What does LCMSDS stand for, again? Oh yeah....

Matt Symes of the Canadian Military History website, an initiative of LCMSDS,  the Laurier Centre for Military Strategic and Disarmament Studies, draws our attention to the newly redesigned site, already drawing a couple of hundred hits a day, he says.

History of Hesjedal

A little of Norwegian geography and social history, some immigration history, an archive from 1504:  all in a 2 minute Norwegian TV profile of our boy, Tour de France cyclist Ryder Hesjedal.  Cool subtitled Norwegian accents too.

Our boy in the big leagues

British historian David Cannadine, asked to pick five books to explain the British Empire, includes Canadian writer-politician Roy MacLaren's 2004 book Commissions High, about the Canadian representatives in London.

One of the more interesting figures that he talks about is this remarkable man called Lord Strathcona, who is indeed a classic Scottish immigrant to Canada, who then makes a fortune via the Canadian Pacific Railway and the Bank of Montreal and a whole variety of other industries. He then comes back to Britain and is the Canadian High Commissioner to Britain. Lord Strathcona could have walked straight out of Devine’s book. And then there is this extraordinary patrician figure Vincent Massey, from a very grand Canadian family, who is the Canadian High Commissioner during World War II and chairs the trustees of the National Gallery in London and subsequently is the first Canadian Governor General of Canada.

New Zealand and proportional representation

New Zealand had a national election on the weekend (one is required there every three years).  Turnout was the lowest since 1887, indicating once again that declining voter turnout is a global phenomenon among mature democracies,  not something to be fixed simply by adoption of proportional representation or some other panacea.

PR, which New Zealand has had since 1996, was itself on the ballot, through a referendum asking whether voters wished to keep the mixed-member proportional system or to consider alternatives.  Results will not be known for a couple of weeks, but the existing system seems likely to survive.  Oddly, despite a profusion of small parties, most of which seem to be mouthpieces for charismatic kooky leaders, New Zealand seems to be returning to a two-party system, in which the National (conservative) party and the Labour party share 80% of the vote.  National, indeed, will hold 60 seats in a 121 seat legislature, a virtual single-party majority.

The most notable change in NZ politics since MMP has been the consolidation of power in the hands of party leaders, to the detriment of backbenchers.  Under MMP, fifty-one of 121 NZ MPs are now appointed by their parties, rather than elected by constituents, and have no authority to disagree with their party's instructions.  In a country that used to have a lively tradition of intra-caucus debate and frequent removal by caucus vote of unsuccessful party leaders (even prime ministers), the loss of leadership accountability and backbencher power is striking.

History of the Governor General's Awards

During her tenure as governor general, Adrienne Clarkson became aware that Rideau Hall did not even have copies of the books that had received Governor General's Literary Awards over the years -- not even, presumably, her husband's book.  She initiated a search that must have been quite a remarkable exercise in bookfinding.  Today visitors to Rideau Hall can visit a smallish room just off the main reception rooms that hold a complete collection or something close to it of books that have received the Governor General's Literary Award since their foundation in 1936 -- seventy-five years ago.

I had the chance the other day to browse those shelves.  There is a fair amount of work that is not remembered and some that may not be terrifically memorable.  But all along those shelves, one spots names that adorn the canon, indeed that form the canon.

Among the historians, for instance:  the shelves include works by A.R.M. Lower, C.P. Stacey, W.L. Morton, Donald Creighton, J.M.S. Careless, Frank Underhill, Marcel Trudel, Robert-Louis Séguin, Louise Dechene, Carl Berger, Fernand Ouellet, Ramsay Cook, Gerard Bouchard, and Margaret MacMillan, as well as Thomas Raddall, Josephine Phelan, Marjorie Wilkins Campbell, Pierre Berton, Sandra Gwyn, Maggie Siggins and Karolyn Smardz Frost  (curious, is it, how women are much better represented among the non-academic historians than among the profs?).  Fiction, poetry, whatever category you pick is as studded with distinguished names.  It's quite a room.

The top photo is of a part of the shelving that includes books of the year 1982, which is of special significance to me. The lower one is part of the room itself.  The exhibit is supposedly temporary, but it looks built to last.

