Category Archives: Past Lectures

The society meets monthly from September to May inclusive to hear and to discuss individual papers about personalities, places and events integral to the history of Nova Scotia at the Public Archives of Nova Scotia. Society lectures are open to the public and are completely free. Lectures are followed by refreshments.
Click here for a downloadable programme brochure.

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September 16, 2015

“ ‘To stimulate the acquisition of general knowledge and to promote sociability’: The Young Ladies Club of Baddeck”

Phyllis R Blakeley Memorial Lecture

Dr. Sharon MacDonald, Ph.D.
Research Associate, Gorsebrook Research Institute, Saint Mary’s University

Abstract:
Founded in 1891 by Mabel Bell, the Young Ladies Club of Baddeck (now known as The Bell Club), gave women in a small Nova Scotian village opportunities to study diverse topics and acquire skills that would enhance their own lives and the life of the community. The emergence of women’s clubs in the nineteenth century created a safe learning environment, which inevitably encouraged women to engage more fully in the public sphere. Focussing on the specific history of The Bell Club, this talk will also place the club within the larger context of the women’s club movement .

Click here for a bio of Dr. Sharon MacDonald.

The 28th Annual Phyllis R. Blakeley lecture is named in memory of the late Provincial Archivist of Nova Scotia who was remembered for her contributions to local history, as a writer in her own right, and also as an archivist, a facilitator of research and a mentor, reader and advisor to many historians.

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October 21, 2015

“In defense of Mi’kma’ki: Mi’kmaq military power in Northeastern North America (1675-1761)”

Tod Scott, Independent Reseacher

Abstract:
Starting in the last quarter of the seventeenth century until the end of the Seven Years War, the Mi’kmaq successfully defended their land, families and way of life through seven colonial wars against the British.  These efforts kept British settlers from migrating into Mi’kma’ki.  From the west the Mi’kmaq successfully projected their power along the Kennebec region of present day Maine. In the east they demonstrated they were a power to be reckoned with by frustrating British economic activities and settlements in Newfoundland. When British settlers finally migrated into Mi’kma’ki in 1749, the Mi’kmaq were able to contain them in British fortified enclaves until a peace was established in 1761. 

Click here for a bio of Tod Scott.

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November 18, 2015

“The Legacy of Gordon Sidney Harrington, 1909 to 1925”

Carole MacDonald

Abstract:
Touted as successor to the Hon. R.B. Bennett as leader of the Federal Conservative Party and considered one of the most progressive premiers of Nova Scotia (1930 to 33), Col. Gordon Sidney Harrington, former legal counsel for the United Mine Workers of America (UMW), was Minister of Public Works and Mines from his election in 1925 and maintained that portfolio while Premier. Harrington dedicated his life (and his health) to Nova Scotians, particularly coal miners and their families, and to Canada as deputy minister of Canadian Forces Overseas in the latter part of the First World War. His life was one of great achievements and profound tragedy.

Click here for a bio of Carole MacDonald.

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December 9, 2015

“Material Life and Landscape along the St. Mary’s River in Northeastern Nova Scotia, 1840-1910”

Meghann Jack, PhD Candidate, Department of Folklore, Memorial University of Newfoundland

Abstract:
The nineteenth century Nova Scotia countryside was a dynamic landscape where ideas of improvement, industriousness, and convenience characterized the way farmers patterned and negotiated their material surroundings. This talk analyzes the material motivations of St. Mary’s farmers in relation to the architectural expression of their farmsteads. The focus is both spatial and temporal, showing change in one small region over time. An examination of architectural choice and conceptualization, and the experiential realities of farm life and labour, demonstrates how farmers used their barns and farmhouses––buildings that reflected both economic and cultural concerns.

Click here for a bio of Meghann Jack.

Click to download lecture poster

NOTE: This lecture will follow the Annual General Meeting of the Society which will begin at 7:30 pm.

Relevance of Sir Thomas Roddick’s leadership in Medicine in 1876-1912 to the establishment and implementation of Public Policy in Canada Today

Dale Dauphinee

Abstract:
Thomas Roddick was a son of Harbour Grace, Newfoundland who found his way into medicine through studies at the Nova Scotia Normal College and an apprenticeship with Dr. Samuel Muir in Truro, Nova Scotia. After graduating from the Faculty of Medicine at McGill University in 1868, he pursued a lifetime of leadership in the use of antisepsis in surgery, in establishing structure and procedures around casualty services for the Canadian militia, in expanding and rebuilding clinical and educational facilities at McGill and as the founder of the Medical Council of Canada (MCC). The latter was to be his most enduring innovation as it led to a fair and equitable standard for a nationally recognized qualification for medical licensure across provincial borders and the creation of a national physician registry.   However, it was his persistent and tireless pursuit of the MCC that his strategic political tactics have established important lessons for the achievement of change for the public good. He excelled in the use of clear two-way communication tactics and painstaking negotiation within the restrictive framework of the British North America Act and its federal and provincial division of legislative powers. The management strategies and MCC governance format that he was able to achieve stand as a model for breaking down restrictive barriers to inter-provincial movement of goods and human resources. The concept of a national professional medical qualification within a constitutional federation became a model for the Americans. Further, the evolution of his ‘dream’ of formally linking collaborating partners within health profession regulatory and education communities has facilitated Canada’s role as an international leader in the measurement of quality of health care professionals and in emphasizing the public accountability of practicing physicians in the 21^st century.

