Canadian History Roundup – Week of November 12, 2017

Three young women wearing knitted sweaters seated on a bench in the snow. Rosemary Gilliat Eaton in the middle. Shilly Shally Lodge, Gatineau Park. 1965. Rosemary Gilliat Eaton / Library and Archives Canada, No. R12438

The latest in blog posts, news, and podcasts from the world of Canadian history.

Missed last week’s roundup? Check it out here.

• This week’s most commonly used words in #envhist, according to Jessica DeWitt, were: “History,” “Environmental,” and “Natural.”
• The University of Calgary will soon be offering a new course on residential school litigation, taught by Kathleen Mahoney, one of the chief negotiators of the Indian Residential School Settlement Agreement.
• A statue of John A. Macdonald was vandalized in Montreal last weekend.
  • Sean Carleton shared his thoughts on the subject here.
• Joanne Hammond posted another Twitter essay this week, on one archaeological site she found where women and children worked together 8,000 years ago.
• Paul Seesequasis shared this story about how his nimosôm Samuel rescued two boxes of Indian Passes that he was ordered by an Indian Agent to destroy, preserving an important part of history.
• This week on NiCHE is a new post in their Rhizomes series. This latest features an interview with Karen Routledge.
• Thomas Peace has written an important new blog post for Active History on historical erasure, witnessing, and the general lack of recognition around treaties in southern Ontario.
• It’s #RockYourMocs week on Twitter! Algoma University Archives shared some cool pictures here and here.
• This week on Unwritten Histories, we saw the return of everyone’s favourite series: Historians’ Histories! This latest post featured Michelle Desveaux.
• A new must-read blog post by Shirley Tillotson was simultaneously posted on both Active History and Borealia this week. In it, she responds to the idea that confederation had anything to do with “freedom.” Also, best intro ever?
• The University of Alberta Faculty of Law Faculty Blog looks at Sandra McIvor’s fight against gender discrimination in the Indian Act.
• David Withun reviewed Jared Hickman’s Black Prometheus: Race and Radicalism in the Age of Atlantic Slavery for the Black Perspectives blog this week.
• Sean Graham has released a new episode of the History Slam podcast this week! The latest episode features an interview with Gordon Nelson about his new book, The Magnificent Nahanni: The Struggle to Protect a Wild Place.
• There is a new Canadian Encyclopedia entry on philanthropist Craig Kielburger this week, and for figure skater Kaetlyn Osmond.
• This week the Instantanés blog announced that some of BAnQ’s oldest photographs have now been digitized and are available online! These photographs are from the Paul Gouin fonds of images of Quebec from the last quarter of the nineteenth century.
• LAC has now reached the last name “Sharp” in its digitization of CEF Personnel files. They are now 80% complete!
• Omg, you need to see this adorable teeny 1920s sewing machine. I’m dying.
• Jessica DeWitt is back with a new post on NiCHE, featuring her monthly look at the best of #envhist from the past month.
• Retroactive has a new blog post this week dedicated to the history of dogs in Indigenous society, from ancient to more modern times.
• This week Jason Hall reviewed Jeffers Lennox’s Homelands and Empires: Indigenous Spaces, Imperial Fictions, and Competition for Territory in Northwestern North America, 1690-1763.
• The CHA has posted its new featured article of the month, a note from president Adele Perry on the renaming of The Bulletin. It will now be known as Intersections.
• The Canadian War Museum reunited artist Edward Strauss, who was responsible for several “nose art” pieces — (morale-boosting images painted on the side of airplanes in WW2) — with some of his work!
• Sylvain Raymond has written a new blog post for the Canadian Museum of History, focusing on the handcuffs used to restrain Louis Riel before his execution.
• Check out the earliest known film footage of Vancouver, from 1907.
• Elizabeth Nielsen reviewed Edward Jones-Imhotep’s newest book, The Unreliable Nation: Hostile Nature and Technological Failures in the Cold War for Edge Effects this week.
• This week the NFB blog profiled and interviewed Cheryl Foggo and her work on a new film, John Ware Reclaimed, about the history of Black pioneers in Alberta.
• There is a new blog post this week from the City of Vancouver blog, the first in a series of posts looking at the hunt for 2116 Maple Street. In this first blog post, Bronwyn Smyth starts her search with fire insurance maps, water service records, and building permit registers.
• Find out about a new project from the University of Lethbridge called, Kainai Women’s Activism in Treaty 7 Territory 1968 to 1990: Contemporary Histories of Social Change, lead by Carol Williams, Hali Heavy Shield, Linda Weasel Head, and Faye Heavy Shield.
