Ch-Ch-Changes

This summer saw a few changes to our department, which alumni and students will be interested to hear about as we head into the new academic year.

For those of you who notice that Valerie Korinek is not around this term, I'm pleased to report that her absence is only temporary.  She is taking a well-deserved sabbatical after spending the last three years as our Head.  Back in May, we had a celebration for Valerie to thank her for all her hard work on our behalf. 

Valerie giving a short speech about her headship (Photo credit: Nadine Penner)

In Valerie's place, we welcome Jim Handy as department head. Valerie's speech was very instructive about the trials, tribulations and pleasures of being head.  With Jim's own journey beginning, we wish him well in his new job!

Slide from Valerie's speech (Photo credit: Nadine Penner)

Last, but not least, we bade a fond farewell to John McCannon and Pam Jordan, who have moved back to the United States to be closer to their families.  Good luck and all best wishes for your own journeys, John and Pam!

Breaking News

This just in: Bill Waiser has just been named a "Distinguished Chair" by the University of Saskatchewan.  The award is "meant to honour and celebrate exceptional achievement in research, scholarly work, or artistic work" and will be for a three year term.  Congratulations, Bill!

History Warm-Up Exercises

With term time fast approaching, it's time to start stretching your back-to-school mind muscles.  Develop your flexibility by checking out these links to historical subjects across time periods and geographical places.

A fantastic blog that was recommended by John Porter is The History Blog.  The blog keeps its beady eye on historical tidbits in the news so you don't have to.  It also occasionally posts real estate ads for choice bits of historical property.  The entry for August 18 is for a Swedish house c. 1750, complete with preserved skeleton in the basement.  How's that for living history?

For uncomfortable living history, you should take a look at the Wellcome Collection's Incurably Curious, which has photos and articles on subjects from anatomy lectures to hand x-rays, with foot-binding and peep shows along the way.

If you didn't manage to do as much travelling this summer as you would have liked, never fear -- I have rounded-up some beautiful photos for your armchair travels.  You can see a comparison of Scotland's landscape then and now: Scotland's Ever-changing Scenery.  Then take a look at John C.H. Grabill's late nineteenth-century photos from the American West: Frontier Life in the West.  Or what about a collection of photos to highlight how London has reinvented itself over the years: Vintage London: Taking in the Smoke?  And for those of you who like the raw edge of history, with a smattering of disease, grime and crime there is Dirt: The Filthy Reality of Everyday Life and Eerily Beautiful Mug Shots from 1920s Australia.

If you did take a holiday and have lots of photos or have been collecting your own set of historical photos that you want to share, you should check out Historypin.  You can also view the existing collections of historical photos already there, which includes subjects as diverse as "The Facial Hair through Time Collection", "The Street Party Collection" or "Animal in Unusual Places".  There are more serious historical ones, too, such as "The 1906 San Francisco Earthquake".

Now that you've had your fill of photographs, what about a couple history games? The McCord Museum has a fun game about gender and social roles in The Victorian Period.  I'm pleased to report that my many years working as a historical interpreter at Rutherford House at Fort Edmonton Park paid off!  The McCord also has quizzes and other games.  A game at which I was somewhat less successful is High Tea from the Wellcome Collection, which deals with the tea and opium trade of the nineteenth-century.  I'll beat it yet.

Happy time stretching!  If you come across any other fun or useful history links in the course of your exercises, please let me know.

New Book:

The Dirty Thirties in Saskatchewan

Attention Saskatchewan and environmental history buffs: alumnus Curtis McManus (B.A. 2003, M.A. 2004) sent in a notice that his book, Happyland: a history of the “Dirty Thirties” in Saskatchewan, 1914-1937, was just published by the University of Calgary Press.  Curtis, now an instructor at Lakeland College in Lloydminster, reports that the book expands on research that he began with his M.A. thesis.  His book situates the Dirty Thirties within the context of cyclical droughts rather than the economics of the Great Depression.  To find out more about the experience of Saskatchewanians and the long-term effects of cyclical drought on the Saskatchewan psyche, you can sample excerpts of the book online or (even better!) purchase the book in full from the usual suspects.

