Harold Innis drops a footnote

 When Harold A. Innis wants to cite some evidence on the power relationships between late nineteenth capitalists, he does so with authority.  His 1923 work, A History of the Canadian Pacific Railway, is a dense economic history which argues that the company brought civilization to the Canadian West at the cost of Westerners.  Note that not only does the single footnote on American railway interests run for three pages, the sentence which it provides evidence for, has a further two footnotes!

Four pages Professor Innis?! Your passion for the politico-economic background to the Pacific Scandal has no bounds!

Jacky Fisher's Visage

Nicholas Lambert's Sir John Fisher's Naval Revolution (1999), revises the historical consensus on Sir John Fisher's reorganization of the British Navy in the years leading up to the Great War. In contrast to the historiography, Fisher is portrayed as favouring flotilla defense for the home waters made up of submarines and torpedo boats, championing submarines and battlecruisers as opposed to battleships, and still hoping to maintain imperial defence. Radical Jack is shown to champion the battleship in order to leverage the technological misunderstandings of the cabinet and public to lobby for increased naval spending, and not due to his preference for the battleship itself. The dreadnought revolution is portrayed as a product of financial concerns instead of the German naval threat. Technology in the form of the torpedo, submarine, and side-armoured cruisers were hoped to allow the navy to do more with less.

Lambert noted that Jan Morris' investigation of Fisher's reputation elicited a wide range of descriptors.  Morris wrote, "Fisher, it seemed, was a Great Englishman, a disgrace to his uniform, a manipulator, a hobgoblin, a damned Socialist, a crook, a paragon of kindness, a parvenu, a cad, a genius, a fraud, a delight. Only one thing all were agreed upon: he had a marvellous face."

Admiral John Fisher, Handsome Chap.

Loyal Edmonton Regiment Museum Website Upgrade

The Loyal Edmonton Regiment Museum has just upgraded to a slick new website, with numerous features that will appeal both to the casual browser and the hardcore historian.  The site features a conventional Canadian Military History section, with an accompanying chronology, authored by members of the museum.  The regimental history section is authored by historian Rod Macleod, and goes well beyond the same old story, drawing from the museums archives and posting new photos from the City of Edmonton archives and elsewhere.

The archives section notes that the regimental magazine, The Forty-niner (the loyal Eds were the 49th Battalion of the Canadian Expeditionary Force), has been digitized and will be posted to the web soon.  Historians of the World Wars will be particularly interested in the archival collections which, "include oral histories (drawn from the Museum's ongoing Oral History project), diaries and scrapbooks belonging to Maj.Gen. W.A. Griesbach (WWI) and Col. J.R. Stone (WWII), and a large collection of official documents related to the formation of units in the Edmonton area during the First World War."

Prince of Wales Armouries.  Home of the Museum.

While a few sections are still yet to be finished, it appears that the museum has fully embraced digital technology and social media to get its message to the public. 

Military History at the 2011 CHA Annual Meeting

Some have criticized institutions such as the Canadian Historical Review and the Canadian Historical Association as having abandoned military, political, and economic history in favour of culture, gender, and labour topics, but a glance at the 2011 conference program shows a great number of military papers. This year's theme for the Fredericton gathering was, "History, Memory, People and Place", and it will be seen that while many military topics follow "softer" topics such as war memory, there are even some strictly operational topics for those whose narrow definition of the field only include combat.

Humpries. UTP.

As for the CHR, Mark Osborne Humphries won the 2010 prize for his article,“War's Long Shadow: Masculinity, Medicine, and the Gendered Politics of Trauma, 1914–1939”, which looks suspiciously militant! So much for Military History as a fringe genre!

