Photo Credit: http://www.eastmarket.com/smash/honour_roll.htm

The failed campaign to “Save the Memorial Library” (STML) at Mount Allison University is a fascinating study of the importance – or, lack thereof – of history in contemporary Canadian culture. For the better part of the past nine months, a small but determined group worked to stave off the demolition of Mount A’s largely unused Memorial Library building. The Library was built in the 1920s to commemorate World War I dead but has not been used as a Library for at least a generation. The campaign organized an on-line petition, wrote a never-ending stream of letters to the editor, and even urged students to make a human chain around the building to protect it. My aim is not to wade post hoc into the merits of this campaign. Instead, my goal is to look at the STML controversy from perspective of “active history”: what does this debate over the Library tell us about history and historical culture in Canada today? What can those of us interested in “active history” — the dynamics of history in contemporary life — learn from this contentious issue? Clearly, I can’t address this entire issue in one short blog, but I will suggest that there are several matters to which we should pay attention. 

First, those interested in active history might note that history has been both omni-present and strangely absent in this controversy. The STML campaigners argued that Library was a “cenotaph” (a war memorial), that it was architecturally important, that old buildings should be preserved because they are particularly attractive, that it was a site of memory, that it is an ethical trust to preserve memorials, and that those favouring destruction are not connected to local history or culture. To sustain their case, the STML campaign referred not simply to memory but to local pride and ethics: the living had a moral responsibility to remember the dead. This point was reinforced with reference to archival sources that supposedly provided irrefutable proof of their case. In short, STML was about history and how history should be honoured and respected. The level of emotion it engendered demonstrates how intense debates about history can become.

Yet, history was also completely absent. I am not faulting anyone, but making an observation. To the best of my knowledge, not a single professional historian was interviewed for a Memorial Library news story. The STML campaign did not ask a single professional historian to assess their case (or, help them make it); no trained architectural historians were asked about the value of the building; nor was any historian asked about the use of archival evidence. In short, the STML campaign did not feel that they needed historians to make an argument about history, conduct historical research, weigh archival evidence, or assess the historical value of architecture.

Nor was the STML campaign alone in ignoring professional historians. It seems that the wider community didn’t feel the need for historians, or even (at times) for history. The STML campaign is the work of a relatively small group of intensely committed people. The degree to which the university community engaged this issue is a matter of debate. One example: the student body (despite urging from activists) ignored the issue. In a recent issue of The Argosy, a student leader noted that not a single student had asked the student council to take a stand, one way or another. A court case seeking an injunction did not involve any historians as witnesses; nor, from what I understand, did the provincial minister who denied an application that would have converted the Memorial Library to a heritage site.

This might not lead to particularly positive conclusions about the relevance of professional historians, but it is also true that few historians seemed particularly interested in wading into this controversy. Mea culpa. Historians were neglected but they also opted out. Am I odd in thinking that people who have devoted their professional lives to the study of the past and its meanings had nothing to offer? The STML controversy demonstrated an interesting characteristic of contemporary historical culture: it does not seem to need or want contributions from historians while historians don’t seem particularly interested in engaging at least some historical issues.

For me, the role of historians is not to arbitrate historical significance, but I do think that an opportunity to engage the meaning of the past has been missed. Engaging this issue carries a risk because historians needed to confront the different sides with tough questions about the complexity of the past, the character of war and its effects on Canadian society, and how and why people die and kill in the name of the greater good. For example, the STML campaign mobilized a war narrative that was shockingly simplistic and, according to the best scholarship we have on WW I, inaccurate. The STML narrative never moved beyond a “Coach’s Corner” Cherryesque discourse. All dead “paid the ultimate sacrifice” and “gave their lives for us.” The politics and ideology of World War I and its effects on Canada were never discussed.

Effectively engaging this issue required making people uncomfortable by disrupting cherished storylines (whether about sacrifice or archival evidence). It seems to me that the historians (again, mea culpa) who could have engaged this issue shied away for precisely this reason. Perhaps that is the most important lesson to learn: an active history will not necessarily earn historians any brownie points. Active history requires courage because it may make historians unpopular. If we want to contribute a new relevance for history, however, this may be a price we need to pay.

Andrew Nurse lives in Sackville NB and teaches Canadian Studies at Mount Allison University. His current research focuses on the history of participatory democracy and the history of arts activism in Canada. He can be reached at anurse [at] mta.ca.

