Just in: this all-points bulletin from Margaret Robbins, Commander-in-Chief of HUSA:

Hey-o HUSA members!!!

Welcome to HUSA! Hooray! I just wanted to send out a quick welcome email and let you know about our first event of the year! So, welcome first! This year looks like its going to be super fun. we have lots of events planned for the coming months which you will hear about through email and also keep an eye out for posters around campus. We also have a Facebook group - U of S HUSA- for anyone who wants to see what we're up to that way! all and all it looks like it will be a fantastic year starting with out fantastic first event!!

The State of the Department Address!!

When: Thursday October 4, 4:30 p.m

Where: Arts 217

What: Our friendly department head Professor Fairbairn will give a presentation on the various goings on in the Department of History and the undergraduate program. He will also answer any questions you may have about the department or the program!

Why: for fun! and also for information! greatest combination ever!

This is great opportunity to find out about the department and to take an active role in your program! Professor Fairbairn will be happy to answer questions so come prepared to ask and be told! hooray! It doesnt matter if you're a first year or in the upper years, all history students are welcome!!!

If you have any questions about this event or anything else to do with HUSA feel free to email us at uofshusa@yahoo.ca

HOORAY! so thats all for now but keep your eyes open for emails to come with information about Meet the Profs Night, Movie Nights and Haloween parties!!!

If you are in a nostalgic mood, you might want to check out Everett Baker's Saskatchewan: Portraits of an Era selected and with an introduction by Bill Waiser. The book is published by Fifth House in Canada, and Fitzhenry & Whiteside in the U.S. Baker's photographs, mainly from the 1940s and 1950s, offer a remarkable (and beautiful) record of Saskatchewan life. The magic of nostalgia is that, done right, it can speak to you even if the past in question was not exactly your own. This is done right.

Congratulations to Leanne Bablitz (M.A., 1996), now Assistant Professor of Ancient History at the University of British Columbia, on the publication of her new book, Actors and Audience in the Roman Courtroom (Routledge: 2007). The book asks what you would see if you attended a trial in a courtroom in the early Roman empire. What was the behaviour of litigants, advocates, judges and audience? It was customary for Roman individuals out of general interest to attend the various courts held in public places in the city centre -- and thanks to Leanne you can now tag along, too. Learn more about it by clicking here.

As if the thrill of starting a new term was not enough, get ready for the SOCIAL EVENT OF THE YEAR!

It is once again time for new and returning history students to get acquainted with their instructors -- that's right, HUSA is hosting the umpteenth annual Meet the Profs Night! This one will be happening October 11th @ 5:00 PM in the back room at Louis'. Refreshments and keen history students will be provided, which is a sure trap with which to lure History Faculty. Everyone in the Historical Universe is welcome.

Itching to break into print? Here's your chance. The editors of “The Mirror,” the undergraduate history journal published by the University of Western Ontario these past 28 years, are soliciting (soliciting being legal in Ontario) high-quality undergraduate student essays for their next edition. Deadline for submission is Thursday, November 1st. The Mirror’s editorial staff traditionally selects 10-12 papers for publication, among which are traditional essays on any historical topic, one historiographic essay, and a couple of book reviews. Submissions should be 12-20 pages in length and include a correctly sourced bibliography. Essays must have received a mark of 80% or higher. The grade of the essay, as well as the author’s contact information including email address must be attached to the submission. For further details contact the editor, Cari Ferguson.

Congratulations to Alison Jeppesen (M.A., 2002) and Jeff Wigelsworth (Ph.D., 2006), and welcome to their wee bairn James Wigelsworth (C.E. June 9, 2007). This classic history family resides in Halifax these days, where Jeff has just begun the second year of his two-year SHRC postdoc at Dalhousie, and both he and Alison are doing some teaching as well. His thesis on Deism in Enlightenment England will be published by Manchester University Press in 2008 -- not that young James doesn't trump all that. And not just because this style-conscious bairn can pull off the Brian Johnson look so easily. It is easy to see what the Jamesian fuss is all about if you check out James' blog.

This just in from loyal correspondent and new HUSA president, Margaret Robbins:

This is just to let you know that HUSA (History Undergrad Students' Association) is starting our year! We will be in the tunnel on Monday September 17, Wednesday September 19th and Friday September 21st and this year membership is free!

Our plans this year include a Meet the Profs Night, movie nights, and other fun events in and around campus. If you have any questions about HUSA please feel free to email us!

We here at What's Up are not quite ready to leap back into the bloggerly fray on a regular basis, but since we are here anyway we thought you might like to check out our resident Russianist (and Arctic-ist) John McCannon's timely intervention into the Arctic freeze-out* being played out between Canada (and the West generally) and Russia. If it sounds just like old times, then it is all the more important that our leaders keep the historical and cultural context in mind -- as John reminds them, and us, in his op-ed piece in the Ottawa Citizen of Friday, August 10, 2007.
Click here to read it.
* (click here for undeservedly obscure musical reference)

Ian Dyck, a scholar of Victorian England who received his BA and MA in our department, and taught for a year at STM in the mid-80s before taking a permanent position at SFU, died on July 15th in Vancouver. A memorial service was held in Borden on July 28th, at his great grandfather's homestead where his brother and family now live. The following obituary appeared in the Star Phoenix.

Ian Dyck, 1954 2007 It is with profound sorrow that we announce the untimely passing of Ian Dyck, a remarkable father, son, brother, teacher, scholar and friend. Ian passed away in Vancouver on July 15, eight months after a bone marrow transplant and seven years from diagnosis of a chronic form of lymphocytic leukemia. A proud son of Saskatchewan farmers, Ian completed BA and MA degrees at the University of Saskatchewan before taking up doctoral work at the University of Sussex. D. Phil. in hand, Ian taught for two years in Saskatchewan and Lethbridge before coming in 1988 to Simon Fraser University, where he became an associate professor of History. His William Cobbett and Rural Popular Culture, published by Cambridge University press in 1992, established a reputation that he enhanced with two edited collections, a dozen articles and scores of reviews. His most recent work was a fine edition of Cobbett's Rural Rides for Penguin (2001), and he was gathering material for a seminal study of Rural Song in England. He will perhaps be best remembered as a superb teacher, a talent that won him the university's Excellence in Teaching Award in 1991. Hundreds of undergraduates delighted in his Western Civilization lectures and seminar on Popular Culture in Britain, and few professors made such an impression on graduate students. Ian is survived by his daughters, Jennifer of Ottawa and Kathleen of Vancouver, and their mother Karen. His father Clifford Dyck of Saskatoon; siblings, Murray (Linda) Dyck, Sherrie (David) Culver of Moose Jaw; nephews Matthew (Chris), Andrew (Gwen), their children (Wyat and Owen), Devon (fiance Virginia) of Moose Jaw. Meaghan (Jonathan) Hutzul of Edmonton. Several aunts and uncles and numerous cousins. Ian was predeceased by his mother Agnes Dyck (December 11, 2006). Family wishes to extend special thanks to Dr. John Stobbs, a colleague of Ian's for his unswerving attention and care in all situations. Also to his life long friend Jim Sutherland and other colleagues that visited him in hospital. Memorial donations in Ian's memory may be made to Vancouver General Hospital, Bone Marrow Transplant Unit, 899 W 12 Ave., Vancouver, BC V52 1M9.
Published in the Saskatoon StarPhoenix on 7/21/2007.

