Is Canadian history boring or is it just the names?

You're gone, you're history, you're in the archives

The name Historica-Dominion Institute always sounded like a temporary offshoot of the merger of the two organizations. Now they are renaming.

Stephen Smith, Chairman of the Board of The Historica-Dominion Institute, announced today that effective September 3, 2013 , the organization will change its name to Historica Canada.

But I can't say the new name sets my pulse aflutter.  Quick: between "Historica Canada," "Canada's History," "Heritage Canada," and "Canadian Heritage," how many Canadians could quickly explain what differentiates each one? Or keep their audience awake while they tried? Which one is a government department, now?

We are in a time of great identifiers.  Think of Apple, Google, Amazon: distinct, quirky, unforgettable. Why do the organizations pitching Canadian history and civics as lively and dynamic opt for bland when they name themselves?

I know that internet porn filters made "The Beaver" unsustainable. But would not any of these organizations have been more distinct and more top-of-mind as, I don't know, something like Orca, or Matapedia Foundation, or the Lightfoot Institute, or McClung? (Kudos to The Dorchester Review -- more vivid, more rooted than, say, The Canadian Review of Right-Wing Stuff.)

Have to say, though, it isn't just the history/heritage world. The Canadian Auto Workers and the Paperworkers are about to ask us to call them "Unifor."

Well, good luck to Historica Canada, anyway. We may spend time explaining it is not a government department, but it will still do good work.

Speaking of the DCB...

As a minor contributor to and major fan of the Dictionary of Canadian Biography, I've lately received the annual fundraising appeal from its General Editor, the same John English. The DCB began with a generous private donation, then blossomed with SSHRC funding, and now struggles to continue with much reduced grants. So donations are a vital part of keeping this keystone work of Canadian historical scholarship going. If you are feeling seasonal and historical, it's a worthy recipient for your giving. The DCB's very modest note about how to donate to it is here.

NP on the Historica-Dominion merger

Adam McDowell at the National Post offers a long analysis of the Dominion Institute-Historica Foundation merger and what it might lead to. This blog gets a small part in the story.

Update, November 19: A perspective from KnowBC

Got a student with a great question?

The Dominion Institute is looking for entrants in its Great Canadian Questions essay competition for students -- prize money and travel offered. Details here.

File this: new archivist

The prime minister announces -- it's a prime ministerial announcement? -- that the new Librarian and Archivist of Canada will be Daniel Caron, who in point of fact is neither a librarian nor an archivist, but has a stack of credentials.

Ian Wilson, who now retires after ten years and continues to be a big guy in international archives circles, gets to be Librarian and Archivist Emeritus. Congratulations to Ian.

Charlotte Gray on that National Portrait Gallery thing

There is longform journalism in Canada. Charlotte Gray offers a thoughtful look at the imbroglio over the National Portrait Gallery in December's Literary Review of Canada, just coming online. Both letters in that issue are responses (one stone, one rose) to my November essay "Our Canadian Republic." I'm also given an, ah, searching analysis here at Janet Ajzenstat's blog.

And in shorter form journalism, my column in the December-January Beaver, now on the newsstands (and a very handsome issue it is) is about the Governor-General's powers from Harper-Jean to King-Byng. You should be subscribing, but it's up on The Beaver website now. I'll have it at my website soon.