Rachel Engl Taggart In September 1775, over 1,100 Continental army officers and soldiers embarked on an expedition to Canada under the direction of Colonel Benedict Arnold to entice their neighbors to the north to join in the fight against the British empire. The men who volunteered for this mission just a few months into the … Continue reading Crossing Empires: The Experience of the Continental Army During the Invasion of Canada

Thomas Richards, Jr. In February of 1846, as tension over the future of the vast Oregon Country heated up, former U.S. Indian Agent to Oregon Elijah White defiantly asserted the patriotism of American settlers in Oregon in a letter to the Washington Daily Union.  If the United States and Great Britain went to war, White … Continue reading The Dog that did not Bite: British-American Rapprochement in Oregon Country

Jarett Henderson On May 27, 1838 well-known reformer Lord Durham, reached Quebec City where, two days later, he was officially installed as British North America’s new governor general. Durham had no knowledge then of the debate that had erupted in the British Parliament and the metropolitan press following his departure over a long-time friend, Thomas … Continue reading “Beware of Scamps and Rogues, Whatever Their Ability May Be”: The “Turton Job” and the Sexual Politics of Lord Durham’s Administration

Whitney Wood Anticipating a “long-awaited” fourth pregnancy in the spring of 1948, twenty-seven-year-old Karen Birch from rural Alberta wrote to Grantly Dick-Read (1890-1959), the British doctor who had emerged as a leading figure in the burgeoning natural childbirth movement. Offering praise for Dick-Read’s influential book, Childbirth Without Fear (1944), Birch asked the doctor “to take … Continue reading Natural Childbirth in Canada and the World

In lieu of an article (which was scheduled for this Monday), we have a special treat. Last Thursday, on September 28, we hosted our first of three talks with Indigenous Studies. Dr. Elizabeth Ellis, an assistant professor of indigenous history at New York University, joined us to talk about her involvement with the Standing Rock … Continue reading Beyond Standing Rock: Activism, Academia, and the Fight for Sovereignty in the 21st Century

Virginia Grimaldi Last month, I spent an illuminating day supply teaching a fifth-grade class at an International School. In the morning, we had a news report activity, where students had to research a global issue and provide their audience with an overview and questions. One presenter informed the class that scientists had recently proven that … Continue reading Infusing Global History into Elementary and Secondary Classrooms

Oleksa Drachewych During the interwar period, many flocked to the left, inspired by the initial success of the Bolshevik Revolution. The Bolsheviks, meanwhile, hoped to spread revolution from Russia to Europe in the immediate aftermath of the First World War. To help in this aim, the Bolsheviks, along with other socialists who agreed with their … Continue reading Transnational Leftism: A Symposium on the Comintern and the National, Colonial and Racial Questions

Mica Jorgenson “Sir, would you please if possible let me know the fate of my Sister, Mrs. F. Wilde...she opened a restaurant or hotel in [Porcupine] this spring...I have one of her boys at school.” [1] So begins the letter written by Mrs. Mary Coutts on 14 July 1911 in the aftermath of the Great … Continue reading Porcupine Postcards: Intimate Networks of the Great Fire of 1911