“Betty Chan, a Chinese Canadian, admiring Pipe Major Bill MacLeod’s tie, made from the MacLeod tartan at the festival in Winnipeg’s Kildonan Park. Winnipeg, Manitoba.” Photo by Chris Lund and Gar Lunney. 1960. Office national du film du Canada. Service de la photographie. R1196-14-7-F. Library and Archives Canada. 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.
- Jessica DeWitt has released her 14th word cloud of the most-used words from #envhist. This week’s words are: “environmental,” “Indigenous,” and “states.”
- Michael K. Bess has a new piece on the Borderlands History blog, about his experiences attending the recent Canadian Association of Latin American and Caribbean Studies conference.
- The Laurier centre has released the second episode of their podcast, On War and Society, featuring an interview with Terry Copp about Montreal during WW1.
- This week, Olivar Asselin is fighting at Vimy Ridge.
- Paula Dumas examines the themes of death and dying in the Gilshrist-Shearer Letters, and what they can tell us about the health and social customs of Scottish-Canadian immigrants.
- UQAM’S Laboratoire d’histoire et de patrimoine de Montréal has just re-launched their website! You can see the site itself here.
- The Thomas Fisher Library has posted this image from a 1915 copy of the 5 Roses Cook Book, for “Mock Maple Syrup.” The Quebecer in me is horrified.
- Find out about some of the innovative digitization work being done at McGill Library’s Research Commons and Rare and Special Collections, Osler, Art, and Archives.
- This week on Unwritten Histories, I posted my regular monthly series, Best New Articles, featuring my favourite articles from the past month!
- Emily Lonie has written a new blog post about her experiences at the Association of Canadian Archivists 2017 Conference, particularly reflecting on the theme of “Archives Disrupted.”
- The Library Matters Blog from McGill Library also has a new article by Anna Dysert about their new exhibit at Osler Library, “Vaccination: Fame, Fear, and Controversey, 1798-1998.”
- Andrew Nurse’s latest article from Active History tackles the current discussion around cultural appropriation, and argues that a historical perspective is needed. This post is the first in what will become a series on this subject.
- The latest blog post from LAC, by Rebecca Murray, is a short guide to WW1 photographs that can be found in LAC’s private fonds. Um, can I visit the “dressing tent?” 😉
- This week on the ROM blog is another blog post by Catherine Tammaro, Richard Zane Smith, and Craig Cipolla, where they discuss their understanding of the concept of “time.” This is part of a larger series resulting from collaborative research and discussion on the subject of Wendat pottery.
- This week in Heather Read’s ongoing Canada150 blog series for the ROM, she features some beautiful trade beads from Quebec, and talks about the heavy history that they hold.
- This week on the Canadian Heritage Matters blog, Stephanie Bellissimo remembers Quetico Centre, a residential adult education centre located in northwestern Ontario. She also shows some of the wonderful archival documents from the Centre.
- This week on the Atlantic Loyalist Connections blog, Annabelle Babineau interviewed Siobhan M. Carlson about her work with the Early Modern Maritime Recipes project.
- Also on Active History this week is a new post from Sean Kheraj, where he talks about the importance of solitude for historians, in connection with his reading of Michael Harris’ new book, Solitude: A Singular Life in a Crowded World.
- Jessica DeWitt is also back this week with another #envhist worth reading post, where she discusses her favourite online articles on the subject of environmental history from the last month.
- This week, Instantanés has a new post about the Outaouais River. It showcases some letters from some of the farmers who were displaced during the building of massive hydro-electric projects in the area.
- Check out this amazing Twitter Essay by Kat Brown Akootchook (@Sweetgrass_sage) about the traditional beadwork of the Haudenosaunee (Iroquois), particularly in the creation of wampum belts.
- She also posted a wonderful Twitter essay on why Indigenous art must be considered art, not crafts, and the problems of exhibiting beadwork in museums.
- John Walsh posted this amazing map of south-western Ontario.
- While Daniel Ross posted this fantastic ad for topless buffets in Toronto in the 1970s. So scandalous!
- Jessica DeWitt is resigning as editor of Folklore. She will be replaced by Laura Larsen. Does anyone else think we need to send Jessica on a well-deserved vacation, since I’m convinced she doesn’t sleep?
- Joanne Hammond has more awesome Twitter essays this week, including:
- This one, on the stupidity of colonial boundaries and their impact.