Andrew Coyne speaks truth to parliament

He's pretty sure giving prizes to good parliamentarians isn't going to fix parliament

Certainly MPs themselves seem disinclined to complain, publicly at least. Ask how they enjoy being a member of Parliament and they will burble on about the work they do in their constituencies, forwarding letters to the Immigration Department and the like. Everything but actually sitting in Parliament.
And so we get the kind of people in politics who are willing to accept a job with no meaningful responsibilities.
Over the years, I’ve proposed any number of reforms [...]. But all of these depend on someone in Parliament being willing to buck the status quo. But who among its present inmates is disposed to do that? Not the leaders, obviously. And not their obedient followers. 

Glen Gould site

Just hear this on CBC Radio 2 and thought I'd pass it along. I assume, however, if the people who read this blog are like me, you've just heard about the site yourself!

http://www.cbc.ca/gould/

Cheers,

Jordan

Mercy Coles sort of, with Shakespeare, the Booth brothers and the Broadway Theatre, New York City

I'm finishing off the transcribing of Mercy Coles' diary from their trip through Ohio and New York back to Prince Edward Island - She writes that they went to the Broadway Theatre [owned by Edwin Booth, brother of John Wilkes Booth] on November 12, 1864 and saw a 'capital' show [Salon Shanghai if I can decipher clearly].

Image from New York City Department of Parks and Recreation, Central Park

Just under 2 weeks later, on November 25, 1864, the 3 Booth brothers - Edwin, John Wilkes, and Junius Brutus Booth Jr performed together for the first and only time, in a one night performance of Julius Caesar, as a fundraiser for this statue of Shakespeare in New York City.
Not only that, but less than an hour into the show, Confederates set fire to the city, including the house that adjoined the theatre. The theater was packed and the crowd were beginning to panic until Edwin Booth stepped forward to calm them. In the end the theater was saved.

Back to Mercy later this week.

New Lester B. Pearson archival materials

I was recently involved (to a very small extent but involved nonetheless!) in the donation of some Lester B. Pearson materials from when he was an undergraduate student at the Victoria University in the University of Toronto prior to, during and after the First World War. They were recently in the possession of the family but have joined a number of LBP and his son Geoffrey Arthur Holland Pearson (a distinguished Canadian and diplomat in his own right) materials that have been donated to the Carleton University and University of Victoria (University of Toronto) archives. Keep an eye out for more LBP and GAHP materials from Carleton as they're eventually accessioned and made available.

The University of Victoria Archives has just digitized the donated LBP materials and have made them available online here. Hon. Landon Pearson, LBP's daughter-in-law and GAHP's wife who donated the material, made an interesting note as to why LBP's grades fell so drastically after his return to U Vic after the war.....likely suffering from shell shock - post traumatic stress disorder.

Article in fugitive slave collection a helpful synthesis of scholarship

One of my pet peeves (and believe me, it's quite a menagerie) is the inadequacy of cataloguing of articles in edited collections. When oh when will bibliographic data entry catch up to the powerful engines at our disposal?



illustration from Amazon.com

 

To take one example, anyone doing a search for background information on the institutions and governance of Upper Canada/Canada West would probably not be directed to a recent article by Lyndsay Campbell "Governance in the Borderlands: Upper Canadian Legal Institutions" which appears in the collection edited by her with American historian Tony Freyer, Freedom's Conditions in the U.S.-Canadian Borderlands in the Age of Emancipation (Carolina Academic Press, Durham NC, 2011).

The student or scholar who is fortunate enough to find it, whether through an interest in fugitive slaves (the focus of the volume), serendipity or this post will find a terrific synthesis of up-to-date scholarship, together with a wonderful bibliography (what ever happened to those in Canadian Academic Presses?) Campbell does a terrific job of providing fundamentals along with lesser known details, framed as context for the fascinating and significant story of the Solomon Moseby riots. Since the book is aimed at an American as well as a Canadian readership, she takes care not to assume much fore-knowledge (with the exception of the occasional legal term) but does not neglect lacunae and subjects of historiographic dissensus, making the article also a great jumping off point for Canadianists who are not well-versed in this period, and a great refresher and reference for those of us who are.

The rest of the collection is well worth reading by generalists as well, a reminder that British North America then (as Canada now) can be understood as a borderland, defined to a considerable extent by the travails of its southern neighbour.

