Ontario Historical Society

What Ontario Historical Society does

The Ontario Historical Society (OHS), founded in 1888, is a non-profit corporation and registered Canadian charity (Charity Registration Number: 108091000 RR 0001) operating as a volunteer-governed umbrella body for Ontario's heritage community. Headquartered at the heritage-designated John McKenzie House (built 1913) in Willowdale, Ontario, OHS fulfills a provincial mandate to preserve, promote, and protect Ontario's history "from the grassroots to the scholarly," serving individual history enthusiasts, genealogists, educators, students, and a network of 350+ affiliated local historical societies, museums, libraries, and heritage organizations across the province. Its core offerings are programs and publications rather than technology products, including the peer-reviewed Ontario History Journal, the seasonal OHS Bulletin newsletter, the Ontario Heritage Directory & Map, an Awards Program established in 1967, a Cemetery Preservation Program with a Cemetery Defence Fund, an Accessible Heritage Program, and supporting educational and digital services such as webinars, podcasts, an ebook store, and an elibrary.

OHS operates a community-led go-to-market model. Revenue is generated through three documented streams: recurring membership dues (individual and organizational), donations and charitable contributions including a Leave a Legacy planned-giving program, and per-attendee event fees (most events free or low-cost community programming, typically $6-$85). Distribution is built on a direct membership channel, an affiliated-society network that acts as a quasi-reseller layer extending provincial reach, and an Events Calendar platform that aggregates activity from member societies. Supporting operational services for members include incorporation assistance for new heritage societies, a group insurance program, and cemetery registration support. The organization is governed by an all-volunteer board of directors, with Daniel Dishaw serving as Executive Director and a small operational footprint (firmographics headcount listed at 6).

The underlying technology layer is intentionally lightweight: membership management is handled through the Wild Apricot SaaS platform, content is distributed through a WordPress-hosted website with standard newsletter and digital publishing infrastructure, and the Events Calendar supports Google Calendar, iCalendar, Outlook, and .ics subscriptions. There is no proprietary software product, no AI/ML capability disclosed, no API, and no mobile applications. Strategically, OHS's value is anchored in brand longevity (137 years of operation), the institutional trust associated with its registered-charity and provincial-mandate status, the embedded network of 350+ affiliated societies, and its content repository (journal, bulletin, heritage directory), rather than in technology differentiation.

Name

Ontario Historical Society

Legal name

The Ontario Historical Society

Website

https://ontariohistoricalsociety.ca

Company type

Private

Founded year

1888

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

The Ontario Historical Society is a volunteer-governed, registered Canadian charity founded in 1888 that preserves and promotes Ontario's heritage through publications, awards, educational programs, and a network of 350+ affiliated local historical societies and heritage organizations across the province.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Heritage Preservation Services

NAICS

Museums, Historical Sites, and Similar Institutions (712), Historical Sites (712120), Religious, Grantmaking, Civic, Professional, and Similar Organizations (813)

SIC

Services-Membership Organizations (8600), Miscellaneous Publishing (2741)

akta.pro primary industry

Museums & Heritage Sites (History, Science, Specialty) (BPAGAHAA)

akta.pro secondary industries

Historic Preservation & Landmarks Conservation (BPAGAHAE), Cultural Heritage Institutions (Archives, Historic Houses, Monuments Foundations) (THAJADAI), Cultural Centers & Community Cultural Organizations (BPAGAHAD)

Keywords

• Heritage preservation
• Historical society
• Scholarly publications
• Community heritage education
• Cemetery preservation

Headquarters

HQ city

Willowdale

HQ country

Canada

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B and B2C

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Technology or R&D, Others

Revenue model

1. Membership Dues: Annual membership fees supporting individual and organizational members, providing access to the OHS Bulletin in print and/or by email, email updates, announcements, and news.
2. Donations and Charitable Contributions: The organization is a registered charity (Charity Registration Number: 108091000 RR 0001) accepting donations, including legacy giving through its Leave a Legacy program.
3. Event Fees: Some events listed through the OHS platform charge admission fees (e.g., Emancipation Festival Speaker's Corner $25, Oakville Historical Society Yard Sale free, Historical Society of Ottawa tours $6.09/person).

