Canadian History Roundup – Week of January 29, 2017

“You Go Over Big With Me, Valentine”, 1900-1960. C271_B8.14 Source: McCord Museum.

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

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

*Note: I’ve put the final two days that I missed from last week at the top, and then this week’s current roundup immediately below! Thanks again for your patience!

Addendum to last week:

• Active History finished off their series on women’s political and social activism in Western Canada with a post by friend of the blog, Anne Dance! Dance discussed E. Cora Hind, feminist and agricultural journalist, and her work advocating on behalf of female farmers and the Canadian wheat industry.
• The LAC Discover Blog posted a new Flickr album, this one featuring Inuit woman and their relationship with seals. Check out the album here.
• And also from LAC is a blog post by Andrew Elliot all about Sir Sandford Fleming, the Canadian who invented the idea of standardized time zones.
• The Vancouver As It Was Blog ventured deep into the history of the UBC Main library, in search of the “Cave-Brown-Cave,” “Mysteria,” and the “dinosaur.” I think all libraries have special nicknames for certain areas. If you went to McGill, you know what I mean when I talk about the Fish Bowl. 😉
• The UBC Digitization blog talked about desserts this week. Because they are evil. Do you have a favourite dessert? I’m partial to chocolate cupcakes, while my husband will eat anything with sugar.
• Check out this short retrospective of blizzards in the St. Catherines, Ontario area. As I type this sentence, it’s snowing in Richmond again. NOOOOOOO.
• The Great Canadian War Centre blog looked at some of the private gear purchased by soldiers at the front, some of which actually worked! Well, maybe not the bulletproof jackets…ouch.
• Personally, I find the whole concept of skiing terrifying, but if you enjoy the sport, check out this look at the origins of ski lifts, and the first ones installed at Whistler.
• The images from LAC’s latest podcast episode on Glenn Gould are now available online!
• Canadian History in the News
  • Saturday was the Chinese Lunar New Year! The Toronto Public Library celebrated by showing some of its images of the celebration from years past.
  • Some idiotic North Carolina DNA testing company is claiming that it has found a woman who is Beothuk. The Beothuk were an Indigenous people who lived in Newfoundland, and the last member of the nation died in 1829. For a great explanation about why these DNA tests are bogus and why having genetic markers associated with Indigenous organizations does not make you Indigenous, read this.
  • The Supreme Court of Canada has created a new online archive of Internet sources cited in their judgements to preserve access to them for future legal cases.
  • Relive the Canadian Caper with Radio Canada.
  • The kerfuffle over the new Quebec history course continues. Even the school board that my high school belonged to has gotten into the fray, which is in regard to the insufficient amount of Indigenous history that was included. I remember when I took this course. Sigh.
  • Alberta kicked off Black History month a little bit early, and this article has some great information about the long history of Black Canadians in Alberta.
  • The Vancouver Sun remembers the death of Canadian-born silent screen star, Marie Prevost, and her shocking death at 38.
  • The Toronto Ward Museum is collecting stories about immigrant communities, to be featured in a new multimedia project.
  • David Wencer, in the latest Historicist column, takes a look at the “Greatest Hockey Match Ever Staged,” the Leafs versus Boston on December 12^th, 1933. This Habs fan was not impressed. 😉
  • On Friday, a Belgian woman appealed to Canadians to try to find her unknown father. Many people are not aware of this, but the Liberation of Holland in 1944 was also called The Summer of Love (Lurve?) for a reason. 😉 Her call for help was answered, and her father’s identity has been discovered! I’m a sucker for happy endings.
  • Senator Wanda Thomas Bernard is calling on the people of Nova Scotia to use Black History Month as the foundation of something bigger, recognizing the important role that Black Nova Scotians played in the province’s history. Hear, hear.
  • The history of Qikiqtaruk in Inuvialuktun (Hershel Island) in the Yukon is eroding into the ocean and needs to be saved.