Sick Kids needs historian

The Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto, which dates back to 1875, seeks its historian.  According to the call for proposal:

Our goal is to have a finished manuscript by 2014 with publication in 2015.  The Publisher envisions a manuscript of approximately 175,000 words accompanied by photographs and other illustrative material.

The hospital is working in partnership with the University of Toronto Press, which has posted details on the project here.  Deadline for proposals:  January 15, 2012.

Putting major historical projects to tender seems to me an admirable process.  UTP tried it previously with its history of the university, and the book, by Martin Friedland, was a triumph of both scholarship and readability.  What this competition needs now is some serious proposals from historians or teams of historians.

(Personal note:  I have done a number of commissioned histories, to mutual satisfaction -- and the good of historical knowledge, I think, but I will not be applying for this one.  Not that I'm not interested, but I'm booked.)

Young scholars: go for it. And don't work cheap -- good history are worth it).

History of parliamentary accountability

Italy's new prime minister (and finance minister) Mario Monti, who does not hold a seat in the Italian parliament, has appointed a new cabinet, and none of its members hold a seat in parliament either.  It's impressive how little concern anyone seems to express over this. They are technocrats, see, they have a job to do.  Democratic responsibility?  Meh.

Now, in principle, anyone who holds the confidence of the legislative majority can serve in government in a parliamentary democracy.  Canada has had cabinet ministers and sometimes even prime ministers without Commons seats.  But the whole government?  And for years to come? What is the mechanism for accountability to the legislature, to the people's elected representatives?

It's striking how little anyone seems to care.  Questions like responsibility to the elected representatives of the people seem unimportant compared to staving off the wrath of the Eurobankers.  Here's one brief expression of concern -- but such are hard to find.  It's not a good sign, methinks.

Book Notes: The Cundill Prize

Meanwhile other people win prizes too. The Cundill Prize from McGill University for the best work of English language historical non-fiction (from anywhere in the world)  has been awarded to Italian historian  Sergio Luzzatto for Padre Pio: Miracles and Politics in a Secular Age.  More details here.

Book Notes: 100 Moments

Last year the people at The Beaver Canada's History magazine had a big success with an elegant photo/essay collection called 100 Photos that Changed Canada.  It got a great reaction, ended up under a lot of Christmas trees, and spent quite a while high on the bestseller lists.

The same team led by Mark Read (who edits both the magazine and these books), is back to see if lightening will strrike twice.  This year the book is 100 Days that Changed Canada:  handsome photos adjoining brief essays by a large and cleverly chosen range of contributors on 100 notable moments in Canadian history since 1867.

As a clean-up hitter/utility infielder/third-line goaile (what is the metaphor?) for Canada's History, I contributed four short essays to last year's book and three to this year -- including the first, on July 1, 1867.   But that someone on your gift list would probably like it anyway.  More info here.

Mercy Coles and the tour of the Canadas - Toronto, Niagara Falls and on to the US

The tour to promote the idea of Confederation continued in Toronto with talks, speeches and sightseeing. The official tour ended at Niagara Falls on November 4th, 1864 - and from there Mercy and her family went on to visit her mother's relatives in America. Nov 3 to 12 is a very full week! Some highlights - including the American Election on Tues Nov 8, are included here.

Image courtesy of Susan Law http://www.osgoodehall.com/



We last left off on Thursday November 3^rd, 1864, as Mercy Coles and the delegates were to go sightseeing in Toronto

“We started off this morning to visit the Public Institutions, first we went to the Public School. All the elder boys formed a guard of honour from the gate to the entrance by the Professors. We went to the schoolroom and the head master read an address to which Col Gray PEI replied, the boys received a holiday and we started for the Lawyer’s Hall, a splendid building, the centre hall is right up to the roof stained glass in the dome. The floor is mosaic. [The Lawyer’s Hall is Osgoode Hall, on Queen Street west, and you can still see the domed ceiling of stained glass and mosaic floor.

