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!