This Thesis Has Been Submitted in Fulfilment of the Requirements for a Postgraduate Degree (E.G
Total Page：16
File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb
This thesis has been submitted in fulfilment of the requirements for a postgraduate degree (e.g. PhD, MPhil, DClinPsychol) at the University of Edinburgh. Please note the following terms and conditions of use: This work is protected by copyright and other intellectual property rights, which are retained by the thesis author, unless otherwise stated. A copy can be downloaded for personal non-commercial research or study, without prior permission or charge. This thesis cannot be reproduced or quoted extensively from without first obtaining permission in writing from the author. The content must not be changed in any way or sold commercially in any format or medium without the formal permission of the author. When referring to this work, full bibliographic details including the author, title, awarding institution and date of the thesis must be given. Under the North Star: Canadian National Identity in School Readers Claire Elizabeth Smerdon PhD in Canadian Studies The University of Edinburgh 2015 Abstract Under the North Star: Canadian national identity in school readers This thesis examines constructions of English Canadian national identity in school readers approved for use in Grades Four to Six in Ontario Public Schools from 1909 to 1970, schoolbooks used throughout English‐speaking Canada during the mid‐twentieth century. While the lavishly illustrated readers comprise collections of prose, poetry and exposition designed to improve reading comprehension, the accompanying Teachers’ Guides reveal the editors’ intentions to reinforce Canadian identity through the creation of a common cultural heritage and values based upon a British settler past. The emerging metanarratives of wilderness and multiculturalism mark the shift from a concertedly British colonial identity in the early twentieth century to a distinctly Canadian identity after World War II. Wilderness is constituted as the site for the construction of this uniquely Canadian identity, not only through brave pioneer ancestors creating homes but also as the location for contemporary adventures and encounters with Aboriginal Others. The readers were children’s first official introduction to Canada, effectively children’s handbooks for Canadian citizenship, modelling their duties and responsibilities as ‘young Canadians.’ Children imagined their nation, not only by taking part in the communal ritual of reading in the classroom but also through virtual tours of Canada, visiting other children ‘from sea to sea’. The thesis establishes school readers as a valuable but neglected resource in discussions of the development of Canadian national identity, revealing largely unresolved tensions between traditional antimodern values and occupations and the realities of twentieth‐century Canada urban industrial society. Key words – Canada, national identity, antimodern, schoolbooks Under the North Star: Canadian National Identity in School Readers Abstract Index ......................................................................................................................................... i List of Illustrations ................................................................................................................... ii Acknowledgements ................................................................................................................. iv Preface .........................................................................................................................1 Chapter 1 Introduction .....................................................................................................4 Chapter 2 Methods ......................................................................................................... 40 Chapter 3 The Ontario Readers 1909-1936 ................................................................... 62 Chapter 4 The readers of the 1930s and 1940s .............................................................. 91 Chapter 5 The readers of the 1950s ............................................................................. 122 Chapter 6 The readers of the 1960s ............................................................................. 169 Chapter 7 Conclusion ................................................................................................... 202 Bibliography ..................................................................................................................... 