May 2010

2010 G8/G20 Summit: Upcoming Actions and Events

May 31, 2010

The G8 and G20 Summits are fast approaching. G8 leaders will be meeting in Huntsville, Ontario at Deerhurst Resort on June 25, 2010; the G20 will be meeting in Toronto at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre on June 26 and 27. At a cursory glance, the G8, or Group of Eight, extends back to the [...]

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Historical Perspectives on Oil Gushers

May 27, 2010

This post draws comparisons between the April-May British Petroleum oil crisis and the 1862 oil gushers in Oil Springs, Ontario.

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Collection Access: the Toronto District School Board Artifact Loan Program

May 26, 2010

The Toronto District School Board (TDSB) recently announced plans to increase access to the private art and artifact collection held by the School Board. The collection is estimated to be worth millions of dollars, has been unavailable to the general public for years, and includes items from numerous noteworthy Canadians. The School Board plans on [...]

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Campaigning with History: Wildlands and Woodlands

May 25, 2010

Last week we have two great posts by Tom and Alix on historians engaging with current issues and the value of “thinking with history” for policy development. Both these post brought to mind a project in New England that I learned about at an environmental history conference a few years ago. The Wildland and Woodlands [...]

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Active History Announcements: May 23-29

May 22, 2010

The following upcoming events may be of interest to our readers: History and teaching workshop, Events at the CHA, Heritage and History in Brantford, call for bloggers.

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Re-membering a Lakeside Landscape in Japan

May 20, 2010

Sagami Lake is an artificial lake located about 50 kilometers west of central Tokyo, and is an important part of the Sagami River system. There are a number of landscapes within this river system that blur the distinctions between the rural and industrial, natural and artificial Japan. Maybe landscape is not the word because the [...]

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The Politics of Textbooks: How Texas Wants to Educate the Nation

May 19, 2010

The recent changes to the ‘standards’ for history textbooks in Texas go right to the heart of academics and their legitimacy as historians.

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“Tell me the story” – Thinking with History, Policy, and the Goldberg Rule

May 18, 2010

Alix Green In my role as an adviser on policy for a university Vice-Chancellor, the UK equivalent of President, perhaps my most important job is to ask our leader to ‘tell me the story’ when he’s consulting me on some issue or another. It seems to me that universities, along with many public sector institutions, are [...]

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Conversation, Contradiction and Conflict in ‘The Historical Present’

May 17, 2010

The practice of history, however, is not a zero sum game in which historians can isolate themselves from outside influences. The research, writing and teaching of academic, policy-oriented, and popular history are deeply political, social and ideological pursuits. Whether historical research is intended to ‘add value’ or ‘make an impact’ is only one component of many that shape historical perspective.

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