The Problems and Opportunities of Canadian Historical Societies

LOCAL HISTORICAL SOCIETIES 251 have poured into thoseareas in the last half century, bringing with them their virtues and their vices. If the historical societies undertookto put fleshand bloodon the skeletonof information provided by the periodic statistics of the census,they would confera lastingboonupon the generalhistorian,and they would enable him to fit western Canadian history into his historical plan; at the same time they would enable him to do justice to the influencethat westernCanada hashad upon Canadian policy, both national and international, since 1867. In a word, it is the exclusiveprivilege and the obvious duty of local historians to explore minutely every avenue of their provincial life, to clear up the local aspectsof every problem, in order that the general historian may understand the character and significanceof each provincial history and blend the movements of the nine provincesinto one harmoniousnational symphony . Moreover, the local historian should walk with a firm step, conscious that his part is one of fundamental importance. D. C. HARVEY THE PROBLEMS AND OPPORTUNITIES OF CANADIAN HISTORICAL SOCIETIES.i HE local historical society is made up ofagroup resident ina restricted area, and its labours are thus confined within its geographicallimits. National history, national events, national figuresare outsideits ken except to the degreethat they relate to the area. In this Niagara peninsula,for instance,to which the writer belongs,we have nothing to do with the story of the AmericanCivil War, exceptthat it broughtin its trail not a fewproblems such as "bounty jumpers", runaway slaves,and the trading of the good Canadian five dollar bills for sachelsfull of American greenbacks. The FenJan Raid, on the other hand, although it wasaninternational event of both interestandimportance,touches particularly the Niagara regionbecause somuchof its drama (and comedy)wasenactedon the soilof this peninsula. The Rebellion of 1837 was a national event of prime importance, with international repercussions, but much of its story falls within the •The items on local societiesprinted in the Notes and Comments section of each issueof the R•.VIEW are an indication of what is being done and as time goeson will constitute an increasinglyvaluable, permanent record of the work of local societies in all parts of the country. 252 THE CANADIAN HISTORICAL' REVIEW purviewof the peninsula's history,for across thesefieldsMackenzie made hisflight,herecame theforces of McNab,yonder isNavy Island, the headquarters, and there the pathetic skeleton of St. Johns,where issueda sequelto '37--the insurrectionin the Short Hills. In the main, however,the localsocietyis not at all of the main stream, carrying the commerceof a nation's history, but rather a rivulet drainingthe hillsand valleysof its little scene,and feeding the mighty river. There are over sixty suchsocieties in Canada and when they have done their work the general historian will have so many sourcesof plenty, to yield value to his general conclusions,wealth of detail, and richnessin his background. History has no rubbish heap, wrote Thomas Beer recently, and that is true enough. Each fact, even if trivial in itself, illustrates somethingin the story of its day. Are you writing an economic history of Canada? Well, Overholt was robbed of $2,500 at Fonthill on a June night of '38 becausehe thought the risk of hoardingbalancedthe risk of travel for the nearestbank wasforty miles away. Would you write of the habits and customsof past generations? In that case, local history is an inexhaustible sourceeven though it may take more than one item to give a fair picture: when the quarter sessions of a certain district in Upper Canada met oneSeptemberday every justice in the session was a new appointee, and a searchelsewherewill reveal that those of the June panel were under charge of being disorderly after imbibing not wisely but too well. Have you in mind a treatise on municipal government? Then the history of Brockville for 1832 is the most revealingof the early floodlights. And soit goes. A biographer (N. Benton Paradise) wrote a short time ago: "A period of great achievementcan after all be more profitably studied through its lesserfigures than through its outstanding men." Is it not true, aswell, of periodsof smallachievement,of but moderate achievement, and of no achievement whatever? Great men riseto the surfacebut the eddiesand the currents carry them...