Hello good people of the internet!

Where to begin. How about this: I've never blogged before, and seeing the letters pop up on this little white screen kind of makes me feel like Dougie Howser, where he reflect on what he's learned at the end of each episode. However, as you have likely figured out (my observant reader), I am not Dougie Howser, nor Neil Patrick Harris, but Tim O'Grady, currently a student in the Public History MA program offered at the University of Western Ontario.



I have always loved history and museums, and some of my best memories growing up revolve around trips to Calgary's Glenbow Museum and the city's large living history museum Heritage Park.



I have been working and volunteering in museums and archives for the past several years, including stints at the Lougheed House, a national historic site in Calgary, where I acted as a costumed interpreter and spent a summer in the archives; the Lock 3 Museum in St. Catharine's where I assisted in the collections department cataloguing textiles; and for the past three years at Heritage Collaborative Inc., an Edmonton-based consulting firm specializing in heritage planning.



I am really excited to begin my studies in public history at Western. It is going to be a big change from Edmonton, where I left my beautiful wife and terribly-behaved (but really cute) dog Mika, but I am ready for the challenge.