Mae Akpayu (Arpajuk) Annanck, left, and Susie Etok Morgan, right] cleaning char outside at George River, Quebec. Between July 16 and August 9, 1960. Credit: Rosemary Gilliat Eaton / Library and Archives Canada / e010835788 ; Restrictions on use: Nil.
The latest in blog posts, news, and podcasts from the world of Canadian history.
Missed last week’s roundup? Check it out here.
Environmental History
- There are new revelations about why 1990s miners who developed neurological disorders after inhaling toxic aluminum dust did not receive compensation.
- The most commonly used words in #envhist last week, according to Jessica DeWitt, were: “Said,” “Pence,” and “Kiel.“
- Cristina Wood has written the latest CHESS 2018 reflection for NiCHE. In it, she discusses why an intimate knowledge of place is so important for understanding the past, with a particular focus on imperialism, science, technology, labour, and gender in a prairie landscape.
- So, a new analysis of sweet potato genes shows contact between Australasia and the Americas, 500 years before Columbus. And there is a cool map!
- This week on Unwritten Histories we had a special guest post by Pete Anderson about his new research project on Canadian soil scientists, in collaboration with Will Knight, Kristen Greet, Dave Howlett, and Xiaoyaun Geng.
Military History
- Alan Bowker has just premiered a new series on the Laurier Centre blog on how WW1 impacted the Stalker family, who belonged to the MacKay United Church in New Edinburgh (Ottawa). In his first post, Bowker looks at the history of the church itself.
- In case there is anyone left in this country who does not know about the Canadian connection to Winnie-the-Pooh, CBC put an article together for you.
- Check out this cool map from the Battle of the Plains of Abraham.
- The Globe and Mail explained how the remains of four Canadian WW1 soldiers were recently identified.
Archaeology
- Archaeologists are opening test pits at McBurney Park in Kingston, the site of the former Upper Burial Ground. Apparently there is some rule that says you can’t just dig up the remains of white people without archaeological investigations. Funny that.
- Forest fires in Alberta have led to the discovery of more than 250 Blackfoot camps that are around 300 years old, as well as a Depression-era work camp. What’s particularly interesting about the latter is that these camps were previously believed to be inhabited only by men, but there have been a number of artifacts found that suggest the presence of women and children.
- The Nova Scotia Museum has the final update on this season’s work at Fort Saint-Louis.
- There are more details on those 14thcentury Iroquoian artifacts that were recently found in Montreal.
- More than 50,000 artifacts have been found during the excavation of a former Catholic church near Quebec City.
- Find out about the neat discoveries made by archaeologists working on the site of the future Ancaster Memorial Arts Centre, including high treason from the War of 1812, and beer! Ok, it’s ginger beer, but surely that also counts. Says the girl who can’t drink.
- Find out how drones are helping archaeologists learn about the past on Newfoundland’s Northern Peninsula.
- Two more shipwrecks have heritage buoys in Lake Superior.
- Find out what archaeologists are learning at Glenbow Town, Alberta.
- The race is on to excavate the Cartier-Roberval site in Quebec City because it disappears.
History Education
- The 2,000 year old Indigenous village of Ye’yumnuts is set to become a place-based outdoor classroom.
Transnational History
- Retroactive reposted a blog post about a country grain elevator design that connected Alberta and Brazil in the 1970s.
Race, Ethnicity, and Immigration History
- Vice had a new article on current urban renewal projects in Ottawa. But as Maddie Knickerbocker pointed out, the article’s headline in particular ignored the long history of the eviction of people of colour and poor/working-class peoples in cities across the country.
- The UBC Digitizer’s blog shared some of the collections in their holdings related to Asian studies, including the experiences of people of Asian descent in Canada.
- August 1st was Emancipation Day!
- Our Digital World looked at the ways in which the holiday has been ignored or denigrated by white Ontarians over the past 180 years.
- Spacing Toronto looked back at how St. John’s Ward celebrated Emancipation Day from 1845 to 1860.
- This weekend marked the 100thanniversary of Toronto’s Anti-Greek Riots of 1918, where veterans attacked Greek residents and businesses.
- More here.