Click here to link to the Guest Book at Remembering.ca, where you can read and post rememberances of Ian.

What's Up is currently on summer hiatus, but History never sleeps and so there will be much to catch up on and report when the academic sap rises in September. Stay tuned for that. In the meantime, however, we here at What's Up interrupt this hiatus to bring you news of a great honour just now bestowed upon one of our own.

Bill Waiser has just been elected to the Royal Society of Canada. If Bill wore skates to work it would be like being elected to the Hockey Hall of Fame, except that Bill is very much not retired. The citation for Bill's nomination reads as follows:

W.A. (Bill) Waiser combines an impressive record of scholarly publication with effective communication of scholarship to the general public and service to his professional peers to make a profound contribution both to the academic world and Canada's general citizenry. His scholarship always ties the western region on which it is focused to the wider concerns and interests of the nation of which the West is a part, and he regularly communicates his findings to the general public through television and the press. These practices extend Waiser's valuable scholarship from the ivory tower to the public square.

If you would like to congratulate Bill personally, you can do so by turning out to the McNally Robinson bookstore in Saskatoon at 7:pm on July 3rd, where Bill will be signing copies of Everett Baker's Saskatchewan, a book of photos Bill selected and described drawn from Everett Baker's remarkable Kodachrome slides of Saskatchewan life between 1937 and the 1960s.

Public Lecture: Same-Sex Intersections of Saskatchewan’s Settlement Era: the Roots of Prejudice.

Recent research into the history of male homosexuality during Saskatchewan’s settlement period (1880- 1930) will be the subject of a public presentation by historian Lyle Dick at the Avenue Community Centre, 7pm on May 29th held in conjunction with Congress 2007. The Congress, the annual series of meeting convened by the Canadian Federation for the Humanities and Social Sciences, will bring over 5,000 academics (yikes!) to the University of Saskatchewan during the week May 26 – June 2. This year’s theme Bridging Communities: Making Public Knowledge and Knowledge Public is intended to inspire academics to reach out to the communities they serve, to share and receive knowledge beyond the academy.

Lyle Dick has been a public historian in Canada for 30 years. Since 1977 he has authored more than 65 publications in Canadian, American, and Arctic history and historiography. Among his published research are several studies relating to the Motherwell farm operation at Abernathy (Saskatchewan) and his most recent book Muskox Land: Ellesmere Island in the Age of Contact which was awarded the 2003 Harold Adams Innis Prize for Canada’s best English language book in the social sciences. Mr. Dick is a member of the Council of the Canadian Historical Association and serves on the advisory boards of several historical publications and programs. He was active in the gay liberation movement in the 1970s and 1980s, where he worked in the successful campaign to amend Manitoba’s Human Rights Act in 1987.

Dick’s Saskatoon presentation is entitled "Same-Sex Intersections of Saskatchewan’s Settlement Era: the Roots of Prejudice". Inspired by the work of pioneering American historians Jonathan Katz and Vern Bullough, Dick began his research in 1978 by examining court records at the Saskatchewan Archives Board hoping that patterns in assault cases might serve as an index to social trends in early Saskatchewan. One of the case files he uncovered was for the sensational arrest and trial of group of men in Regina in 1895 only a few weeks after the much publicized London trials of playwright Oscar Wilde. Dick presented some of this early research at the Sex and the State history conference at the University of Toronto in 1985 but the pressure of many other projects intervened and he put this work on the back burner.

Encouraged by historian colleagues Dick resumed his work on early same-sex dynamics and relationships a few years ago and has traveled to both Saskatchewan and Manitoba to examine early court, gaol, police and church records, as well as coverage of trials and other events in early Prairie newspapers. Based on his intensive study of whatever “slim pickings” he can locate in archives, he is confident in asserting that same-sex dynamics were always present in post confederation Saskatchewan. However same-sex relationships were often causalities of public backlash, encouraged by judicial prosecutions, social purity activism and a generally negative medical discourse concerning homosexuality that emerged in the 20th century. Click here to see the poster for the talk.

This Friday, April 13th, marks the last History Grad Student Colloquium of the year,
at 3:30pm in the Faculty Club. As always snacks will be provided. Kira Olfert will be giving a presentation entitled: "'Much to the Dismay of the Fathers' - Mennonite War Veterans After the Second World"; and Joe Ponic's presentation is entitled "Tintoretto at the Scuola Grande di San Rocco in Venice".

George Fountain was a student from Vancouver who fought at Vimy Ridge in April 1917. He was with a group of engineers burying armoured communication cables through much of the battle of April 9-12: his turn to go over the top came later. Over the next 18 months he was wounded twice and mildly shell-shocked. But he made it home in one piece and lived a fine, full life. More than 60 years later, early in February 1978, a grandson traveling in France, Gordon DesBrisay, called to wish happy birthday and ask where Vimy was, so he could go visit. George gave his geographically challenged grandson directions, chatted amiably, and wished him well. He died in his sleep that night. Below is a page from the diary of April 1917 that George, like so many soldiers, kept (illegally) while in France. Click either image to enlarge.

As every historians knows, times change. Unlike a long-ago book pub depicted in this undated photo from our archives, this year's Umpteenth Annual HGSC Book Pub will follow our more recent practices: it will be held indoors, the books will not be on the ground, women will participate on equal terms, and beer will be served. (Remember that, next time the notion of Progress is disparaged in your presence.) And so, as the U of S and the History Department head into our second century, it might well be that books that somebody found useful, or thought might be useful, at some point in that first century could still prove useful to you. You just never know which tome might open up new historical vistas, provide the missing link for your thesis or essay, yield that one last obscure footnote, or, now that spring is upon us, prop open that just-thawed window. All you can know in advance is that the tomes in question will be available at way attractive prices. Which is why you should attend the Umpteenth Annual HGSC Book Pub on Wednesday April 4^th at Louis' Pub. The books will be there to be viewed at 5pm, and the auction begins at 6. Proceeds from the sale of books (though not, alas, the alcohol -- so don't be spending good book money on hootch!) help to underpin the operating budget of the HGSC. Absolutely everyone welcome!

