Patterns of the Past: Interpreting Ontario's History - Softcover

Softcover

ISBN 10: 155002034X ISBN 13: 9781550020342

Publisher: Dundurn Press, 1996

Synopsis

Patterns of the Past has been published to commemorate the one hundredth anniversary of the founding of the Ontario Historical Society. Organized on 4 Sept 1888 as the Pioneer Association of Ontario, the Society adopted its current name in 1898. Its objectives, for a century, have been to promote and develop the study of Ontario’s past. The purpose of this book is both to commemorate and to carry on that worthy tradition.

Introduced by Ian Wilson, Archivist of Ontario, and edited by Roger Hall, William Westfall and Laurel Sefton MacDowell, this distinctive volume is a landmark not only in the Society’s history but in the prince’s historiography.

Eighteen scholars have pooled their talents to fashion a volume of fresh interpretive essays that chronicle and analyze the whole scope of Ontario’s rich and varied past. New light is thrown on our understanding of early native peoples, rural life in Upper Canada, the opening of the North, the impact of railways, and the growth of businesses and institutions. And there is much social study here too, especially of the new roles for women in industrial society, of working class experience, of ethnic groups, and of children in our society’s past. As well, there are innovative treatments of the conservation movement, of science’s role in provincial society, and of the relationship between society and culture in small towns. Anyone with an interest in the history of Canada’s most populous province will find much in this comprehensive collection.

About this title

About the Author:

Roger Hall is a member of the Department of History at the University of Western Ontario. William Westfall is Chair, Department of History, Atkinson College, York University. Laurel Sefton MacDowell is in the Department of History, Erindale College, University of toronto. Hall and Westfall are former Editors of Ontario History, the quarterly journal of the Ontario Historical Society; MacDowell is the current Editor.

Review:

"Patterns of the Past is a fine collection worthy of commemorating the one-hundredth anniversary of the Ontario Historical Society."

(Jeff Keshen Ontario History 1990-03-01)

"... a refreshing range of topics."

(Martin Hewitt British Journal for Canadian Studies)

"This varied collection is well edited and interesting. The Ontario Historical Society is to be congratulated."

(Donald Swainson The Canadian Historical Review 1991-06-01)

About this edition

• Publisher: Dundurn Press
• Publication date: 1996
• ISBN 10: 155002034X
• ISBN 13: 9781550020342
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 408
• Editor: Hall Roger, Westfall William, Sefton MacDowell Laurel