• First up this week is part 2 of LAC’s guide to aviation accident research.
• Active History will be featuring the Graphic History Collective’s new poster project on their blog, including interviews with the artist. First up is an amazing work by another friend of the blog, Lianne Charlie! Charlie talks about the impact of the Umbrella Final Agreement on Yukon Indigenous peoples.
• Borealia is back with part 2 of their series on Anishinaabeg warriors from the War of 1812. This latest post looks at the story of The Odaawaa Chief Mookomaanish, Awaasizii (Brown Bullhead) clan, of Cross Village (a part of L’Arbre Croche), also known as The Damn Knife.
• The Acadiensis Blog also has part 2 of their series in collaboration with Jerry Bannister’s studies. This latest post is by Alex Martinborough, and reflects on the similarities and differences between the Conservative and Liberal agendas for Canada 150, and how political parties co-opt public history for their own purposes.
• This week on NiCHE, they have a blog post by Donald G. Wetherell about his latest book, Wildlife, Land, and People: A Central Change in Prairie Canada. He focuses specifically on the role that animals played in settling the Canadian prairie.
• Russell Potter is back with his monthly feature, “Franklin Searcher of the Month.” This month’s post focuses on Garth Walpole.
• It’s not strictly Canadian, but the Laurier Centre blog has a new post by Eliza Richardson about the emergence of plastic surgery as a specialty in England during World War II, and its use of veterans as test subjects. These veterans formed their own cohort of soldiers, known ironically as the “Guinea Pigs.” We owe a huge debt to these very brave men.
• This week on Unwritten Histories, we had a special guest blog post by Adam Barker! Barker discussed how settler colonialism rewrites Canadian history, making the bodies of dead war of 1812 soldiers into retroactive Canadians. It’s a great blog post, and definitely not one to miss.
• Adam Gaudry and Karen Drake have a new journal article out this week on Métis land title. Check it out here.
• Just for fun, check out this homemade horse-drawn caboose sleigh. Yes, you read that correctly. 😉
• Historica Canada has put together a learning guide for Canada 150. They offer discussion topics and activities for both junior and senior grades, and the senior grades can easily be adapted for first-year university students. The material is actually quite critical, focusing on our perceptions of Canada and history, and while not perfect, there are definitely parts that I would consider using in my classroom, especially on the first day of class. Your mileage may vary.
• Harold Bérubé is back with another post in his series on the 300^th anniversary of Montreal. This week, he looks the beginning of the festivities on January 1^st, 1942.
• Check out this list of the new archival acquisitions made by LAC! Even the CHA donated their materials! I love it when historians get new toys to play with.
• Bob Muckle is a Canadian archaeologist who is currently working on early 20^th century Japanese labour camps in Western Canada. Check out this image of a clock, and this one of a toothpaste tube, that he recently found. Just amazing.
• In a two-post feature, Lucie Pacquet of LAC talks about the history of the Montreal Rolling Mills Company. In the first post, she talks about their collection of materials from this company, and in the second, she focuses on the factory workers themselves.
• Leah Grandy, on the Atlantic Loyalist Connections Blog, talks about the importance of the Book of Negroes (the actual historical document, not the novel). This is a crucial source for learning about the lives of Africans and African-Americans who settled, even if just for a short time, in the British North American colonies.
• A new History Slam podcast episode is out! This latest features a conversation with Trevor Herriot about his work on Towards a Prairie Atonement, about the forced relocation of Métis in the 1930s as part of the Community Pastures Program.
• Do you remember how I mentioned a few months ago that the Canadian Museum of History has acquired the collection of William James Roué, creator of the Bluenose? Well, in this new blog post, they talk about the Bluenose and Roué’s work as a naval architect. That’s a fancy way of saying boat builder. 😉
• The UBC Anthropology department sat down and talked with new BC Studies editor Leslie Robertson about her vision for the journal, the open journal systems, and digital media.
• Over at the Watson this week, Steven Maynard talks about the Queen’s YMCA during the 1910s and 1920s, and the Y’s efforts to shape male students in perfect specimens. His starting point is this curious notation found in an old student handbook: ““April 11, 1911. Height = 5’8½”. Weight = 146.5 lbs. Both taken stripped.” Don’t miss this one.
• The Dictionary of Canadian Biography has a new online exhibit! Their latest focuses on the history of the Red River Settlement in Manitoba, from 1812 to 1870.
  • This week’s new biography from the DCB belongs to Thomas Alexander Russell, an industrialist and farmer from southern Ontario. He is perhaps best known for developing a car suited specifically to Canadian winters, the Russell Motor Car. Now if only we can figure out a way to stop salt from eroding the undercarriage of cars, we’ll be all set. 😉
