For your friendly, neighborhood director of archives, October was intellectually rich. Maine Archives and Museums, the Center for French Colonial Studies, and the Institut d’histoire de l’Amérique française (IHAF) held their respective annual conferences. All three yielded fascinating insights and proved particularly special for the engaging conversations with colleagues. The professional and scholarly organizations behind […]
Continue readingCategory: Historiography
Paradoxes, Politics, and Calculated Silence
This post appeared on the University of Toronto Press Journals Blog on July 22, 2016. The blog no longer being available, I am reproducing my post exactly as it originally appeared. Immigration and immigrant integration made a sudden and unexpected eruption into Canada’s federal election in 2015. The Conservative Party was determined to prevent Muslim […]
Continue readingLaid to Rest: Whitefield, Part I
For this series, I am indebted to the staff of Dimond Library at the University of New Hampshire; the Roman Catholic Diocese of Manchester; and Lise Moran of the Whitefield Historical Society. All shared valuable documentary resources on the history of Whitefield. Every research project begins with a spark and mine came, oh, let’s say, […]
Continue readingThe Eastern Townships in Context
A sneak peek of a book that speaks to my experience and interests was among the surprises of the last ACQS conference, in Quebec City—a happy surprise for the individuals involved in the project. Since then, Quebec’s Eastern Townships and the World has appeared in print and it has not disappointed. Edited by Cheryl Gosselin, […]
Continue readingRural (Franco-)America
As previously noted, I am inclined to follow one of my former professors in his definition of history. He understood our field as the best possible interpretation of the past based on the best available sources and methods. On a more practical level, it is the unending effort to depict, as far as can be […]
Continue readingInvisible Franco-Americans
Much has been made of the invisibility of Franco-Americans—invisibility in larger historical narratives, in popular media, and beyond. This was not an issue in the late nineteenth or early twentieth centuries. As a predominantly immigrant, working-class population, Franco-Americans were certainly underrepresented in certain spheres. On the other hand, they did not lack visibility as we […]
Continue readingThe Latest in Franco-American History
Last year, this blog brought attention to new, innovative studies of Franco-American history. Well, in only the short time since, research has moved forward—good news for all of us who wish for a vigorous field that continues to mature and attract attention. The brief synopses presented in this post, which may not fully do justice […]
Continue readingBad History
A new academic year is upon us and, with it, new opportunities to expand our field of knowledge. In history, as in all disciplines, research comes with potential pitfalls. Trained historians, though imperfect, quickly learn to avoid conceptual and methodological missteps. Problems are more frequent when practitioners of other disciplines or casual writers attempt to […]
Continue readingReinvigorating Franco-American History
This week marks this blog’s seventh anniversary. Thank you for your continued readership. In 2000, in the American Review of Canadian Studies, C. Stewart Doty wrote of “The Future of the Franco-American Past.” Doty proposed lines of research that would substantially improve our understanding of Franco-American history. In the wake of a decade of sustained […]
Continue readingThe Franco-Americans of ChatGPT
Word on the street is that artificial intelligence is here to stay. Some of us are wont, with these breakthroughs, to quote that unusually profound Hollywood gem, “Your scientists were so preoccupied with whether or not they could, they didn’t stop to think if they should.” But philosophy was hardly ever a match for capitalism—and […]
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