Active History

New Podcast: Richard Harris on the Making of a Toronto Suburb

October 25, 2011 No Comments

Historical Geographer Richard Harris recently presented a talk entitled “The Making of Dufferin-St. Clair: 1900-1929” at a local library located in this Toronto neighbourhood. Following his talk, a room full of community members shared their personal memories of the area’s social and physical development. Harris’s talk comes from research for his book, Unplanned Suburbs: Toronto’s American Tragedy, 1900 to 1950 (1996), which examined the rise and fall of working-class home ownership in Toronto’s suburbs. The Dufferin-St. Clair neighbourhood, also known today as Corso Italia, is a key location in the book.

Harris’s talk is available here for audio download.

The presentation is the fourth talk of the 2011 History Matters lecture series. Now in its second year, the series gives the public an opportunity to connect with working historians and discover some of the many and surprising ways in which the past shapes the present. This year’s talks focus on two themes: labour and environmental history.

The next History Matters lecture takes place this Thursday, when Craig Heron will discuss the history of labour parades in Toronto. Click here for more details.

Following the Freedom Trail through Boston

October 24, 2011 1 Comment

Around 1776, certain important people in the English colonies made a discovery that would prove enormously useful for the next two hundred years. They found that by creating a nation, a symbol, a legal unity called the United States, they could take over land, profits, and political power from favorites of the British Empire. In the process, they could hold back a number of potential rebellions and create a consensus of popular support for the rule of a new, privileged leadership. Howard Zinn, A People’s History of the United States.

This is not the history I learned last week as I walked with my family from the Boston Commons to the North Church along the “Freedom Trail” or while visiting the Minutemen Visitor Center on the road between Lexington and Concord. Instead I learned about the heroes of the American Revolution and the narrative of events that led up to and followed “the shot heard around the world.” As someone with limited training in American history, most of which focused on the history of slavery, my tendency is to dismiss this nationalistic historical narrative and perhaps side with Zinn’s perspective. It is clear enough that the fight for independence only achieved liberty for some people in the United States, while many other groups continued to struggle for the freedom for many years to come. Continue reading →

From Pretoria to Winnipeg? The Potential for Transnational Histories of Reconciliation

October 20, 2011 2 Comments

In 1999, Nelson Mandela declared “the day should not be far off, when we shall have a people’s shrine, a Freedom Park, where we shall honour with all the dignity they deserve, those who endured pain so we should experience the joy of freedom.”

As you walk around the bustling streets of South Africa’s capital city, Pretoria, you would never know that just a few kilometers away, high above the city, there sits a 52 hectare park that is a direct product of Mandela’s vision. Freedom Park is dedicated to narrating the history of conflict in the country from pre-colonial to the post-apartheid period. More than a narrative however, Freedom Park is a physical experience; one which raises important questions about access to history and memory in a country that has made tremendous progress in reconciling its violent history but which still bears many scars from decades of apartheid rule. Continue reading →

New Book Review: Faulkner on Carroll’s Pearson’s Peacekeepers

October 20, 2011 No Comments

Pearson's Peacekeepers Cover We are pleased to publish a new book review, written by someone outside of academia on a history monograph. This month Liam A. Faulkner reviews Michael K. Carroll’s Pearson’s Peacekeepers: Canada and the United Nations Emergency Force, 1956-67.

In 1956, Britain and France shocked the world by launching a surprise invasion of Egypt. Ostensibly aimed at curtailing the recent outbreak of conflict along the Israeli border, the military action was in reality a cover for the Anglo-French occupation of the Suez Canal and threatened to destabilize the precarious status quo of the Cold War international community.

For Canada, the Suez Crisis presented a particularly worrying state of affairs as it jeopardized the relationship between its two most important allies. On one side of the Atlantic, Washington was enraged by what it viewed as reckless British aggression, whilst on the other side, London felt betrayed by the lack of support it received from the United States. Ottawa found itself stuck somewhere in the middle.

Teacher-Students and Student-Historians: Discovering Constance Margaret Austin and the Value of Experiential Learning with Spadina Museum

October 18, 2011 1 Comment

Figure 1: Constance Margaret Austin, c. 1920

Who was Constance Margaret Austin (1894 – 1966)? Her obituary doesn’t say: reporters emphasized her filial connection to James Austin (1813 – 1897), President of Dominion Bank. Nor did she: Margaret left no diaries and the letters that she penned were lost.

But, Spadina Museum has charged visiting students with the task of finding out. Their educational program on World War I teaches students how to utilize primary sources – photographs, report cards, newspaper articles and the like – and provides them with the skill-set to answer an “unanswered” question.

On 5 October 2011, a group of educators participated in Spadina Museum’s program as part of the quarterly Approaching the Past workshops, discovering both Margaret and an innovative teaching tool. Continue reading →

Family Ties: The Successes and Challenges of Genealogical Research

October 17, 2011 1 Comment

Trees are a common symbol for genealogy. Like lines of ancestry, trees contain many branches that are united through a common trunk but grow in their own direction. And like family history, we often only see the complexity of their roots when we start digging.