They went on to see the University, the museum “The Butterflies were beautiful”, and the normal school “certainly the most varied institution I ever saw, it combines a Picture Gallery, a statutory Gallery, all kinds of miniature implements and nearly everything one can think of that is curious.” [This link is to Wikipedia, but is good with lots of great detail and history.  The site of the Normal School, and a bit of its architecture, is where Ryerson University now is - see here]

... The men went to the Music Hall [in the Mechanics Institute at the northeast corner of Church and Adelaide, which also housed Toronto’s Free Library – which became the /Toronto Public Library]

for luncheon and Mercy and her mother joined them for “about an hour and heard Mr. Palmer, Carter, a Red River man Louis Riel and part of a speech from Mr. Brown. ...

Friday 4^th

            Grand Trunk Railway

11 o’clock we started from Toronto this morning at 10 o’clock. We expect to get to Kingston (Hamilton) [I’m assuming the person who transcribed Mercy’s diary corrected the name to Hamilton] in 2 hours. We had a glorious Ball last night. I danced every dance and had several engaged when I came away. Mr. Bernard had told one of the stewards about me. He got Mr. Bridges to introduce him and then he got me partners for every dance, the ladies were dressed to death and some of them were very pretty. [What did Mr. Bernard say about her and why did Mr. Bridges get her partners??] ... I am so sorry we part from the party today at Niagara Falls. Most of them go back to Toronto. We go to Ohio. I should like to have gone home with the party but that is impossible. I have not seen John A. since he came up in the carriage with us at Cobourg. He did not appear at all yesterday. Mr. Bernard was at the station this morning to say good bye. I told him to say everything kind for me to John A. [emphasis mine – remember that John A brought her dessert in the drawing room on the last evening, Wed Oct 26 in Quebec and Mercy mysteriously wrote ‘The conundrum.’ The PEI delegates by then were fed up with Canada – they were not getting the number of seats they wanted, were not getting the money to buy out the Absentee Landlords, and yet, Macdonald was still paying attention both to Mercy and her father – was he still wooing? Did they like each other? Did Mercy feel conflicted over what she might want and what her father might think? So much is unwritten, so much speculation can be completely wrong. Of course one is free to speculate as much as they want in fiction - see To the Edge of the Sea]

Read More for Niagara Falls, the American Election and the rest of the week

Vote for the most self-important small island

History Today's blog is running an internet competition to judge the most important history book and most important historian of the past sixty years.  All but one of the historians and all but a couple of the books are British.  The historians are all men, too.  Still there are a few classics in there.

U of T honours LGBT activists Province celebrates pioneers of gay liberation movement

I'm still around! Life has been crazy and blogging has suffered thus but while running an errand through Victoria University today my eye fell upon this article. A testament to how LGBT history is entering official public memory in tangible ways beyond Pride Week.

Jordan

Book Notes: Levine on King

Allan Levine is currently touring southern Ontario in support of his new book on William Lyon Mackenzie King.  Today he is in Burlington for the Different Drummer bookstore's always terrific book breakfast.  Tonight he is talking about "Politics and Private Lives in 20th Century Canada"  at Toronto's Spadina Museum (details here). Wednesday night he's at Laurier House in Ottawa.

It seems to be boom times for prime ministerial historical biography (after a long drought, I would say)  Paul Litt's John Turner, John Boyko's recent R. B. Bennett, Andre Pratte on Laurier, and Gwyn's two volumes on John A. Macdonald.  And of course Trudeau, Chretien, Harper, and other recent leaders have not lacked for biographers.

Levine's publisher notes it's been thirty years since the last King biography. Presumably that was C.P Stacey, writing in the wake of the opening up of King's private diary.  Time for fresh perspectives, for sure.  Levine subtitles his King bio "A Life Guided by the Hand of Destiny"  Not sure if that is Levine's  (ironic?) phrase or King's undoubtedly sincere one.

Levine's King has been reviewed and excerpted over several days in the National Post.


