Laura J. Smith Buried within the papers of a World War One Chaplain is a remarkable record of the religious and financial engagement of Irish Catholic canal workers with the Roman Catholic Church in Upper Canada.[1] Meticulous notes penned by the Rev. John MacDonald, parish priest at St. John the Baptist in Perth, Upper Canada… Continue Reading
Latest in: Research
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David Wilson This article originated as a paper given at the Canadian Association for Irish Studies annual conference at Quebec in June 2018. Think of this as an essay on the three sins of recycling history, reading history backwards, and misusing evidence. It concerns Jim McDermott, a Fenian firebrand from New York who enters Canadian… Continue Reading
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Stephanie Pettigrew [This essay first appeared at UnwrittenHistories on September 25, 2018, and is re-posted here through collaboration with editors Andrea Eidinger and Stephanie Pettigrew.] The summer before I started my PhD, there was a massive reunion of my grandmother’s side of the family in my hometown of Cheticamp. It’s the type of thing that… Continue Reading
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Alban Berson Il arrive fréquemment qu’un particulier attire l’attention d’une bibliothèque patrimoniale sur un document ancien qu’il détient. Cette personne s’est procurée d’une façon ou d’une autre un livre, une carte géographique ou encore un manuscrit, et serait disposée à s’en départir en faveur de la bibliothèque. Il convient alors d’en évaluer les valeurs patrimoniale… Continue Reading
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Patrick Mannion On October 4th, 1920, Irish-Canadian nationalist Katherine Hughes arrived in St. John’s, the capital and chief port of the Dominion of Newfoundland. Her objective was to establish a branch of the Self-Determination for Ireland League (SDIL) – a Canadian organization designed to win popular support for Irish independence during the peak of the… Continue Reading
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Stephanie Pettigrew [This essay first appeared at UnwrittenHistories on August 21, 2018, and is re-posted here through collaboration with editors Andrea Eidinger and Stephanie Pettigrew.] French Canadian history has always been locked in a struggle to define its history and separate it from its nationalism. Even when discussing the origins of French settlers in New… Continue Reading
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Michael Borsk When the Irish merchant Richard Popham found that his fortunes in New York had turned sour during the fall of 1826, he penned a letter to his acquaintance living in Upper Canada, John Large. “My mind is in a dreadful state of agitation,” Popham wrote. He confessed: “I have nearly made it up… Continue Reading
