WMS-US VIRTUAL EVENT: Arts and Crafts Architecture across America: A book talk with Maureen Meister

 

WMS-US VIRTUAL EVENT: Arts and Crafts Architecture across America: A book talk with Maureen Meister

Friday January 30 2026, 12:30–1:30 pm Eastern Time on Zoom

Join us for a talk about Maureen Meister's exciting new book, Arts and Crafts Architecture across America, which has recently been published by Yale University Press.

This is a wonderful opportunity to learn about Maureen's research. After the talk there will be time for questions and discussion.

Maureen Meister, PhD, has published extensively on topics related to the Arts and Crafts movement and American architects associated with it. She has taught at Boston area universities including Tufts, Lesley, and Northeastern. She's a former board member of the William Morris Society in the United States.

WMSC Holiday Party 2025!

William Morris Society of Canada
Holiday Party

Tuesday, December 16, 2025, 6 pm
Faculty Club, University of Toronto, 41 Willcocks St.

 

This year we will return to a traditional BUFFET setting! There will be many delicious dishes on offer (see attached menu) from which you will choose your own festive meal, including turkey, striploin, salmon, and gluten free and vegan options. Table seats will not be assigned; come early and sit with your friends, or get to know someone new…we Morrisians are an amiable sort! Readings and prizes will add to a fun evening.

The dinner cost is $89 for members, which includes a three-course meal, tea/coffee, tax and tip. Non-member guests are welcome to attend for $99 per person. A bartending service will be on hand for wine and beer, at an additional cost (credit or debit only).

Dinner will start at 6 p.m. but the room will be available from 5:15 p.m. for mingling.

You can register at https://forms.gle/zDuBugt8wJauiScz8 and pay via PayPal at https://www.paypal.com/ncp/payment/RNDF65XZUW3PL. You'll notice the drop down menu has options to pay for 1 or 2 members, 1 member and 1 guest, etc.  Please register and pay by November 28, 2025.

Given the mail disruptions this year, we recommend that you pay via PayPal.

 

WMSC Zoom Event: Old City Hall film screening

 

Old City Hall - Film Screening

November 19, 2025, Time: 7:00 PM EDT

Members only Zoom Event

 

Old City Hall, Toronto (1901) - City of Toronto Archives (Fonds 1231, Item 311)
 

 

Toronto’s Old City Hall opened in 1899 and has had two very distinct lives. It started as a combined city hall and courthouse but was mostly thought of as The City Hall. After City politicians and administrators moved to Viljo Revel’s futuristic New City Hall in 1965, OCH continued as a Courthouse only, the biggest in the country. It is now shut and awaits a decision from the City as to its future.

 

OCH has already had two near-death experiences: from the downtown Toronto fire of 1904, and clearance for the construction of The Eaton Centre in the 1960’s. The film makes clear what a spectacular building it is and why it is worth preserving. 

The film is the story of the building’s architect, architecture and place in history as the centre of civic life of Toronto for 66 years. It includes wonderful footage of the interior including murals, stained glass, woodwork and courtrooms. It is hoped the film will be a catalyst for a discussion of the future of the building.

 

 

Michael Kainer practiced law in Toronto until his retirement and is a self-taught filmmaker. He has co-produced two documentary shorts and five feature length films. All have Toronto historical and cultural themes. The WMSC showed Michael's film “Not just an Island: A History of the Toronto Island” in 2022. Michael has worked extensively in the Toronto arts and non-profit communities both as a lawyer and volunteer. 

2025 AGM and Lecture: Conserving Architectural Heritage

 Annual General Meeting and Lecture: Conserving Architectural Heritage

Presentation by Diane Chin
Architectural Conservancy of Ontario

Monday, October 6, 2025
7:00 pm EDT

Oakham Lounge at Oakham House
Toronto Metropolitan University
63 Gould Street
Toronto M5B 1E9

Accessible entrance
55 Gould Street
(Dundas subway station)

In person and via Zoom

Inspired by William Morris himself, members of our Society are deeply interested in protecting architectural heritage. Within Ontario, the Architectural Conservancy of Ontario (ACO) helps conserve heritage assets across the province through its advocacy and work with property owners, conservators, other architects and designers.
Diane Chin, Past Chair of the Board of Governors, will speak about the ACO’s history, programs and partnerships. The largest and oldest heritage organization in Ontario, the ACO recently won a Governor's Award from the National Trust of Canada for its advocacy work.

