Notes and Comments

Notes and Comments CI{ARI•ES DESMOND I{ART Charles Desmond Hart, associate professor of history anda memberof theYork faculty since I965,diedonI8 September I97• aftera longillness. He hadbeen onsickleavesinceI April 197 I. Thosecolleagues whoworkedwith him overa period ofyears knowthatthedimension oftheirloss isnoteasily measured, since DesHart wasa devoted scholar andteacher, anunfailingly helpfulcolleague, and a decenthumanbeing. Hart wasbornon8 June•935in Cornwall,Ontario.After completing local schools he spenta periodteachingfor the Departmentof Citizenshipand Immigration.He enteredQueen'sUniversity,where he took a B• in i96o. After doing graduatework with G.M. Craig and J.T. Saywellat the University of Toronto,he pursued hispassionate interestin Americanhistory andliterature intheCivilWarperiod attheUniversity ofWashington in Seattle. His workwith T.J. Pressley led to a dissertation on 'Congressmen and the Expansion of SlaveryInto the Territories:A Studyin Attitudes,•846-•86•' (•965). Whileat Washington, hetaughtAmerican history andwasextensively involvedin counselling undergraduates. He alsoservedasvisitinglecturerat Queen's University in I963. Upon completion of his dissertation he wasappointed assistant professor at York,andwaspromoted to therankof associate professor in I97I. In I97Ohewas married toBrenda L. Ough,andheleaves his wifeandanadopted daughter, Heidi. Des Hart made an importantcontributionto York's historyprogramme, especially at the university's newlyestablished main campus. As a pioneer memberof a new department, he helpedlay out the sequence of courses in hisfield. He wasdirectorof the large team-taughtintroductionto American history untilhisillness in I97•. He alsocollaborated with Don Summerhayes of theEnglish department onYork'sfirstinterdisciplinary course in American civilization. At the onsetof hisillness he had published several articleson Civil Warhistory. Oneofhissharpest regrets wastheincomplete state ofhisextensive 112 THE CANADIAN HISTORICAL REVIEW research andwritingontheslavery issue. His considerateness andgentleness as a humanbeingandhisdeepprofessional commitment to scholarship will long beremembered bythose colleagues andstudents whohad the goodfortuneto know him. MARC EGNAL York University FRED HARVEY HITCHINS FredHitchinsdiedat London,Ontario,on 3 November•97•. Bornin that city on •o July •9o4, he waseducatedat LondonCollegiateInstituteand then attended Western University, receiving hisBAin I9•23andhisMAthefollowing year.His thesis, on emigration to Canada•8oo-67,wasdirectedby Professor Fred Landon.From •9•5 to •9•8 he wasa doctoralstudentand an assistant instructor at the Universityof Pennsylvania. He received hisPHDin I93O;his thesis,'The ColonialLand and EmigrationCommission,' was publishedin •93•. In the sameyearhe marriedBeatriceLorineJones(died •958). They had three children. Meanwhile,in •9•8, he had joined the faculty of the WashingtonSquare campus of NewYork University, whereheremaineduntil I94• whenheentered the RCAF. Aeronautical historyhad beenoneof hismain interests and subjects of research for manyyearsand, after brieflytrainingat Brandonand Regina and instructingat Summerside, •'E•,he joined the Air HistoricalSection.In October •94I he wassentto England,beingthe first memberof the RCAF'S HistoricalSectionto be attachedto the Air Force'soverseas headquarters. He spenttwo yearsat Aberystwyth in Waleswith the BritishAir Ministry'sHistoricalBranch ,and then returnedto Ottawa in November•943- In •945 he waspromoted towingcommander andAir Historian.WhilethereFredplayeda major role in the preparationof the threevolumesof the R.C.A.F. Overseas (x944-9), wroteAmongtheFew (I948), an accountof the CanadianAirmen in the Battleof Britain,the e5th anniversary R.C.A.F. Logbook(•949), and contributed numerous articles in such journals asThe Roundel,Cross & Cockade, and The Canadian AviationHistorical Society Journal.His manuscript 'Air Board,CaFand R.C.a.F. -- X9•9--39'is now beingpublished by the National Museum of Man at Ottawa. On hisretirement fromtheRCaF in •96o he joinedtheHistoryDepartment of the Universityof WesternOntario, at first as a speciallecturerand then as a full professor. There he participatedin the Canadianand European surveys for a decade,until he retiredin •97o to devotehisfull time to research andhismagnificent libraryof someeooobooks, pamphlets, andphotographs relatingto aeronautical history.His studies in thisfield were of the broadest scope, from the firstballoons onwards,but hisparticularinterestcentredon the individuals involved, especially the World War xflyers. Thoseof uswhoworkedwith him will particularly remember hismodesty, forhenever mentioned hismanyachievements, andhisco-operativeness. Above all therewashisquietsense of humour.His abilityto enjoythestudent gaffe- NOTES AND COMMENTS 113 'gorillasquirmish' washisfavourite - or to drawup a comicsetof examination questions for Canadian historymade life much more enjoyablefor us all, just as his helpful suggestions did much to improveour papers.With the deathof FredHitchins wehavelostoneof ourleastassuming, yetmostadept historians. FREDERICK H. ARMSTRONG University o[ Western Ontario CANADIAN POPULATION STUDIES GROUP [CANPOPS] Astheresult ofa questionnaire recently circulated toscholars in Canadaworking in theareaofpopulation studies, plansarenowbeinglaid for thecreationof a CanadianPopulationStudiesGroup in order to facilitatethe exchange of information amongresearchers in thefieldthroughregularworkshops, a newsletterdevoted toreports onprojects andquantitative methodology...