Update, Nov 10:  Lawrence Martin also takes note of Levine's book and King's wierdness.  Martin celebrates the appearance of four big political biographies, and then grouses that no one will read them, 'cause, you know, no one cares about Canadian history 'cept you and me.  Maybe sales of his Harper book were not up to his requirements.
Martin also comments,  "Among the lessons King could have given the others was not to allow themselves to be challenged from within."  Sad that he should think it is among the rightful powers of a prime minister not to allow himself to be challenged.    (H/T Stephen MacLean)

Update, Nov 11:  Allan L confirms that is King's own subtitle:

"My belief in myself leads me to hope that this will some day be realized. The public will admire me for the courage & spirit I show in sacrificing a certainty for a great uncertainty. . Lastly there is the purpose of God in all, the realization of the dream of my life, the page unfolds as by the hand of Destiny. From a child I have looked forward to this hour as that which should lead me into my life's work. I have believed my life's work lies there, and now I am led to the threshold by the Invisible Hand."-The Diary of William Lyon Mackenzie King, July 25, 1907

Book Notes: Soldiers for Sale

How does a pur-laine Quebecois de souche come to have a surname like Wilhelmy?  Jean-Pierre Wilhelmy,  an "expressway interchange technologist" by profession, found himself wondering -- and ended up an expert on the German regiments and military companies that served with the British forces during the American revolutionary war 1776-83, and left no small number of their soldiers behind in Quebec when the war ended.

Soldiers for Sale, from Baraka Books, is a translation of the 2009 expanded edition of Wilhelmy's French-language study, first published in 1984.

Admirers of the late Marcel Trudel, who writes a preface to this book, will appreciate Wilhelmy's story of getting a reception that was "little more than polite" from academic historians until he encountered Trudel, who became "somewhat like a thesis director" over four years of studies, a research fellowship, an scholarly article, and a a publishing contract.

Mercy Coles down the Ottawa River Montreal to Ottawa to Kingston, Belleville, Coburg, Toronto

Mercy and the delegates and their families continue after the Quebec conference to tour the 'Canadas' and promote the idea of Confederation. The Parliament Buildings were just under construction in Ottawa, the railways were relatively new to travel between Ottawa and Toronto (though the rail line doesn't extend quite as far as Toronto yet).

“Monday Oct 31

            On board the Prince of Wales on the Ottawa River. We left Montreal this morning at seven o’clock. We came by train to Lachine then came on board this steamer. I have just seen the Rapids mentioned in the Canadian Boat Song

(click for a version of the Boat Song, thanks to my niece and her grade 5 class). ... [Sunday] We walked up to see McGill College. Such magnificent residences are in the university. We went back to the Hotel in a street car. At 3 o’clock we went through the Grand Victoria Bridge [Considered to be the ‘8^th wonder of the world’ at the time] ... We stopt in the middle and got out. We saw the [unclear ?] the Prince of Wales drove in, they opened the window and we looked down on a raft just passing under the bridge.

November 2^nd Wednesday

            Aboard the Carslet-Prescott [the Prescott railway, the first rail line between Ottawa and south to the St. Lawrence Seaway and the towns along Lake Ontario’s north shore]. We have been travelling ever since 8 o’clock. Yesterday we had such a gala day. We went to see the Parliament Buildings in the morning, they are magnificent, such a splendid example of everything that is good. The Picture Gallery is the only room that is finished, fit to ---[?] and it was there we had the luncheon. We saw the model of the library which will be a most splendid building. It is made of plaster of Paris and is kept in a room to show what the library will be [I'm sure I saw a plaster of paris version of the library too when I toured the Parliament Buildings as a kid - I can't find any reference to say whether this would be the same plaster of p version?]. ... [The luncheon] was a grand affair. Mr. Henry, Mr. Johnston and Papa made speeches. John A was to have made a speech but he was tight or had a palpitation of the heart and could not go on (emphasis mine). Mr Galt got up and excused him very well. We went to the Ball in the evening ... I had to come away with a half dozen gentlemen not danced with.

            ½ past 2 – We have just dined at Kingston such a delicious dinner given by Mr. Bridges. ...

¼ 5 – Just arrived at Belleville. All the voluntary turned out. The Mayor presented an address. They drank the health of the mayor and started the moment after. ...

Toronto Queen’s Hotel

Thursday November 3^rd

We arrived at Mr. Cockburn’s last night at 8 o’clock. Such a beautiful place, he gave us a magnificent supper tho only pity was we had such a short time to stay. They had illuminations and all sorts of grandeur. We arrived here at 10 o’clock. Such a grand affair torch light procession. 5,000 people were in front of the hotel. Dr. Tupper, Mr Tilley and Mr. Brown made speeches from a gallery just beneath my bedroom window. We have just had breakfast and are now off sightseeing. ...”