Click here for a bio of Dr. Dale Dauphinee.

Click to download lecture poster

“Our Earliest Moving Images”

Ernest Dick

Abstract:
This lecture will explore the early history of film-making and film appreciation in Nova Scotia, including the first films seen in Nova Scotia; the first films made about Nova Scotia or shot in Nova Scotia; the world’s first documentary shot off Nova Scotia; Canada’s first feature film made in Nova Scotia; and our earliest amateur film-making.

Click here for a bio of Ernest Dick.

NOTE – ANNUAL DINNER AT DALHOUSIE CLUB

Tickets for this event must be purchased by Friday, 10 April 2014. Seating for this event is limited. To reserve tickets please print and complete a copy of the reservation form available here, and then mail it along with a cheque (made payable to the Royal Nova Scotia Historical Society), to: The Royal Nova Scotia Historical Society, PO Box 2622, Halifax, NS B3J 3P7.  Please be sure to phone Rosemary Barbour at 902-424-6070  or e-mail the Society about your plans to attend the dinner meeting.  CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD RESERVATION FORM.

Click to download lecture poster

THIS LECTURE HAS BEEN RESCHEDULED.

“American sponsorship of Helen Creighton’s folk song collecting in Nova Scotia during the Second World War”

Creighton Barrett, Digital Archivist, Dalhousie University Archives

Abstract:
In 1942, Helen Creighton received a fellowship from the Rockefeller Foundation to attend the Folklore Institute at Indiana University. The fellowship enabled Creighton to meet several prominent American folklorists, including Alan Lomax, who helped her borrow sound recording equipment from the Library of Congress. The Rockefeller Foundation followed with two grants to cover Creighton’s expenses as she hauled the recording equipment across Nova Scotia. With this joint sponsorship, Creighton made hundreds of folk song recordings during the summers of 1943 and 1944, an incredible accomplishment given the ongoing Second World War. The recordings were sent to the Library of Congress and copies were deposited at what is now the Nova Scotia Archives. This sponsorship from two American organizations was a pivotal moment in Helen Creighton’s career, and helped secure her status as one of Canada’s best known folklorists.

Click here for a bio of Creighton Barrett.

Click to download lecture poster

Up and Coming Research: A Panel of Graduate Students at Dalhousie University including Meghan Carter, Katherine Crooks and Hilary MacKinlay

“Barriers or Bridges to Representation? Nova Scotia Political Culture and Protected Constituencies for Acadians and African-Nova Scotians”
Meghan Carter (Co-authored with Ben Bisset)
Abstract:
From 1993 to 2013 the Nova Scotia provincial electoral map included four districts designed to promote the election of Acadian and African-Nova Scotian representatives. These ‘protected constituencies’ are the only example in modern Canadian history of affirmative gerrymandering. What accounts for the creation of the protected constituencies and their removal just 20 years later? We argue that the creation of the constituencies was as a result of a trend in electoral law discourse. The elimination of the constituencies reflects the liberal nature of political culture in Nova Scotia.
Click here for a bio of Meghan Carter.

“The Quest for Respectability: The Charitable Irish Society in Victorian Halifax”
Katherine Crooks
Abstract:
In the second half of the nineteenth century, the Charitable Irish Society increasingly took advantage of the public attention attracted by Irish holidays in Halifax in order to construct a particular vision of what membership in the British Empire meant for Society members, as well as Irishmen more broadly. This talk will examine the Society’s cultivation of associations with local strands of militarism and imperialism through an analysis of its self-representation in the Halifax press.
Click here for a bio of Katherine Crooks.

“Halifax on the High Seas: The Pacific Whaling Journal of Thomas Creighton, 1843-46″
Hillary MacKinlay
Abstract:
Between 1827 and 1850, ships from New Brunswick and Nova Scotia joined their American counterparts in the Pacific whaling trade. This paper is an exploration of the journal kept by Dartmouth native Thomas Creighton on his three year voyage to the Pacific. In 1843, at the age of seventeen, Creighton sailed from Halifax aboard the Rose. He came of age while circumnavigating the globe and encountering people from many different cultures. This paper is a case study of Creighton’s experience, using his in-depth accounts to analyze how his social relationships were altered or maintained throughout his voyage.
Click here for a bio of Hillary MacKinlay.

Click to download lecture poster

“Nova Scotia’s Part in the Great War: An Update”

Brian Tennyson, Professor Emeritus, Department of History and Culture, Cape Breton University

Abstract:
In 1920 M. Stuart Hunt published “Nova Scotia’s Part in the Great War,” an impressive and still useful book reporting on the battalions recruited in Nova Scotia and the activities of various organizations on the home front during the war. Surprisingly  little has been written since then on Nova Scotia’s involvement in the war. This paper explores who Stuart Hunt was, points out aspects of that involvement not treated effectively or at all in his book, and suggests further lines of exploration for historians.

