Unwritten Histories

The Unwritten Rules of History

Tag: canadian history

Stronger Together: The Potential Collaborative Agency of Historians and Archivists

June 22, 2020 / / 0 Comments

by Andrea Eidinger and Krista McCracken

(Cross posted on Active History)

Over the past few years, the historical community in Canada has been rocked by a few scandals. No, we are not talking about the endless discussions around monuments. Rather, we are referring to the numerous public disputes between historians and archivists relating either to the discovery of or access to archival material. For example, you’ve liked seen various historians announcing that they had “discovered” a long-lost historical document by looking in a seemingly forgotten corner of the archive. To which archivists often reply, we knew it was there the whole time. Sometimes we also see these conflicts erupt into larger disputes, as has been the case with respect to the recent announcement that the BC Archives would be closed until 2021 to ensure that proper procedures were in place to protect staff and visitors from COVID-19.

 

Continue reading

Reflections on Made Modern

April 9, 2019 / / 0 Comments

Made Modern Cover Image

When I found out last year that Tina Adcock and Edward Jones-Imhotep were working on a new edited collection about modernity, science, and technology in Canadian history, I was immediately excited. I don’t like to talk about it, but once upon a time I was enrolled in engineering sciences. Earlier this year, I had the chance to speak with Adcock and Jones-Imhotep about their book, Made Modern: Science and Technology in Canadian History, and this blog post is the result of that conversation. Enjoy!

 

Edward Jones-ImhotepEdward Jones-Imhotep is a cultural historian of science and technology and an associate professor of history at York University. He is the recipient of the Sidney Edelstein Prize in the history of technology for his book The Unreliable Nation: Hostile Nature and Technological Failure in the Cold War. He has held visiting fellowships at the École des hautes études en sciences sociales, Paris, and was the Northrop Frye Visiting Fellow at the University of Toronto.

 

Tina Adcock

Tina Adcock is a cultural and environmental historian of modern Canada and an assistant professor of history at Simon Fraser University. She has published work in Swedish, Norwegian, Canadian, and American scholarly journals and volumes. She is an associate of the L.R. Wilson Institute for Canadian History at McMaster University.

 

 

 

Continue reading

2018 Holiday Gift Guide for Historians and History Professionals

November 27, 2018 / / 1 Comment

In the centre of the image is a gift wrapped in white paper, with twine as a ribbon and accented with a pine sprig, pinecone, and a small card. The gift is being held by two hands above a table, covered in similarly-wrapped gifts, more pinecones, and some ornaments. On the right there is also a mug of hot chocolate, with a marshmallow with a snowman's face painted on.

Do you know a Canadian historian? (::nods::) Are they impossible to shop for because they already own all the books? (::nods vigorously::) Then have we got just the thing for you. Welcome to the Third Annual Unwritten Histories Holiday Gift Guide for Canadian Historians! Once again, I have compiled a list of gift suggestions for historians and other history professionals, with some extra help from  Kesia Kvill, Krystal Raven, Catherine Ulmer, Krista McCracken, Jenny Ellison, Michelle Desveaux, Danielle Lorenz, Matthew Hayday, Leah Wiener, Shannon Stettner, Gillian Leitch, Erin Millions, Maddie Knickerbocker, Carling Christina, Lee Blanding, and Stephanie Pettigrew. Since I didn’t want to just repeat myself, this is an entirely new list of goodies. That said, I do highly recommend checking out the 2016 Gift Guide and the 2017 Gift Guide for even more suggestions (including information on what not to give your Jewish friends).

As usual, two quick caveats:

  • Warning to loved ones of historians and history professionals: It is so lovely that you remembered that we love history and that most of us love reading. However, we strongly recommend against the purchase of history books for holiday gifts, unless they are specifically requested. If you are dead-set on buying a history book for your loved-one, at least make sure that it is: from an academic press (it will say the word University in the title of the publisher) and it is by a person with a Ph.D. in history (Google is your friend – just put their name and the word history to find out). You may also want to make sure that your loved-one doesn’t already own the book in question, or have easy access to it from their institutional library. We have provided a couple of suggestions for non-history books that might be a better fit.
  • While I am Canadian, and many of the recommendations I’ve included down below are specific to Canadian history, this list should be helpful to history professionals no matter their country of origin or residence.