Here are the papers presented on military history (broadly defined):

Roundtable on Alan Tayor’s The Civil War of 1812: American Citizens, British

Subjects, Irish Rebels, and Indian Allies / Table ronde sur le livre The Civil War

of 1812: American Citizens, British Subjects, Irish Rebels, and Indian Allies de

Alan Taylor MMH 203

Cecilia Morgan, OISE, University of Toronto

H. V. Nelles, McMaster University

Julia Roberts, University of Waterloo

With a reply from / Avec commentaires de Alan Taylor, University of California at

Davis

Facilitator / Animateur: Allan Greer, McGill University

The Lessons of War and History: A Tribute to Professor D. S. (Toby) Graham /

Les leçons de la guerre et de l’histoire: Hommage au Professeur D. S. (Toby)

Graham BMH 205

David Zimmerman, University of Victoria

Educating Scientists and Soldiers: The Graham Thesis and the Origins of the

Scientific-Military Revolution

David Ian Hall, King’s College London

Re-discovering the Operational Level of War: British and German Lessons Learned

after the 1940 Battle of France

Roger Sarty, Wilfrid Laurier University

D. M. Schurman and The Education of a Navy: How a Cape Bretoner Cane to Lead

Studies of British Naval Strategic Thought

Chair / Président: David Charters, University of New Brunswick

Facilitator / Animateur: Marc Milner, University of New Brunswick

Susan Cahill, Queen’s University

Afghan War Rugs, Conflict, and Culture-as-Resource

Jon Sufrin, York University

The Canadian Dystopia: Civil Wars, Invasions, and Language Tests

Canada’s Airforce as a Learning Organization / Une organisation du savoir : la

Force aérienne du Canada BMH 205

Richard Goette, Canadian Forces College

Air Power Education at the RCAF Staff College During the 1950s

Rachel Heide, Centre for Operational Research and Analysis

From Individual to Institution: The Professionalization of Institutional Leadership