224 Appendices in separate binding I. Charts showing school readers approved for use in Ontario 1909-1970 II. Charts showing samples of data analysis II. Tables of contents from the readers i Illustrations Preface Fig. 0.1 ‘Young Canadians’ Wide Open Windows Chapter 1: Introduction Fig. 1.1 Map of the world Dent’s Canadian School Atlas Chapter 3: The Ontario Readers 1909-1936 Fig. 3.1 First Schoolhouse Waterloo Ontario, 1820. Fig. 3.2 Goderich Public School circa 1900. Fig. 3.3 Fig.3.3 One of Ryerson’s early readers. Fig. 3.4 Ontario Readers Third Book, 1909. Fig. 3.5 Ontario Readers Second Book, 1923. Fig. 3.6 Frontispiece Ontario Readers Second Book, 1923. Fig. 3.7 Empire Day Address Ontario Readers Second Book, 1923. Chapter 4: The readers of 1937 to 1950 Fig. 4.1 ‘The Little Grey Book’. Fig. 4.2 Golden Windows. Fig. 4.3 Gateways to Bookland. Fig. 4.4 Treasury Readers Grade Five. Fig. 4.5 Treasury Readers Grade Six. Fig. 4.6 ‘A Beautiful Ball’, Golden Windows. Fig. 4.7 ‘A Fire in the Backwoods’, Gateways to Bookland. Fig. 4.8 ‘In the Far North’, Golden Windows. Chapter 5: The readers of the 1950s Fig. 5.1. Prices for readers published in Circular 14, 1950-51. Fig. 5.2 Young Explorers. Fig. 5.3 ‘Children and Fairs in Other Lands’, Up and Away. Fig. 5.4 ‘From Sea to Sea’ Over the Bridge. Fig. 5.5 ‘Canada,’ Young Explorers. Fig. 5.6 Geographical regions of Canada, The Canadian Encyclopaedia. Fig. 5.7 ‘Young Canada’ On the Beam. Fig. 5.8 Parents of ‘Young Canadians’ On the Beam. Fig. 5.9 ‘The Saga of Shelter,’ All Sails Set. Fig. 5.10 ‘Peter Sells a Calf,’ Wide Open Windows. ii Chapter 6: The readers of the 1960s Fig. 6.1 Broad Horizons. Fig. 6.2 Young Canada Readers: 4. Fig. 6.3 ‘A Canadian Speaks’ My World and I, 1958. Fig. 6.4 ‘Indian Braves,’ Teacher’s Guide to Riding with the Sun. Fig. 6.5 ‘Hiawatha’s Sailing,’ My World and I, 1958. Fig. 6.6 ‘How Peace Came to the West Coast,’ Over the Bridge, 1958. Fig. 6.7 ‘Great Old Tales,’ New Worlds. Fig. 6.8 ‘Young Snooky,’ Broad Horizons. Fig. 6.9 ‘Wings to the North,’ Adventure Awaits. Fig. 6.10 ‘Bush-Pilot,’ Wide Open Windows. Chapter 7: Conclusion Fig. 7.1 Frontispiece, Under the North Star, 1946. Fig. 7.2 Frontispiece, Under the North Star, 1958. iii Acknowledgements My sincere thanks to: Professor Richard Freeman and Dr. James Kennedy, gentlemen and scholars both, for their endless patience, sagacious advice and unfailing encouragement. Archivist Kathy Imrie of The Ontario Textbook and Historical Collection, Ontario Institute for Studies in Education, for kind help and guidance. Richard and Sylvia Lee, who shared their memories of their long and distinguished careers in educational publishing in Canada Hillary Cummings, Stuart Wilson, Joey Waitschat and Dr. Mairead Campbell, for help with scanning and photographing documents, proofreading and providing moral support and treats. My family: my parents Paul and Audrey Ellard, for the love of books and reading; my sisters, Janet Bass and Mary Lumsden, and their families for support and encouragement. And most especially my Good Buddy and paddling partner Richard who has kept the open side up and the home fires burning throughout this long project, with all my love. iv Preface I have been collecting old school textbooks since I could read, initially as extra material to feed my voracious reading habit, later as part of a wider interest in historical educational materials. My childhood collection included my mother and my grandmother’s old textbooks and others acquired from jumble sales and it was fascinating to see how children of earlier generations learned, especially through their school readers. Not long ago in a second-hand shop I came across the Teachers [sic] Manual to Accompany Wide Open Windows.1 Wide Open Windows was the reader I used in Grade Five and I was very curious to see what the teachers’ manual might hold—those manuals were always kept out-of-reach of pupils and we assumed they held many secrets, including the ‘right’ answers to the weekly tests.2 From amid the technical chapters on ‘Defining the Post- Primary Reading Problem’, charts showing the ‘Distribution of Reading Skills and Abilities’ and detailed ‘Lesson Plans’ which, yes, included the ‘right answers’, the following paragraph popped out: The book must be Canadian as a whole. Great pains have been taken to inform the pupil of Canadian culture and Canadian achievement to the end that he may develop an admiration of, and affection for, Canada as his homeland.3 Who would have suspected that while ‘Developing Silent Reading Skills and Abilities’ we were also being transformed into ‘Young Citizens of Canada’? A closer examination of my newly acquired teachers’ manual and the readers in my collection Figure 0.1 Wide Open Windows confirmed my suspicions that there was more to the readers than simply short stories about pioneers clearing forests or brave children building igloos in the Arctic. The readers provided Canadian children with our earliest ideas about ’Canada’ several years before we were formally introduced to History, Geography and Civics, especially in the decades