Tag Archives: Rural History

“Out of the Frying Pan”: The Economist on peasants and climate change”

Jim Handy As summer winds down I have been slowly catching up on reading avoided while happily engaged elsewhere. This includes back copies of The Economist. As always reading The Economist prompts an appreciation for their insightful reporting on some issues and their tone-deaf, ahistorical and simply wrong accounts on others. The July 1st, 2023 edition had a briefing entitled… Read more »

Red Crosses and White Cotton: Memory and Meaning in First World War Quilts

By Rebecca Beausaert It is a cold, wintry Wednesday afternoon in January 1917. Half a dozen women of varied ages are seated around a large quilt frame set up in the sitting room of a rural farmhouse in Oxford County, Ontario. Some work quietly, their thoughts running to domestic tasks set aside to be here. A few cannot help but think… Read more »

Before Mifegymiso: A History of Rural Women’s Access to Abortion

Katrina Ackerman Women in the Atlantic Provinces have long struggled to access reproductive health care services due to the rural nature of the region. Whereas Canada’s rural population declined from 24 percent in 1971 to 19 percent in 2011, the Atlantic region’s rural population only declined from 47 percent to 46 percent rural in the same period. Christabelle Sethna and… Read more »

Engaging the Past through a Community of Transcribers: The Rural Diary Archive

Erin Schuurs In September 2015, Professor Catharine Anne Wilson and the library at the University of Guelph, launched the Rural Diary Archive*, an online archive showcasing over 130 Ontario diarists writing from 1800 to 1960.  This digital archive collectively holds thousands of pages of handwritten diaries and the goal in placing these pages online is to engage volunteer transcribers. By… Read more »

Canada’s Farming Roots: Agricultural Fairs and Education

      1 Comment on Canada’s Farming Roots: Agricultural Fairs and Education

By Krista McCracken One of my favourite rural Canadian moments occurred when I was a child attending the International Plowing Match. I was standing with my parents in front of a pen that held two young calves, when a young girl yelled “Look at the sheep, Mom!” The girl was at least eight years old and apparently didn’t know the… Read more »

Approaching the Past: A Series Connecting People Teaching History

On Wednesday, June 16th graduate students in History and Education, academic historians, history teachers, and public history professionals will gather at Black Creek Pioneer Village for an evening of discussion around the theme of “teaching history by doing history.” The event is part of a new series called Approaching the Past: A Series Connecting People Teaching History, sponsored by The… Read more »