• Claire L. Halstead has a new blog post on Active History this week about the Halifax Junior Bengal Lancers, a children’s riding group. These young riders were often used as unofficial Canadian ambassadors, and Halstead discusses how they performed Canadianness” both before and during WW2.
• Christopher Moore spotlights an awesome website this week — Tales from the 2.9 — focusing on the experiences and achievements of Black Canadians.
• Paula Dumas talks about online databases and indexes of historical documents that are freely available, and why they are so important for researchers.
• The Canadian Museum of History Blog is running a series they’re calling “Canadian History in 150 Events,” highlighting a different historical event leading up to the opening of the Canadian History Hall. I’m not going to link to each individual post, since there are seven per week, and they mostly just contain an image with a short description, but if this is something that interests you, definitely check it out.
• In contrast, Mary Grace Kosta (‪@marygkosta‪ ) is posting profiles of Canadian Indigenous peoples as part of the #resist150 campaign. This is definitely a great time to start following Kosta’s account!
• Also on Active History this week is a blog post by Richard White, about why he, as a historian, is against the historical preservation of neighbourhoods. It’s a fascinating discussion.
• The Virtual Museum of Canada has a brand new exhibition as part of its Community Memories project! This one tells the story of two Quebec towns, Rouyn and Noranda, and their gold and copper mining industries in the 1920s.
• The Retroactive blog is back this week with their first post in their “Ask an Expert” series. The topic of the first interview: “What’s the most unusual archaeological find in Alberta to date?”
• During Black History Month, the Histoire Sociale/Social History Twitter account will tweet articles relating to Black History in Canada, and the corresponding articles will be available for free on their website!
• Check out this gorgeous example of Métis beadwork from the 1830s, that someone found at a Value Village!
• Christopher Ryan shares some thoughts from previous Ottawa majors on Housing, including (in order of posting):
  • Charlotte Whitton from 1953, 1951, 1952, 1954, and 1955.
  • E. Stanley Lewis from 1945 and 1946
• Christopher Moore’s occasional correspondent, Libby Toop, has found a fascinating reference to Vimy Ridge from 1917 in a local newspaper where Canada and Britain were clearly distinguished.
• Carleton University looks back to see how Carleton students reacted to the American Civil Rights movement in the 1960s.
• This week, the UBC Digitizer’s blog looks at their historical book collection, on the history of BC from 1783 and 1952, particularly one travelogue named C. 1887 : A Ramble in British Columbia.
• This month the St. Catherines Museum blog is taking a look back at the experiences of fugitive slaves who fled to Canada. The first post in a four-post series features an interview collected by an American abolitionist with one former slave, John Sewell.
• The Canadian Museum for Human Rights blog tells the story of Viola Desmond this week.
• The Whistorical Blog remembers the Alta Lake Community Club, formed in the 1950s, and their regular movie nights. This was before television had arrived in Whistler. The horror.
• Do you know what snow rollers are? Maybe this is a prairie thing.
• The Archives of Ontario has a new online exhibit they’re calling Family Ties 150, about the family of George Brown, one of the most well-known “fathers of confederation.”
• Canadian History in the News
  • My husband sent me this link about a woman who has written the story of her Gaelic grandmother’s life in PEI over the course of the 20^th
  • Law student Jesse Donovan is calling on the RCMP to repatriate the Métis artefacts in its collection, including a crucifix, knife, poetry, and clothing belonging to Louis Riel. As Donovan notes, these were not donations, but were surrendered during criminal investigations and sentencing.
  • Jennifer Evans was interviewed this week for her exceptional work on the New Facism Syllabus. The syllabus will be transformed into a course at Carleton next year.
    • Here’s another interview on CBC radio!
  • The Montreal Gazette looks back at the funeral procession for 178 nuns in 1861 (some dating back to 1659), when the Grey Nuns moved their hospital from the old Hôtel Dieu to their new location. Jeanne Mance, the hospital’s founder, was buried within the original chapel, and her remains were lost in a fire in 1659.
  • Bee Quammie argues that Black History Month in Canada should be eliminated. I happen to agree with her.
    • Here’s another argument to this effect, by Joseph Quigley of the CBC.
  • Newly discovered time capsule alert! This latest one is in Hamilton, on the former site of Chedoke Campus.
  • The government is now claiming that it wants to negotiate the settlement for the Sixties Scoop case. After decades of denial and years of trying to dodge responsibility.