His lecture, “From a Pastoral Wetland to an Industrial Wasteland, and Back Again? An Environmental History of the Lower Lea River Valley, the Site of the 2012 London Olympics,” is part of the pan-Canadian NiCHE Speakers’ Series and the Mississauga Library System’s ‘History Minds’ series.

Click here to listen to the talk.

“Understanding Slavery Past and Present”
With Karlee Sapoznik, Co-Founder of the Alliance Against Modern Slavery.

Interest in contemporary slavery and human trafficking have increased dramatically over the last two decades. Ms. Karlee Sapoznik has expertise in slavery in all of its forms. Her research integrates the study of historical and contemporary slavery. Although slavery is now illegal around the world it is still widely practiced. Experts place the number of living modern slaves at 27 million, twice as many as the number of Africans enslaved during the four centuries of the transatlantic slave trade. As Sapoznik argues, if we can better understand both the successes and the failures of past abolitionist movements, we may better understand this paradox. We might hope to change it.

All talks will be held at the Mississauga Central Library, Classroom 3 on the second floor from 7:30-9 PM on the second Thursday in March, April, and May. The Central Library is located at 301 Burnhamthorpe Rd. W in Mississauga, near the Square One shopping centre and the Civic Centre. Importantly, it’s near the Square One GO Terminal and the Mississauga Transit central terminal.

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“From a Pastoral Wetland to an Industrial Wasteland, and Back Again? An Environmental History of the Lower Lea River Valley, the Site of the 2012 London Olympics.” [part of the pan-Canadian NiCHE Speakers' Series]
With Dr. Jim Clifford.

The Lower Lea Valley, currently undergoing a massive redevelopment project in perpetration for the next Summer Olympics, underwent a number of equally remarkable transformations as London’s heavy industry migrated to the city’s eastern periphery in the second half of the nineteenth century. In this talk, Jim Clifford will explore some of the findings of his recently defended PhD dissertation on the environmental problems created by half a century of urban-industrial development and discuss some of the challenges this posed for redevelopment.

All talks will be held at the Mississauga Central Library, Classroom 3 on the second floor from 7:30-9 PM on the second Thursday in March, April, and May. The Central Library is located at 301 Burnhamthorpe Rd. W in Mississauga, near the Square One shopping centre and the Civic Centre. Importantly, it’s near the Square One GO Terminal and the Mississauga Transit central terminal.

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“A Brief History of Canadian Utopias:  Is There a Canadian Utopian Tradition?”
With Professor Colin M. Coates.

Since the arrival of European settlers, various ethnic, religious and political groups have attempted to establish self-consciously utopian communities in different parts of the country.  This talk examines some examples of these utopian communities as well as some of the literary expressions of utopian literature related to Canada.  It assesses the range and coherence of utopian thought in Canada from the 17th century to the late 20th century.

All talks will be held at the Mississauga Central Library, Classroom 3 on the second floor from 7:30-9 PM on the second Thursday in March, April, and May. The Central Library is located at 301 Burnhamthorpe Rd. W in Mississauga, near the Square One shopping centre and the Civic Centre. Importantly, it’s near the Square One GO Terminal and the Mississauga Transit central terminal.

All talks will be held at the Mississauga Central Library, Classroom 3 on the second floor from 7:30-9 PM on the second Thursday in March, April, and May. The Central Library is located at 301 Burnhamthorpe Rd. W in Mississauga, near the Square One shopping centre and the Civic Centre. Importantly, it’s near the Square One GO Terminal and the Mississauga Transit central terminal.

Below the cut, talk descriptions and abstracts follow.

Thursday, March 10th
“A Brief History of Canadian Utopias:  Is There a Canadian Utopian Tradition?”
With Professor Colin M. Coates.

Since the arrival of European settlers, various ethnic, religious and political groups have attempted to establish self-consciously utopian communities in different parts of the country.  This talk examines some examples of these utopian communities as well as some of the literary expressions of utopian literature related to Canada.  It assesses the range and coherence of utopian thought in Canada from the 17th century to the late 20th century.

