Accessing Treasure Troves of Data: Empowering your own Research

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By Ian Milligan

This post is a bit technical. My goal is to explain technical concepts related to digital history so people can save time and not have to rely on experts. The worst thing that could happen to digital history is for knowledge to consolidate among a handful of experts.

From the holdings of Library and Archives Canada, to the Internet Archive, or smaller repositories like digitized presidential diaries, or Roman Empire transcriptions, there are a lot of digitized primary sources out there on the Web. You don’t need to be a “digital historian” to realize that sometimes there is a benefit to having copies of these sources on your own computer. You can add them to your own research database, make them into Word Clouds (I know, they’re not perfect), or find ways to manipulate them with tools such as Voyant-Tools, a spreadsheet software, or many other tools that are available. If you can download sources, you may not have to physically travel to an archive, which to me suggests a more democratic access to sources.

Digital historians have been working on teaching users how to access the databases that run online archival collections and how to harness this information for your own research. In this post, I want to give readers a quick overview of some of the resources out there that you can use to build your own repositories of information. If you ever find yourself clicking at your computer, hitting ‘right click’ and then ‘save page as,’ or downloading PDF after PDF after PDF… this post will help you better utilize your computer’s tools, making the digital research process a bit quicker.

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Civilian Internment in Canada: Histories and Legacies

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Rhonda L. Hinther

New huts in Quebec internment camp, 1940. Marcell Seidler/LAC

Quebec internment camp, 1940. LAC.

It was by a mere two hours that eleven-year-old Myron Shatulsky missed seeing his beloved father, internee Matthew Shatulsky, when the train transferring Matthew and his comrades from the Kananaskis Internment Camp to Petawawa passed through Winnipeg earlier than anticipated on a July day in 1941. Myron had not seen his father since the RCMP hauled him away the year before, as part of what historian Reg Whitaker has termed the Canadian government’s “official repression of communism” during the war. “When we came to the station and heard that the train had [gone] – no need to write how we felt,” said Matthew’s wife Katherine in her next letter to him, “The poor boy has so many scars on his heart to heal that he will remember for the rest of his life.”

Now 84, Myron’s recounting of the internment years and the impact on his family and community serves as a powerful reminder of the fragility of civil liberties and human rights. His story is part of a larger, complex—and contested—conversation on civilian internment in Canada. Internment has affected, during times of war and perceived war, persons from a variety of political backgrounds and ethnocultural communities, with the most well-known being the internments of those of Japanese, Ukrainian, and Italian descent. Experiences of arrest, internment, and displacement remain deeply felt by former internees and their kin. Continue reading →

Vacating Science and Forgetting History at the Central Experimental Farm

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Pete at Farm with Civic in Background.jpg” with Caption: “Pete Anderson posing near the threatened experimental plots with the Civic Hospital in the background. Photo credit: Laura Cameron.

Pete Anderson posing near the threatened experimental plots with the Civic Hospital in the background. Photo credit: Laura Cameron.

By Peter Anderson

On November 3rd, John Baird announced that Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada transferred approximately 24 hectares (60 acres) of the Central Experimental Farm, in Ottawa, to the National Capital Commission. The NCC in turn offered to lease the land to the Ottawa Hospital to build a new Civic Campus. The Hospital then mused about the using this new land as a parking lot.

Established in 1886, the Farm played an important role in Sir John A Macdonald’s plans for the colonization of the Canadian prairies after the completion of the Canada Pacific Railway and the military defeat of Métis and First Nation communities in the West in 1885. Located well outside of the city when it was founded, today the Farm is completely surrounded by Ottawa. In 1998 it was designated a National Historic Site of Canada. The Farm remains an important federal agricultural science research station and a popular park for the people of Ottawa.