The Road Warrior's Tales
from the Archives

(by Brenan Smith, M.A. Candidate in History)

Richard Nixon Library

Despite my hopes that I had mastered the art of archival research while at the Eisenhower Library, I soon learned that one always has more to learn. 

On the second research trip, for example, I discovered that while the Richard Nixon Library does indeed have more documents related to Richard Nixon than the Eisenhower Library, it has much tighter controls.  There's probably a joke about a paranoid need for control in there somewhere.

Still, I was able to conduct lots of research; I scanned an average of 858 pages per day of research.  While in Abilene, I had found that on a short research trip (as they generally are, given research funding constraints) it is easiest to find things that might be of use and scan as many of them as possible.

But in L.A. there were several complex layers added to this process.  The Nixon Library's protocol is that the researcher present the files within the folders within the boxes that s/he would like to scan before actually scanning them.  If that sounds complicated, that's because it is.  According to a fellow Canadian who was also at the Library, it was "the most ridiculous policy" that he'd ever encountered.

Another key lesson that I learned (after "know thy protocol") is that being extra polite, combined with some level of feigned (not so feigned?) helplessness, can go a long way with archivists.  The archivists were friendly and helpful -- and with each passing day, my research became easier.

And so ended my first two research trips.  I had lots of fun and discovered all sorts of great information, although some of it might only amuse other historians in my field.  I have a newfound respect and admiration of the American Interstate system (N.B. Dwight Eisenhower created it!) and I became ever more enthusiastic about my topic even as the gads of information that I gathered have made me start to worry about fitting it all in to one tiny thesis.

Fountain outside Richard Nixon Library

Fuelling History:

Tips on Diet, Health and Driving

from the History Road Warrior

(by Brenan Smith, M.A. Candidate in History)

After driving from Saskatoon to Abilene, Kansas, and spending a solid week researching at the Eisenhower Library, I thought that I had at last mastered the arts of travelling amongst Americans and archival research.  One of the most important research strategies that I discovered was forgoing lunch in order to keep up my research momentum (and which allowed me to leave half an hour early each day--when my concentration was waning anyhow, of course).

Protein bars helped in the absence of lunch (N.B. no tiger's milk included)

 Nutrition is obviously important in daily life, but doubly so during a research trip as the long grind can quickly wear one out.  Luckily the fabled In n' Out Burger was not ridiculously far from the Library, and I quickly made a vow to have nothing but two "Flying Dutchman" and a diet Coke for supper every day until I left.  Such a vow was also cost effective:  $8 American.

Flying Dutchman Burger (N.B. no bun included)

Since Los Angeles is a rather warm location, it was important to stay hydrated.  I found that the $3 bottle of Voss, an imported Norwegian water, had the distinct advantage of looking like a rather large vial of cologne, but otherwise it tasted oddly similar to tap water.

Fancy, overpriced water (N.B. tap water cheaper and better)

On the topic of heat, people in L.A. can spot a Canadian rather easily: while 23 degrees (celsius) may be shorts and sandals weather for any Ice-loving Saskatchewanian™, it is apparently considered a "cold snap" in June, and thus jeans and shoes are recommended.

Californian Flora during cold snap (N.B. no cold included)

I like to try to stay healthy even when traveling (diet notwithstanding) and I find that a good work-out relieves the stress of a long day of sitting and scanning dusty papers.  Fitness centres abound in Los Angeles, few of them affordable, and some of them not actually fitness centres as I found out when I poked my head into Fitness Grill only to be asked if I'd like a table.

Fitness Grill (N.B. no fitness included)

Driving in L.A. was a challenge, but I found that unless Kansas, Iowa, Nebraska, the Dakotas, and California are the exceptions, American drivers conduct themselves in a much more polite fashion than Saskatchewanians.  I will admit that while in L.A. a local strip club manager was randomly gunned down on a South L.A. freeway, but I doubt that it had anything to do with his driving...

