The Unwritten Rules of History
Theresa Billette, age 15, and her sister, Delia, aged five, stitching beads on moosehide moccasins. [They are from the Buffalo River Dene First Nation at Dillon, Saskatchewan.] March 19, 1955. Rosemary Gilliat Eaton / Library and Archives Canada / e010975232
Special thanks to Krystl Raven, Peter Scales, Tarisa Dawn Little, Jesse Thistle, Osgoode Society Oral History, Alexandra Giancarlo, Peter Anderson, Janis Thiessen, Shirley Tillotson, Alex Green, Andrea Blackman, Sandra (@khassl), and Terry Smyth for their recommendations and advice, and Jessica Knapp for her feedback on a draft of this blog post!
As you may remember from my interview with Katrina Srigley, Stacey Zembrzycki and Franca Iacovetta, I am an oral history devotee. I also used oral history extensively in my dissertation, thirty-five interviews in all. But as an oral historian, I have always had an uncomfortable relationship with transcripts and transcription. So today I thought I would unpack some of the existing discussion around transcription. Let’s get started!
A women seated typing on I.B.M. punch card machine. Montreal, Quebec. 1959. O. Buck. Library and Archives Canada. Copyright: Expired
The latest in blog posts, news, and podcasts from the world of Canadian history.
What’s this? A surprise blog post on Thursday? We’re excited to announce that this is the first in a new occasional series entitled “Unearthed,” in cooperation with NiCHE and edited by Heather Green! The series will be a special version of Historians’ Histories, featuring emerging environmental historians discussing what brought them to the field, why they value environmental history, and how it connects with life outside of academia. You can see the full series here. Enjoy!
Judith Ellen Brunton is a doctoral candidate at the University of Toronto’s Department for the Study of Religion. Judith’s current project explores how legacies of oil extraction allow for specific contemporary imaginaries of the good life in Alberta. With case studies on: Imperial Oil’s publications on history and culture, Energy Heritage sites, The Calgary Stampede, and various corporate aspirational initiatives. Judith held a Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council Doctoral Scholarship to pursue her research. She is currently a junior fellow at Victoria College and Massey College at the University of Toronto.
![Telephone operators wearing masks, High River, Alberta [ca. 1918-1919].](https://i0.wp.com/www.unwrittenhistories.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/52348516_300632070651733_4016322243175907328_n.jpg?resize=676%2C397)
Telephone operators wearing masks, High River, Alberta [ca. 1918-1919]. Courtesy of the Glenbow Archives
If you’ve been reading the roundup for a while, you are likely aware of Neil Orford and Blake Heathcote’s project, Defining Moments Canada. Defining Moments Canada is a digital storytelling platform dedicated to the development of crowd-sourced commemorative projects on a range of subjects. As part of this project, Defining Moments is working to empower Canadians to tell their own stories within their communities by providing them with the resources to do so. Not only does the website provide information on telling compelling and effective stories as well as advice on conducting reliable online research, but it also provides explanatory essays, images, and lesson plans on select topics to enhance and enrich these stories. As of this moment, Defining Moments Canada is completing their collection of material on the Spanish Flu pandemic, and beginning work on the 75th anniversary of the landing at Juno Beach.
For those who are unfamiliar with the Spanish Flu pandemic, also known known as the 1918 Influenza Pandemic, this term refers to the influenza pandemic that swept the globe between January 1918 and December 1920. Current estimates suggest that around 500 million people caught the disease, and somewhere between 50 to 100 million people died of it, which is equivalent to roughly three to five percent of the global population. While influenza was not a new disease at the time, the strain that caused the pandemic (H1N1) was particularly deadly and particularly virulent. It also disproportionately affected previously health young adults. For those of you who are (or were) Twilight fans, this was what killed Edward Cullen the first time around. And yes, I do teach the pandemic by making this reference.
Man and woman on ski lift, Mont Tremblant, P.Q. February 1961. Chris Lund. Credit: Library and Archives Canada. Copyright: Expired
The latest in blog posts, news, and podcasts from the world of Canadian history.
Here is a preview:
On April 3rd, I was on my way to class, when I received a phone call from my husband. It was the last day of the winter semester, and my students had organized a potluck to celebrate. My husband has battled Crohn’s Disease for the better part of ten years, and had decided to stay home that day because his symptoms were severe. Over the course of those ten years, we’ve been through several flares (as they are called), and knew what to do. So my husband calling me right before class time was quite out of character. And for good reason: he called to tell me that he needed to go to the hospital. After a brief discussion (he wanted me to go to class, I told him he was being ridiculous), I popped into class to explain what was going on, and then ran to catch the bus. That was one of the longest commutes my entire life, both literally and figuratively. I arrived at the hospital to find my husband curled up on the benches in the Emergency Room. While I didn’t know it at the time, we had just entered a two-month-long hell-scape that involved multiple emergency room visits, two major surgeries, and a lot of waiting. I’m happy to report that my husband is now doing fine, but the entire ordeal has highlighted the invisible costs of precarious academia, particularly those costs that arise from academic relocation.
Check out the rest here: http://activehistory.ca/2019/02/untethered-precarity-place-and-people/
Because, let’s face it – who has time to catch up on all the journal articles published in Canadian history?
Special thanks to Anne Janhunen, Krista McCracken, and Maddie Knickerbocker for helping me think this through, and Alison Norman, Tom Peace, Krystl Raven, Adele Perry, and Erin Millions for their commentary on the Johnson piece.
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:
An employee of the Maple Leaf Plastics, is shown using an automatic plate finishing machine. Toronto, Ontario. Chris Lund. February 1961. Library and Archives Canada. Copyright Expired.
The latest in blog posts, news, and podcasts from the world of Canadian history.
Special thanks to Jessica Knapp, Krista McCracken, and Maddie Knickerbocker for their encouragement and comments on a draft of this piece.
Dear Teaching Self
Hey it’s me. I know we don’t talk often. And I know that you’re not teaching right now. But since it’s almost Valentine’s Day, I just wanted to write you this little note anyways to let you know that I get it. Teaching is super hard. It can totally be awesome, and I know how much you love telling stories and talking about history. But it’s also a ton of work. Coming up with a syllabus is really hard, and it’s challenging to pick just the right readings. Preparing lectures and PowerPoint presentations always seems to take longer than it should. Most of your students are awesome, but there are always a couple who seem to want to make your job harder (omg, remember the student who tried to correct you with Wikipedia? In front of the entire class?). And while you’re in class, you feel great, but as soon as it’s over, you feel like a train wreck, simultaneously “on” and exhausted? And you often find yourself wondering what it is you’re doing in the first place, and whether anything is even getting through?
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