Family making a shore dinner on Stony Lake. Mother, Father, and two little girls around fire in the foreground. August 1951. Photo by Chris Lund. National Film Board of Canada. Photothèque / Library and Archives Canada. 4312118 Copyright expired.
The latest in blog posts, news, and podcasts from the world of Canadian history.
Missed last week’s roundup? Check it out here.
- The Saskatchewan History and Folklore Society has just relaunched their website! And I think it looks fantastic. These are the folks behind Folklore
- Check out this great Twitter Essay by Martin Heavy Head (@mheavyhead) about Heavy Head, the last true Sundancer in his community.
- And later in the week, he followed this up with another Twitter Essay on the history of the Blackfoot People.
- Last week’s most commonly used words in #envhist, according to Jessica DeWitt, were: “Smith,” “emails,” and “campaign.”
- So there might have been a zip line at Wreck Beach at one point during the construction of the UBC campus.
- The Archives of Ontario have just acquired more than 2 million photographs from The Globe and Mail.
- For the past couple of weeks, the Historical Recipes blog has been hosting a Recipe Conference online! As part of the conference, a number of researchers made projects describing their work, including UNB’s Early Modern Maritime Recipes project. Check out this video, where they talk about a Gingerbread Cake recipe from the records of the Fredericton Loyalist settler, Edward Winslow. I’m so nerding out right now.
- Paula Dumas is back this week with another blog post looking at the Gilchrist-Shearer letters. In this post, she looks at depictions of farming and the land.
- Robyn Lacy talks about her preparations for this summer’s excavation at Ferryland, site of some of the first European settlers in Newfoundland. I can’t wait to see what she finds.
- LAC takes a look at The Centennial Play, a production co-written by a number of prominent Canadian writers, including Robertson Davies, for the Centennial, and its holdings on the subject
- This week on Unwritten Histories, we had a special guest post from Claire Campbell, about the challenges and joys of starting a new project, and what we can learn from pre-schoolers.
- Rebecca Beausaert has a new post on Active History, about WW1 autograph quilts. In this post, Beausaert discusses quilts as historical texts about rural communities and commemoration. It’s absolutely beautiful. And I’m not just saying that because I make quilts myself. Also, this will be familiar to anyone who read and loved Rilla of Ingleside as much as I did.
- Beyond Borders is off until September! Where will I get my transnational Canadian history fix? But it does look like they have some exciting plans coming up in the fall!
- Don’t forget to check out The Transect, a podcast all about archaeology in BC!
- The Acadian Museum has posted about two objects in their collection this week:
- First they showcased a câline, a small cap that was part of the traditional costumes of Acadians.
- And then they showcased this composing stick, which was used to set type in early printing presses.
- This week on NiCHE, Mathieu Arsenault has written another CHESS 2017 reflection. In this post, Arsenault reflects on the interrelated nature of Indigenous language, culture, and the land.
- Also on Active History this week is a blog post by Claire L. Halstead about the launch of her new project, Heart of Halifax Memory Project, collecting the memories of people who have experienced the Halifax Public Gardens. She also talks a bit about some of her early submissions.
- In honour of Canada150, 14 different national, provincial, and territorial archives have brought together 150 images and stories in a new online exhibit that tell the collective story of Canada’s past.
- This week, Instantanés looks at the initiatives at the heritage inventory that took place in Quebec during the 1970s, which also greatly expanded contemporary notions about what was worth preserving. They have also included several of the photographs from the inventory, showing absolutely gorgeous buildings that have now largely disappeared.
- The Vimy Foundation has just released the first few colourized WW1 images that will be part of their First World War in Colour Project. I just love colourized images.
- Zachary Tingley has written the latest post from the Atlantic Loyalist Connections blog, about the politics of the Loyalists and the need for more research in this area.
- In the latest blog post from the Nova Scotia Archives, guest blogger Michelle Boychuk talks about her experiences working on the new Community Albums Project.
- Krista McCracken has posted important information on the TRC Task Force Survey on Reconciliation Action and Awareness in Canadian Archives. The survey is open to anyone in the field of archives, and can be filled out until July 21st.