Coming up tomorrow -- the final installment, "The Road Warrior's Tales from the Archives"!

Editor's Note: The History Department is not promoting any of the above-mentioned products.  In any case, the thought of a bunless burger horrifies this editor.

Another Summer Research Trip:

The Weyburn Way

(by Lucas Richert, Postdoctoral Fellow)

Correspondent Brenan Smith is by no means the only historian from our department who is on the road this summer.  Earlier this month, history of medicine enthusiasts Daniel McFarlane (3rd year undergrad), Ryan Buhay (3rd year undergrad), and I embarked on a 3-day research trip to Weyburn. Our goals: to look at the Weyburn Mental Hospital during the Great Depression and to examine the hospital’s innovative art, music, and movement therapy programs in the 1950s-1960s. To this end, we scanned microfilm, shot video, conducted an interview, and even visited the cemetery and hospital ruins. Yet the journey to Weyburn produced so much more than just intriguing historical insights!

According to Ryan, “Weyburn was quite the time.  There was blood, a disgruntled CN worker, an old-school accordion jam session of Neil Young's 'Helpless', a paper-airplane contest, the fastest water slide in history (three seconds), Boston Pizza (repeatedly), and a continental breakfast that had a 'make your own waffle' contraption. All in all, it was an epic, mind-blowing experience.”

Daniel had this to say about the fieldwork in Weyburn: “I didn’t know what to expect going into this trip, but it turned out to be a really fun and eye-opening experience. It’s amazing how helpful people are when you tell them you want to learn about their local history. The history of the Weyburn asylum is incredibly unique, and really comes alive when you talk to people who were actually there.”

We still need to do some more primary research, but are on track to finishing our respective historical projects later this summer. That said, it seems unlikely that writing-up our research will be nearly as much fun as our Weyburn fieldwork.

Digital Mapmaking

Alumna Alice Glaze (B.A. Hons. in English and History 2007, M.A. in History 2009) sent in a link from today's New York Times on the use of Geographic Information Systems to map historical information spatially.  This technique allows historians to spot information that otherwise would not be visible.  But, as Alice cast her keen eyes over the article, she spotted a reference to one U of S historian in particular...  The article refers to Geoff Cunfer's use of GIS to examine the Dust Bowl during the 1930s.

The History Road Warrior's Abilene Adventures

(by Brenan Smith, M.A. candidate)

I went to Abilene for research, but also managed to find a fantastic museum and fascinating assortment of roadside attractions.  The giant saluting "Chieftain" welcomes travellers to a motel just down the street from the town highschool.  I was impressed not only by the fact that it had zero graffiti on it, but that the people standing beside us wondered, "What does he mean by 'Aboriginal?",  when I commented on the statue to my wife.  A real cultural difference!

Louis Lamour Lane, other than being a poorly maintained street dedicated to a Western author, leads to the giant buffalo statue -- which I did not see, as it was closed to visitors without money.  (That includes travelling grad students.)

The next two pictures are the grounds at the Eisenhower museum, every part of which essentially tells the story of the Eisenhower family and how soldiers are great.

 

The semi-pointilist semi-pixelated Eisenhower mural is on the side of a liquor store, obviously a nice slice of Americana...

I also found a drive through liquour store, which seemed to be uniquely American.

The following pictures are from the Eisenhower Museum, including Mamie's hats.

Then... something I found both hilarious and a tad risque for the time:  "I like Ike" pantyhose and garters.  I'd never thought of such provocative campaign tools before (especially since the men were simply given branded ties).

 

The safe conduct pamphlet below interested me because it was a type of psychological warfare.  It guaranteed that any German soldier who surrendered would receive fair treatment, as opposed to any other treatment that German soldiers might otherwise receive.

One of the first teleprompters was also at the museum -- a great example of early technology!  Eisenhower apparently distrusted cameras and such technology, but understood the necessities of them.

