By: Alexander Hubert
Credible sources are one of the most sought-after resources historians look for when analyzing the past. Yet there is no clear definition of what “credible” means regarding historical writing. Often the most highly praised sources are primary sources and even better, official documents. However, the issue with strictly searching for state-produced information is that sometimes blind spots and fabrications may be hidden and attempt to cover issues of the past. Canadian historians learn early on not to be enticed to one paradigm when retrieving their information, and there have been exceptional works in using social, and public history to analyze Canada’s past. I would like to list a few here that have stood out to me for their astute investigative work.
There is a widely believed narrative that Canada was the end of the underground railroad for runaway slaves from the United States and served as a country of equality for all those who inhabited it. It is difficult to trace where this story originated from, but we can see how this idea is proven wrong. A great work on this subject is by Harvey Amani Whitfield called North to Bondage: Loyalist Slavery in the Maritimes. Whitfield does an exemplary job of comparing social and public history against official documents to prove that life for recently freed Slaves in Canada was not any kind of paradise. If you were to only look at the official numbers of runaway Slaves that Canada took in, then you may also come to the same conclusion that many others have. This is why historians need to look beyond what is on paper and look for other records that can help detail what happened.
Even things that are much simpler like everyday life in colonial Canada are affected by social history. How do historians know how certain groups of people were treated, or how the public space operated? In Mixed Company, Julia Roberts uses taverns and other drinking areas to investigate public spheres during Pre-Confederation Canada. Roberts looks at everything from the layout of the taverns to bar fights between locals to paint a picture for the reader of how everyday citizens went about their daily lives. In Mixed Company is one of my favorite books on Canadian history because of its creativity. Its conclusions may be disputable, but its approach to historical analysis is interesting.
Lastly, a couple of months ago I went to a garage sale here in Kingston, where I found a book titled Country & Real People I Have Met by Freddy Dixon. This is the best example of unconventional historical sources I can recommend. Freddy Dixon was born in Perth Ontario and grew up to be a local music legend. His book is chalked full of stories of interesting people he has met in his life and the musical shows he has played. I tried to look up on the internet some of these people and events, but they were nowhere to be found. Dixon includes photos and even a soundtrack to play along with the book. Dixon may not have realized that his stories could be used in the future for historians to understand life in the Ottawa Valley.
As important as it is to use official government sources when researching Canadian history, I hope that these three sources listed will persuade you to broaden your categories a bit. Each of these three books I listed is what some would call unconventional, but I would argue that they give a fleshed-out insight into Canadian history.
References
Dixon, Freddy. Country & Real People I Have Met. Ottawa, Ontario: Shamrock International Records, 2011.
Monkman, Kent. The Scream. 2017. Acrylic on canvas, 213.4 x 335.3 (cm). Denver Art Museum.
Roberts, Julia. In Mixed Company : Taverns and Public Life in Upper Canada. Vancouver, BC: UBC Press, 2009.
Whitfield, Harvey Amani. North to Bondage : Loyalist Slavery in the Maritimes. Vancouver, Toronto, Ontario: UBC Press, 2016.