Free Lecture: Early Years of the TTS: Context, Founding & Mission
Sunday, June 7, 2026, In-person & live on Zoom
Lecture begins at 7:30 PM | Doors open at 7:00 PM
Join us for an evening with historian and author Gillian McCann Ph.D as she takes us back to the remarkable origins of the Toronto Theosophical Society.
Toronto's Religious & Intellectual Climate (1890s)
What did Toronto look like spiritually and culturally at the close of the nineteenth century? This was a city on the edge of something new, where certain educated Torontonians were hungry for spiritual frameworks that reached beyond conventional religion, drawn toward questions of consciousness, the nature of reality, and the deeper currents of human existence. It was precisely this moment that made Toronto ripe for Theosophy to take root.
The Founding & Early Membership (1891)
Who were the people who came together to found the TTS, and what brought them into the same room? Gillian will explore the backgrounds, professions, and aspirations of the founding members — what they were seeking spiritually, intellectually, and socially — and what the early life and culture of the lodge actually looked like.
This lecture draws on Gillian's book Vanguard of the New Age: The Toronto Theosophical Society 1891–1945, for which she was granted full access to the TTS archive.
About Gillian McCann, Ph.D
Gillian McCann is a scholar of religion whose work focuses on New Religious Movements, the intersection of Eastern and Western spiritual thought, and the history of alternative spiritual communities in North America. She holds a doctorate in Religious Studies from the University of Toronto and teaches at Nipissing University in North Bay, Canada.
Her research into the Toronto Theosophical Society brought her to the TTS archive, where she was given full access — research that became the foundation for her book Vanguard of the New Age: The Toronto Theosophical Society 1891–1945.
Zoom link: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/88633355986?pwd=1ZtLX5bjCYWLWy5QTC3bjjOd9QLUG4.1
In-person: Toronto Theosophical Society, 792 Glencairn Ave, Toronto
Free and open to all. Newcomers warmly welcome.
Event Venue
Toronto Theosophical Society, 792 Glencairn Ave, North York, ON M6B 2A3, Canada, Toronto
CAD 0.00