Tomorrow, April 3rd, marks the official 100th birthday of the University of Saskatchewan -- and, indeed, of the Department of History, since ours was one of four founding departments in 1907. So, happy birthday to us!

The History Grad Student Committee (HGSC) is hosting a fund-raiser this Thursday, March 29^th at 7:pm in the lower lounge of Joe Dog's Sports Bar and Grill, to help reduce the costs of students presenting papers at the upcoming Buffalo Province History Conference. Please see the attached poster for details on the fund-raiser. Faculty are, of course, most welcome to purchase a ticket and participate in the fun. Indeed, Faculty (Ed: we here at What's Up commend the HGSC for that capital "F" and the silent but respectfully deferential tip of the metaphorical cap it represents) are welcome to donate whatever amount they care to and not participate in the fun at all, if that be their desire.

All tickets sold and every donation made increases the subsidy for student presenters. Advance tickets are $12 each. (The HGSC wishes arithmetically challenged history types to know that the “Buffalo Pack” of 5 tickets for $60 is a much better deal.) Tickets can be purchased from Nadine in the Dept office starting up to the day of the event (Thursday). Cash or cheques payable to the History Graduate Students Committee gladly accepted.

The History Grad Student Committee (HGSC) is hosting a fund-raiser this Thursday, March 29^th at 7:pm in the lower lounge of Joe Dog's Sports Bar and Grill, to help reduce the costs of students presenting papers at the upcoming Buffalo Province History Conference. Please see the attached poster for details on the fund-raiser. Faculty are, of course, most welcome to purchase a ticket and participate in the fun. Indeed, Faculty (Ed: we here at What's Up commend the HGSC for using a capital "F" and the silent but respectfully deferential tip of the metaphorical cap it represents) are welcome to donate whatever amount they care to and not participate in the fun at all, if that be their desire.

All tickets sold and every donation made increases the subsidy for student presenters. Advance tickets are $12 each. The HGSC wishes arithmetically challenged history types to know that the “Buffalo Pack” of 5 tickets for $60 is a much better deal. Tickets can be purchased from Nadine in the Dept office starting up to the day of the event (Thursday). Cash or cheques payable to the History Graduate Students Committee gladly accepted.

Dr. Rhiannon Purdie of the University of St. Andrews (Scotland's oldest and finest university, in the unlikely event that you need reminding) visits the Department of English early next week. On Monday March 26th, at 12:30 in Thorvaldson 205A, she will be participating in an open class in English 316.3 (Literature in Scotland at the close of the Middle Ages). On Tuesday March 27th at 10:30 in Arts 407, she will be discussing opportunities for studying English and History in Scotland; that afternoon, at 4pm in STM 344B, she will be giving a public lecture on "The Geography of Middle English Romance." Everyone welcome to all events.

The Bilson Lecture is held every second year to honour the late Prof. Geoffrey Bilson, who taught in the Department of History from 1964-87. He specialized in America’s colonial past, along with topics in Canadian and medical history, and he published historical fiction for children. The 2007 Bilson Lecture will be delivered by Professor Benjamin Hett of the History Department of Hunter College, City University of New York, on Friday, March 30th at 8pm in the Picasso Room of the Radisson Hotel (click here for directions). Professor Hett will speak on "The Man who Pushed Hitler to the Wall: Remembering Hans Litten, 1903-1938." Litt (seen at right) was a young lawyer who defended anti-Nazis (he once cross-examined Hitler himself ) at nearly all the important political trials in Germany between 1929 and his arrest amidst the Reichstag Fire round-up of 1933. He died five years later in Dachau concentration camp. In recent years lawyers of the re-united city of Berlin named their Bar Association after him. Professor Hett's lecture is open to the general public and free to everyone. Reception to follow.

HUSA presents the 2007 History Graduation Dinner,Wednesday, March 28. 6:30 at the Faculty Club.
All students who convocated last fall or who expect to do so this spring are especially invited, along with family members and friends (not that those two groups are mutually exclusive, necessarily). If past events are anything to go by (and we are historians, so the past certainly ought to be a reliable guide) then we can expect an evening just formal-ish enough to seem special, but also relaxed and easy-going in the classic Saskatchewenian fashion. A nice break from the hum-drum business of trying to actually, like, graduate. The keynote speaker this year is Professor Emeritus Michael Hayden. The bargain price for a fine meal and great company is $30, and tickets can be had from your nearest friendly HUSA rep, or by emailing HUSA at uofshusa@yahoo.ca. Put your posse together and get ready to chow down historically.

Loyal Correspondent Peter Scott has alerted us to two new must-see websites.

The first is a fine BBC site concerning the upcoming 200th anniversary of the abolition of the slave trade in the British empire, March 25th, 1807. Click here to check it out.

The second is The Broer Map Library, a growing collection of thousands of online historic maps from around the world. The collection features several native language atlases (German maps of Germany -- you get the idea) as well as historic road maps and topographical maps, and military maps from different theaters of action such as unique maps of the Normandy, France area. Some of these maps are viewable in Google Earth so you can compare the historic map with modern conditions. Very cool, and very useful for students and instructors looking for good maps to use in class. And free. Click here to check it out.

The nice folks at the College of Arts and Science Information Technology Resources have a nice new web page, http://artsandscience.usask.ca/it/ that offers a nice clean way into all the various things they offer. We here at What's Up went first to the free software they offer (hey, you never know) and came across this wee gem: CutePDF. The world seems to run on pdf files these days, the point being that they work well and are ubiquitous and can be opened and read in the format they were created in by anyone on any computer equipped with Adobe Acrobat Reader. The latter program is free and does a swell job of reading pdf files, but it will not create new pdf files for you. That can be done in most civilized word processors, if you have a word processed file to convert, but it is sometimes nice to be able to turn any file into a pdf for storage or distribution. The excellent but sometimes costly for-pay version of Acrobat Professional will do that very well (and university folk get a great discount through the campus computer store). But it seems CutePDF can do that too, and for free. Instructors thinking of putting together documents for distribution via PAWS might be especially keen to check this out.

As part of the University's official centennial celebrations, Lieutenant Governor Gordon Barnhart, one of our department's distinguished alumni, will deliver a public lecture today, February 28th, at 12:05 in Convocation Hall, entitled "A Century of Leadership and Partnership - Saskatchewan and the University of Saskatchewan". Everyone welcome.