• Ian Milligan, Nick Ruest, Jimmy Lin, and their team, have just launched their new website, The Archives Unleashed Project, which is aimed at preserving the historical internet for future researchers. Don’t forget to follow them on Twitter @unleasharchives.
• Canada’s History has just launched their 2017 Book and Gift Guide! Don’t worry, ours is coming!
• There is new research out about the extinction of the Passenger Pigeon, which once roamed all of North America. While we already know that hunting was a major factor, this new study looks at pigeon genetics and behavior as well.
• Canada Must Read is back, and this year’s selection for the national reading campaign is The Reconciliation Manifesto, by Arthur Manuel.
• Daniel Macfarlane has put together a list of previous NiCHE posts on the history of pipeline spills, to help contextualize the recent Keystone XL pipeline spill. They do say that the definition of insanity is doing something over and over again, and expecting a different result every time….
• Also this week on Unwritten Histories, Stephanie Pettigrew put out our regular list of upcoming publications for December and January! Now someone has to explain to me what happened to 2017, cause I don’t know if I’m ready for 2018 yet.
• The Archives of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Toronto has a new blog post on a viaticum cabinet, which was used by visiting priests to administer last rites.
• LAC has some new additions this week to the Virtual Gramophone collection, specifically recordings by singer Henry Burr.
• The William and Mary Quarterly has put together a list of every article published in its back catalogue, since 1944. You can search for ‘Canada,’ which is only mentioned nine times in seventy-three years. Now that’s depressing.
• Joanne Hammond has written another Twitter essay this week on the Arrowstone Hills and their history.
• Canadian Thanksgiving might be over, but you might want to check out The Smithsonian Libraries’ new blog post on the history of cranberries.
• The Dictionary of Canadian Biography’s newest biography is for McGill professor and surgeon, George Armstrong.
• Joseph Gagné reflects on his fall conferenceing and travel.
• Vintage Everyday has put together a collection of images of (some) Canadian teenage boys from the 1850s to the 1900s.
• In the latest St. Catharines Museum Walk Around Town, T stands for Temperance.
• The Quebec City Archives is commemorating forty years since the election of Jean Pelletier as mayor.
• Eve Lazarus takes a look at the history of Kingsgate Mall.
• Canadian History in the News
  • CBC profiled Florence Harper, a fearless Canadian journalist who covered the Russian Revolution, and then disappeared from the historical record.
  • There are new stop signs popping up in Fort Smith, North West Territories, that contain four languages: English, French, Cree, and Chipewyan.
  • Find out about Victoria Wanihadie’s efforts to increase the number of Beaver speakers in Northern Alberta.
  • Robert Doucette has filed a human rights complaint about the exclusion of Métis survivors of the Sixties Scoop from the new settlement.
  • A Burlington carpenter has found the signature of Thomas Douglas Drever, on a board during a renovation, and found out that a twenty-one year old Burlington man by that name fought and died at Vimy Ridge. Possibly the strangest part is that Drever was also a carpenter.
  • The MacNaught History Centre is profiling the 441 Prince County men who trained in the 105^th Battalion C Company in Summerside, PEI during WW1. They are only missing information on fourteen soldiers.
  • Robyn Maynard spoke about her new book, Policing Black Lives: State Violence in Canada from Slavery to the Present this week in Ottawa.
  • Edmonton’s Cold War bunker, the first one built in Canada, now has its own website. Check it out here.
  • Nick Walker takes a look at Alberta’s eight Métis settlements, the only recognized Métis land base in the country.
  • The first issue of a new online publication, Culturally Modified, is now available and features an article by Joanne Hammond on the #RewriteBC campaign.
    • And there is more on the publication here.
  • This coming Wednesday, the House of Commons will debate a bill proposing the establishment of British Home Child Day.
  • Keisha Blain has put together a list of new books on Black Women’s History in both the US and the World. Check it out here!
  • Chelsea Vowel has written a fantastic article for Chatelaine about why Indigenous languages should be taught in public schools along with English and French.
  • Find out about the history of the Acadian families of Petite-Rochelle, who fought back against the British following the Deportation order at the Battle of the Ristigouche.
  • A new monument was unveiled this week in Halifax to the women volunteer workers of WW2.
  • Find our which nine animals’ English names have Indigenous origins.
  • Janet Sims reunited with her daughter this week, after giving her up for adoption in 1958. Sims was, at the time, unmarried, and was forced to have her child in secret and give it up for adoption.
  • There is new research out comparing the genetics of the Beothuk, the Paleo-Inuit, and the Maritime Archaic people, which show they are distinct populations, at least along matrilineal lines.