in the Royal Canadian Air Force, 1916-1946

Bill March, Canadian Forces Aerospace Warfare Centre

‘Oops, We Did It Again’: Small ‘Wars’ and Their Impact on the Canadian Air

Force

Facilitator / Animateur: Randall Wakelam, Royal Military College

Julia Roberts, University of Waterloo

War Stories, Local History, and the Construction of Memory

24. New Perspectives on the British Navy and the War of 1812 / Nouvelles

perspectives sur la marine britannique et la Guerre de 1812 BMH 205

Martin Hubley, Nova Scotia Department of Justice

‘…in Consequence of the Inhumane treatment I daily saw and felt myself’: Mass

Desertion Mutinies on the North American Station of the Royal Navy, 1775-1812

Keith Mercer, Saint Mary’s University

Celebrating the Shannon-Chesapeake Battle in Halifax during the War of 1812

Thomas Malcomson, George Brown College

From Runaway to Refugee: American Slaves and the British Navy during the War

of 1812

Facilitator / Animatrice: Cheryl Fury, University of New Brunswick

Bonnie White, St. Francis Xavier University

Retrospection, Memorialization, and the Women’s Land Army in First World War

Britain

Karen Priestman, Wilfrid Laurier University

The Myth of the Waldorf Schools in Nazi Germany: Remembering a Past Long

Forgotten

Don Nerbas, McGill University

Engineering Canada: C. D. Howe and the Transformation of Canadian Capitalism,

1935-1947

Valerie Hébert, Lakehead University

The Politics of Memory: The United States, the Cold War, and West Germany’s

Campaign to Free Nazi War Criminals

Julia Torrie, St. Thomas University

Pre-occupation: Remembering World War I among Germans Stationed in France,

1940-1944

Barbara Lorenzkowski, Concordia University

Remembering Father: Wartime Stories from Atlantic Canada, 1939-1945

Ryan Kirkby, University of Waterloo

Unlikely Rebels: Vietnam Veterans Against the War and the Anti-Authoritarian

Tradition, 1967-1971

Melissa Ptacek, University of New Brunswick

The 'bonne guerre de la part des amis du F.L.N.': The Torture Memoir and

Opposition to the French-Algerian War of 1954-62

Recruitment, Rebellion and Historical Memory: Loyalist Responses in the

Carolinas and New Brunswick during the American Revolution / Recrutement,

rébellion et mémoire historique: Réponses royalistes dans les Carolines et au

Nouveau-Brunswick durant la Révolution américaine BMH 205

Carole Watterson Troxler, Elon University, North Carolina

Cornwallis’ Complaints and the Historical Memory of Loyalist Response in the

Southern Backcountry

Todd Braisted, United Empire Loyalist Association of Canada

New elements to understanding the recruitment of Provincial Regiments during the

American Revolution

Gary Campbell, Independent Scholar

Rebellion Suppressed: New Brunswick’s Role in the American Revolution

Facilitator / Animateur: Amani Whitfield, University of Vermont

Sponsored by the Loyalist Research Network / Parrainée par le Réseau de

recherche loyaliste

Series Celebration and Book Launch / Célébration d’une série et lancement de livre

BMH 318 Routunda

Please help us celebrate the New Brunswick Military Heritage Book Series co-published

by the Gregg Centre’s New Brunswick Military Heritage Project and Goose Lane Editions

and please help us launch volume 17: / Veuillez vous joindre à nous pour célébrer la série

d’ouvrages sur le patrimoine militaire du Nouveau-Brunswick et le lancement du volume

no. 17:

Joshua M. Smith, Battle for the Bay: The Naval War of 1812 (NBMHP and Goose Lane,

2011)

Jack Little, Simon Fraser University

From Borderland to Bordered Land: Reaction in the Eastern Townships Press to

the American Civil War and the Threat of Fenian Invasion

Contested Memories of the First World War / Souvenirs contestés de la

Première Guerre mondiale BMH 205

Geoff Keelan, University of Waterloo

Catholic Neutrality: The Great War and the Peace of Henri Bourassa

Jonathan Minnes, Wilfrid Laurier University

Flavelle in the News: A Study of Joseph Flavelle’s Public Image, 1914-1920

Kellen Kurschiniski, McMaster University

‘Once a Soldier, Always a Man’: The Department of Soldiers’ Civil Reestablishment

and the Image of the Disabled Canadian Great War Veteran,

1918-1928

Brian MacDowall, York University

‘The Surroundings are Congenial’: Planning a Disabled Soldier Settlement on the

Kamloops Reserve, 1918-1922

Facilitator / Animateur: Scott Matheson, University of New Brunswick

Gene Allen, Ryerson University

Another North Atlantic Triangle: Canadian Press, Associated Press and Reuters,

1917-1950

Mary Vipond, Concordia University

Nazi Eyes on Canada: Wartime Propaganda at the CBC

Jerry Bannister, Dalhousie University

Revolution in the Loyalist Era: The Remaking of British America, 1745-1800

Series Launch / Lancement de la série BMH 318 Rotunda

Please join us for the official launch of the Canadian Historical Association and University

of Toronto Press International Themes and Issues Book Series / Vous êtes cordialement

invité au lancement officiel de la série de courts ouvrages sur des thèmes et enjeux

internationaux de la SHC et des Presses de l'Université de Toronto:

David MacKenzie, A World Beyond Borders: An Introduction to the History of

International Relations (University of Toronto Press, 2010);

Sean Kennedy, The Shock of War: The Civilian Experience, 1937-1945 (University of

Toronto Press, 2011).

Representations of Violence in Canadian Collective Memory / Représentations

de la violence dans la mémoire collective canadienne MMH 202

Matthew McRae, University of Western Ontario

‘Spectacular Entertainment’: History, Memory and Meaning in Public Discussion

of the CBC’s 1979 Epic Film, Riel

Christopher Schultz, University of Western Ontario

The Self Separated from Violence: Spectacle, Material Appropriation, and Voices of