This Thursday, March 1, the History Department will proudly sponsor a public lecture by one of our own, Professor Emeritus Michael Hayden, "An Unauthorized History of the University". Among his many achievements, Mike is the author of the authorized official history of the university, Seeking a Balance: The University of Saskatchewan, 1907-1982. This week's lecture surveys our institutional history in the quarter-century since that book was published in 1983. Mike aims to tell us where we the U of S came from, what we were like, what we have become, and what our possible futures might be. The lecture, which is not part of the official centenary celebrations, will be at 3pm in Room 246 of the PAC (Physical Activity Centre -- a.k.a. the new gym), and is open to absolutely everyone. Click here to see the poster, which features Mike's famous "don't-point-that-beard-at-me" photo.

This Thursday, March 1, the History Department will proudly sponsor a public lecture by one of our own, Professor Emeritus Michael Hayden, "An Unauthorized History of the University". Among his many achievements, Mike is the author of the authorized official history of the university, Seeking a Balance: The University of Saskatchewan, 1907-1982. This week's lecture surveys our institutional history in the quarter-century since that book was published in 1983. Mike aims to tell us where we the U of S came from, what we were like, what we have become, and what our possible futures might be. The lecture, which is not part of the official centenary celebrations, will be at 3pm in Room 246 of the PAC (Physical Activity Centre -- a.k.a. the new gym), and is open to absolutely everyone. Click here to see the poster.

Earlier this month, Bill Waiser returned from a four-lecture tour of Japan sponsored by Canada's Department of External Affairs and the Japanese Association of Canadian Studies. Bill spoke of Saskatchewan history to two audiences each in Tokyo and Kyoto. That's Bill to the right, at the Golden Temple outside Kyoto.

In the fantastic news department, five students in our department have have been chosen for SSHRC MA Scholarships for 2007-08: current MA students Brendan Kelly and Tenyia Miller, and honours students Katya MacDonald, Alice Glaze, and Catherine Ulmer. Congratulations to the Fab Five!

Some of the less attentive among our readers may have thought that this was just some ordinary week. Oh no.

The Government of Saskatchewan has proclaimed the week of FEBRUARY 6 – 12 Archives Week in Saskatchewan. The week is dedicated to activities that profile the vital role that the documentary records of individuals, families, organizations, businesses and governments play in developing an understanding of ourselves through academic and popular research. The week also honors the work done within Saskatchewan’s archival repositories, where valuable archival resources are preserved and made available for use in all of their forms.

If you move very quickly you should just be able to catch, on February 6, CBC Radio’s “Noon Edition” which will feature an Archives Phone-In discussing archival treasures and the practical concern for their care. An exhibit, “Shades of Grey,” in the Main Library Link, University of Saskatchewan focuses on the seven archives on the University of Saskatchewan campus and the dynamic of interaction between user and stored information. An exhibit is also being prepared by the St. Paul’s Nurses’ Alumni Association Archives at St. Paul’s Hospital, Saskatoon, while the Athol Murray Archives of Notre Dame is having a Perusal of Correspondence Day on Thursday, February 9^th. In Regina, an Archives Film Night will offer a showing of heritage short films from the holdings of the City of Regina Archives and the Saskatchewan Archives Board at the Royal Saskatchewan Museum on Friday, February 10^th, beginning at 7 p.m. In addition, many archives have contributed photographs, documents and information on their collections for a “Collage of Preservation” to appear in print form. Other events are planned in various local communities where archives are located. A special button, “Celebrate Archives,” has been designed for the week, featuring the Council logo in provincial colors.

The Saskatchewan Council for Archives and Archivists, representing 75 institutional and individual members, is responsible for building a cooperative archival network in Saskatchewan. It offers advice on the formation of new archives, promotes the preservation and use of our archival resources, and has spearheaded the development of twenty virtual historical exhibits, including “Medicare” and “Saskatchewan in the Two World Wars,” all of which can be viewed on its website, http://scaa.usask.ca/sain/gallery.php

HUSA will be beginning its annual clothing sale this Wednesday, February 7th, to Friday, February 9th in the Tunnel from 10am-2:30pm. Like last year, they'll be selling bunnyhugs, shirts, tank tops, sweatpants, and sweater vests, all from the sweatshop-free American Apparel Store (www.americanapparel.ca). You can chose to have either CMRS or HUSA printed on the clothing.

As well as the clothes, HUSA will also be selling historical action figures, including last year's bestsellers: Marie Antoinette (can be user-modified to serve as a two-piece non-action figure for the same low price), Jane Austen, and the ever-popular Pope Innocent III.

If you have any questions, HUSA can be contacted at uofshusa@yahoo.ca

If you're interested in the history of medicine, or if you just wonder what's so funny about the four humours, then this is for you: BBC Radio 4 has just started a 30-part six-week long series with medical historian Andrew Cunningham. The first broadcast starts with blood-letting, the Ancient Greeks, and the four humours (seen left). You can follow along with Radio 4 online weekdays at 3:45 p.m. GMT (9:45 a.m. Sask Time), although the BBC appears to be maintaining at least a weekly archive available upon demand. Check it out at: http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/science/medicine.

Congratulations to Samantha Booth, currently completing her honours degree in CMRS (Classics, Medieval and Renaissance Studies), who has been accepted into the graduate program of the Department of Linguistics, Philology & Phonetics at the University of Oxford for the fall of 2007. Samantha's achievement constitutes another stirring chapter in the ongoing "You Can Get There From Here" saga of our top students. And while the achievement is all her own, it also attests to the excellence of the fledgling CMRS program.

Winter got you down? Still trying to work off that extra belt notch you gained over the holidays? Dying to show off your pink lycra body suit to your peers? Here’s your chance to remedy all that: this Saturday the History Grad Student Committee is sponsoring a Cross-Country Ski Outing. Everyone is welcome, including ski newbies. Click here for details about where and when to meet, and where to rent any ski gear you may lack.

In yet another digital coup, our friends in the University Library (as part of their fruitful partnership with the Canadian Research Knowlege Network) have now contrived to provide us with The Times Digital Archive: 1785 - 1985. That would be the Times of London, of course: like other venerable productions of British culture (see "Dictionary of National Biography") it does not bother to identify itself as such. The Times archive can be searched by keyword and offers (in very un-Times-like slashes of colour) "hit-term highlighting"of full facsimile images of either a specific article or a complete page. The entire newspaper is captured, with all articles, advertisements and illustrations/photos divided into categories to facilitate searching. To give a completely random example, those of you keen to follow the exploits of Lieutenant DesBrisay of the Marines of the Amazon need only click on "article" in the first hit for a search under that surname, then increase the magnification level of the ensuing image to something more closely approximating human capacities. Or just click here. The point of searching under that surname, of course, is to establish that one can indeed find almost anything in the Times.