- Bashir Mohamed put together another great Twitter essay on Alberta minstrel shows in the 1930s.
- He also put together a really fantastic blog post with a fairly comprehensive list of official anti-Black racist place names in Canada, and what this says about how white Canadians remember Black Canadians.
- Check out some of the images currently on display in a current exhibit on Canadian Jewish weddings.
- Remember that church in North Buxton that was a stop on the Underground Railway that the landowner (the British Methodist Episcopal Church) is selling off? The city is suing.
- Find out about the history of Caribbean parades and festivals (Carnival, Caribana, Caribbean Days) in Toronto.
- The British Library’s American Collections blog looks at the history of migrant literature in Canada, which they have defined as material written by first or second-generation immigrants.
Indigenous History
- This great piece explores naming (specifically outsider-imposed names for Indigenous peoples) as an expression of colonial power.
- In more news that Indigenous peoples have been telling settlers for centuries, new research is showing that Indigenous peoples on the Plains (specifically the Blackfeet and their ancestors) actively managed the prairie landscape to maximize the efficiency of bison hunts.
- And in the same vein, there is new archaeological evidence (unfortunately from a grave) showing the existence of trade networks from the Carolinas to the Great Lakes spanning more than 4,000 years.
- Joanne Hammond explained why the term “first” should always be regarded with suspicion when used by settlers.
- Chelsea Vowel put together a great Twitter thread in response to the frequent request she gets for “myths and legends of Indigenous peoples” from teachers to use in classrooms.
- A Nunavut appeals court has ruled that survivors of Kivalliq Hall, in Rankin Inlet, are eligible for compensation as part of the Indian Residential School Settlement Agreement with the federal government. The school was in operation between 1985 and 1995.
- The Sealaska Heritage Institute is working to digitally preserve examples of Tlingit spruce-root basket weaving. This includes videos showing the entire process from beginning to end.
- Brenda Macdougall has written a new must-read piece on Shekon Neechie, on naming and renaming, commemoration, how history shapes our identities, and what a better future looks like.
- There is a new course at Qaggiavut where students from across Nunavut will learn traditional Inuit pisiit songs, which had been banned following the arrival of missionaries. The course will conclude with a concert, featuring the first public performance of Inuit pisiit songs in fifty years.
- This week marked the opening of the new Reclaiming Shingwauk Hall Exhibition, dedicated to sharing the stories of survivors who attended residential schools across the country. Krista McCracken was involved in the project, and was interviewed by CTV! What’s particularly important about this exhibit is that it was survivor-driven.
- You can find out more about Krista’s work on the project here.
- And Krista also put together a Twitter moment collecting all of the relevant media coverage and tweets.
- Molly Swain put together a greatTwitter essay on Métis organizer and activist, Jim Brady.
- The Canadian Museum of History shared an image of a 600-year-old beautiful ivory pendant that was found at an Inuit site on the Knud Peninsula.
New France/British North America
- LAC has a new blog post on the Franklin Expedition. However, please approach with caution. There is some really problematic language (like “All the men perished along the way, and it would be years before anyone would learn of their fate.”) that effectively erases Inuit from the narrative until the arrival of the Franklin searchers. There are also images of some human remains (bones).
- Ok, so I’ve been waffling about whether or not to include an article on BC Day that was recently published in Maclean’s. Considering the fact that a number of scholars that I admire and respect seemed to get heartburn after reading it, I decided against it. But I do recommend Maddie Knickerbocker’s epic takedown of it over on Twitter.
Political History
Social History
- Yvonne Demoskoff shared this beautiful dressing set that her father passed down to her.The set, designed for a baby and dating to around the late 1920s, contains a baby powder canister, a brush, and a powder puff. It is totally adorable.
- There are recent developments in Ian Mosby’s search for ketchup cake!
- Find out about Mike Commito’s upcoming book, Hockey 365: Daily Stories from the Ice.
- Adele Perry shared two fascinating newspaper clips on bathing on Twitter this week, here and here.
The History of Gender and Sexuality
- Find out about a new exhibit at the Canadian Museum of Nature in Ottawa, celebrating twenty Canadian women-identified scientists who challenged gender norms in their day.
