Canadian History Roundup – Week of March 11, 2018

Depicts young male and female. Female in green, possibly traditional costume. Horse in background. Inscription “Mavourneen (my darling) on St. Patrick’s Day it is no time to turn away”. Date unknown. Raphael Tuck and Sons “St Patrick” Series of Postcards. No 194. Printed in Saxony. Toronto Reference Library.Arts Department. Public Domain.

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

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

• The most commonly-used words in #envhist, according to Jessica DeWitt, last week were: “Weather,” “New,” and “History.”
• Joanne Hammond had a busy week on Twitter!
  • First up, she wrote about the establishment of reserves in BC.
  • Next was an essay on how  cutoff lands need to be given back, and the desecration of grave sites.
  • And later in the week she posted this short look at gold field maps that accidentally forgot to include the Fraser River canyon. Oops.
  • And then she had a cairn party.
• Check out this amazing mural depicting a reconsideration of Confederation by the École Secondaire Publique De La Salle.
• Here’s what happened on Active History this week:
  • Tom Peace reflected on the 20^th anniversary of the publication of Who Killed Canadian History, and the false binary between content and skills-based pedagogy.
  • Next Tom Fraser had a thoughtful post historicizing the commemoration of Edward Cornwallis, and the persistence of imperialist strain of Canadian nationalism..
• The Canadian Centre for the Great War launched a new online exhibit this week, “Women Representing the Great War in Canada and Newfoundland.”
• And this week on NiCHE:
  • Tina Adcock compiled a list of all of the Canadian environmental history content to see at the 2018 American Society for Environmental History annual meeting.
  • Karen Routledge and Meg Stanley reviewed Claire Campbell’s Nature, Place, and Story: Rethinking Historic Sites in Canada.
• Darryl Leroux called out the Canadian media for failing to discuss the self-indigenization of Acadians and for failing to speak to Indigenous scholars on the subject.
• Tina Adcock also made available a rubric she designed for grading research posters! Thanks Tina!
• Here’s the news from LAC this week:
  • LAC published a new Flickr album, devoted to cheese. Historical cheese? Omg, yes please. Check out the images themselves here.
  • The March update on the digitization of CEF personnel files. They have reached the last name “Timson.”
  • They’ve also announced the recent acquisition of the Tupper Family Bible from the 1870s. And yes, that is the same family as Sir Charles Hibbert Tupper, former PM.
• This week on Unwritten Histories, we launched a new series featuring the stories of ordinary women in Canadian history. First up was a biography of 19^th century Lower Canadian sex worker, Madgeleine McDonald, based on Mary Anne Poutanen’s research. Do you have any stories you’d like to see featured here?
• The Instantanés blog recounted the championship match of the first NHL season, and the performance of Montreal Canadiens player, Joe Malone.
• In the latest episode of the Ben Franklin’s World podcast, Liz Covart interviews Martin Brückner about his recent publication, The Social Life of Maps in America, 1750-1860.
• Graeme Thompson has written a new blog post for the Canadian Eyes Only blog on the “international turn in Canadian history,” particularly imperial and transnational methodologies as well as new international scholars. He calls on scholars to focus more on the local and global aspects of empire over the longue durée of Canadian history.
• Lyns-Virginie Belony reviewed the translation of Sean Mill’s A Place in the Sun: Haiti, Haitians, and the Remaking of Quebec (Une place au soleil : Haïti, les Haïtiens et le Québec) for Histoire Engagée this week.
• Check out the wonderful graphic art from the UBC Chung collection. I just love a good poster.
  • And don’t miss this look at some of the holdings of the UBC Library Rare Books and Special Collections.
• Ronald Rudin spoke with the OHASSTA about the Lost Stories project.
• Bill Waiser’s latest blog post features twin teachers, Jean and Joan Lounden, as a window into educational reform in Saskatchewan from 1900 to 1952.
• The winners of the 2017 Government of Canada History Awards have been announced.
• Kiera Ladner had her Indigenous governance students create memes related to class discussion. I’m in love. Here are the ones she shared:
  • Kinder gentler colonialism
  • Human rights and constitutional democracies
  • Government lies
  • Citizens vs. treaty federation
  • A post-colonial state?
  • Citizenship-plus
• The Canadian Lesbian and Gay Archives shared some of their collection of LGTBQ2+ children’s books this week!
• Fred Shore spoke with the University of Manitoba news team about his new book, Threads in the Sash: The Story of the Metis People.
• You need to read this letter from Keith Thor Carlson, on behalf of the Saskatchewan History and Folklore Society.
• The latest biography from the Dictionary of Canadian Biography features another member of Banting’s research team, John James Rickard Macleod. Why do these guys all have such long names…
• There were several new articles and updates this week on The Canadian Encyclopedia:
  • New entries include:
    • Mathematician Evelyn Nelson.
    • Swissair Flight 111
  • And updates include:
    • Muskoka
    • Bank of Montreal