In a previous post, I outlined strategies on conducting the research of one’s home, and offered some thoughts on why home history is one of the most common ways in which ordinary people are interested by, think about, and interact with the past. These “resident histories” seem to have some commonalities with family history, as both topics connect the past with very intimate aspects of the everyday lives of people in the present. Like a home, a family is an emotional site that embodies the physical continuities with the past. Family history also illustrates change over time at a microcosmic level and within wider historical contexts.

Over the past year, my father has begun to research the history of my family. This weekend, I had an opportunity to sit down to ask some questions about his own experiences. Continue reading →

New Podcast: Lisa Rumiel Examines the Environmental Activism of Rosalie Bertell

October 12, 2011 1 Comment

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Historian Lisa Rumiel recently presented a talk entitled “Three Mile Island to Bhopal: the Life and Work of Environmental Activist Rosalie Bertell” in front of an engaged audience at Toronto’s Parkdale library. Bertell, who has a PhD in biometrics, has long spoken out about the environmental consequences of nuclear power.

Rumiel’s talk is available here for audio download.

The presentation is the second talk of the 2011 History Matters lecture series. Now in its second year, the series gives the public an opportunity to connect with working historians and discover some of the many and surprising ways in which the past shapes the present. This year’s talks focus on two themes: labour and environmental history.

The next History Matters lecture takes place tonight. Jennifer Bonnell will discuss a timely topic: “Imagined Futures for the Lower Don: A History of Big Ideas for a Small River.” Click here for more details.

The Return of the History Wars

October 11, 2011 9 Comments

Last week a story in Le Devoir caught my attention. The headline read: ‘Quebec’s history has been left behind by the universities.’ The article reports on a study lamenting the quality and quantity of history-specific training in Quebec universities. More importantly – and this is what caught my attention – the spokesperson for one of the study’s sponsors, the Coalition for the History of Quebec, argued that the teaching of political and economic history had been subsumed by an over emphasis on social and culture history. After reading this critique of Quebec’s university history departments, I realized that the so-called ‘History Wars’ are still alive and well in the Canadian public sphere. Continue reading →

Announcement: History on the Grand – People and Place

October 8, 2011 No Comments

Registration Now Open for History on the Grand 2011: People and Place

This year’s History on the Grand Local History Symposium is being held on Saturday October 22^nd, at Cambridge’s Historic and LEED Gold-certified New City Halls. The theme “People and Place” explores the history of immigration and migration to Southwestern Ontario, and the ethnic and cultural groups that make up our communities. Participants will enjoy presentations about different aspects of our local history, as well as presentations and projects by local school children. The complete program and registration forms are available on the City of Cambridge website. Local history and heritage groups will have displays and materials for participants to enjoy. The lunch hour will also feature a walking tour of historic downtown Cambridge, the resurgence of which was recently covered in an article in the Globe and Mail.

“It’s a great way for people to learn more about the history of our communities,” says organizer Karen Dearlove, “and the contributions made by different ethnic and cultural groups to the diversity of our region.”

Registration for the symposium, including refreshments and lunch, is available for $10.00 until October 14^th, and $15 at the door. Participants can register in advance at the Clerk’s office at City Hall. For more information contact Lynn Griggs at Cambridge Archives Email: griggslynn@cambridge.ca Phone: (519) 740-4680 ext. 4610 Fax: (519) 623-0058.

History on the Grand: People and Place is sponsored by the City of Cambridge, organized by the City of Cambridge Archives Board and the Waterloo Historical Society, and supported by the Waterloo Region Museum and ActiveHistory.ca.

For media interviews contact Dr. Karen Dearlove: kldearlove@hotmail.com or 519-621-6374

A Past for the Future: the Portuguese Canadian History Project’s Virtual Exhibits Exploring the Portuguese-Canadian Experience

October 3, 2011 1 Comment

By Raphael Costa
PhD Candidate, History, York University
Coordinator, Portuguese Canadian History Project

Like many initiatives, the Portuguese Canadian History Project (PCHP) started with a conversation over coffee. Brews in hand, historians of the Portuguese-Canadian experience, Susana Miranda and Gilberto Fernandes, hashed out the basis of the PCHP. It was 2008, with Susana knee-deep in her research on Portuguese-Canadian workers in the cleaning industry and Gilberto continuing his work on the Portuguese Diaspora, both agreed that the history of the Portuguese-Canadian experience, so inadequately represented in public archives, was in danger of being lost. The answer? Find, assess, and not only ensure that documents, ranging from private photographs to newspapers to the papers of community organizations, found their way to an archive where future generations could explore their past, but also that the history contained in community documents would end up back in the public realm.

Continue reading →

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