- And another on the problem of giving Gord Downie the Order of Canada for “Indigenous Leadership,” and how this overshadows the work of actual Indigenous leaders who are also being honoured.
- Also this week from LAC is their latest provincial/territorial album. This latest one is from my home province, Quebec! Check out the album here.
- Penny Allen has put together a short list of some of the diaries and personal accounts of settler women who wrote about their experiences living in 19th and 20th century Alberta.
- There is lots of news this week about LAC and digitization
- LAC is back with their latest update on the digitization of WW1 CEF personnel files. They have reached the last name “Patterson.”
- They are also part of a group of archives known as the Francophone Digital Network, who have just unveiled a new digital library containing records from 10 different members of the Francophonie.
- They have also added several new recordings to their Virtual Gramophone for your listening pleasure, including a range of French songs.
- And finally, LAC, in collaboration with BAnQ and the Canadian Commission for UNESCO, has announced the creation of the Canada memory of the World Register, which will bring together and highlight “documentary heritage of profound Canadian significance.” Find out more about the project and some of its initial collections here.
- This week on the Canadian Museum of Human Rights blog is a post by Chloe Rew about women’s rights. However, I do have a problem with the introduction to the post, since the Person’s case regarded the meaning of “person” as a legal term. No one was really disputing whether or not women were people in general. The tone of the piece is also rather celebratory, and glosses over the fact that many of the rights and privileges of white women came at the expense of Indigenous, immigrant, and racialized people.
- New this week from The Canadian Encyclopedia is an entry for Wab Kinew!
- And the latest biography from The Dictionary of Canadian Biography is of Robert Walter Paterson, WW1 soldier and later Brigadier General.
- Find out more about the origins of Whistler’s mountain bike trails’ names.
- The Vancouver as it Was blog explores the life of Ernst Friedlander, a noted cellist who eventually settled in Vancouver.
- Krista McCracken and I are doing a thing! We’re organizing the first ever Canadian history Twitter conference, Beyond 150! Find out more here.
- The UBC Digitization Blog takes us on a tour of the Nitobe Memorial Gardens in the 1960s and 1970s.
- The JSTOR blog takes a look at the enduring fasciation with narwhal tusks.
- A Settler of Catan expansion that is all about settler colonialism? Yes please!
- Stephanie Bellissimo also has an update on the database on the graves of Atikokan war veterans.
- Merle Massie has reposted a piece on her blog about John Beames, an almost forgotten Prince Albert novelist.
- The CCGW is honouring the 100th anniversary of the Commonwealth War Graves Commission, and talks about the history and origins of the organization.
- The Canadian Museum of History has announced that it has acquired the Lieutenant Fairholme Colllection; Fairholme was one of the officers on board the HMS Erebus. Find out about some of the amazing documents and artefacts in the collection here.
- And don’t forget to check out Russell Potter’s companion piece on his blog, about photographic portraits of the Franklin Expedition officers in general, and Fairholme’s in particular.
- It’s not really Canadian, but check out this beautiful copper charm with an Islamic inscription, which likely belonged to an enslaved Muslim who was brought to North America as part of the slave trade in the 18th century.
- Stephen Bocking has a new blog post this week, featuring his reflections on commenting on a panel at the recent International Water History Association conference.
- Are you visiting southern Alberta this summer? If you are, Retroactive has put together a handy guide for you of historic sites and museums!
- The St. Catharines’ Museum blog has posted Walk I from the Catharines Journal.
- The Lesbian Testimony Podcast is already up to episode 5! This latest features an interview with Cameron Duder and their interview of Shirley Petten.
- Whistorical looks back on what schooling was like for the children of Alta Lake in the 1960s, through the eyes of Bev Mansell.
- Eve Lazarus profiles Angelo Branca for Italian Heritage Month. Branca was a middleweight boxer who also happened to be a criminal defence attorney in Vancouver from the late 1920s to the early 1960s. But you might know him best as a former Supreme Court judge.
- Stephanie Ann Warner talks about her experiences editing the collecting writings of Raye Green, a Saskatchewan homesteader who led a fascinating life.
- Look at this beautiful à la capucine chair from the Harrison Collection.