  • Joseph Hubert Francis has filed a lawsuit against the Crown, regarding his individual treaty fishing rights with respect to a previous Supreme Court Decision, R. v. Marshall. Hubert Francis is specifically asking that the courts clearly define a “moderate livelihood,” the amount that Indigenous peoples in Atlantic Canada are permitted to commercially fish.
  • Michel Lévesque spoke with Le Devoir about the history of the Parti libéral du Québec.
  • Find out about the University of Calgary’s official Indigenous Strategy, and how they are planning on Indigenizing the university.
  • The Historic Sites and Monuments Board of Canada has just unveiled a plaque commemorating the establishment of the National Hockey League in November 1917.
    • And a number of prominent officials from the NHL were also on hand for the celebration.
  • The northern Ontario home where the Dionne quintuplets were born was moved to a new location this week.
  • The Cape Bear lighthouse is hanging on, for now.
  • Neil Young is opening up his entire music archive online on December 1^st.
  • Anne Murray has donated her archives to the University of Toronto.
  • November 16^th was Louis Riel Day.
    • This year’s celebration in Ontario was moved from the Northwest Rebellion Monument (which honours the Ontario soldiers who died in the conflict) to the Ontario Legislature, at the request of the Métis Nation of Ontario.
    • CBC spoke with a number of Métis leaders this week, including president of the Manitoba Métis Federation, David Chartrand, and Riel’s great-grandniece, Jean Teillet, about why they opposed the exoneration of Riel.
  • Wood Buffalo Park is deteriorating quite rapidly.
  • The Stoney Nakoda are calling on the Alberta government to rename a number of locations, or include a Stoney Nakoda name, in their traditional territory to better reflect their Indigenous heritage.
    • More info here.
  • The Saskatoon Star Phoenix profiled three Indigenous fathers in a new article this week, focusing on how each of the men teach their children about Indigenous culture.
  • There is a new proposal to ensure that Toronto’s parks better reflect the city’s Indigenous history and present. The proposal includes suggestions such as renaming existing parks, naming new parks after Indigenous figures, or by designing spaces that reflect Indigenous traditions, including designated areas for Indigenous ceremonies.
  • All week long, the hashtag #FakeHistoryfromCanada was trending on Twitter. Check out some of the highlights here.
  • Alanna Mitchell reflects upon her experience interviewing seven residential school survivors, including six members of the Survivors’ Circle of the National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation and one member of the Centre’s Governing Circle.
  • Vote now for Canada’s Most Memorable (English) TV Thing!
  • Update on the Saskatchewan education minister incident from last week! Some sneaky CBC reporter got a copy of a student’s note from the class she was complaining about, and turns out she lied.
  • Jackie Vautour continues to fight against the expropriation of land for the construction of Kouchibouguac National Park, forty years on.
  • Adorable teen wins a Governor General’s History Award for her comic on Viola Desmond.
  • Find out how melting ice in Yukon is revealing Indigenous history, and how the Champagne and Ashihik First Nations are actively involved in archaeological investigations.
  • Sixties Scoop survivor Colleen Cardinal is creating an interactive map to track the estimated 20,000 adoptees of the Scoop. The goal is to reveal the true magnitude of the Scoop, and Cardinal is asking for survivors to get in touch.
  • Halifax Kitchen Door Catering is resurrecting 200-year-old recipes for a new cookbook.
  • If, like me, you live in the Lower Mainland, you know that we’re basically screwed when it comes to earthquakes. Find out about new efforts to build a back-up for the BC legislature in case it is destroyed in an earthquake.
  • Norma Dunning has written a fantastic piece for The Conversation about why the Edmonton Eskimos need to change their name.
    • And she also spoke with CBC about this..
  • Radio-Canada has put together a short guide to the archives and objects that belonged to Louis Riel which are currently kept in Winnipeg.
  • Joseph Gagné was interviewed by Radio-Canada this week about his work sharing his passion for New France with the world.
  • Find out about the filming of a new documentary, Last of the Fur Traders where former HBC engineer Hugh Kroetsch returned to the Arctic after more than 65 years. Of course, keep in mind the complicated and often problematic history of the HBC in the north. I haven’t seen the film, so I can’t comment, but I would still be careful.
  • Check out this amazing work by a group of Acadian artists to commemorate those who were forced off their land as part of the Kouchibouguac expropriation.
  • Jessica Young looks back on the history of Sam the Record Man for Lemonwire.com.
  • Remember the release of more than 25,000 CIA files relating to the Kennedy administration that were just released? Well, it turns out that at one point, the CIA was considering sabotaging Canada because of its continued trade with Cuba.