Thursday, April 14th
“From a Pastoral Wetland to an Industrial Wasteland, and Back Again? An Environmental History of the Lower Lea River Valley, the Site of the 2012 London Olympics.” [part of the pan-Canadian NiCHE Speakers' Series]
With Dr. Jim Clifford.

The Lower Lea Valley, currently undergoing a massive redevelopment project in perpetration for the next Summer Olympics, underwent a number of equally remarkable transformations as London’s heavy industry migrated to the city’s eastern periphery in the second half of the nineteenth century.  In this talk, Jim Clifford will explore some of the findings of his recently defended PhD dissertation on the environmental problems created by half a century of urban-industrial development and discuss some of the challenges this posed for redevelopment.

Thursday, May 12th
“Understanding Slavery Past and Present”
With Karlee Sapoznik, Co-Founder of the Alliance Against Modern Slavery.

Interest in contemporary slavery and human trafficking have increased dramatically over the last two decades. Ms. Karlee Sapoznik has expertise in slavery in all of its forms. Her research integrates the study of historical and contemporary slavery. Although slavery is now illegal around the world it is still widely practiced. Experts place the number of living modern slaves at 27 million, twice as many as the number of Africans enslaved during the four centuries of the transatlantic slave trade.  As Sapoznik argues, if we can better understand both the successes and the failures of past abolitionist movements, we may better understand this paradox.  We might hope to change it.

I suppose I shouldn’t have been so surprised that an off-the-cuff reference to looking up an ancestor’s military record spurred such a gaggle after my undergraduate tutorial last week. I’d repeated an observation that I’d read on H-Canada a few years ago about being prepared to learn about an ancestor’s sexual misadventures (our class was on sex education). The reaction was astounding – they wanted to learn about their family history, or that of a partner, or friend, or expressed general genealogical interest.

Simply pointing them to Library and Archives Canada website might not be enough, however. A few students had already been to the website, actually, but didn’t find it terribly intuitive or straight forward. This year, I’ve been captivated with helping students navigate the technological options available to them (Zotero, DeeperWeb, WorldCat, Google Scholar/Books, etc.), and have realized that we need to think more about how we teach this. In one of my classes, I adapted Bill Turkel’s work in quickly going digital into a screen-by-screen discussion. This post provides a screen-by-screen dissection of how you can find military records from the First World War at Library and Archives Canada.

And here’s a call for action: If you’re regularly in Ottawa and want to help people access their records, let me know at ianmilli@yorku.ca or in the comments below. Similarly, if you might want some on-site help, let us know as well. Maybe we can link a few people up!

STEP ONE: Background research. Before you can fruitfully find an ancestor on the web, you’ll need to know the surname and given name.

STEP TWO: Navigate to http://www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/databases/cef/index-e.html, and click on ‘Search.’ You’ll see the screen below. Type in the information that you know. If you’re unsure about spelling, you can always add a ‘wild-card’ character – *. This can stand in for anything else.

In this example, I’m going to look up ‘Milligan.’ Here comes the tricky part. In my case, let’s say that I can’t recall if the name is either ‘Arthur,’ ‘Albert,’ or ‘Alfred.’ [Disclosure: this is actually true - it's been a while since I chatted about family history, and I'm confident it's one of the three.] I also know that my family came from Montreal, Quebec, and would have recently immigrated from the United Kingdom.

Attestation paper of 'Albert Milligan': Could this be my ancestor?

You’ll see the information available before, as well as two links: ‘Front of Form,’ and ‘Back of Form.’ This is the treasure trove now at your fingertips. Click on ‘front of form’ and a PDF will load.

The front of the form - look at all this personal information!

The back of the form - look at all this personal information!

Here we can learn about his height, chest expansion, complexion, eyes, hair, religious denomination, and any ‘distinctive marks’ on the person’s body. So here we see that this Milligan was certified healthy in 1914 and went off to join the Expeditionary Forces.

In this case, this was not my ancestor. I know that he wasn’t born in Montreal, but emigrated there. So back to the searches I go, through the list, before realizing that ‘Alfred Milligan’ meets my criteria. Perfect.

STEP FOUR: I FOUND HIM!!!! Now what?

So here we are. We have our person. In this case, we know that it’s Milligan, Alfred. Regimental number 418531, and we have his date of birth and this rather cryptic reference. But what if we want more than the attestation paper?