Once outside the realms of the museum, I discovered the world's largest spur.

Which, in turn, reminded me of something that I should be doing:

A Fateful Trip

Now sit right back and you'll read a tale, a tale of a fateful trip...

Back in September 2005, History Honours alumna (2005) Jill McKenzie was one of eight Canadians chosen for the Young Professionals International Program, which is administered by the Canadian Museums Association and supported by the Department of Foreign Affairs. For six months, Jill worked as a Junior Curator at the Migration Museum in Adelaide, South Australia.  She reviewed the Museum’s collection of Vietnamese objects to assess their relevance to the South Australian Vietnamese community's immigration and settlement history and made recommendations for future museum acquisitions. She also worked with South Australian Vietnamese community organisations to research and develop South Australian content for the exhibition, Fall of Saigon: Collected Fragments of Post 75 Generation.

After her internship, Jill worked as a curator at the Migration Museum in Adelaide and the South Australian Maritime Museum in Port Adelaide.  Jill also met her partner David (an Aussie) during her placement and they married in November last year.  She is now managing online and other public programs at History SA, but has recently applied to begin her PhD at the University of Adelaide.

What started as a six month placement has become six years! 

Jill and her husband David in Port Douglas, Queensland

"I like GPS -- it gives me direction

when I am driving."

Earlier this summer, I received news of our alumna Akira Peters (2010) who had suffered a hemorragic stroke in 2008 just before her final year of a combined Honours degree. Now entering her final year of an Education degree at the University of Alberta, she was recently featured in an inspirational article by the Stroke Recovery Association of Edmonton in which we learn about the usefulness of GPS and how to put "possibility in stroke disability."  But that is not her only big news: while on a cycling trip in the Rockies in June, she got engaged to her long-term boyfriend, Andrew.  Exciting times ahead, GPS or no GPS!

What Graduate Students
Do in the Summer

So far this summer we've heard about our grad students giving conference papers, but The Summer Research Trip is another staple activity of grad student life.  MA student Brenan Smith has kindly agreed to be a roving graduate student reporter this summer.  As a history road warrior, he will be sending us a couple dispatches from the highways and byways of the United States as he goes forth in search of his sources.  Up next week: Abilene, Kansas.

Weekend Plans?

If not, how about a book signing at McNally's?  Stuart Houston and Bill Waiser will be having a book signing at McNally Robinson on Saturday, July 16 at 1 p.m.  Their book, Tommy's Team, has been shortlisted for the CAA Lela Common Award for Canadian History and the winner will be announced in just over a week!

How Professors Spend the Summer:

The Heritage Fair

Robert Englebert (see February 10th entry) has been busy introducing the young people of Saskatoon to Métis history.  Below is his special report on his participation in the Saskatoon Regional Youth Heritage Fair...  It sounds like a fun day -- maybe next year he will provide What's Up with a video of him playing the spoons!

*******

For the last couple of years I've been on the organizing committee for the Saskatoon Regional Youth Heritage Fair. Think science fair: but history for students grades 4 to 9.

It has been a great experience. One of the things I've enjoyed the most has been bringing in a Métis fiddler and jiggers to entertain the kids and their parents. This year, Dallas (Fiddler) Boyer and St. Mary's Dance Troupe performed, while I helped kids in the audience learn to play the spoons.

I was also excited to be able to contribute a book prize this year on behalf of the history department. Valerie Korinek and Linda Dietz provided a couple historical fiction books written by Dr. Geoffrey Bilson, which I presented to the winner of the highest judged project at the grade 4-5 level.  Bilson would have approved.  An American specialist who taught at the University of Saskatchewan from 1964-1987, Bilson also had side interests in Canadian medical history and children's historical fiction.

The best part of the Heritage Fair, though, has been spending time meeting the students and talking to them about their projects. Their enthusiasm for history is infectious and has made the Fair one of my favorite events of the year!

