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Monuments and Memories in Ontario, 1850-2001

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FORGING ICONOGRAPHIES AND CASTING COLONIALISM: MONUMENTS AND MEMORIES IN ONTARIO, 1850-2001 By Brittney Anne Bos A thesis submitted to the Department of History In conformity with the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Queen’s University Kingston, Ontario, Canada (September 2016) Copyright ©Brittney Anne Bos, 2016 ii Abstract Commemorations are a critical window for exploring the social, political, and cultural trends of a specific time period. Over the past two centuries, the commemorative landscape of Ontario reaffirmed the inclusion/exclusion of particular racial groups. Intended as static markers to the past, monuments in particular visually demonstrated the boundaries of a community and acted as ongoing memorials to existing social structures. Using a specific type of iconography and visual language, the creators of monuments imbued the physical markers of stone and bronze with racialized meanings. As builders were connected with their own time periods and social contexts, the ideas behind these commemorations shifted. Nonetheless, creators were intent on producing a memorial that educated present and future generations on the boundaries of their “imagined communities.” This dissertation considers the carefully chosen iconographies of Ontario’s monuments and how visual symbolism was attached to historical memory. Through the examination of five case studies, this dissertation examines the shifting commemorative landscape of Ontario and how memorials were used to mark the boundaries of communities. By integrating the visual analysis of monuments and related images, it bridges a methodological and theoretical gap between history and art history. This dissertation opens an important dialogue between these fields of study and demonstrates how monuments themselves are critical “documents” of the past. iii Acknowledgements This thesis is dedicated to the most inspirational women in my life: your hard work, determination, independence and fierce spirits have driven me every step of the way. For Johanna Bos (Oma): your courageous life has always been an incredible story of endurance. As I pushed to finish this degree, I remembered the opportunities you were denied and the dreams you could not follow. From the beginning you were always my biggest supporter and talked me through so many problems. I would have never accomplished anything if it was not for your love and constant support. For Carol Ericson: you were one of my strongest believers long before I even knew my own capabilities. Your knowledge and love of education imprinted me with a desire to constantly do more. For June Sterling: I have you to thank for the drive to succeed and live my own dreams independently. You taught me to be strong, level-headed, and determined to finish everything I started. You took me to the library and began this love-affair that I have with the written word. Your support (including driving me to probably hundreds of historic sites, plaques, and monuments) helped push me through to the end of this journey. To these three inspirational souls: I will continue to reach higher and higher for all of you. I owe sincere gratitude to my supervisor and committee members for their informed and thoughtful guidance throughout this entire process. Dr. Caroline-Isabelle Caron has worked, brainstormed, encouraged, and driven me to complete this thesis. You were always a source of information and challenged me to push further. A heartfelt thank you to Dr. Jane Errington who made numerous suggestions to different drafts of my ideas and was always around for a good discussion. You helped me pinpoint what was important and assisted me in discovering new ideas. Thank you as well to Dr. Barrington Walker. The discussion during my defence was very thought provoking and I’ll keep deliberating over these ideas for years to come. Thank you to Dr. iv Brian Osborne for your very useful comments on the final draft and in guiding me through Ontario’s complicated commemorative landscape. A special acknowledgement to my external examiner, Dr. Cecilia Morgan, for your thorough and careful reading of my thesis. Your suggestions and comments were invaluable and will continue to provide guidance to my project in the future. Finally, throughout my university degrees a number of professors and other instructors have impacted my academic development. Thank you to those working in the History Department at Queen’s, and the Canadian Studies, Art History, Gender Studies, and History Departments at Carleton University. A special thanks to my Master’s supervisors Patricia Gentile and Herb Stovel who initially pushed me to continue my graduate work. I would like to extend special thanks to the staff at various archives and libraries. Numerous staff members at both the National Archives and Ontario Archives helped me negotiate databases and finding aids in order to discover hidden gems. A special thank you to the helpful staff of the Detroit City Clerk’s Office and the Hamilton Public Library for their assistance in finding the smallest of references. Finally, I extend incredible gratitude to Irene Moore Davis for allowing me to access and reference the personal records of Andrea Moore. Without these documents and your help, the Underground Railroad case study would not exist. My family has been an unwavering system of support throughout my entire academic career. They have patiently listened to my ideas, offered endless words of encouragement, and believed in me when I wavered. Jim Bos, you have always been there to talk, listen, debate, and just relax. Although we are usually physically apart, I can always feel your emotional closeness. Kathy Bos, you have been one of my biggest cheerleaders throughout my academic career. I thank you for your unwavering praise. I have to recognize my immediate family and those who listened to me read my thesis aloud probably a hundred times and were still around to hug me v afterwards: Molly, Elphaba, and Brockie. You are as much experts in my topic as I am. I wish to acknowledge my extended families, those related by blood and not. Many of you have passed words of love and faith throughout the years that continue to remind me exactly why I’m doing this. Thank you for all of your contributions and enduring love. Finally, I want to extend admiration for many of my ancestors that have passed away. I was able to meet some of you, and each one of you had something different to offer and remember. But for the many others that I never did meet, your stories still inspire me and my educational success is ultimately in your memory. I especially want to thank my partner, Terence, for your strength and patience. When I could not continue, you were there to hold me up and push me forward. When I was stuck, you listened and talked me through the ideas, helping me answer some of the hardest questions in my project. You helped me clean the actual blood, sweat, and tears that all came out of this thesis. You provided more support and love than you can ever know. I sincerely would have never finished this degree without you by my side. A number of my friends have been some of the biggest cheerleaders during this degree. Fellow women in my cohort, particularly Alison Ward and Kendall Garton, were always a source of knowledge. We shared many of the same struggles and I thank you for all of your guidance. I’ve also completed this degree in parallel with my first collaborative partner, Sarah Spear. As we both reach the final stages of our degrees, I feel like we both made it together. Throughout the years Nicole Sammut has provided endless encouragement and strength. Your own determination is a daily inspiration. Although my good friend Jennifer Maclatchy is now far away, our time together is still just as refreshing and wonderful, and always much needed. Finally, throughout this degree I have had the wonderful opportunity to work with some fantastic vi tour guides. I thank all of you that I’ve worked with in the past six years, but especially Margo Macdonald, Caroline Bowden, Leonard Belsher, Glen Shackleton, and Paola St. Georges. I acknowledge that this thesis was written on the unceded lands of the Anishinaabe peoples. Various parts of this thesis were researched on the ancestral lands of numerous other First Nations peoples throughout the area of what is now known as southern Ontario. vii Table of Contents Abstract .......................................................................................................................................... iii Acknowledgements ........................................................................................................................ iv Table of Contents ......................................................................................................................... viii List of Figures ................................................................................................................................ ix List of Abbreviations .................................................................................................................... xii Chapter 1 : Introduction: Braiding Commemoration, Visual Analysis, and Race .......................... 1 Chapter 2 : “Perfect Justice to the Character of the Late Lamented General”: Commemorating Sir Isaac Brock at Queenston Heights, 1812-1859 ............................................................................. 36 Chapter 3 : “The Monument is Intended to be of a Strictly Indian Character”: The Monument to Joseph Brant
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