- Canadian History in the News
- The New York Times has a great article about a new film, “Edge of the Knife,” the first fully Haida-language film, which tells a traditional Haida story about a man who is lost to grief, but is returned to his community through a healing ceremony. One of the film’s most important themes is how hard it is to relearn a language once it has been lost, echoing the struggle that many residential school survivors face today in relearning their languages.
- Turns out that there is an old-growth forest that has been hiding away in the Niagara Escarpment, near Guelph, all this time.
- So apparently this week, the Loonie turns 30.
- And the new Toonie has a glow-in-the-dark aurora borealis on it. We live in interesting times…
- Radio-Canada’s Digital R&D Lab is leading the way in digitization innovation, particularly in partnership with other organizations.
- There is a new exhibit on now at the ROM featuring Ainishinaabeg artwork. It is curated by Woodland artist Saul Williams, and you can see images of some of the amazing work here.
- CBC takes a fascinating look at the history of Sears Canada, which is very much the history of shopping as well. And don’t miss some of the amazing pictures of 1970s fashions.
- Best sign ever.
- This week on Spacing Toronto is a piece by Chris Bateman about the Beard Building, one of the first skyscrapers in the city that was built in the style of a medieval castle.
- No laughing: the Acadian Expulsion memorial in Halifax has been removed after it started sinking. Nobody does irony better than history.
- Angela Ho, a student at UBC, has created the Chinatown Sound Map, a soundscape and walking tour of Vancouver’s Chinatown. The map features interviews with locals as well as some of the sounds you might hear while walking in the area. That is so cool.
- Heritage Winnipeg is trying to save at least part of the St. Regis Hotel before it is demolished.
- Find out about the latest approved virtual exhibits and community stories from the Virtual Museum of Canada.
- Le Devoir has some more coverage of the fall out from the planned cuts at BAnQ.
- 130 years later, the city of Vancouver will formally recognize the paddlers from the Squamish Nation who saved the lives of many people who jumped into Burrard Inlet during the Great Fire of 1886. CBC spoke with Kristen Rivers, the descendent of one of the paddlers, Agnes Rivers, about her family history.
- The Miawpukek First Nation is gifting the Canadian Canoe Museum with a traditional birch bark canoe.
- The Calgary Journal explains how individuals in Calgary can properly acknowledge Treaty 7 territory, and information on the region’s colonial history.
- In more fun Site C Dam news, the BC government plans to blast its way through a historical Indigenous burial ground (dating back 4 to 5 thousand years) and sweat lodge. The land belongs to the Prophet River and West Moberly First Nations. Cause nothing says reconciliation like dynamite.
- In history-making news, the Canadian government passed Bill C-16, which adds gender identity and expression to the Canadian Human Rights Code and the Criminal Code, adding new protections for transgender, gender-queer, and non-binary individuals and organizations. While obviously these are simply legal protections, and much more work remains to be done, it is still an important step forward.
- The Minister of Indigenous Affairs has decided that the compensation of 60s Scoop survivors will be dealt with on a case by case basis, which, as Ian Mosby noted, will primarily benefit the government and the lawyers, rather than the survivors themselves.
- The latest “Dig It” column is here! Nola Markey and Brian Finlay talk about how the recovery of archaeological artefacts is extremely important to Indigenous communities as a way of connecting with their histories and cultural identities. Markey and Finlay write specifically about a particular collection of items that was donated to the Little Shuswap Lake Indian Band by the Boyd family.
- You need to watch this amazing story about a 74-year old Inuit elder, Mary Kudlak, getting her first kakiniit, or traditional Inuit tattoo. The story also talks about the history of kakiniit and why its revitalization is so important.
- Read this op-ed by Lisa Forbes responding to Brian Pallister’s reconciliation bike ride. I’m still shaking my head.
- American artist Adam Miller, has created a new painting depicting Quebec’s History. It was privately commissioned, and features 41 “figures” from Canadian history. However, the comment by art historian Clarence Epstein that the painting doesn’t endorse any political point of view is myopic. Just check out the “guide” to the painting and what it depicts. I don’t know what Epstein sees, but I see a classic “Great White Men” of history rhetoric (with certain exceptions), reinforcing the idea that Quebec’s history is white, French-Canadian, and male. This is settler colonialism writ large, and frankly, I am appalled.
- Do you remember that collection of images of Canadians from the New York Times that was donated to Ryerson University? Find out more information about the collection, and what it tells us about the Times’ perception of Canada, here.