As if having the Times is not enough, U of S Library users can now also access all 2 million or so pages of Toronto (sorry, Canadian) news in the Toronto Star: Pages of the Past published between 1894 and within a year or two or our shifting present. This resource, too, offers not just coverage of the great events of a given day, but a chance to retrieve scarcely recalled events from the vast depths of time. Everyone knows, for example, that the Toronto Maple Leafs have not won the Stanley Cup since Canada entered its second century of confederation, and yet careful checking reveals that the Leafs have indeed won the Cup since the Rolling Stones had their first North American hit, back when Tim Horton was a hockey player and the last of the baby-boomers were being born. Indeed, one diehard Leafs fan and esteemed member of the History Department still bears a small grudge against her otherwise admirable parents for not having allowed her, on account of her extreme youth, to attend the Leafs victory parade of May 5th, 1967 (see Toronto Star edition of May 6). Barely ambulatory but already every inch the historian, the esteemed member understood that future generations would never again celebrate a Leafs triumph, nor even refer to the Cup and the Leafs in the same sentence without a large dollop of irony.

Both the Times and the Toronto Star can be accessed under "T" in the "Database" section of the Library catalogue.

The University Library continues to add valuable electronic resources to its collection. Among the recent additions are an impressive set of reference works published by Oxford University Press, including, for example, The Oxford Encyclopedia of Economic History, The Encyclopedia of the Enlightenment, and The Oxford Encyclopedia of Mesoamerican Cultures. Click here for a list of all the items in this set, or find them individually listed among the library's "Databases A-Z" list.

In case you were wondering, the library continues to add things made of paper at a brisk clip.

Congratulations to doctoral candidate Brendan Edwards, who will shortly publish an article in The History of the Book in Canada: Volume 3, 1918-1918, due to be released by the University of Toronto Press in February. His contribution, "Reading on the 'Rez'" is part of Chapter 18, Special Communities of Readers. Click here for the link to UTP's newly functional website.

Stupendous news out of Toronto: Sharon Wright of STM successfully defended her Ph.D. thesis this past Friday at the University of Toronto. The thesis was accepted with no corrections, which is a rare achievement in itself. Congratulations, Dr. Wright!

The latest fab edition of the HGSC Newsletter is out on news stands now, but you can get your free copy, complete and entire, just by clicking right here! As ever, the highlight of this issue is the in-depth interview with a member of our very own history faculty! That would be sufficient reason to read the newsletter, of course, but there is all that and much more to enjoy!

On Feb. 22 Professor Alison Keith of the University of Toronto will be presenting a CMRS Colloquium entitled, "Imperial Leisure: Love and Luxury in Roman Poetry," focusing on the poetry of Propertius.

Professor Keith, who is actively involved with the UofT Women and Gender Studies Institute, has also agreed to lead an informal luncheon discussion focusing on the current state of the discipline — Classics but, more broadly, the Humanities — for women. This session is intended mainly for our female undergraduate majors and graduate students, but all are welcome, including faculty. The luncheon will be held at the faculty club, beginning at 12:00, on Thursday, Feb. 22.

To give us an idea of how much interest there might be in such a session, could you please send a note to Carolynn Schmidt (carolynn.schmidt@usask.ca ) *by* *February 2nd* indicating that you would like to attend.

Professor Keith is currently at work on a monograph on Propertius. To learn more about her research interests, click here.

Sad news for the
well-eeled
traveller

Goddard's Pie and Mash, the oldest pie and mash shop in London, closed in November owing to family circumstances. The shop, which opened in Deptford, London in 1890 and relocated to Greenwich in 1952, had been passed down through generations of Goddards. The menu included a variety of pies, mushy peas,liquor or gravy on mash, and jellied eel, all of which--except the jellied eel--will be missed by Lisa Smith. (Ed. Eel is a delicacy in Japan & China: you've been warned.) Members of the Smith clan, Mark Gudgeon(native of London's East End), Edward and Eluned Smith, and Glynys Hohmann, will particularly miss the fruit crumble with custard, which was truly excellent. Smith comments on the passing of an East End London tradition: "The historian in me sighs." Warren Johnston, however, has other priorities: "Never mind the historian, the lover of good pies also sighs."

Call for Papers: the
First Annual Buffalo Province History Conference

(Click on image to enlarge)

Traditions all start somewhere, and this spring the University of Saskatchewan Department of History is commencing what we hope will be a longstanding annual tradition: The Buffalo Province History Conference. This open and inclusive event seeks to bring together graduate students, senior honours undergraduates, and faculty in History from the six main Prairie universities in a collegial and cordial environment. Drawing on scholars from the region Sir Frederick Haultain once sought to unify into a single province called Buffalo, the conference will afford students the chance to gain conference experience and liaise with potential future advisors and peers. This year’s conference will be held May 11-13 2007 at Manitou Springs Resort and Mineral Spa, located about an hour southeast of Saskatoon. Professor Erika Dyck from the University of Alberta will be delivering our keynote address: “Acid Flashbacks: Keeping Tabs on the History of LSD.”

Students in the Department of History at the Universities of Alberta, Calgary, Lethbridge, Regina, Saskatchewan, Winnipeg, and Manitoba are especially encouraged to attend and present their work. Individual or panel submissions on all historical topics are welcome. Please note that financial assistance will be available to presenting students.

The weekend is certain to be fun and a great chance to meet and socialize with others. Please see the attached poster for more information. Also feel free to contact Keith Carlson (keith.carlson@usask.ca) or Byron Plant (bkplant@shaw.ca) for more information. The deadline for submissions is February 15.

We look forward to seeing you in May!

The seventh floor is abuzz with anticipation as Friday approaches. And not just any Friday, but Friday the 26th of January, 2007, the day of the 10th annual Michael Swan Honours Colloquium, celebrating the work of our very own History Honours Students.

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To see the never-before-scanned full programme for this gala event, simply click on the following link: Swan-a-thon.2007.pdf.

Having had your appetite for scholarly excellence whetted, you need only make your way to the friendly confines of the Diefenbaker Canada Centre on Friday. The day begins at with coffee at 9:am, with the first of the five 45-minute sessions starting at 9:15. Further coffee breaks ensue, and there is, as always, a fine FREE lunch at noon, followed by the traditional damn fine piece of cake. Sessions resume at 1:pm, and the whole thing concludes convivially at 4:pm. Absolutely everyone is welcome to attend some or all of the proceedings, and any first or second-year students even thinking of joining the merry band of History Honours Students, or any current honours student who expects to make their presentation at a future Swan-a-thon, is especially urged to attend.

Regular readers will recall that we rashly declared "Blizzard be damned" and issued an assurance that Lisa Smith's lecture would proceed as planned on January 11th. We were wrong about that. We can, however, issue a less rash assurance that Professor Smith will indeed present her lecture, "Sterility and the Disordered Household"? in the History Grad Student Committee Lecture Series this coming Thursday, January 25th in STM 260 from 3:30 to 4:30 pm. The lecture is open to the general public, and everyone is welcome. Click here to learn more.

