The Unwritten Rules of History
Welcome to the first annual Unwritten Histories year-end review and our last blog post of 2017! It seems appropriate, given my weekly roundups, that I end the year with a year-long version. I divided this blog post into two parts. First I’ve gathered together a cross-section of important historical events from the world of Canadian history. I tried to select events that were represented and had a nation-wide relevance. Second, I listed some of my favourite reads from the past year.
“Compliments of the Season,” (1870s-1900?) Kenneth Rowe fonds 2006-00269-4, Library and Archives Canada
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Welcome back to our monthly series, “Upcoming Publications in Canadian History,” where I’ve compiled information on all the upcoming releases for the following month in the field of Canadian history from every Canadian academic press, all in one place. This includes releases in both English and French. To see December’s releases, click here.
Because, let’s face it – who has time to catch up on all the journal articles published in Canadian history?
Welcome back to the Best New Articles series, where, each month, I post a list of my favourite new articles! Don’t forget to also check out my favourites from previous months, which you can access by clicking here.
This month I read articles from:
Here are my favourites, in no particular order:
Artist unknown, “Send War Savings Christmas Cards – They Are Free,”(1942-1943?) Library and Archives Canada, Acc. No. 1983-30-555.
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All images in this post are courtesy of Laura Ishiguro, and used with deep gratitude!
Early last week, on November 29th, the Free Speech Club at UBC placed a giant Mars symbol at the very top of the UBC Engineering cairn. The Mars symbol was selected as it is often used to represent men and masculinity, and was intended to allow the Free Speech Club to display their support for the official funding of a men’s rights group by the school’s student union.
It remains unclear whether or not the Free Speech Club was aware of this, but the cairn was intended to be the location for the annual 14 Not Forgotten Memorial Ceremony, to be held on November 30th. The ceremony is in honour of the 14 women who died in the Montreal Massacre and in honour of December 6th, the National Day of Remembrance and Action on Violence against Women. The cairn is part of the engineering building’s Memorial Courtyard.
When three prominent student leaders, Veronica Knott, Jeanie Malone, and Carly Jones (all of whom are also current engineering students) spoke out against this, they were met with support, debate, and accusations of “overreacting.” The symbol has since been taken down and the cairn redecorated, as you can see in the photos above.
So on this December 6th, I want to take a moment to address the place that this day of remembrance and action holds in Canada and what it says about how we see ourselves as a nation. In this blog post, I’m going to talk about how we remember and how we forget, and the relationship between memory and history.
*And thank you to Elise Chenier for suggesting this topic!
In the discipline of history, one entire field is devoted to the study of how the study of history has evolved over time. We refer to this field as “historiography.” But while we tend to devote a great of study to the evolution of historical theories and methods, not much attention is paid to the personal evolution of historians themselves. Historians, like many academics, can seem to be figures that are larger-than-life, intimidating, and aloof. However, the reality couldn’t be farther from the truth. So, in this new series, “Historians’ Histories,” I’m going “behind the scenes” to talk with actual practicing historians about why they decided to devote their lives to history, their thoughts on the profession, and their work as historians. Think Stephen Colbert’s “Better Know a District,” without the biting political satire. 😉
My dear friend Peter Scales has kindly volunteered to be my first guinea pig in this new series. 😉 Peter is a family historian and lay chaplain with the Capital Unitarian Universalist Congregation, who currently lives in Victoria, British Columbia. Originally hailing from Salmon Arm, BC, he has degrees in both history and philosophy, and spent most of his career in the Canadian Forces Air Command (now known as the Royal Canadian Air Force). In his spare time, he likes to repair and refurbish old vehicles, especially Volkswagens, and sing in a number of local choirs, including the Linden Singers of Victoria. Peter and I first met in 2006 in graduate school at the University of Victoria.
A Blast Furnace (1926-1934) Clive Gardiner. Library and Archives Canada, C-109483 CC by 2.0
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As depressing (or not) as it sounds, it’s that time of year again when we show our love for other people by buying them gifts. You may know this time of year as Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, Yule, or what-have-you. but you know what it’s really about. 😉 Depending on your personal level of organization, now is the time to start planning and shopping. Especially if you’re a professor, because we all know now is the calm before the storm of finals, final essays, and grade submissions that will keep you busy until at least December 22nd. However, online gift guides for historians, history-buffs, or even academics tend to be limited almost exclusively to books. I don’t know about you guys, but I don’t want more work for the holidays, not to mention random history books by questionable authors from well-meaning gift-givers. (However, if you do want some book suggestions, check out my previous blog posts on upcoming publications in Canadian history).
So with that in mind, I’ve compiled a list of gift suggestions at roughly six different price points. Now, Gwyneth Paltrow I am not, (though this goop guide, The Thinker, actually has some reasonable suggestions), so I tried to pick things that I would be happy to receive at any time of the year. While the title says that this list is for historians, and my price points have cheeky academic labels, this list has great suggestions for anyone with an interest in history, including archaeology and anthropology. Also, since most gift guides are American in focus, and the only Canadian one I could find was exclusively coins (seriously???), I’ve tried to include specific recommendations that would appeal to Canadians or are available in Canada, as well as more universal gifts.
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