Sitting in Ottawa is a complete service record, most between 25 and 75 pages in length, that will describe his military career. What unit did he join? Where did he train? Did he go to France? Where did he see any possible fighting? Were there any disciplinary infractions? Health problems? Did he die? How? Was he wounded? What happened?

So how do we get that document? First, write down that reference!!! In this case, write everything down. So for this case:

MILLIGAN, ALFRED

Regimental Number: 418531

Reference: RG 150, Accession 1992-93/166, Box 6204-62

You now have three options:

1. Go to Ottawa in person – we’ll discuss that in Step Five.
2. Find somebody to research on your behalf. You have several options here. You can comment at this post and maybe we’ll be able to make a match for you. Alternatively, LAC provides a list of ‘freelance researchers‘ that will research on your behalf.
3. Contact LAC and get them to reproduce the documents for you. Consult this webpage here. For seniors (65+) and students (with valid identification), the cost is 30 cents a page. For adults it is 40 cents a page. So the pre-tax/pre-mail cost would be between $10 – $30 on average.

So I hope that’s been a help. Again, I’d love to hear your comments about your experiences!

Addendum on Military Records in the States: I’ve been told that the National Archives in the United States has streamlined their process for a flat fee of $25 for pre-First World War records. As Tom Peace tells me, he was able to look up a main historical actor during the American Revolution. Check out their approach here.

Our blog posts are normally in the realm of four to six hundred words, and we aim to have them written in an accessible, lively, and engaging style. We have posts on a variety of themes, including but not limited to:
- Does History Matter?
- Environmental Issues
- History and Everyday Life
- History in the News
- History on the Internet
- Local History
- Teaching History

Participants will be listed as “Contributing Editors” and are welcome to take a role in shaping the future direction and mandate of our web project. Our contributors range from engaged community members to faculty members to graduate students, and the more diverse the better! Participation may vary from a monthly post to a few posts a year.

We would like to find historians from a wide range of backgrounds and expertise in all periods and geographic regions of history.  We also hope to encourage participation from historians outside of academia, whether this is people with historical training who now work in another field or laypeople with a passion for history. Please feel free to forward and distribute widely.

If you are interested please contact us at info@activehistory.ca. We look forward to hearing from you!

Francis displaying his artwork

Over the past five years I have spent many Friday afternoons with Francis and the Club at L’Arche Daybreak in Richmond Hill.  Daybreak is a community that focuses on sharing life with people with different gifts and abilities; at its heart are men and women with intellectual disabilities.  On Friday afternoons at the Club, a program for retirees, we often gather around the television screen to look at old community photographs.  The members of the Club tell me stories about their past experiences, and I annotate the images in a digital database with the names of the people in the picture and the stories associated with them.

In the early days, we only planned to include a handful of people in this project.  Our intention was to keep the group and the stories manageable.  But as soon as we gathered for our first session, Francis wanted to join.  With over eight decades under his belt, we welcomed his enthusiasm and interest.  Francis had stories of playing sports and working in the town where he grew up before he came to live at Daybreak, as well as many memories of the nearly four decades he lived in the community.

As a historian whose principal focus is finishing a dissertation on Aboriginal experiences of the British Conquest of New France in the 18^th century, I cherish these afternoons of simple sharing and story-telling.  There is no need for detailed notes, no theoretical frameworks and no deadlines; only stories of old friends, happy and sad memories, and the odd hair-raising adventure.

Often as we moved through the pictures, Francis would stop us, saying “Hey!  That’s me!” and then proceed to tell us a story about his friend Andy, who moved to Bracebridge, or his bowling league, delivering meals on wheels, or growing up with his family.  Through his stories I learned about the history of Daybreak, many of the characters who have lived there (and there are some characters), and what it was like to grow up in the 20^th century with an intellectual disability.

But these are not the most important things that Francis and the Club have taught me as a historian.  Through my experiences with Francis I have come to discover the important place that the past plays in the lives of individuals and communities.  Francis was not a man of letters and literature and initially it was not apparent that this project would appeal to him.  But I soon discovered that he had a clear sense of the past and where he fit into it.  His stories, and those he told about his friends, family, and communities, have taught me much about the history of 20^th-century Ontario and what it means to be a historian.