Next week (Jan. 29 to Feb. 2) is Writing it Right Week at the U of S, during which the University Secretary's Office is sponsoring a series of presentations about academic honesty and integrity. All sessions will be held in the Neatby-Timlin Theatre, Room 241 Arts, and intended for undergrads, grad students, and faculty.

Monday, January 29, 12:30-2pm. Keynote Address: Just Remember These Three Things. Dr. Charles Lipson, University of Chicago. (Several universities are now distributing his book, Doing Honest Work in College, to all of their first-year students. Click here to see his website.

Tuesday, January 30, 1:00 to 2:30 pm: “On My Honour” Do we need an Honour Code at the
U of S?" A panel discussion with faculty and students about whether having an Honour Code here would benefit students and instructors.

Wednesday, January 31, 12:30 to 2 pm: "Copyright, Plagiarism & Academic Integrity", presented by Tom Roberts of the Industry Liaison Office. (This session is said to be particularly useful for graduate students and supervisors.)

Thursday, February 1, 1:00 to 2:30 pm: "How to Write an Essay using the Internet", presented by Susan Murphy, Library. (This session is aimed at first-year and second-year students).

Friday, February 2, 12:30 to 2 pm: "Crossing the Line: Student Stories. Did they do it wrong? You be the judge." Watch and discuss as U of S drama students deal with "typical" student situations.

Even as we speak, Bill Waiser is in Japan, where he is giving four lectures--two in Tokyo and two in Kyoto--at the invitation of our (nationalistically speaking) Department of External Affairs and the Japanese Association of Canadian Studies.

The Gwenna Moss Centre for Teaching Effectiveness is sponsoring a series of Teaching Development Days for grad students and faculty. All sessions will be held in their newly refurbished digs (formerly the headquarters of the College of Grad Studies), in Room 50 of the Murray Building.

The first of these sessions is designed specifically for Teaching Assistants, and will be presented by Candice Dahl, now of the Library but once-upon-a-time a T.A. and History M.A. student in her own right. (Ed.: We promise to make more judicious use of colour from this point forward.)

Candice's session is "Demystifying the Library (for TA's)", January 24th. 1:30-3:30.

All T.A.s are welcome and the session is free, but it is preferred that you register in advance, which a) you had better do soon (the original announcement was only issued January 19th, mind you) and b) you can do online by clicking here.

Happily, you can register once for all of the sessions you wish to attend.

Upcoming sessions include:

Academic Publications: Start Early and Finish Strong. Thursday, March 1, 1:30-3:30
(Presented by Chuck Farrow, Animal Sciences)

Assignments. (for Faculty) Thursday, March 8, 1:30-3:30 (Candice Dahl, Library)

Competency Based Education. (Ed.: keep the quips to yourself, please) March 21,1:30-3:30 2007
(Marg Forbes, Commerce)

Emotional Intelligence and Self-Confidence in Academia. (Ed. ditto) April 4, 1:30-3:30, 2007 (Marg Forbes, Commerce)

The Gwenna Moss Centre for Teaching Effectiveness also sponsors TEA (Teaching Effectiveness Afternoon) Sessions, informal weekly gatherings to discuss matters of teaching and learning. Some weeks there will an announced theme (feel free to nominate a theme!) and on other occasions those gathered will discuss whatever comes up. The TEA sessions are open to T.A.s and Faculty alike, and will be held on odd-numbered Tuesdays and Thursdays (i.e. Tuesday January 23rd, Wednesday January 31st, and so forth.) Click here to learn more.

Darren Dahl will be the next presenter in the CMRS Colloquium Series when he presents "Beyond Truth and Falsehood: Jean-Luc Marion on the Mystical Theology of Dionysius the Areopagite", on Thursday, January 25th in STM 344B. (That's Dionysius himself, or at least an image of him, to the left.) Refreshments at 4pm, talk at 4:30.

Back in November, Lisa Smith's History 397, "Approaches to History" seminar visited the Western Development Museum. While getting on with parsing, decoding and deconstructing the WDM and all that it stands for, they appear to have found time to enjoy themselves -- either that, or Margaret Robbins, Adam Fowler and Kurt Krueger have highly developed camera-posing reflexes.

Got a yen to go to Edmonton in March? Then consider this. The Undergraduate Association of the Department of History and Classics of the University of Alberta will hold its fourth annual undergraduate conference in Classics on March 9th and 10th, 2007. To that end, the organizers invite "abstract submissions" (we think they actually mean submissions of abstracts, though if you are a dab hand with a brush you may prefer to take them at their word) for presentations on topics in any field associated with ancient Greek or Roman culture. Undergraduate students from across Canada as well as from the US have attended the previous editions of this celebrated event. The deadline for submission is February 9th, 2007. Current information beyond that is pending, but in the meantime click here to see the (presumably similar) details for applying to last year's conference.

Tomorrow, Friday, January 19, the rightly (not to say properly) celebrated History Grad Students Colloquia Series resumes. The 2007 season kicks off with Cameron Goodfellow, "Magical Publications and the Institution of Censorship in 17th Century London"; followed by Chris Paige, "Canada and Chemical Warfare During World War II". The colloquium lasts from 3:30 - 5:00 pm, downstairs at the Faculty Club. All faculty and grad students invited. Snacks will be provided.

Historians have told us a lot about Winnipeg -- as a trading centre; a site for colonization; a commercial centre; a hotbed of labour and political unrest; a failed NHL franchise, and so forth -- but never has anyone claimed it as a gay and lesbian centre. And yet it was, as Valerie Korinek will explain in a lecture entitled "'Having a gay old time in Winnipeg? Gender and Sexual Histories of a Prairie City" on Monday, January 22, from 3:30-4:45pm, in room 238 Admin. Based on interviews and archival research, the paper challenges the presumptions of hetero-normality within the city, region, and in the telling of its history. Valerie's talk is part of the Sexualities and Gender Diversity Series, sponsored by the Provost's Office and organized by the LGBT Centre. Everyone welcome.

The officially great Tommy Douglas, the cheerful gentleman seen to the right, has had a good year. First, CBC-Nation voted him "The Greatest Canadian" ahead of Wayne Gretzky, Peter Gzowski, and various Liberal prime ministers. Then the RCMP was forced to stop denying that Douglas was one of many law-abiding (if not always Great) Canadians they spied upon for decades. And now he has become the subject of the latest book by our own Bill Waiser, whose new biography Tommy Douglas (Fitzhenry and Whiteside, 2006) has appeared in "The Canadians" series of biographies aimed at younger readers. The book restores a man who has taken on almost mythic proportions to his personal and historical contexts, rendering him fully alive and every bit as important, interesting, and, indeed, great as he was. Congratulations, Bill! Click here to learn more.

