The Past Speaks

From the New York Times:

A history of the humanities in the 20th century could be chronicled in “isms” — formalism, Freudianism, structuralism, postcolonialism — grand intellectual cathedrals from which assorted interpretations of literature, politics and culture spread.

The next big idea in language, history and the arts? Data.

Members of a new generation of digitally savvy humanists argue it is time to stop looking for inspiration in the next political or philosophical “ism” and start exploring how technology is changing our understanding of the liberal arts.

Read more here. (This is the first in a series of articles about how IT is revolutionizing humanities research).

I was very interested in this article for two reasons. First, I am currently involved in a digitization project of the sort this article describes. Second, I thought it was somewhat curious that the author of article thinks that theory (e.g., “isms”) and empirical data are somehow antithetical– namely, that scholars have to choose between being aware of social theory and faithful to what the primary sources have to say. Ideally, theory and empirical data should go hand in hand, since empirical research is the only way to test the veracity of theories.  Good humanities researchers have always been both empirical and theoretical.

The field of historical research has been revolutionized by new technologies in the last ten years.  In my opinion, these technologies are, in rough order of importance:

1) online archival catalogues, which make it much easier to travel to distant archives

2) use of digital cameras in archives to record primary sources (allows cash-strapped researchers to shorten research trips and thus save money)

3) digitized historical newspapers

I am reposting this message from Kris Inwood, University of Guelph.

“Click here to sign Petition 1 <http://www.savestatcan.ca/petition1.aspx> calling for restoration of the arms length status of Statscan.

The Harper government decided in July to replace the census long form with a voluntary survey.

The consequences are vast. The methodology for taking non-mandatory surveys uses census information.
Health, education, and many other sorts of statistics will be affected. This includes the CPI via its household expenditure weights.

Also, this is the 1st time the party in power has explicitly violated Statscan’s de facto arms length status.

Is a future where the party forming the government can remake our national statistics acceptable?

The financial community mistrusts the statistics of nations where politicians can remake the numbers.

Ivan Fellegi-Chief Statistician of Canada for 18 years, David Dodge-the
former Governor of the Bank of Canada, and two former Clerks of the
Privy Council implore us in their open letter to restore Statscan’s arms
length status. Read their letter and more at http://www.savestatcan.ca/.

To see the hundreds of organizations against this change, visit
http://datalibre.ca/census-watch/

Please help roll back these changes. Spread the word. Spread the petitions.

This battle is not lost until those affected give up.

Thanks! Mel (Mel Mc Millan, Economics
http://www.economics.ualberta.ca/faculty_mel_mcmillan.cfm )
and Alice (Alice Nakamura, School of Business
http://apps.business.ualberta.ca/anakamura/ )

/PS: Signing matters most, but pasting in a bio or a brief message will help press people write about this.”

The 150th anniversary of the election of Lincoln to the presidency was a few days ago (6 November). The anniversary attracted considerable attention in the blogosphere and the media. See here, here, and here. The endlessly debatable issue of whether the Civil War could have been avoided had Lincoln lost the election was debated in the Washington Post. See here. The experts who commented on this question included such eminent historians as Kate Masur (here) and David Blight (here).  The Abraham Lincoln blog, which is doubtless being maintained from beyond the grave, had a post on the subject. See here.

This anniversary is interesting to me because my students are in the process of reading Doris Kearns Goodwin’s Team of Rivals: the Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln.

The Globe and Mail has published some historical images of the Canadian Pacific Railway. See here.

I can see the benefits of online learning, especially for certain kinds of introductory level information dump courses and for students who aren’t able to make regular class times.

That’s the opening sentence of a blog post by historian Dana McCourt on the promise and perils of online classes for university students.

The Baker Library Historical Collections, Harvard Business School, announces the opening of a new exhibition, “Buy Now, Pay Later: A History of Personal Credit.” The exhibit will run from October 22, 2010, through June 3, 2011, in the North Lobby, Baker Library, Harvard Business School.