 

Once again, I have cheekily divided this list according to academic rank, mostly because I think it’s funny. Enjoy!

 

Continue reading

Hacking History 2.0: Wikipedia As Education And Public Engagement

September 4, 2018 / / 0 Comments

A woman shouting - promotional image for the Canadian History Wikipedia Edit a Thon.

Note from Andrea: And we’re back! If you are a long-time reader of Unwritten Histories, you know that last year I helped Krista and Jessica promote the first Canadian history Wikipedia Edit-a-thon. So of course I’m super excited to do so again! While I am not teaching this semester, last year my students participated in the Edit-a-thon and really loved it. I’ll include some more information about what I did at the end of this post.

In October 2017 Krista McCracken and I hosted the first Canada Wide Wikipedia Edit-a-thon for Canadian history. This national event encouraged folks from across Canada to join us in editing Canadian history content on Wikipedia and much to our surprise they did!

The event resulted in 12.9K words being added to Wikipedia, 259 total edits being completed, over 36 editors contributing, and 60 articles being edited. We had numerous classes, community groups, and individuals participate from all over Canada. You can read a full summary of the event on Krista’s website.

I was particularly thrilled to have Grade 9 students from Connect Charter School in Calgary, Alberta participate in this event. Educators Chris Wilding and Jaime Groeller and students Lucas Braun and Benjamin Green wrote about and shared their experiences in an article on CanadasHistory.ca.

On October 24, 2018 we will be hosting the second annual Canada Wide Canadian History edit-a-thon. We’re inviting folks from throughout Canada to join us in editing Canadian history content on Wikipedia. Keep reading to learn about what an edit-a-thon is and find out how you too can participate

 

Continue reading

2017 Holiday Gift Guide for Historians

November 28, 2017 / / 2 Comments

Macro shot of a snowflake crystal, with extraordinary detail.

Do you know a Canadian historian? (::nods::) Are they impossible to shop for because they already own all the books? (::nods vigorously::) Then have we got just the thing for you!

Welcome to the Second Annual Unwritten Histories Holiday Gift Guide for Canadian Historians! Once again, I have compiled a list of gift suggestions for historians and other history professionals!

Some important caveats: this guide does not (with one exception) include books. However, if you do want some book suggestions, check out my previous blog posts on upcoming publications in Canadian history). If you are shopping for a history buff, I would highly recommend the 2017 Book and Gift Guide from Canada’s History.

Second, while I am Canadian, and many of the recommendations I’ve included down below are specific to Canadian history, this list should be helpful to history professionals no matter their country of origin or residence.

And third, I haven’t repeated any of my suggestions from last year, because well, where’s the fun in that? So, for even more suggestions, make sure to check out last year’s gift guide!

Without any further ado, let’s get brainstorming!

 

Continue reading

Women’s History Month in Canada: Recommended Readings

October 25, 2016 / / 2 Comments

Recommended Readings in Canadian Women's History

 

Many historians, including myself, tend to overlook various “history months,” mostly because it’s always history month for them. We’re the kind of nerds that do this kind of thing for fun. However, October is Women’s History Month in Canada, and, especially given the recent article by Elise Chenier, Lori Chambers, and Anne Toews, “Still Working in the Shadow of Men? An Analysis of Sex Distribution in Publications and Prizes in Canadian History” on the underrepresentation of female authors in the field, I want to highlight some of my favourite scholarship on the history of women in Canada. Many organizations are getting in on this, and are using the hashtag #becauseofher to spotlight women who have inspired. These are books and articles that I go back to again and again, that I actually enjoy reading, that fired my imagination, and that have shaped my own approach to historical research. I’ve tried to limit this list to women’s history rather than the history of gender and/or sexuality, given the theme of this month. And so, in no particular order, they are….

 

Continue reading

© 2024 Unwritten Histories

Theme by Anders Noren — Up ↑