- You can now access BC Studies issues from 1968 to 2014 online for free!
- The latest Flickr album from LAC is all about moose. No, I did not make that up. Check out the pictures themselves here.
- Poor Olivar Asselin was hospitalized for trench fever!
- The latest guest curator for LAC’s Who Do We Think We Are series is Jeff Thomas. Thomas, who is an Iroquois artist, talks about historical and more recent representations of Indigenous peoples in North America.
- Samantha Cutrara has the fourth and final post in her series on Active History about historical representations of Canada in children’s books. This post looks at how children’s books have told the story of confederation. She concludes by making a very important point:
- “Canadian history is often perceived as dull, but I argue that Canada’s history has been made dull in order to obfuscate the diversity of experiences that were legislatively supposed to be outside the experience of the newly confederated Canada. […] Thus, in order to move forward with the stories we tell about Canada, we need to demonstrate the connections among events and experiences in ways that rewrite our histories to acknowledge and recognize that conflict and contestation have been, and are, part of the Canadian experience. And that this recognition can build a stronger foundation for Canada to stand on, not a weaker one.”
- Claire Kreuger offers some important suggestions about how we can make Blanket Exercises even more impactful for settler Canadians.
- Bill Waiser’s latest blog post looks at Bobby Grimby. Grimby was a noted Saskatchewan musician who also composed the song, “CA-NA-DA”.
- Christopher Ryan is back this week with a new blog post about the rise and fall of the S. S. Kresge store on Coxwell in Toronto.
- In her latest blog post for the Canadian Museum of History blog, Éliane Laberge interviewed David Morrison about his career and his work on the new Canadian History Hall.
- Also this week from LAC is their latest podcast episode, looking back on fifteen years of Project Naming.
- The Textile Museum of Canada has posted this really neat image of a mid-century souvenir pillow!
- The Vancouver as It Was blog tackles the mystery behind this fascinating image from a convention of the BC Hotel Association, likely in 1949.
- In more hotel news, this week, the Heritage Winnipeg blog profiles the Merchant’s Hotel. They look specifically at the history of the building itself, first constructed by Robert Steinman in 1913.
- And they have also launched a new feature on their website with resources for new researchers!
- There are two announcements from Histoire Engagée this week! The blog said good bye to long-time editor Philippe Volpé, and hello to a new editor, Adèle Clapperton-Richard!
- The latest biography from the DCB is for Alfred Fitzpatrick, a Presbyterian minister who established what eventually became Frontier College.
- Check out this preview of the upcoming workshop on transnational Leftism from the Wilson Institute!
- This is only sort-of historical, but check out this new Twitter essay from Joanne Hammond about white privilege and speaking about Indigenous history in a public forum.
- The Calgary Gay History Project takes a look back at the A Woman’s Place Bookstore, a lesbian bookstore that was a centre for the community in the 1980s and 1990s.
- Mica Jorgenson has published a new piece on The Conversation, about the history of silicosis in Canada, and the ongoing struggle that many former miners face when seeking redress.
- Did you attend Expo 67? McGill Library wants to hear from you!
- Maximilian C. Forte, writing for the Zero Anthropology blog, takes a look back at the history of anthropology in Canada and the lessons that can be learned from it.
- This week the Acadiensis blog has reposted an excerpt from Donald Wright’s introduction to a series of essays from the journal, called “Past and Present,” looking at the impact of confederation. Wright’s piece considers the concept of celebration, and the full piece is in the latest journal issue.
- Chris Dummitt has written a guest blog for the McGill-Queen’s Press blog about the origins of his latest book on Mackenzie King.
- The Alberta Culture and Tourism blog has a very short piece about the life and work of Stephan G. Stephansson, also known as “the poet of the Rocky Mountains.”
- David Bellman has a fascinating new post from the McGill Library blog about Canadian typographical design and the work of Robert R. Reid. If you listen to the 99PI podcast, you’ll love this post.
- Apparently it’s archive newsletter season! Find out about the latest news from:
- The Quebec City Archives has just posted some great images of summer festivals in the city in the 1970s and 1980s.
- Katie-Marie McNeil reports on the most recent annual meeting of the Canadian Network on Humanitarian History, which was held at Congress in May.