See more here. The companion website has a bibliography listing primary and secondary sources.

I was asked to post this:

The Business History Division of the Administrative Sciences Association of Canada invites you to submit a paper or symposium proposal for its 54th annual conference being held in Montréal, Québec Canada July 2-5, 2011.  [AS: Note that this coincides with the jazz festival].

Our conference theme, What Matters Most , invites you to reflect upon what is most important, relevant, and significant in your field, in your work as an academic, in organizations, and beyond. You are invited to submit an original paper on these or any aspect of Business History for consideration for the upcoming conference in Montreal. Paper Submission • Original papers, written in English or French, should be submitted electronically to the appropriate ASAC division in Microsoft Word.

All contributions will be peer reviewed, and selected papers will be included in the Proceedings. •

 Papers must conform to the ASAC Typing Style Guide and must not exceed fifteen (15) single-spaced pages (use Times New Roman 11), including all author information, the title of the paper, maximum 50-word abstract, all footnotes and endnotes, all tables, figures, and appendices but excluding references. On a separate page, indicate the authors’ names, addresses, telephone numbers, fax numbers, and email addresses and to whom all communications should be directed [Students should also indicate their status and the school in which they are enrolled.] •

All contributions must be submitted via the conference webpage http://asac2011.uqam.ca/ no later than February 1st, 2011. Late contributions will not be accepted. • By submitting a paper, authors are committing to the following ASAC policies: o The paper has not been published or presented elsewhere or be under consideration for another conference Once the paper has been submitted, no changes to authorship are permitted. o At least one author will register for the conference by May 1st, 2011. In the absence of this registration, the paper will be removed from the divisional program, the proceedings (if applicable), and consideration for any divisional awards. At least one author of a submitted paper will attend the conference to present their paper, should it be accepted.

For further information contact: Andrew Thomson Academic Reviewer Wilfrid Laurier University 519-884-0710 x 2322 athomson@wlu.ca John McCutcheon Division Head Wilfrid Laurier University 519 884 0710 x2582; jcmccutcheon@wlu.ca

The Canadian Historical Association/La Société historique du Canada is proud to announce that Manulife Financial is sponsoring its 2010 Sir John A. Macdonald Prize in the amount of $5,000. Dawn Marchand, AVP, Internal Communications and Brand at Manulife Financial explains, “Our support for this important prize is a natural fit for Manulife. Founded in 1887, Sir John A. Macdonald was our first president. As one of Canada’s strongest, most reliable and trustworthy companies, we are proud to help support and honour scholarly excellence.”

The Sir John A. Macdonald Prize, given annually to the best scholarly book in Canadian history and named in honour of our first Prime Minister, is awarded, since 2009, at the yearly Governor General Awards for Excellence in Teaching Canadian History at Rideau Hall in Ottawa, in addition to its long-established presentation at the annual CHA’s Annual Meeting. This year’s Governor General Awards will take place on November 18-19. Béatrice Graig will be present to accept the 2010 Sir John A. Macdonald Prize for her book; Backwoods Consumers and Homespun Capitalists. The Rise of a Market Culture in Eastern Canada (Toronto, University of Toronto Press, 2009).

Manulife Financial’s support of scholarly research in Canada is not new; it originally sponsored the Sir John A. Macdonald Prize from 1977 until 1984. The inaugural dinner was held at the Grange, the original building of the Art Gallery of Ontario. Manulife President E. S. Jackson presented the 1977 award to Professor Fernand Ouellet for his book: Le bas Canada 1791 – 1840: Changements Structuraux et Crise. The key note speaker for the occasion was the Hon. John Roberts, Secretary of State.  Following the inaugural dinner, Manulife representatives were on hand to present the award at the CHA’s Annual Meeting. The CHA is pleased that Manulife Financial renewed its support for scholarly historical research in Canada by sponsoring the Sir John A. Macdonald Prize in 2010.