• Check out the latest acquisitions at the Peel Art Gallery, Museum, and Archives, Peel Railway Records.
• Retroactive looks back on more than forty-five years of data management at the Archaeological Survey of Alberta.
• The latest blog post from the Canadian Museum of History goes behind the scenes to show how they brought the HMS Erebus and Terror back to life for their exhibit on the Franklin Expedition.
• And Russell Potter reported on his recent experience viewing a collection of Franklin artifacts that were discovered in the basement of “collector” Barry Ranford after he passed away. They were returned to the government of the NWT (this being prior to the establishment of Nunavut). As he notes, the lack of information about when and how they were found means that a significant amount of the information that might be learned from these artifacts has been destroyed.
• Find out how to make your own vintage St. Patrick’s Day decorations from 1956.
• Krista McCracken reflected on her recent experience hosting students from King’s University College for a two-day intensive learning event on residential schools and Indigenous communities.
  • And she was interviewed by Algoma University about her work!
• Find out what people were doing the week of March 15^th in 1980s Whistler.
• Apparently someone decided that it’s conference week:
  • The CHA released its preliminary program for the upcoming annual meeting.
  • And so did the Atlantic Canada Studies Conference.
• Adam Montgomery shared an image of this adorable 1950s play oven from the Grimsby Museum. I totally wanted an Easy Bake Oven as a kid, but I wasn’t allowed. 🙁
• Apparently this week everyone published podcasts:
  • In the Witness to Yesterday podcast’s latest episode, Patrice Dutil spoke with Mark McGown about his recent book, The Imperial Irish: Canada’s Irish Catholics Fight the Great War, 1914-1918.
  • In the latest episode of the Henceforward podcast, hosts Danielle Cantave and Sefanit Habtom interviewed Robyn Maynard about her book (Policing Black Lives: State Violence in Canada from Slavery to the Present) and stories of Blackness in Canadian history.
  • The latest episode of the Missed in History podcast features con artist Cassie Chadwick, who bilked men out of thousands of dollars by claiming to be the illegitimate daughter of Andrew Carnegie. The best part? She was born and raised in Ontario.
  • This week on Historical Reminiscents, Krista McCracken talked about open source digital tools for public history.
  • The latest episode of the Cited podcast features a discussion with Leigh Phillips and Caleb Behn (Eh-Cho Dene and Dunne Za) on the history of high modernism in Canada, particularly in relation to the Site C dam. 
  • History Chats published its second episode, featuring a 2017 talk by Todd Webb on “Evangelicalism, Liberalism, and the Origins of the Lord’s Dominion in Mid-Nineteenth Century Canada.”
  • UQAM’s history graduate students have launched a new radio program/podcast called Histoire de passer le temps, with new episodes every Friday! While not specifically Canadian in terms of content, there is still plenty of Canadian history content to enjoy!
• Maddie Knickerbocker was kind enough to share the slides from a presentation she recently gave to Sarah Nickel’s students, entitled “Indigenous peoples, Museums, and Cultural Curation.”
• Check out the new guide from the American Philosophical Society Library and Centre for Native American and Indigenous Research on their Indigenous materials. Then say that ten times fast.
• Canada’s History has just published a list of recently published Canadian historical fiction. Anything you’re looking forward to reading?
• Check out the live-tweets from the First Joint Policy Symposium on Indigenous Governance and settler Aboriginal Policy in an Era of ‘Real Change,’ held at McMaster this past week.
• The Virtual Museum of Canada has premiered a new online exhibition, “Building New Lives,” on the lives on Holocaust survivors in Canada.
• Valérie Frappier reviews a new  exhibition from Althea Thauberger on NFB captions, and how they “conceal and reveal white privilege.” 
• Jennifer Lee interviewed Cassandra Curtis and Sadie Macdonald about their upcoming exhibition at the Thomas Fisher Rare Book Library, entitled “Mixed Messages: Making and Shaping Culinary Culture in Canada.” I just love cookbook  history….
• Eve Lazarus’ latest blog post looks at the history of the “Sisters of Mercy” (or Rhea Sisters) statues, the disturbingly life-like terra cotta statues of WW1 nurses, and tries to find out what happened to them.
  • And she was interviewed by the Vancouver is Awesome blog about her upcoming talk on Inspector Vance!
• Check out this new publication from the Federation of Post-Secondary Educators of BC, Whose Land Is It Anyway? A Manual for Decolonization. The book contains essays from thirteen noted Indigenous writers, including Russ Diabo (Mohawk Nation at Kahnawake), Beverly Jacobs (Kanien’kehaka citizen, Bear Clan, and member of the Six Nations of the Grand River Territory), Arthur Manuel (Neskonlith Indian band, Shuswap Nation), Pamela Palmater (Mi’kmaw Nation and a member of the Eel River Bar First Nation). The best part, it’s free to download!
• Elizabeth C. Libera reviewed Jeffrey Bolster’s The Mortal Sea: Fishing the Atlantic in the Age of Sail. for the Global Maritime History blog. 
• Do you know the history of Whistler’s own Myrtle Philip Day?
• Undergraduate historians from the University of Toronto have won awards for their creation the Kensington Market: Hidden Histories app!