An Accounting

A note from MA student Mark Geldof (supervisor Sharon Wright) recently appeared in your loyal correspondent's mailbox.  Mark wrote that he "thought the department should know what one of its students has been up to with his GTF (Graduate Teaching Fellowship) the last two years".  And a fine accounting it is, too.  

Earlier this summer, he presented at the infamous Zoo (Kalamazoo, 46th International Congress on Medieval Studies) on “Amen Quod J Ledall: BL Additional 39564 and Late Medieval English Fight Texts".  Just before the conference, Opuscula published his article, “Strokes of ij hand swerde: a Brief Instruction in the Use of Personal Arms.” Opuscula 1, no. 2 (2011): 1-9.  His summer of success will be rounded off when The Antiquaries Journal publishes his article on "Signo Dicti Collegii: Instruction for a Fourteenth-Century Corporate Badge for the College of Trinity Hall, Cambridge” in September (The Antiquaries Journal 92, 2011). 

It is always wonderful to see such projects coming to completion!

Double Trouble

Keith Thor Carlson with his two awards (photo credit: Bill Waiser)

One of the must-read books of the summer for anyone wanting to know more about Aboriginal history is surely Keith Thor Carlson's The Power of Place, The Problem of Time: Aboriginal Identity and Historical Consciousness in the Cauldron of Colonialism.  The book received two awards at the Canadian Historical Association's annual conference and is described by the CHA Clio committee as "engaging, clearly-written, and important".

The awards are the Aboriginal History Studies Group's Aboriginal History Book Prize and the CHA's Clio Prize for British Columbia.  It is worthwhile to read each committee's rationale in full at the CHA website: AHSG and CHA. The short version, however, is that Keith's innovative work examines dynamic Stó:lõ identities since the eighteenth century, situating the identities within temporal and spatial contexts.  His book redefines how Aboriginal history can be done.  By using ethnographical, archaeological, geographical and anthropological tools to frame his understanding of archival and oral sources, Keith shows how Aboriginal history can be studied on its own terms. 

Congratulations, Keith!  This is fantastic and exciting news.

Soundbites

Congratulations to Bill Waiser and Stuart Houston.  Their book, Tommy's Team, has been shortlisted for the CAA Lela Common Award for Canadian History.  You can read an excerpt of the book at The StarPhoenix -- or even better, buy a copy of it!  We'll keep our fingers crossed for you, Bill and Stuart.

Simonne Horwitz gave a smart, eloquent and thought-provoking interview to John Gormley on May 13 about the John Demjanjuk case: http://www.newstalk980.com/audio/john-gormley-live/20110513-john-gormley-live-may-13-2011-freed-nazi.  This is well worth a listen.

On a more frivolous note, Lisa Smith was interviewed by CBC Calgary on April 28 about the rituals of pomp and ceremony surrounding the royal nuptials.  She nearly did not make the interview time, as she had been en route to Moose Jaw for the Keewatin Conference when her car stalled and needed to be towed back to Saskatoon.  She delivered the interview from a telephone in a local garage...   The best bit was when the mechanic burst into the room midway through, exclaiming "Sorry, love, but your engine is shot!"  Or was it?  Alas, you'll never know, as there is no podcast to prove the story either way...

Hot Hot History: The CSHM Version

Whereas our department participated in the CHA, we positively dominated the Canadian Society for the History of Medicine and Canadian Association for the History of Nursing conference!  The count includes five grad students, one postdoc, two faculty and two former postdocs -- considering the much smaller size of this conference, this is an impressive number.  The breadth of our presentations highlights the vibrancy of our history of medicine programme (in which, incidentally, students will soon be able to take a minor).

On the final day of the conference, a miniature meeting resumed at the Fredericton airport, where several CSHMers waited several hours for their much delayed flights.  Fortunately, the company was good, so the time sped by! 

