joined the Civil War. It remains unknown why Joseph chose to leave his family in Canada to join the fight in America, but what is known is he would never return home.
The American Civil War was fought between the Union (the North) and the Confederacy (the South – formed by states that had seceded) from April 12, 1861 – May 26, 1865. According to Wikipedia, “the central cause of the war was the dispute over whether slavery would be permitted to expand into the western territories, leading to more slave states, or be prevented from doing so, which was widely believed would place slavery on a course of ultimate extinction.”
“We expect to go to Columbus and that will be a sure fight. There is no doubt but there will be a great number of lives lost on both sides.” – excerpt of a letter written by Hodskinson on Jan. 24, 1862
Between 1862 and 1863, Joseph wrote several letters home to Margaret and Celina, describing the horrors of war. In the first winter of the war, in January 1862, he shares the great deal of sickness that hit the soldiers, including measles, small pox and mumps. In a letter home on March 1862, he describes three days of fighting at the Battle of Fort Donelson and noted that “It is the providence of the Lord that I am amongst those that was saved on the 13th Feb….the morning after the battle the field was a fearful sight. You might almost walk on dead bodies for a long distance.” A letter home on June 12, 1862, reveals that “We only have about 300 men remaining out of 1000 since I joined the army.”
We are getting prisoners from them every day and they all say the Rebels are all starving for want of both clothes and bread and I think it is impossible for the war to last much longer.” – excerpt from a letter dated Jan. 2, 1863
The war would continue for two more years, but Joseph would not see the end of the war, nor would he make his way home to his family in Brussels. He died later that year.
After Joseph’s death, Margaret and Celina remained in the Brussels area. Celina married Thomas Ballantyne in the fall of 1862 and the couple made their home on the bank of the Maitland River in the spring of 1863. The home is pictured above with the family sitting on the front porch around 1892. Shown here, from left to right, are Jack Ballantyne, Thomas Ballantyne, Celina Ballantyne holding Bill Strachan, Margaret Hodskinson, Annie and Alex Strachan, and Jenny and Joe Ballantyne.
Celina and Thomas had a daughter named Annie who married Alexander Strachan in Brussels in 1889. The couple owned a dry goods store in the village.
The Huron County Museum would like to thank Ann Scott and Marion MacVannel for their recent donation of these letters and family photographs to the archival collection. Joseph was Ann’s three times great grandfather. If you are interested in learning more about our research services or making a donation to our collection, contact the Huron County Archives to arrange an appointment.
by Huron County Museum | Oct 5, 2022 | Blog
Brooklyn Wright, Huron County Museum assistant, spent time this summer working on the Henderson Photographic Collection and highlighting some of the stories and images from the collection.
Gordon Henderson was a Goderich-based photographer who produced black-and white photos using a variety of mediums, such as negatives, glass-plate negatives, and cellulose nitrate film. The Henderson Collection housed at the Huron County Museum contains more than 10,000 negatives and photographs taken by Mr. Henderson from the 1930s – 1970s. Included in the collection are class pictures, summer camp pictures, wedding pictures, advertising campaigns, pictures of local events, buildings, businesses, and much more.
While Blackstone’s Store is no longer in operation today, it stood on West Street just off the Goderich Square. The photographs shown above were taken by Mr. Henderson of the store’s window display in September, 1939.
References to Blackstone’s in The Signal, available online through the Digitized Newspaper Collection, date back to as early as 1908. At this point, Blackstone’s was a restaurant that served oysters, ice cream, and confectionaries. By 1930 it had expanded to sell furniture as well, and was known as Blackstone’s Furniture Exchange, as shown in the ad at right published in the Goderich Star in 1928. It was around this time that the owner, Harold Blackstone, christened West Street as ‘The Broadway of Goderich’, as shown in the newspaper clipping published in The Signal in 1930.
By the time Henderson took the above photographs in 1939, Blackstone’s was selling appliances and furniture, while they also continued to sell ice cream and other sweet treats. Take note of the War Bonds advertisement in the window! This photograph was taken just two weeks after the start of the Second World War. If you’re looking for a better view, you can see similar War Bonds advertisements in person at the Huron County Museum.
Blackstone’s continued to operate until at least 1980, known then as Blackstone’s Furniture, as can be seen from an advertisement published in the Village Squire.
SOURCES
- The Signal, 1908-12-3, Page 1
- The Signal, 1913-12-11, Page 2
- The Goderich Star, 1928-08-09, Page 8
- The Signal, 1930-9-4, Page 5.pdf
- The Goderich Signal-Star, 1939-1-26, Page 3
- Village Squire, 1980-11, Page 26