Resistance on the Western Front, 1914-1918

Jon Weier, University of Western Ontario

Canadaʼs Sacrifice: Collective Memory, the First World War and Canadaʼs

Golgotha

Facilitator / Animateur: Scott See, University of Maine

Distance, Danger and Domestic Life in Twentieth-Century Canada / Distance,

danger et vie domestique au Canada au vingtième siècle BMH 102

Amy Shaw, University of Lethbridge

Fathers and Sons of Empire: Letters home from the South African War

Kristine Alexander, York University

‘Mother says you are angry at me for not answering your letters’: Canadian

Children’s Responses to Absence and Death during the First World War

Tarah Brookfield, Wilfrid Laurier University

Navigating War, Memory, and Identity: South East Asian Adoptees on Growing up

Canadian

Facilitator / Animatrice: Barbara Lorenzkowski, Concordia University

Jaqueline Cannata, University of Guelph

Military Memories: Recollections of the Fort Erie Fenian Raids, 1864-1906

Elaine Young, University of Guelph

‘A Spirit of Grateful Memory’: Place, Memory, and the Battle of Lundy’s Lane

Big Top Images: The Circus comes to Canada

Ladies and Gentlemen, Boys and Girls, Children of all Ages, step right up and prepare yourselves for the most Exhilarating Exhibition on Earth! Animals from the far-flung jungles of Africa!  Exotic specimens from around the globe!  We've got the Wild West, Far East, Southern Belles and Natives of the North, all displayed for your amusement and curiosity under the Big Top!

The Circus in popular conception seems to wedded to America, yet one only need to think of the Roman Circus Maximus, where chariot races, animal displays and mock battles were staged, to consider the long human fascination with spectacle.  The modern circus is attributed to a Brit by the name of Philip Astley, whose riding school in the late 18th Century grew to include clowns, domesticated animals, music and acrobatics. Only in 1792 would the circus cross the Atlantic to the new world.  A number of circus posters at Library and Archives Canada show that the circus was a popular event in the twentieth-century dominion.  It was often the lure of the foreign unknown which drew Canadians in droves to the Big Top.

Poster From 1935. Library and Archives Canada, Acc. No. 1980-84-68

Part of the allure of the circus was the exotic animals and people on display.  Elephants, camels, tigers and lions were used to amaze patrons.  A fascination with foreign animals has long appealed to circus-goers, yet with the rise of animal rights activism, the humane treatment of these performers are increasingly scrutinized. Cole Bros. Circus, still active today, was recently fined for violating the endangered species act.


Human performers were another part of the exotic draw.  The Cole Bros. Circus advertised itself as a "circus of all nations", where locals could observe cultures and costume from around the world.

Poster from 1939.  Library and Archives Canada, Acc. No. 1980-84-159

Military display has always been a popular form of entertainment.  Buffalo Bill's Wild West Show, a form of Western circus and rodeo, featured theatrical battles, pitting cowboys versus Indians.  Gabriel Dumont was featured in the show after his role in the North-west Rebellion.  In the Great War, artillery pieces were brought back to Canada, and often featured in drives to recruit soldiers.  In a 1917 circus in Regina, a war exhibition featuring war posters and a captured German howitzer was free to all.

Glenbow Museum Archives.  NA-1574-6

Poster 1930. Library and Archives Canada, Acc. No. 1980-84-69

In international circuses, the Royal Canadian Mounted Policeman was featured as a dashing international figure of adventure.  The mountie has long been the symbol of Canada abroad, especially in the entertainment industry.  In the form of the Wild West show, the black and white division of the colonial world were played out in pantomime, with  brave Mounties standing their ground against the circling savage Indians.

Many of the Circuses travelling in Canada appear to have been American shows, but there were also home-grown Canadian exhibitions as well.  The Garden Bros.  Circus was one Canadian circus, perhaps based in Saskatchewan where its posters were printed.  Canada's most infamous circus, Cirque de Soleil, was not founded until 1984, but Canadians have long been entertained by the foreign spectacle of the circus, alongside more domestic interests in fairs, rodeos, and agricultural exhibitions.  In a world before television and internet, Canadians sought to experience in person the foreign sights, smells, and sounds of the Big Top.

1943 Library and Archives Canada, Acc. No. 1980-84-149