Click here for a bio of Dr. Brian Tennyson.

Click to download lecture poster

“Putting the War of 1812 to Rest”

Deborah Trask, Nova Scotia Museum

7:30 pm, Public Archives of Nova Scotia, 6016 University Avenue

Abstract:
A review of the human scale of the War of 1812 in Nova Scotia, as evidenced in the burial places.

Click here for a bio of Deborah Trask.

Click to download lecture poster

The Monuments Women: Captain Edith Standen and the Restitution of Looted Art”

Kirrily Freeman, Saint Mary’s University

Note: This lecture will be given at Royal Artillery Park, 1575 Queen Street.

Abstract:
Edith Appleton Standen was born in Halifax in 1902. Educated at Oxford, she joined the US Women’s Army Corps in 1942, and went to Germany with the Monuments, Fine Arts and Archives Division of the Allied Expeditionary Forces in 1945. With the MFA&A, Standen joined the group of “Monuments Men” charged with safeguarding and returning the European masterpieces looted by the Nazis, and in 1946 she became Director of one of the largest art restitution centres in Germany.

Click here for a bio of Dr. Kirrily Freeman.

The 27th Annual Phyllis R. Blakeley Memorial Lecture is a joint lecture with the Royal Society of Canada and the Maritime Museum of the Atlantic. The Phyllis R. Blakeley lecture is named in memory of the late Provincial Archivist of Nova Scotia who was remembered for her contributions to local history, as a writer in her own right, and also as an archivist, a facilitator of research and a mentor, reader and advisor to many historians.

Click to download lecture poster

“’A Tense and Courageous Performance’: The Leadership of The Honorable Allan J. MacEachen in the Creation and Passage of Bill C-227, the Medical Care Act, 1966”

Ross Langley, Dalhousie University

7:30 pm, Public Archives of Nova Scotia, 6016 University Avenue

Abstract:
In the long, tortuous, complex and important history of the development of comprehensive health insurance in Canada, few events were as critical as the creation and passage through Parliament of a medicare bill by a minority government. On July 12, the Honorable Allan J. MacEachen introduced Bill C-227 the Medical Care Act. Over the next six months intense Parliamentary debate followed. Skillfully piloting the Bill, masterfully parrying attacks and maintaining its integrity, he won acclaim, forging parliamentary unity as it passed by a vote of 177 to 2; ensuring Medicare would be considered “undoubtedly the single greatest public policy story of the past 50 years”.

Click here for a bio of Dr. Ross Langley.

Click to download lecture poster

The British Capture and Occupation of Downeast Maine, 1814-1815/18

G. Frederick Young, Professor Emeritus, History Department, SMU.

7:30 pm, Public Archives of Nova Scotia, 6016 University Avenue

ABSTRACT:

In the summer of 1814, after Napoleon had abdicated in April, the British were free to go on the offensive against the young (to RN officers, upstart) American republic to make it feel “the bitters of war.” One of the objectives decided upon in London was to ‘correct the border’ between the Maritime Provinces and the State of Maine stipulated in the Treaty of Paris of 1783, and restore the ‘historic natural frontier’ at the Penobscot. This necessitated a joint naval-military expedition which was organized here in Halifax and which intended to eliminate the American armed outposts at Eastport, Machias and Casine. Eastport was taken easily enough in July, but then the news that the American Corvette Adams (28 guns) had put into the Penobscot for repairs caused the British to go straight to the Penobscot to destroy that American warship. The consequence of this change in plans resulted again in the easy capture of Castine, but then the British had to push upriver to assault the Adams at Hampden. The Americans did mount a defense to protect the ship, but the militia at the Battle of Hampden was no match for the British regulars, and so both Hampden and the ‘timber town’, Bangor, were taken and sacked … much like Alexandria, Virginia, and the 24-hour raid on Washington, DC, at the same time. A mopping up action took Machias a week later.

The British fully intended to hold the 100 miles of coast from the Penobscot to the New Brunswick border, as well as the whole expanse of territory north of the Penobscot River, i.e., the northern salient of Maine, to make contiguous the territory of the Maritimes with Lower Canada (Quebec). They settled in in style at Castine, and opened the port to imperial trade… John Young (later Halifax’s Agricola) being one of the principal traders. Things would have remained this way, but for defeat in the somewhat obscure naval action on Lake Champlain on 11 September 1814, which caused the British to rethink their position (given the diplomatic dealings going on in Vienna — not Napoleon’s ‘escape’ from Elba in March, 1815) and sign a peace treaty with the Americans on the basis of status quo ante. That was on Christmas Eve 1814, and so Castine and Downeast Maine were returned to American sovereignty after ratification of the treaty on 17 February 1815; Eastport was held a little longer but also returned in 1818 after some further negotiations.

Click here for a bio of Dr.Frederick Young.