When I compare my daily work on my dissertation with these bi-weekly visits to the Club, I can’t help but feel that there is a disconnection between the two.  In one, I spend most of my time drawing together, sorting and evaluating textual documents; in the other, I learn and record the oral stories and values held by the elders at L’Arche Daybreak.  Reflecting on this difference reminds me about the way that the work of historians shapes and engages with these stories and values, and the importance of understanding how they influence people and communities living today.

Slowly over the past five years, knowing Francis has shaped how I approach the past and how I conduct my research.  He helped me to become more attentive to the stories that people tell, more open to hearing stories from people from a broad range of backgrounds and abilities, and the importance of open-ended story-telling to the historian’s craft.  I learned a lot from him and he will be sadly missed at our gatherings on Friday afternoons.

The 19th Century Toronto Walking Tour (from the map)

Take a walk from The Don Drewery, learning about the United Brewery Workers and their victory for a city-wide union label, down to the Distillery District and learn about William Gooderham’s paternalistic relationship with his employees. Maybe you’ll then pass through the St. Lawrence Market, stopping for a tasty snack while contemplating the history of workers’ rallies on the site, before finishing up at a plaque at Yonge and King commemorating the failed 1872 Printers’ Strike, the Nine Hours Movement, and the subsequent Trade Unions Act – part of the story of Labour Day! These would be just a few stops on the recently unveiled 19th Century Toronto Labour History Walking Tour. On Wednesday, September 1st, “Mapping Our Work: Toronto Labour History Walking Tours” launched.

A Rally in Front of Toronto's City Hall during the Day of Mourning for Injured Workers (and the cover of the map)

The Toronto and York Region’s Labour Council commissioned three walking tours for this year’s labour day, written by David Kidd of CUPE Local 79 and the School of Labour at George Brown College (although George Brown himself might not be so impressed, due to his role in the Printers’ Strike). The maps are beautifully illustrated: a large map of the city, with accompanying thumbnails of each site. There are 19 stops on the 19th Century tour, 17 for the Early 20th Century tour, and 17 for the Post-War Toronto walking tour. Together, they are a perfect example of historians interacting with the public, and bringing labour history into an easy-to-understand and easy-to-follow manner. It also reinforces that this is not just history. For example, the map recounts the story of the 1961-62 Royal York Hotel strike – and how it is now a key local of UNITE HERE, engaged as recently as last Friday in labour action throughout the city. Even the two covers of the map illustrate this continuity: on one side is a picture of the old Chinatown, a poor working-class area in the shadow of Toronto’s (Old) City Hall; on the other side is a large labour rally (the day of mourning for injured workers in 2010) in front of our modern City Hall. Labour is alive.

The maps are available for download off the labour council website, although I’d recommend saving them to your hard-drive due to the size and quality of the file. What a great way to celebrate the long weekend! They also help show the changing city. I was struck that the 19th century map is focused on the east end of the city, with Yonge Street forming the western boundary of the map; by the post-war Toronto map, the action largely takes place in the west end of the city. Walking these streets would be a vivid depiction of how the city has changed: from the older buildings of the east end to the newer, post-war squat structures of the west end. The focus is on downtown, which makes sense as the post-war suburbs are generally unwalkable communities with sometimes anemic public transportation.

The Canadian Labour Congress Rally During the G20. (Photo by Author)

The timing, obviously, couldn’t be better. Labour Day prompts a memory of working-class and labour struggles, and a tour like this helps demonstrate that labour is a truly integral part of Toronto’s history. Every day, thousands of people walk by these important sites of struggle, resistance, and victory: victories that continue to resonate and shape our lives today – from weekends, limits on hours worked, to health and safety legislation. While there is still obviously work to be done, we can build on this past. At the recent G20 protests, standing on University Avenue during the Canadian Labour Congress rally, I was amazed at the sheer strength on display and how labour could join together with new social movements, interest groups, and others to demonstrate that these were our streets.

It all helps reinforce the motto: Toronto, A Proud Union City.

For more information on Labour Day, see the fairly comprehensive wikipedia article or peruse Craig Heron and Steve Penfold’s The Workers’ Festival: A History of Labour Day in Canada (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2005). It’s a beautifully bound book, filled with masterful photographs, and makes for a great read – you can check out a sneak preview on Google Books!

Thanks to Mike Seaward who gave me hard copies of the walking tour maps, as well as a ‘Toronto: A Proud Union City’ pin.