The October-November Canada's History, now reaching subscribers, marks one hundred years of continuous publication as The Beaver (the first ninety years) and Canada's History. This issue is a celebration. Editor Mark Reid and his team provide a retrospective, along with a wealth of photography from the magazine's remarkable picture collection.
I particularly appreciate Nelle Oosterom's review of the magazine's thirteen editors and the kinds of magazine each produced. Oosterom notes that Alice MacKay, the first female editor (in 1938) "identified the magazine's few female contributors by their own names," but after MacKay left, contributor Maud Watt once more became "Mrs. J.S.C. Watt." Nice to see note of Christopher Dafoe (who recruited me as a contributor, at the urging of then board member Michael Bliss), Annalee Greenberg, and other names from my own past as well as the magazine's.
Having contributed close to two hundred pieces to both titles over more than twenty-five percent of that century (and six editors), I do feel the glow of a little reflected glory -- plus of course gratitude for all the opportunities to write about many Canadian historians and many surprising corners of Canadian history. And for an ongoing supply of small cheques, too.