CAUT on Library and Archives Canada

CAUT, the Canadian Association of University Teachers, is taking the lead in "Save Library and Archives Canada,"  a campaign to address failings in the old lady at the base of Bay.

This is a new development in an ongoing multi-stakeholder concerto of concern about both the library and the archives parts of LAC, with the Canadian Historical Review Association, the Writers' Union, booksellers, individual researchers, and others having all chipped in previously.  Good for CAUT -- better for them to invest in this than in undermining your copyrights.

One problem with the archives:  as LAC head Daniel Caron recently told CAUT in a public letter, the new vision of the national archives is that  "LAC’s key role extends only to the management of legal deposit and the preservation of the federal government records."  This is a widespread trend in archives. Archives were once seen as largely historical institutions, often staffed by historically-trained personnel.  Professional archivists (and non-archivist managers like Caron) now often focus more on their roles as the records manager for the particular institution that they serve.  So a banks' archives, or a church's, is its record manager and institutional memory.

Now the federal government's archivists see themselves primarily of the managers of their employer's records. But if the national archives is agnostic about national history and only sees itself managing the papers of the civil service, then who takes on the role of the keeper and collector of the nation's records other than its civil service files?

For an eloquent backgrounder on the archives isue, see "National Archives Blues" by writer and cultural critic Susan Crean from the Literary Review of Canada.

Electoral reform in New Zealand

A referendum ballot attached to the New Zealand general election on November 26 will review the 1996 decision to base elections on MMP ( mixed member proportional) representation, which has been frequently rejected in Canadian referenda but now prevails in New Zealand.

One voter who wants out of MMP writes, after listing the flaws of FPP, First Past the Post

MMP is the opposite of FPP. Instead of our MPs being accountable to individual electorates, they are accountable to parties. Instead of the MPs in the swing-seats - electorates most reflective of the "average voter" - standing up for the wishes of their community, MPs vie for high list positions. 

The MPs we want standing up to the powers in political parties are those most reliant on the party bosses to be "protected" by an MMP list position. MMP discourages the vulnerable MPs from standing up for their electorate.

Poor Canada.  We have FPP and all the flaws of MMP too.  In New Zealand it's the law that half the MPs are not elected by voters but appointed by their parties.  In Canada all our MPs are directly elected, but they all act as loyal appointees.

History of the CBC

This week Ideas on CBC Radio is considering the history of the CBC in a five-part doc by Ideas stalwart David Cayley, "CBC at 75: Turning Points in Public Broadcasting."  The first two parts are already done, but Ideas program can be listened to online or downloaded .

I'm currently developing a program for Ideas myself so I'm neither impartial nor dispassionate.  But I find the anniversary provoking mixed feelings in people I talk to.  On one hand, CBC Radio seems absolutely indispensable.  On the other, people seem to wish it was .... better, and the feeling grows stronger the closer one is to it.

Last Sunday I thought I heard evidence of the problem in Sunday Morning's three hour tribute to the CBC.  At one point Judy Madren, ex-announcer, now officially CBC' usage authority, was Michael Enright's guest.  They read episodes from a CBC announcer's manual from the 1940s, and it struck them as hilarious.  "Announcers must be men of wide culture and broad general knowledge,"  Madren read, and the two of them sniggered about the foolish pretentiousness of their predecessors.  Yet it still seems like a good idea -- the difference between the radio hosts who know things and those who are simply pretty voices remains as stark as even.  Then Madren mentioned the manual included the word "viscid" and declared forthrightly that she did not even know what the word meant.

The CBC's usage expert is too important to reach for a dictionary.  I got the sense that a lot of people around CBC Radio reached their positions by seniority and now have a sense of their own authority that far outstrips the pretensions of the 1940s.

Still, I was driving a long way in the last two days, and every couple of hours I was madly running "Seek" to keep CBC Radio in range.

CBC Radio has also announced its ten finalists for the non-fiction episode of Canada Reads. Congratulations to Margaret Macmillan, whose Paris 1919 made the list despite the organizers' earlier fatwa against history books and academics. Also Chester Brown's graphic-biography Louis Riel and Ken Dryden's The Game, which counts as history for me.