  • There is apparently a new mandate to include an oath to honour treaties made with Indigenous peoples in the new citizenship oath. As @GwitchinKris noted on Twitter, maybe “the other settlers get a grandfather clause.”
  • Expansion plans for a Toronto school have been put on hold because it was discovered that the original school was built on top of a former burial ground potentially containing thousands of bodies. Why isn’t there a horror film about this yet?
  • The government of Alberta has reached a new 10-year framework agreement with the Métis Nation of Alberta.
  • More information is emerging about the decline of the large urban developments built by an Indigenous population known now as the Mississippian civilization, sometime around the year 1200 C.E. IT turns out that climate change likely played a role.
  • The Amherstburg Freedom Museum is seeking family stories in connection with the Underground Railroad and Essex County for a new project on the history of Black Canadians in Ontario.
  • Salli Pateman is in search of the original Sai Woo Chop Suey sign that used to hang in Vancouver’s Chinatown.
  • Did you know that you can now take an online 360 degree tour of Manoir Papineau, the former home of Quebec politician Louis-Joseph Papineau?
  • The Canadian Automotive Museum is in search of car stories!
  • Find out the lengths one American explorer went to fund an expedition to the Arctic. It’s a fascinating look at the history of sponsorship and consumer culture.
  • It’s a repost this week, but the Historicist column looks back at Third World Books and Crafts, a noted Black-culture bookstore in Toronto in the late 1960s.
  • The Métis Nation of Alberta also met with Ottawa this week about having a new framework for their relationship by September of this year.
  • More adorable Canadian history news: these students are learning about New France using the popular game Minecraft.
  • A travelling copy of Treaty 8 has just gone on display at the First Nations University of Canada in Regina.
  • The Métis of Ontario have also signed a new agreement with Ottawa.
  • The Tsilhqot’in Nation has signed a letter of understanding with the federal government.
  • Check out the new stamps being released in honour of Black History Month.
  • The Squamish language in flourishing in Vancouver, and SFU’s new language immersion program is accepting applications for its second year!
  • It’s kinda funny, but it seems that the famous Notre Dame Basilica in Montreal, an icon of the French-Canadian Catholic Church, was designed by an Irish Protestant architect. You cannot make this stuff up.
  • Measha Brueggergosman has a new album and interactive website that uses music to tell the history of her family. Brueggergosman was featured on the Who Do You Think You Are series a few years ago, and discovered that she was descended from Black Loyalists.
  • One student is calling on the Department of Journalism at Concordia University to include Indigenous history in its new program.
  • I have a really major problem with the title, which I will not repeat here, but the Vancouver Sun is also doing a Canada 150 profile-of-the-day thing, this time on British Columbians. The first article is about Pauline Johnson. It’s a bit of a strange choice, since she was Mohawk, but she did apparently spend the last few years of her life in Vancouver. Read at your own risk. Again, I’m not going to cover all of them, but if you’re interested, you can read all of the articles for free from the Vancouver Sun.
  • The Maritime Museum of BC has just acquired a rare second edition of Captain James Cook’s journals.
  • There is a new documentary out on the history of Black Canadians in Alberta!
  • The Royal Alberta Museum wants your signs from the Women’s Marches around Alberta.
• Better Late than Never
  • There is another problematic new television show, this time on Historia (the French-language version of the History channel). The show, Le lot du diable (The Devil’s Lot), has a group of people pretending to live life just like it was in the 1930s in Quebec, only minus any Indigenous people. Sigh.
  • The Montreal Gazette remembers what it was like to go to Jail in Montreal in the 1850s. Spoiler alert: it sucked.
  • This is absolutely adorable, but check out this report card from 1957 belonging to Maureen Kiernan, discovered during home renovations in Edmonton. I can see why she tried to hide it. 😉
  • Did you know that Canada’s oldest sugar maple has been growing since around 1500? The tree is known as the Comfort Maple, and is located in Ontario.
  • The Toronto Star remembers the time that Toronto appeared as a mirage over Lake Ontario in Buffalo, in August 1894. Insert Toronto joke here. 😉

Whew, it’s been quite a week. Tomorrow we are resuming our regular schedule with another guest post. It looks fantastic, so I can’t wait for you to see it. If you liked this post, please considering sharing on Facebook, Twitter, or any other social media platform. And yes, I do know that it is not Valentine’s Day yet, but I have so many cute cards that I want to share that I just couldn’t wait. See you tomorrow!

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