Speaking of Tommy Douglas and the whole unfortunate mix-up about the Mounties mistakenly claiming not to have spied upon him all those years ago (and for all those years), Steve Hewitt (Ph.D. 1997, now of Birmingham University in England) shared his extensive knowledge of RCMP domestic espionage activities in an interview on CBC Radio's Morning Edition when the news broke in December. Steve's former supervisor, meanwhile, Bill Waiser, was interviewed on CBC Radio's evening news program, "The World At 6".

Congratulations to Rob Morley, who successfully defended his MA thesis, "Earning Their Wings: British Pilot Training, 1912-1918", this past December. Rob is back in Ontario for the time being, and plans to leap back into the doctoral fray come September.

Reliable sources confirm that Daniel Macfarlane has successfully demonstrated that there is indeed life after a History M.A. Since defending his thesis in 2005, he has lived in Germany, worked as a researcher for a number of U of S professors, co-written a documentary history series for History Television, done documentaries for the Centre for the Study of Co-operatives, and worked as a researcher for the Saskatchewan Institute of Public Policy. All that proved too much for Dan, however, and so he has fled back into the quieter groves of studentdom: just this month he has embarked on his Ph.D in History at the University of Ottawa, studying the history of Canadian-German foreign relations during the Cold War. Congratulations Dan!

What's Up has taken something of an unplanned hiatus in recent weeks, but it is now time to catch up with all that has been going on in and around Planet History...

Blizzard be damned! Professor Lisa Smith is forging ahead with her lecture in the HGSC series, "Sterility and the Disordered Household"? It will be held this afternoon, Thursday, January 11, in STM 260 from 3:30 to 4:30 pm. The lecture is open to the general public, and everyone is welcome. Click on this link to learn more: HGSC%20poster%20Lisa%20Smith.pdf

In case you missed the advance publicity, tonight's Whelen Visiting Lecture will be delivered by Steven Shapin, the Franklin L. Ford Professsor of the History of Science at Harvard University. Professor Shapin has authored many notable books and articles, including The Social History of Truth (Chicago, 1994) and The Scientific Revolution (Chicago, 1996). Tonight's lecture, "Thinking Different... Science and the Modern World" explores the sentiments that underpin our sense that science begat modernity, and questions the fundamental assumption that the two are, in fact, linked. Don't miss it. January 9, 7:pm, Convocation Hall: Admission Free, Everyone Welcome.

Attention History Grad Students! Wanna get soaked at a conference? The University of Saskatchewan Department of History invites proposals for the 1st annual Buffalo Province History Conference, May 11-13, 2007, Manitou Springs Hotel Resort and Mineral Spa, in Watrous, Saskatchewan. Presentations on all historical topics are welcome. Come join other graduate students and faculty from Manitoba, Saskatchewan, and Alberta in a supportive and academically enriching environment. We invite you to present a paper on an aspect of your research, listen and comment on the presentations of others, network with peers and faculty, and meet and socialize with potential future advisors and colleagues. Although preference is given to graduate student submissions, we welcome proposals from faculty, senior honours students, and other specialists in the field of history.Please submit a 250 word abstract and short CV to Keith Thor Carlson (keith.carlson@usask.ca) no later than February 15th 2007. To see the conference poster, click here.

The Geology Department is sponsoring a public lecture Tuesday evening on the origin of modern geological thought in 17th century Florence. Dr. Alan Cutler of the Smithsonian Institute presents "Science, Seashells, and Religion: Nicolaus Steno and the Birth of Geology." Tuesday, November 28th, 7:30 PM, in the Battlefords Room of the Delta Bessborough. Everyone welcome. Sponsored by Sask Industry & Resources. Click here to see the poster.

The latest fabulous edition of the History Grad Students Committee Newsletter is now out on newsstands everywhere, but why pay $5.99 plus tax when you can get the whole thing just by clicking here?

A fabulous opportunity for students has come to our attention. The Canadian Battlefields Foundation is sponsoring its 13th Annual Battlefield Study Tour this summer, "The Canadians and the Liberation of Europe: Normandy, Dieppe, Vimy, Beaumont-Hamel". It runs from 1-16 June, 2007 and is intended for undergrads, grad students, and recent graduates. The tour will be led by Dr. Geoffrey Hayes of the University of Waterloo, and Lieutenant-Colonel David Patterson, Canadian Land Forces Command and Staff College. The foundation offers 12-16 scholarships that cover most of the expenses, though participants should expect to contribute between $1200 and $1500 of their own ($500 if they make their own way to Paris). Click here to view the poster, or here for the website and application forms.

The second gala presentation of the History Grad Students Colloquia Series will take place this Friday, November 24th from 3:30 - 5:00 pm, downstairs at the Faculty Club. This Colloquium will feature MA students Matt Finn and Mark Polachic. Matt will be presenting "Atlantic History and Illegal Trade in Northeastern North America:1650-1750." Mark's presentation is entitled "Edmund Burke and Roy Porter: Two Views of Revolution and the Enlightenment in Britain." All faculty and grad students invited. Snacks will be provided.

Special Guest Lecture:

Tom Brooking, of the History Department, University of Otago in New Zealand, will be visiting the University of Saskatchewan this Thursday, November 23, 1:00-2:00, ARTS 203. Tom is an environmental and agricultural historian, the author or editor of six books, and he will present a public lecture on his current research: "Empires of Grass: The Reconstruction of New Zealand Grasslands, 1850s-1920s". All interested faculty or students are encouraged to attend.

Further congratulations are in order for Mike Hayden (U of S Professor Emeritus) and Malcolm Greenshields (U of S alumnus and Univerisity of Lethbridge Professor of History), whose book 600 Years of Reform: Bishops and the French Church, 1190-1789 (McGill-Queens, 2005) has just been awarded The John Gilmary Shea Prize, given annually by the American Catholic Historical Association to the author(s) of a book, published during the preceding twelve-month period, which is judged by a committee of experts to have made the most original and distinguished contribution to knowledge of the history of the Catholic Church. The award will be presented to Malcolm and Mike during the 87th annual meeting of the Association on January 6, 2007 in Atlanta, Ga. which is held in conjunction with the annual meeting of American Historical Association.

Winning international acclaim is all very well, but Mike's and Malcolm's book is also nominated for a Saskatchewan Book Award in the Scholarly Writing category. The awards banquet is this coming weekend, in Regina. Stay tuned...