- More here!
- CBC spoke with the head of this year’s Pride Parade in Vancouver, Ron Dutton, the creator of the BC Gay and Lesbian Archives, about his work. How cool is it that an archivist is heading a pride parade?
- Vancouver As It Was remembered the Vancouver Ladies Grass Hockey team, one of several women’s grass hockey teams that started near the beginning of the 20th century. Full props to those women playing hockey in full skirts.
- Lana Okerlund brought us the story of a female-owned bookstore in late 19th century New Westminster.
Local History
- The Whyte Museum of the Canadian Rockies took us on a tour of the Brett Sanitarium Hotel, first established in Banff in 1886.
- Do you know the history of the Royal St. John’s Regatta?
- Historic Nova Scotia looked back on the history of the Dartmouth Starr Manufacturing Company, which revolutionized ice skating in the nineteenth century.
- The Ryerson Archives and Special Collections looked back on the history of student government at their institution.
- Eve Lazarus has a guest post this week from Jason Vanderhill, on the art of Frits Jacobsen.
- Find out about a new documentary on the history of Lund, BC from the 1960s onwards. It appears to be mostly about Americans who moved there during this time period, and it’s unclear to what extent the documentary considers the Indigenous history of the area.
- Whistorical remembered the Boot Pub.
Digital and Public History
- Someone stole a coal miner’s lamp from a historic site in Banff National Park.
- LAC profiled their newly digitized Indigenous newspapers, the Ha-Shilth-Sa and the Windspeaker.
- Thanks to a team at the University of Toronto, Canada’s Parliamentary debates are online and searchable, back to 1901.
- The Yukon Native Language Centre is currently digitizing over 10,000 pages of material related to eight languages (Gwich’in, Han, Kaska, Northern Tutchone, Sothern Tutchone, Tagish, Tlingit, and Upper Tanana).
- Find out about updates to the Toronto Public Library’s Digital Archive.
- They have also shared some of the maps that are in that collection in a separate blog post.
- The online archive of the Daily Colonist/Times Colonist is now accessible from 1858 to 1970.
- The BC Archives has just finished upgrading their online collections search function.
- It seems like CBC’s archive might actually be saved, despite previous announcements that they were going to destroy the physical records after digitizing them.
- Lauren Markewicz has a new blog post where she reflected on a recent visit to Fort Walsh National Historic Site, and the messy history of the border. As part of the blog post, she explains why it is inappropriate to call Sitting Bull “American.”
Doing History
- Archivists with the Michigan History Project have just found live performances by Neil Young and Joni Mitchell that were believed to have been lost.
- As this homage to MUN’s Special Collections and Archives shows, there is a tremendous amount of history preserved in archives.
- Sarah Glassford has put together a quick and dirty guide to what to keep for an archival collection, specifically with respect to material from an aid organization.
- Find out about the new Sarah Hall archival collection at the Toronto Public Library.
Miscellaneous
- Christopher Moore is back with a preview of the latest issue of Canada’s History.
Podcasts
- The latest Ben Franklin’s World Podcast episode features an interview with Brett Rusforth on his book, Bonds of Alliance: Indigenous and Atlantic Slaveries in New France. Just a warning, this podcast appears to be a rebroadcast. Also, considering the language used in the accompanying blog post (regarding the “revelation” of slavery in New France), it may or may not touch on relevant Canadian research.
- In the latest History Slam episode, Sean Graham spoke with Tonya Davidson about the meaning of monuments.
- The On War and Society podcast has posted the first episode in a two-part series looking at the issue of mental health and trauma in relation to Canadian veterans past and present.
- There are two new History Chats episodes this week (though I can’t link to them directly):
- First is the wonderful Ruth Frager speaking on “Spadina Sweatshops: Jews and gender in Toronto’s Labour Movement 1900 to 1939.”
- And second is Craig Heron speaking on the history of alcohol in Toronto.
The end of the archaeological season is always fascinating. And in case you’re wondering, that’s why there has been so much archaeological news lately. I hope you enjoyed this week’s Canadian history 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. We’re kicking off a special month-long series that we’re super excited for! See you then!
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