Presentations included (in order of appearance):

Matt Mossey, "From Radon Gas to Radioisotopes: The Birth and Legacy of the Saskatchewan Cancer Initiative"

Myra Rutherdale and Maureen Lux (former postdocs, now at York and Brock respectively) were on the roundtable, "Accounting for the Importance of Home-place, Workplace, Landscape and Identity in Canadian Health Care Services"

Marc Macdonald, "Trafficking Disease: Unexpected Death in an Enlightenment World"

Sheila Gibbons, "'A Moral and Physical Menace': Motherhood and Eugenics in UFWA Politics, 1815-1925"

Lucas Richert, "The American Psychiatric Association's Radical Caucus, 1968-1969"

Amy Samson, "Identifying Mental Suspects: Alberta School Teachers and Eugenics, 1930-1960"

Elizabeth Scott, "'Rejected on Account of His Eyes': Canadian Medical Inspection and Emigrant Selection amongst London's Labouring Poor in the 1890s and 1900s"

Lisa Wynne Smith, "Defining Old Age: Men's Debility in Early Eighteenth-Century England"

Simonne Horwitz, "Reading HIV/AIDS in Saskatchewan's Newspapers, 1981-2010"

Hot Hot History: The CHA Version

Now that we're all back from Congress, it's worth taking stock of our department's participation in the CHA conference.

A highlight of the Canadian Historical Association conference was the roundtable focusing on Keith Carlson's recent book, The Power of Place, The Problem of Time: Aboriginal Identity and Historical Consciousness in the Cauldron of Colonialism.

Keith and Erika Dyck [in absentia] also participated on the same panel, "Silencing the Past: Barriers to Historical Research", which was cross-listed between the CHA and Canadian Society for the History of Medicine.  Keith's paper was on "The Hidden Promise: History, the Archives and Ethics in the Salish Community", while Erika's paper looked at "Searching for the Voices of Patients: Medical Records, Health Information Laws and Challenges/Opportunities for the History of Medicine".

The panel, "Imperialism, Displacement and Resistance", included Martha Smith-Norris speaking on "American Cold War Policies and The Enewatakese: Environmental Degradation, Community Displacement, and Indigenous Resistance in the Marshall Islands") and Daniel Macfarlane (alumnus, now a postdoc at Carleton), "Displaced Waters and Displaced Communities: Exploring the Formation of the St. Lawrence Seaway and Power Project".  Tolly Bradford (U of S postdoc) spoke in another panel on "Religion, Leadership and the Re-Making of Community amongst the Grant River Six Nations, 1822-1870".

Workshop: Religious Encounter and Exchange in Aboriginal Canada

Members of the University Community are invited to be involved as non-presenting participants in a workshop titled "Religious Encounter and Exchange in Aboriginal Canada." It will be held at the University of Saskatchewan, 12-14 May 2011.

Recent public discussions about the history of residential schools in Canada are a stark reminder of religion’s central role in Canadian Aboriginal history. This history was not simple or straightforward, nor is it over. Existing historiography on religion in Aboriginal Canada has examined the history of residential schools and considered Christian missionaries as colonial agents of assimilation and change. However, significantly less has been said about Aboriginal roles and perspectives on religious encounters and the ways in which spiritual, as well as material and political, forces contributed to religious exchange and transformations. This is all the more striking in view of rich literatures in other (post)colonial contexts like Africa, China, and India, where religion has long figured as a central category of analysis. This three-day interdisciplinary workshop, to be held 12-14 May 2011, will, for the
first time, bring together established and emerging scholars from across North America to address this gap. By giving participants a venue to present their original research and share it with other experts, the workshop will establish a baseline of knowledge for a new and vigorous debate about the role of “religious encounter” in scholarship about Aboriginal Canada.

DATES & LOCATION OF WORKSHOP:
May 12th 8:30am-3:45pm:  STM Room 344a
May 13th 9:00am-12:15pm: STM Room 344a
May 14th 9:00am-12:00pm: Graduate Student Commons

For more information and to access workshop papers prior to the event please contact: Tolly Bradford, Department of History (tolly.bradford@usask.ca).