While I have argued elsewhere against the current threat faced by the Farm [1], in this post I explore the discourses that arose immediately after the announcement. Particularly, I am interested in the ways history and science are discursively vacated by the text and maps in news stories about the Farm. Continue reading →

The Gender of Lying: Jian Ghomeshi and the Historical Construction of Truth

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By Beth A. Robertson

On the evening of October 26th, I found myself staring at a computer screen, dumbfounded and confused. What I had unwittingly come across was Jian Ghomeshi’s bizarre facebook post that told a story of him being fired from the CBC because of his private sex life. He argued that he was let go when the CBC learned of his enjoyment of “rough sex”, and that a jilted past lover was attempting to launch a “smear campaign,” that recast his sexual tastes as non-consensual. A Toronto Star article published shortly thereafter made the story even more bewildering, as it told of an investigation of Ghomeshi over the last several months involving not just one, but four women whose claims ranged from sexual harassment to violent abuse. Within hours, social media was filled with polarizing discussions of whether or not the allegations were true, with many people deciding to “side” with Ghomeshi. This seemed the case even as evidence mounted against Ghomeshi’s version of events, alongside sex activists and thinkers who problematized his claims that he was a sincere practitioner of BDSM.

A total of nine women have come forward since then to tell of violent sexual encounters with Ghomeshi, including Canadian actress Lucy DeCoutere, as well as author and lawyer Reva Seth. A formal police investigation of Ghomeshi has ensued. And now, a number of Ghomeshi’s staunchest advocates have toned down their once vocal support, the most famous being singer-songwriter Lights, who has since severed ties with Ghomeshi.

The unfolding scandal surrounding Ghomeshi has rightly led to broader discussions about women and sexual assault, perhaps the most pressing being how women are systematically disbelieved and even shamed when they do come forward. An important part of this story is the historical gendering of truth-telling and the consequences of this legacy for women, especially for those who experience sexual violence. Continue reading →

New paper – Victory in the Kitchen: Food Control in the Lakehead during the Great War by Beverly Soloway

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Image 1: newspaper ad Production & Thrift – Caption: Local newspaper advertising encouraged food thriftiness, Port Arthur Daily News Chronicle, 3 May 1916.

Local newspaper advertising encouraged food thriftiness, Port Arthur Daily News Chronicle, 3 May 1916.

By Beverly Soloway

In the summer of 1914, the twin cities of Fort William and Port Arthur, similar to the rest of Canada, thought the “European war” would be a short one.[1] When Christmas came and went without any sign of peace, most Canadians just redefined their idea of “short.” Nonetheless, by spring 1915, Lakehead households were becoming concerned about food for the upcoming winter should the conflict continue. Families in Fort William and Port Arthur contributed to the war effort by accepting a government-mandated system of food control certain that victory in the kitchen would lead to triumph on the European front. [read more]

ActiveHistory.ca  is featuring the following paper as part of  “Canada’s First World War: A Centennial Series on ActiveHistory.ca”, a multi-year series of regular posts about the history and centennial of the First World War.  It was first published by Papers & Records, Thunder Bay Historical Museum Society, 2014. 

 

‘It’s history, like it or not’: the Significance of Sudbury’s Superstack

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By: Mike Commito and Kaleigh Bradley

Standing at a height of 1,250 feet, the Sudbury Superstack is the second tallest chimney in the world and runner-up to the CN Tower for the tallest structure in Canada. Until 1987, Sudbury Ontario had the dubious honour of having the world’s tallest smokestack. Today, the Stack is seen by some as a marker for Sudbury’s rich mining heritage but for others, it is also part of a much larger history of health and environmental problems.

stack_clarke

“Sudbury and the Beast.” Courtesy of local photographer Greta Clarke.

Since the nineteenth century, Sudbury’s landscape was ravaged by the effects of the mining industry; over the years the vegetation disappeared with acid rain, and farmers found themselves unable to grow crops in the highly acidic soil. The International Nickel Company (INCO) built the Superstack in 1972 to disperse sulphur dioxide (SO2) and other pollutants away from the area, thereby addressing health and environmental concerns. The Stack’s construction coincided with a community regreening movement, which has reversed some of the environmental damage. The Superstack reduced local emission rates in recent years, but one could argue that INCO simply passed the buck, and the dispersion of SO2 became somebody else’s problem. Moreover, the Sudbury area continues to have higher rates of asthma and lung cancer than other parts of Ontario. For better or for worse, the Superstack has been a landmark along the Sudbury skyline for over forty years. And when Vale (formerly INCO) recently proposed demolishing the Superstack in the local media, we watched as an interesting public debate about the significance, history, and future of the stack ensued.