- There will soon be a new living history exhibit at Kings Landing Historical Settlement, which will highlight New Brunswick’s Black history.
- The oldest urban stable still in operation in North America — the Horse Palace of Griffintown — will be torn down this week, due to irreversible damage. However, the site will be renovated and dedicated to showing the role of horses in the development of urban spaces.
- The Gimli Glider now has its own museum.
- Human remains have been located at the Lheidili T’enneh Memorial Park in Prince George. The remains are believed to be from one of the three burial grounds located on the site, which used to be a Lheidli T’enneh First Nation village. The village was burned to the ground in 1913 to make way for a railroad.
- There is more information about this find here.
- The examination of a 19th century Coast Salish blanket in the Burke Museum’s collection has been found to contain hair from a distinct Coast Salish dog that has since become extinct. Unfortunately, there isn’t any additional information about the blanket, including which Coast Salish nation it comes from, but the blanket is revealing important information about the use of woolly dog hair in Coast Salish textile production. I think this wins for coolest news of the week.
- A school in Saint John has found a time capsule that students created in 1999.
- Part 3 of Ryan McMahon’s 12-step guide to decolonization is now available, and focuses on the importance of land.
- The #resistance150 movement was profiled this week on CBC’s Unreserved, with Rosanna Deerchild. The piece also talks about the long history of Indigenous resistance and resurgence in Canada.
- CBC looks at the Stanley Park Lawn Bowling Club this week, and it celebrates 100 years of operation. You wouldn’t think it, but lawn bowling is very popular over here.
- CBC interviewed Terry Lynn Williams Davidson about her work on a new exhibit about female supernatural beings in Haida stories.
- Check out Sean Kheraj, Margaret MacMillian, and Philip Buckner being interviewed by the BBC about Canada150!
- Do you remember those amazing recreations of the faces of ancient shíshálh Nation individuals that were created for the new Canada History Hall? Well, here’s your chance to find out more about how the recreations were done.
- The Toronto Star‘s Jim Coyle remembers Canada’s shameful history with respect to refugees, immigrants, and ethnic/racialized Canadians, in the context of Canada150. He focuses specifically on the internment of Japanese and Japanese-Canadians during and after WW2.
- And on a similar note, Joshua Ostroff, writing for the Huffington Post, remembers Canada’s long history of slavery as well as nearly 400 years of Black history in Canada. As he notes, it is essential that we remember this legacy.
- The New York Times looks back on the career and impact of hockey player, Howie Morenz. Morenz, who played for the Habs, is widely regarded as the first “superstar” hockey player. He lived a charmed and dramatic life before trying under unusual circumstances at age 34.
- Better Late than Never
- On June 8th, representatives from the Whitecap Dakota First Nation and the Governor General’s Horse Guard met at the Original Humbolt site. After the Battle of Batoche in 1885, Chief Whitecap and his family were held prisoner at this location. This meeting, the first in more than 130 years, involved the sharing of stories, the unveiling the three new storyboards from the Whitecap Dakota First Nations, as well as the unveiling of a new plaque.
- Don’t miss Part 2 of Ryan McMahon’s “12-step guide to decolonization,” where he takes a look at historical treaties.
- Check out these amazing images of formerly enslaved African-Americans who managed to escape to Canada. These pictures are from the new Free Black North Exhibit, at the Art Gallery of Ontario.
- Calls for Papers
- The organizers of the “Negotiating Waters: Seas, Oceans and Passageways in the Colonial and Postcolonial Anglophone World” are seeking proposals. This conference is being jointly organized by Memorial University and the University of Grenoble Alpes, in France. The deadline to submit is October 15th.
- The history graduate students of UNB and the University of Maine are inviting paper submissions for their 18th Annual International Graduate Student Conference. Submissions are due August 15.
- Beyond 150: Telling Our Stories/Au-delà de 150: Raconter nos histoires, hosted by Active History and Unwritten Histories, with the collaboration of Canada’s History Society and the Wilson Institute, is seeking submissions for the first ever Canadian history Twitter conference. The deadline to submit a proposal is July 21st.
- BC Studies has issued a call for research notes from scholars working on or in any area of BC.
After last week, this almost seems short! I hope you enjoyed this week’s 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, which I am super excited about and have been working on for some time now! I’ll leave you all in suspense for now. 😉 See you then!
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