The Past Speaks

HIST 1406

I delivered two lectures in the Canadian history survey course. The lecture on Tuesday was about the establishment of New France. In the first lecture, I focused on the life and times of Samuel de Champlain.

Champlain Statue, Astrolabe Theatre, Ottawa

The second lecture was devoted to outlining my expectations for two assignments that will soon be due. I also used this class to stimulate the students’ thinking about these papers. One of these assignments is about the 1749 visit to Montreal of a Finno-Swedish botanist called Pehr Kalm. Kalm’s diary was translated and published in London in the early 1770s. See here. I have asked the students to read the entries that relate to Montreal and then answer a checklist of questions. The assignment is designed to familiarize the students with the use of primary sources.

The other assignment is based on a website called Torture and Truth. It is about a Black slave in Montreal who was executed in 1734 for arson. The students have to read some (translated) primary sources online then come to their own conclusions about her guilt or innocence.  

HIST 3266

I delivered two lectures in my history of the North American West class. The first lecture was on Sacagawea, the Native American woman who accompanied the Lewis and Clark expedition in 1804-6. The second lecture was on the life and times of Sir George Simpson of the Hudson’s Bay Company.

HIST 4135

In this week’s seminar, we discussed the following readings:

J.M.S. Careless, The Union of the Canadas; the Growth of Canadian Institutions, 1841-1857

Ian Ross Robertson, “The 1850s: Maturity and Reform” in The Atlantic Region to Confederation : a History edited by Phillip A. Buckner and John G. Reid (University of Toronto Press, 1995)

J. B. Brebner, “Joseph Howe and the Crimean War enlistment controversy between Great Britain and the United States,” Canadian Historical Review 11 (1930): 300–27.
We also listened to four students give “Life and Times” presentations. These presentations typically last 12-15 minutes and involve a Powerpoint Presentation. This week, we heard about the Life and Times of Robert Baldwin,  Joseph Howe, J.W. Johnston, Sir Louis-Hippolyte Lafontaine.