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Ignorance of History as a Site of Memory

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By Raphaël Gani

Gani1

Do you know who this is?

The discourse about Canadians ignoring their collective past, or not knowing their national history, is neither new (Osborne, 2003) nor limited to Canada (Wineburg, 2001). Such a view tends to be legitimized according to surveys in which people fail to identify famous events and politicians. This failure is also linked with angst about the perils of the nation and questions of citizenship. It is used to justify million-dollar investments and educational reforms.

However, there are other ways to look at peoples’ perception of the past. I will elaborate on these elements to support my main argument: discourse on historical ignorance can, itself, be considered a site of memory. Continue reading →

Jean Baptiste Assiginack: The Starling aka Blackbird

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By Alan Corbiere

This post marks the third in a series of essays – posted the second Wednesday of each month – by Alan Corbiere focusing on Anishinaabeg participation in the War of 1812. 

Assiginack, Artist Unknown, c. 1845

Assiginack, Artist Unknown, c. 1845

On the morning of October 5, 1861, 96 year old Odaawaa Chief Jean Baptiste Assiginack of the Biipiigwenh (Sparrowhawk) clan rose from his slumber and got dressed. J.B. Assiginack, frame bent with age, did not fully fill out the blue admiral attire he had been given for services during the War of 1812. Regardless, Assiginack shined up his black top boots, pressed his blue cloth tail coat, shined the coat’s gilt buttons, and straightened the gold epaulettes. Putting on his undergarments, socks, pants, shirt, he then put on his boots followed by his blue coat. He buttoned the coat and then took the crimson sash and fastened it around his waist. Next he grabbed the silver medal he received the previous year from the Prince of Wales and affixed it to his breast. Holding the King George III medal he received for services during the War of 1812, and taking it by the blue ribbon, he pulled it too over his head and wore it around his neck. Lastly he took the black cocked hat, adjusted the plume of blue and white feathers, and then placed it upon his head. He then proceeded to the dock at Manitowaning Bay and awaited the arrival of the treaty commissioners. Continue reading →

1864 vs. 1914: A Commemorative Showdown

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By Sarah Glassford

1864

As I sat by the window of a popular coffee shop in downtown Charlottetown on a warm afternoon in September 2014, two student actors from the University of Prince Edward Island (UPEI) appeared on the street corner opposite, heading toward nearby Province House, seat of the provincial legislature.  He wore a three-piece suit and top hat; she sported a shirtwaist, hoop skirt, elaborate hat, and shawl.  This is a common sight near Province House during the summer tourist season,[i] but it struck me as noteworthy because I happened to be brainstorming thoughts for a post on Prince Edward Island (PEI) and the First World War centenary.  The sight of 1860s-style citizens promenading down the street in 2014 reminded me that all commemoration takes place in a crowded landscape of competing commemorations, even when the subject is as globally game-changing as the First World War.

PEI, Canada’s smallest province, has been celebrating 2014 in grand style all year long, but not because of anything to do with the First World War centenary.  Instead, the island is celebrating the 150th anniversary of the 1864 Charlottetown Conference, when the then-colony of PEI hosted the first serious discussions of a confederation of British North American colonies – a union that eventually became the Dominion of Canada.  Continue reading →

Podcast – Robert Rutherdale on the Local Responses of WWI

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ActiveHistory.ca is happy to feature the inaugural talk of the Fall 2014 History Matters lecture series: historian Robert Rutherdale’s “Hometown Horizons: Local Responses to Canada’s Great War.”

Rutherdale delivered the talk at the Toronto Public Library’s North York Central Branch. He explores issues such as the demonization of enemy aliens, wartime philanthropy, and state authority and citizenship – all while asking what the study of the “local” can add to our understanding of the First World War and historical research in general.

ActiveHistory.ca is featuring this podcast as part of  “Canada’s First World War: A Centennial Series on ActiveHistory.ca”, a multi-year series of regular posts about the history and centennial of the First World War.