Morris Mania Zoom Tour

 

Hadrian Garrard, Director of the William Morris Gallery in London and curator of ‘Morris Mania’ will speak to us about the Gallery’s recent exhibition.

William Morris (1834-96) has gone viral. Today, we find his infinitely-reproduced botanical patterns on shower curtains, phone cases, on film and TV, and in all corners of our homes, dentist waiting rooms and shopping centres. Over 125 years since his death, Morris’s work continues to grow in popularity. His patterns are now affordable, well-loved and available to people across the globe, something he failed to achieve in his lifetime. However, this has been achieved in the context of mass- production, computer-generated design, global capitalism and environmental crisis. Morris Mania considers the ongoing impact of Britain’s most iconic designer in our increasingly cluttered and commodified world.

Objects from the William Morris Gallery and private and public international collections include a ‘Rose’ patterned seat from the 1980s British Nuclear Submarine Fleet, ‘Willow’ pattern Nike trainers, and Loewe fashion inspired by Morris’s designs. The recent exhibition also featured Morris-patterned objects donated by the public. Morris-patterned donations to date include chopsticks, a waving cat from Japan, hand-embroidered wedding jackets, Wellington boots and an array of mugs and biscuit tins.

✨️WMSC Members only!✨️

WMSC Trip: Port Perry

 Fall Excursion: Port Perry Area Craft & Heritage Tour

Saturday October 4, 2025.

Port Perry

Leaskdale Mance, the home of author Lucy Maud
Montgomery from 1911 to 1926.

Leaskdale National Historic Church

Mary Philpott: Barn Owl

Mary Philpott: Five for Silver

 

Departure at 8:30 am from 789 Yonge St
(Toronto Reference Library)
Return circa 6 pm

 

Join our early fall day trip to the charming and historic town of Port Perry on the southern tip of Lake Scugog, northeast of Toronto. 

Following our arrival in the area, we will visit the home and studio of ceramics artist Mary Philpott.

Mary Philpott is a full-time craft artist whose practice encompasses sculptural ceramics and bespoke
tile design. She is a graduate of the School of Craft and Design, Sheridan College (Ceramics) the University of Guelph (Art History, Medieval Studies) and McMaster University (Archeology, Anthropology). Mary has worked as an artist in residence at Harbourfront Studios (Toronto) and Air Vallauris (France). Her sculptures and tile work have been exhibited, collected and published internationally, and are in many private and public art collections.

“My Tilework is inspired by the landscape, flora and fauna of England and France, the colours of Provence and is mixed with the aesthetics of William Morris and the English Arts & Crafts Movement. The work that I make also reflects my interest in the lives and natural beauty of animals, both domesticated and wild. My rendering of these reflect an historical reference to nineteenth century children’s book illustrations, as well as medieval manuscript illuminations.”

~

Continuing on, we will have lunch together then begin our tour of Port Perry’s Downtown Heritage
Conservation District and surrounding area with the President of the Lake Scugog Historical Society. 

Before our return to Toronto later in the afternoon, we will travel to nearby Uxbridge for a tour and tea at Leaskdale Mance, the home of author Lucy Maud Montgomery from 1911 to 1926.

The Journal of William Morris Studies (UK) - Special Issue on Design - Call for Papers

 

 

The Journal of William Morris Studies (UK) - Special Issue on Design - Call for Papers

• How did Morris’s design ideas and practice compare with those of his contemporaries?
• What fields best exemplify Morris’s enduring influence, or lack of influence, textiles, book
design, domestic interiors, etc?
• How have changes in consumer taste, and academic interest, affected the assessment or
appreciation of Morris?
• Why did Morris’s designs, and the designs of those who worked for him, create economic
and cultural value, social and personal meaning, in his time and ours?
• What do Morris artefacts mean to the purchaser/possessor?
• To what extent have Morris & Co designs, and products, been subsumed within capitalist
market processes? Or, do they somehow stand outside?
• What were Morris’s views on workplace and job design and does this relate to the current
revival of interest in craft design and production?
• What is Morris’s place in global design history?
• What has Morris to say to those involved in sustainable design?


If you have a proposal and would like to run it by the editor, John Blewitt, please send an email to
journal@williammorrissociety.org

Articles should be in the region of 5000-6000 words.
Copy deadline is September 22, 2025. Guidelines for contributors can be found at: https://williammorrissociety.org/guidelines-for-contributors/