Last weekend, Pam Jordan and John McCannon represented the U of S at the National Convention of the American Association for the Advancement of Slavic Studies, held in Washington, DC. Pam presented a paper entitled “Legal Defenders or Passive Assistants to the Court? The Complex Political Identities of Russian Advocates after Stalin.” John commented on a panel and delivered his own paper, “Gateway to the East: Decorative Art and Orientalist Imagery in Moscow’s Kazan Railway Station.” Much to the delight of all conference-goers, baby Miranda came along as well, and narrowly missed being chosen to give the keynote address.

Meanwhile, also in Washington, John McCannon and some of his colleagues celebrated the recent publication by Northern Illinois University Press of Russian Art and the West: A Century of Dialogue in Painting, Architecture, and the Decorative Arts, edited by Rosalind P. Blakesley and Susan E. Reidwhich, which contains John’s essay “Mother of the World: Eurasian Imagery and Conceptions of Feminine Divinity in the Works of Nikolai Roerich.” Click here to learn more about the book.

We here at What's Up stop at nothing, nothing, to track down old friends and departmental alum. We want to know what they -- you, maybe -- are up to, and frankly we intend to find out. Take Alex Taylor, for example. Alex completed his MA here in 1995 and then proceeded to the University of Calgary for his Ph.D. Word has now reached us that Alex is married and a father and living in Washington, D.C. where he works for the Council of Latino Agencies, which works on behalf of the Latino community in D.C. and the surrounding region of Virginia and Maryland. In keeping with his longstanding interest in human rights, and with his scholarly and personal interests on human rights abuses in Guatamala, Chile, and Argentina, Alex is also actively involved with Amnesty International. So much so, in fact, that he was the subject of an online profile in the Fall 2006 edition of their online newletter. Click here to see Alex and read more about his work.

Congratulations to Keith Carlson, who, along with Kristina Fagan of the English Department, has co-edited a new edition of Henry 'Hank' Pennier's 1972 autobiography, 'Call Me Hank': A Stó:lõ Man's Reflections on Logging, Living, and Growing Old (University of Toronto Press & The Pennier Family, 2006). Pennier was a logger, story-teller, and self-described 'half-breed' whose memoirs offers poignant political commentary on issues of race, labour, and life. Keith and Kristina have added a scholarly introduction that set's Hank and his story in context. The U of T Press won't sell you a copy until next month, but their web site is working these days so you can learn more about it by clicking here. Keith reports that the Pennier family has organized a sacred "burning ceremony" whereby a shaman will burn food, clothing and a copy of the book for the now deceased author so he can have it "in the afterlife". This appears to be the first public book-burning ceremony that the University of Toronto Press has endorsed.

Congratulations to Steve Hewitt (U of S Ph.D., 1997) who has just published his third book, Riding to the Rescue: The Transformation of the RCMP in Alberta and Saskatchewan, 1914-1939 (University of Toronto Press, 2006.) The book incorporates previously classified material, and explores the RCMP both in the context of its ordinary policing role and in its work as Canada’s domestic spy agency. Steve demonstrates how much of the impetus behind the RCMP’s transformation was ensuring its own survival and continued relevance. Steve's first book, also with U of T Press, was Spying 101: The RCMP's Secret Activities at Canadian Universities, 1917-1997 (2002), followed by Canada and the Cold War (James Lorimer & Co, 2003), which he co-authored with Reg Whitaker. Be sure to go to Steve's website to find out, among other things, whether the Mounties have been spying on you and yours. Steve is a lecturer in American and Canadian Studies at the University of Birmingham, in England. Click here for his departmental web site.

Dog days of November getting you down? Is the grind of your compulsory non-history courses more than usually fatiguing? Has even the joy of writing history essays temporarily lost its lustre? Do not despair, for the social highlight of the season is almost upon us. This very Friday, November 17th, HUSA will sponsor the umpteenth annual Meet the Profs Night at Louis' pub, starting at 5pm. Drag yourself there and be revived.

History and fiction overlap in more ways than many of us realize, or care to admit, and so you might be interested to know that on November 14th at 3:30, the English Department and the Saskatchewan Writers' Guild present Governor General's Award winner Maggie Siggins, who will speak about "A Fictional Truth: New Literary Genre or Old Hodgepodge?" Reading from her most recently-published book, Bitter Embrace: White Society's Assault on the Woodland Cree and from a manuscript of a book about Louis Riel's grandmother, Siggins will explain what she sees as an "emerging new literary genre." Or is that the re-emergence of a very old literary genre? Go along and find out.

The sun shines and all seems right with the world, but it is not so.

It is with the deepest regret that we report the death of Rogan Bailey Garner (August 15 to October 30, 2006), beloved daughter of our friend and student Chris Garner and his wife Megan Garner. Our hearts and our thoughts are with Chris, Megan, and the Garner family. Please click here for a loving tribute to Rogan.

And we are sad to report that two other friends and members of our extended History family, both of them doctoral candidates as it happens, have lost loved ones in recent days.

We offer our condolences to Denyse Saint-Georges-Smith and her family. Denyse's mother died on October 29.

And we extend our deepest sympathies to Merle Massie and her family. Merle's brother died in tragic circumstances just yesterday, November 1.

Click here to read the fabulous, informative, droll, full-colour History Grad Students' Committee Official Newsletter for October, 2006. And click here, or go through the HGSC link under "Graduates" on the Departement web site, to see the entire backlist of this fine publication.

The History Graduate Students Committee invites you to attend the first installment of the 2006-2007 HGSC Lecture Series, featuring Dr. Keith Thor Carlson (Dept of History) presenting: “Dreams, Footnotes, and History”

Today, Thursday November 2nd 4:00-5:00 in Arts 214

The footnote: a citation or brief explanation. But what does one do when the person we’re interviewing tells us that he or she is not, in fact, the source of historical information, but merely a conduit; that the voice transmitting the “historical evidence” is not the ethnographic “other” sitting across the table from us, but the other’s other – an ancestral voice acquired not from memory in the western sense, but from dreams across shamanic chasms? And how do we respond when the other’s other informs us that our own voice is actually not ours, but one directed by an Aboriginal ancestral spirit whose alleged design is to influence questions so as to illicit particular responses? In such a relationship where does the power and agency reside, and more basically, how does one cite one’s source? Building upon such diverse historical theorists as Michel de Certeau, Carlo Ginzburg, and Marshall Sahlins, Carlson engages with Salish indigenous knowledge and explains how he came to learn that skepticism isn't always as clever as one might think, and why a historical footnote can be a difficult thing to craft.

The Lecture is open to the general public. We hope to see you there!

Just a reminder of the History Honours/Graduate Reception being held this evening, Thursday November 2nd, from 6:30 until 9:00 p.m. at Boffins Club. Pizza buffet and refreshments will be served. All History Honours and Grad Students welcome.