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels3 records

Marketing channels6 records

Core offering

The Ontario Historical Society is a non-profit corporation and registered charity founded in 1888 that preserves, promotes, and protects Ontario's history. It delivers heritage services through peer-reviewed publications (Ontario History Journal, OHS Bulletin), an Awards Program (established 1967), the Ontario Heritage Directory & Map, cemetery preservation and registration services, incorporation and insurance support for historical societies, and educational programs (webinars, podcasts, Student Publishing Program, Accessible Heritage Program). It operates as a provincial umbrella organization connecting 350+ affiliated historical societies and individual members.

Product overview

The Ontario Historical Society operates as a non-profit charitable organization (founded 1888) with a network of 350+ affiliated societies. Its offerings are primarily programs and publications rather than a unified technology product. The core offerings include the Ontario History Journal (peer-reviewed scholarly publication), the OHS Bulletin (official newsletter), the Ontario Heritage Directory & Map ( searchable resource), an Awards Program honoring heritage contributors, an Ebook Store for digital publications, and an Events Calendar platform. Additional services include the Member Dashboard (powered by Wild Apricot), Podcasts, Webinars, Student Publishing Program, Cemetery Preservation Program, and Accessible Heritage Program. The society functions as an umbrella organization for historical societies across Ontario rather than as a technology company selling software products.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Ontario History Journal

Named customers2 records

Segments3 records

Ideal customer profiles2 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Partnerships

One partnership is on record.

• 350+ Affiliated SocietiescoreOthersThe OHS network includes 350+ affiliated societies, local historical organizations, museums, libraries, and heritage groups across Ontario. These societies maintain individual memberships with OHS and benefit from incorporation services, insurance programs, cemetery preservation support, and event promotion through the OHS platform. The relationship is mutual as affiliated societies gain access to OHS resources while expanding OHS's provincial reach.

Scale indicators3 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights6 records

Direct peers

• York Pioneer and Historical Society: One of Ontario's longest-running local historical societies, founded 1869, focused on early Ontario settlement history. Operates as a volunteer membership society inside OHS's affiliate network with directly comparable community-heritage programming.
• British Columbia Historical Federation: British Columbia's provincial historical federation, performing parallel advocacy, publication, award, and educational functions for BC's heritage community — a near-direct provincial counterpart to OHS.
• Heritage Canada Foundation: A national heritage advocacy and conservation nonprofit supporting heritage places and practitioners across Canada. Comparable as a membership-driven heritage charity, but with broader national scope than OHS's provincial mandate.
• Manitoba Historical Society: Manitoba's provincial historical society, founded 1879, operating as a non-profit membership organization that publishes peer-reviewed history journals, recognizes heritage contributors, and supports a network of local affiliates — structurally and functionally analogous to OHS at the provincial level.
• Historical Society of Alberta: Alberta's provincial historical society publishing the Alberta History journal, recognizing heritage contributions through awards, and supporting local affiliates — directly comparable to OHS's provincial mission and program mix.

Broad incumbents

• Library and Archives Canada: Canada's national library and archives institution, stewarding the country's documentary heritage and serving historical researchers and the public — broadly comparable in archival stewardship and public access, but at federal-institution scale and resourcing.
• Canadian Museum of History: Canada's national museum of human history, presenting Canadian heritage through exhibitions and educational programming. Comparable as a heritage-interpretation institution serving the public, but at vastly larger federally-funded scale than OHS.
• Ontario Heritage Trust: A provincial agency operating 260+ heritage properties across Ontario and running province-wide conservation programs. Comparable on heritage-preservation mission, but functions as a state-funded portfolio operator rather than a volunteer membership society.

Emerging players

• Association for Preservation Technology International: An international membership organization advancing preservation technology for historic environments. Comparable as a heritage-practitioner membership body, with overlapping cemetery-preservation and stewardship concerns, though serving the built-heritage niche specifically.
• Champlain Society: A scholarly society founded 1905 that publishes primary-source documents on Canadian history. Comparable on the scholarly-publication dimension of OHS's Ontario History journal, though with a narrower documentary-editing focus.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/ontario-historical-society

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles1 record

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Ontario Historical Society