This ICA Icarette Model D camera belonged to University of Toronto Astronomer Clarence Augustus Chant in the 1920s

Victoria is a public historian working in Toronto, Canada. She is especially interested in the history of science in Canada and the material culture of science of the past and present–the things used in scientific contexts. Her PhD thesis explored the material cultures of university departments of physics in Canada, c. 1890-1939 through their surviving collections of scientific equipment. Her work has a particular focus on the places of science, from local workshops and makers, to universities, to the arrange

In 2023-2024, Victoria was a Postdoctoral Fellow at Ingenium‘s Research Institute, conducting a project on the history of scientific and precision instrument makers in Canada. This resulted in a new database of historical makers and a website that traces that history and geography of scientific manufacturing across Canada from 1800 to 2000: Precision Instrument Culture in Canada – La Culture d’Instruments de Precision en Canada.

Victoria currently works as a public historian in Toronto. She brings the public up close with the city’s objects, places and stories, especially focusing on the history of science and technology in the city.

Since 2017, she has been involved with the University of Toronto Scientific Instruments Collection (UTSIC). UTSIC collects, conserves and investigates the scientific material culture of the University of Toronto, from galvanometers to goggles. Currently, Victoria’s work with the collection surrounds the historical artifacts held by the David A. Dunlap Department of Astronomy and Astrophysics’, where she is the current Historian in Residence.

Victoria is also interested in the history of astronomy, the history of public science and science museums, women in science, and historical scientific imagery.

See Victoria’s selected CV.