  • There is a new art project in Toronto that brings public history to King’s Street.
  • Do you know about the secret museum of Springdale, Newfoundland?
  • Find out about the ongoing debate about Toronto’s Robinson Cottages and whether or not they deserve heritage protection.
  • Gorge Bridge in Victoria has a new interpretive sign. It does not, however, seem to discuss the Indigenous history of the area, which is rather disappointing.
  • Check out some of the beautiful Salish blankets currently on display at the Museum of Anthropology.
  • The Scotsman takes a look at the 15,000 Scottish children who came to Canada as part of the British Home Children scheme.
• Better Late than Never
  • Did you know that the Champlain Society has its own podcast? Well, it does now! And ten of its episodes launched earlier in the month!
  • Soul singer Jackie Shane, who performed in Toronto in the 1960s, is coming back, and spoke to the Globe and Mail about her life.
  • The On the Other Side of the Mic podcast spoke with the Archive of Lesbian Oral Testimony a few weeks ago!
  • E. Hewitt tries to find what happened to Dody Vermilyea and WW1 soldier Had Gordon after finding a mysterious love letter.
  • The University of Manitoba Archives has just finished digitizing and transcribing the WW1 diaries of Walter Eggerston.
  • The University of Calgary recently received a new collection of WW1 wartime correspondence from the Coppock family, consisting of letters exchanged between Harry Long and Joseph Bainbridge.
  • Find out how the descendants of William L. Hayes, who served in WW1, keep his memory alive.
  • Steve St-Amant has just identified the remains of two British airmen who died during the Battle of the Somme.
  • The National Post spoke with the man who has been colourizing photographs for the Vimy Foundation, mentioned in last week’s roundup.
  • Eaton’s commemorated the more than 3,000 employees who served in WW1.
  • Krista McCracken has put together a fantastic blog post that provides a short guide to graphic novels on Canadian history, that are particularly fantastic for teaching and historical interpretation.
• Calls for Papers
  • The deadline for the Atlantic Canada Studies Conference has been extended to November 24^th.
  • Matthieu Caron and Daniel Ross will be editing a special issue of Urban History Review on “Bad Behaviours and Disorderly Public Spaces in Urban Canada.” Paper proposals are due December 1^st.
  • The Congrès de l’Institut d’histoire de l’Amérique française has issued its CFP for its 2018 Annual Meeting. The theme of this conference will be “History in the City,” and will take place at the Université du Québec à Trois-Rivières – Campus Drummondville. Proposals are due March 31^st.
  • The Canadian Society for Digital Humanities has issued a CFP for its annual meeting at Congress in 2018. Proposals for papers, digital demonstrations, posters, and panels are due January 15^th.
  • The Nursing History Research Unit at the University of Ottawa has issued a CFP for its Third Annual Grad Student Conference. This year’s theme is: “Lifting the Rug: Revisiting Events, Perspectives and Voices of Nursing and Health History.” (There may be a translation error here, since the French name is “Lever le voile,” which means “lifting the veil”). Proposals are due February 1^st.
  • Faculty from the University of Windsor and community members from Chatham-Kent Black Historical Society and the Essex County Black Historical Society are organizing a symposium called “Telling the Stories of Race and Sports in Canada.” Papers will be preserved on an open access website. Proposals are due January 15^th.
  • The Third Global Meeting of Slavery Past, Present and Future will take place in Berlin in July 2018. The conference organizers have issued a CFP for all papers that deal with the theme of slavery, enslavement, and exploitation. Proposals are due March 2nd.
  • A workshop on “The Politics of the Canoe: Activism and Resistance,” is being organized in Winnipeg in June 2018. Organizers are asking for paper submissions relating to the theme of the canoe as a vehicle for power and resistance, from all disciplines. Proposals are due December 15th.
  • The Osher Map Library and Smith Centre for Cartographic Education at the University of Southern Maine have issued a CFP for the 2018 Symposium of the International Society for the History of the Map. The focus of this symposium will be on early maps, maps as literary, artistic, and popular works, as surveys, and as political tools. Proposals are due January 15th.

Holy CFPs! Anyways, I hope you enjoyed this week’s roundup! If you did, please consider sharing this post on the social media platform of your choice. And don’t forget to check back on Tuesday for a brand new blog post, with Stephanie Pettigrew’s report on a recent conference she attended. And if you’re in Ottawa, you might want to come down to the Canadian Museum of History for the 10th Canada’s History Forum on Tuesday November 21st, where yours truly will be speaking! To see a list of presenters and the programme, go here, and to register to attend,  go here. And if you do come, make sure you say hi! Now I just have to finish writing my talk…

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