- The latest blog post from the Archives of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Toronto looks at the early history of cinema in the city, including a list of some of the “approved” movies that would have been shown!
- There is highly suspicious evidence of a butter conspiracy going between the Dictionary of Canadian Biography’s Twitter feed and LAC’s blog. I remain on high alert.
- York will be premiering a Black Canadian Studies Certificate in the fall!
- Philip Mackintosh talks about his latest book, Newspaper City: Toronto’s Street Surfaces and the Liberal Press, 1860-1935, which makes the case that the Toronto Globe and the Toronto Daily Star were instrumental in paving the streets of the city.
- I always love seeing the “Great Ring of Canada.” I can’t decide if it’s pretty or hideous.
- Eve Lazarus looks at the “East Cordova Street Murder Factory.” Now imagine I said that in a smoky voice.
- Whistorical looks back on the 20-year-history of Whistler Secondary School.
- Canadian History in the News
- Michael Enright spoke with Ian McKay this week about Vimy Ridge.
- This article about a “fashion archaeologist” wasn’t click bait for Andrea. Nope. Not one bit. I totally want that dress.
- Check out this new Buzzfeed quiz: Do you Know What Indigenous Territory These 9 Canadian Cities are Built On?
- A very lucky couple in BC have found an amazing stash of Centennial memorabilia. This is a good reminder to grab as much Canada150 crap as you can, and stash it somewhere, since it will probably be really cool in another 50 years.
- And check out this look at the PEI Museum and Heritage Foundation’s collection of Centennial memorabilia while you’re at it.
- Mary Hynes spoke with Roxanne Dunbar Ortiz about the 15th century papal directives to “vanquish and subdue” Indigenous peoples in North America. As Dunbar Ortiz notes, these directives gave tacit permission to European colonizers to oppress Indigenous peoples from that point forward.
- Donya Ziaee profiles the Ogimaa Mikana Project, started by Susan Blight and Hayden King, and designed to be a reminder of the Indigenous history and present of Toronto.
- There seem to be quite a few new cool public history projects going on! Found out about one of them: The Chinatown History Windows project, dedicated to remembering and revitalizing Vancouver’s Chinatown and Chinese-Canadian community.
- And along similar lines, there is also a new public history initiative that has just started in Quebec City’s old port.
- You definitely need to check out this profile of Paulette Steeves, a Cree-Métis archaeologist from Canada who is working to rewrite the deep history of the Indigenous peoples in North America. The article examines how Steeves’ own history has shaped her work, and the manufactured history of Indigenous peoples in the Americas.
- In the end, Canada isn’t getting a national bird.
- The Vancouver Sun has picked up on a story that I mentioned in a previous roundup about the discovery of hair from an extinct woolly dog in a historical Coast Salish Blanket, and has also included some new details about the provenance of the blanket.
- Students at Ryerson are calling on the university to change its name, given the role that Egerton Ryerson played in the establishment of the residential school system.
- CBC spoke with Henry Yu about the important role that Hong King immigrants have played in Vancouver’s history. This especially resonated with me, given that I live in Richmond.
- And similarly, Christopher Cheung wrote for The Tyee about some of the earliest Chinese-Canadians to live in predominantly white Vancouver neighbourhoods.
- There is new evidence showing that that wild potatoes were being consumed in Utah around 10,000 years ago.
- A new article in Hakai magazine looks at the materials that the coastal peoples , including the Thule and the Inuvialuit, would have used to build their homes.
- In the ongoing fallout from the cuts at BAnQ, Le Devoir is reporting that the cuts have disproportionately affected the digitization programs at the archives.
- And meanwhile, BAnQ has just acquired 7,000 historic postcards depicting Montreal
- So apparently HGTV has a new series all about some of Canada’s historic homes. There went my weekend.
- A mysterious graveyard of lunchboxes from the late 19th and early 20th century has been found in a New Brunswick forest. Sounds pretty nefarious to me.
- Ryerson and Garth Drabinsky are battling it out over the fate of his archives.
- A time capsule from 1967 has just been opened in Calgary, in the presence of some of the people who were present when it was originally buried.