• You can now read chapter seven of Terry Copp’s Montreal at War, 1914-1918 online. 
• Canadian History in the News
  • This week’s episode of “Unreserved” featured discussion around the recovering of Indigenous language, music, and culture, including Maliseet traditional songs, Germany’s obsession with First Nations culture, the search for Métis artifacts online, and learning and teaching Ojibwe.
  • CBC put together a short retrospective on Bill Reid (Haida)’s work, based an interview with Bill McLennan, former curator at the Museum of Anthropology.
  • Find out about some of the judicial and legal holdings, dating back to 1850, at the BC Archives.
  • The Canadian War Museum just unveiled a field gun loaned by the City of Mons, one of the last Canadian guns to fall silent at armistice, in remembrance of the liberation of the city.
  • I’m sure you’re all shocked to hear that colonialism is an important factor in causing low rates of cancer screening among Indigenous women. Frankly, I’m sure not how any Indigenous person would trust a hospital at this point.
  • And there is yet more research showing that the experience of residential schools had long-term physical and mental impacts on survivors and their descendants.
  • CBC has a new update on the UNB archaeological excavation at the 18^th century Louisbourg burial ground.
  • Vicky Mochama has a great op-ed in Metro News about the long (and neglected) history of Black Canadian activists.
  • Quite a bit of Sixties Scoop history this week
    • CBC spoke with some of the families who adopted Sixties Scoop children, and how they are dealing with the consequences of their “good intentions.”
    • The Manitoba Sixties Scoop Survivors Association is trying to stop the proposed settlement from going ahead, due to concerns about legal fees, small payouts, and the lack of consultation. CBC spoke with the president of the Association, Coleen Rajotte (Nehiyaw), about their petition.
    • And members of the Sixties Scoop Indigenous Society of Saskatchewan rallied in Saskatoon to raise awareness about the Sixties Scoop and protest the proposed settlement for its failure to compensate Métis and non-status survivors.
  • Even the New York Times covered the launch of the new $10 bill with an image of Viola Desmond.
  • Do you know the history of Vancouver’s Paton Street? Spoiler alert: it involves the letter K, three times.
  • So there’s a random underground vault in Ottawa dating back to 1876.
  • The government plans to announce a new settlement stream for residential school survivors who were abused by fellow students, and subsequently left out of the original process.
  • There are new stories about Indigenous peoples who sent their children to hospitals in Quebec in the 1950s and 1960s, only for the children to never been seen again.
  • Survivors of the St. Anne’s residential school are back in court requesting a review of all claims adjudicated before the disclosure of documents from a 1990s police investigation. They are also asking the court to overturn a previous decision allowing the government to withhold civil litigation materials from previous settlement cases.
  • Take a tour of the Massey medals and Toronto’s modernist heritage. 
  • Catherine Carstairs has written a great piece for The Conversation on the convoluted history of the criminalization of marijuana in Canada. 
  • Find out how Jean Drapeau really felt about the Montreal Olympics.
  • Victoria High School (Vic High) might be torn down because it would cost too much money to update it to withstand earthquakes.
  • Find out about a new exhibit at the McMichael Gallery on the history of hip hop in Canada.
  • This post by Yves Engler does a great job of breaking down how the Canadian Department of National Defence uses history and art to influence what Canadians remember about the history of war in this country. 
  • The Municipality of Clare in Nova Scotia has purchased a 1768 oath of allegiance pledge, signed by Acadian Antoine Solomon Maillet, The oath was required of all Acadians who wanted to resettle in Nova Scotia after the expulsion. Apparently the counsel also brought in reactors to show “how Maillet made the decision to sign the oath and continue his life in Nova Scotia.” Sigh.
  • Find out how the Woodlands Cultural Centre’s Save the Evidence campaign, mentioned in previous roundups, is working on making the Mohawk Institute into a place of healing.
  • A “mysterious” portrait of Captain George Vancouver was unveiled this week. Be sure to read to the end of the article.
    • More here.
  • There is a new book out on two Métis pioneers, Marie Rose Delorme Smith and Isabella Clark Hardisty Lougheed. Not so sure about the “pioneer” part, though this this may be from their involvement in the Southern Alberta Pioneers Association.
• Better Late than Never
  • Ruth Wilensky, the matriarch of Wilesnky’s Light Lunch, a noted deli in Montreal, has died.
• Calls for Papers
  • Erin Wunker is editing a special issue of Canadian Literature on “Diversity, Inclusivity, and Mentorship: Histories and Futures.” Paper submissions are due August 31.

Holy podcasts, Batman! Although I’m pretty sure the historical memes are my favourite entry in this week’s roundup…. Anyhoo, 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. All I’m going to say for now is that it is about something that wiggles. See you then!

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