- TVO takes a look at some of the really cool work that the Toronto Ward Museum is undertaking to bring the community back into the light. I was fortunate enough to go on a walking tour organized by the Museum during the CHA, and it was amazing!
- Check out the amazing work being done by Shawn Jones, a Yukon archaeologist who is trying to salvage the history of the Gold Rush in Skagway, including some of the fascinating finds they’ve been making.
- CBC spoke with Linda Ambrose about her research into the history of women in the Christian Pentecostal movement in Canada.
- Amira Elghawaby and Hassam Munir look back at the long history of Muslims in Canada. My one criticism is that they date the first Muslim in Canada to 1854, but I would imagine that some of the enslaved Africans and African-Americans that were brought over in the 17th and 18th centuries were also, in fact, Muslim.
- The Toronto Métis Fiddler Quartet are using music to teach elementary school children about the history of residential schools in Canada.
- Eileen Delehanty Pearkes wrote for the Times Colonist about the history of the Columbia River Treaty and profound impact it had on the Upper Columbia River system.
- So this guy actually has a completely restored caboose from 1913 from the CN railway sitting in his backyard.
- Find out what Simon Thibault is doing to preserve Acadian cuisine.
- There is a new archaeological dig happening in Montreal aimed at learning more about the history of the Iroquoian people who lived in the area in the 16th century. Two parks in Outremont are already being dug up.
- Lynn Shaw is researching the history of labour in Canada through an examination of music. She is looking at songs from the labour movement, as well as work by Gordon Lightfoot and Stompin’ Tom Connors.
- Kate Taylor reflects on how our understanding and representation of Canadian history has changed through an examination of the new Canadian History Hall.
- This week also marks the 20th anniversary of the Plastimet Fire, the largest plastics fire in Canadian history, and one that had a significant impact on how we fight fires today.
- There is actually some (mostly) good repatriation news this week!
- The Haida were able to repatriate, at least temporarily, a mountain goat moon chest from the American Museum of Natural History, and are hoping that this will be the start of a new relationship between museums and Indigenous peoples. The loan was negotiated largely thanks to Nika Collinson,
- And a number of Chief Pîhtokahanapiwiyin’s (Poundmaker) belongings that were being held by the federal government have been returned to his community, again, temporarily.
- Ok, this couple has achieved maximum-Canadian-history-nerd status.
- Find out about the fantastic new project to create a land-based learning bush camp, under the partnership of the University of Alberta and the Tetlit Gwich’in of Fort McPherson, N.W.T.
- Afua Cooper was interviewed by Acey Rowe about how her childhood played a role in her work as an activist and a historian.
- Podcasters have “solved the mystery” of the “unnamed” highest peak in Saskatchewan. Only, as a number of people have pointed out on Twitter, it has likely always had a Indigenous name. Did anyone try asking any of the local Indigenous communities?
- Better Late Than Never
- Doug Saunders reminds us that Canada’s history was in fact much more diverse and complicated than most of us realize, in this article about Hawaiian Canadians and the “Buffalo” Canadians.
- Amendment: The article by Romeo Saganash that I included in last week’s roundup was plagiarized from Erica Violet Lee.
- Sofia Cutler has a great piece in Briarpatch about what has come to be called “the Midinette Spring,” when 5,000 mostly French-Canadian female garment workers went on strike in Montreal in 1937.
- Nunavut Tunngavik Incorporated spoke out against the ongoing Supreme Court battle to preserve the accounts of residential school survivors, even when they have not given permission.
- NDP MP Charlie Angus is calling for an investigation into the obstruction of the Justice department over its handling of the St. Anne’s residential school file.
- Calls for Papers
- The Centre for Quebec and French-Canadian Studies in London has issued a call for papers for an upcoming conference on “Language and Identity in Francophone Canada.” Abstracts are due December 1st, 2017.
That’s all for this week! I’m more than a little glad to see all of the Canada150 stuff winding down. 😉 I hope you enjoyed this latest roundup. If you did, please consider sharing it on the social media platform of your choice. And don’t forget to check back on Tuesday for a brand new blog post, featuring the return of Historians’ Histories! See you then!
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