Document generated on 09/29/2021 1:23 p.m. Labour/Le Travailleur Reviews / Comptes Rendus Volume 48, 2001 URI: https://id.erudit.org/iderudit/llt48rv01 See table of contents Publisher(s) Canadian Committee on Labour History ISSN 0700-3862 (print) 1911-4842 (digital) Explore this journal Cite this article (2001). Reviews / Comptes Rendus. Labour/Le Travailleur, 48, 265–348. All rights reserved © Canadian Committee on Labour History, 2001 This document is protected by copyright law. Use of the services of Érudit (including reproduction) is subject to its terms and conditions, which can be viewed online. https://apropos.erudit.org/en/users/policy-on-use/ This article is disseminated and preserved by Érudit. Érudit is a non-profit inter-university consortium of the Université de Montréal, Université Laval, and the Université du Québec à Montréal. Its mission is to promote and disseminate research. https://www.erudit.org/en/ REVIEWS/COMPTES RENDUS Beverly Boutilier and Alison Prentice, religious and social convictions, and a eds. Creating Historical Memory: Eng­ study of the Ontario Women's Institutes' lish-Canadian Women and the Work of involvement in writing local histories. History, (Vancouver: UBC Press 1997) Despite differences, they shared a com­ mon interest in creating a history that BRINGING TOGETHER a collection of es­ would inspire Canadians to greater feel­ says highlighting the lives and works of ing for their country. women engaged in the writing and teach­ The second section, "Transitions," pro­ ing of history over the century spanning files historians who, through study and the 1870s to the 1970s, Beverly Boutilier adoption of professional historical re­ and Alison Prentice address the creation search methods, bridged the gap between of historical memory both inside and out­ "amateur" and "professional" history, side the academy. Through these portraits still working outside the academy but of the individual and collective efforts of gradually building links to the inside. "amateur" and "professional" historians, Women living within Catholic religious the editors suggest that because of the communities engaged in historical writ­ responsibilities and constraints associ­ ing in the course of their contemplative ated with gender, women viewed history and record-keeping practices. Like the from a different perspective than male Women's Institutes, their work was col­ historians, addressed topics overlooked laborative. Individual women may have by men, and initiated social, cultural, and been prime movers; however, individual regional studies well before these became authorship was rarely acknowledged in acceptable within the academy. publications. Cloistered women initially Divided into four thematic sections, wrote to preserve historical memory the book traces what might be viewed as within their own communities. It was in the "evolution" of historical writing by their work as educators that they began to women of Anglo-Celt background as they expand their mandate. As their educa­ moved from outside to inside the acad­ tional institutions strove to gain standing emy. The first section, "Community and recognition in the broader commu­ Building," looks at the individual and col­ nity, these women were required to go lective efforts of women engaged in writ­ beyond the convent walls for training in ing nation-building history from a social academic disciplines. This process inevi­ rather than political perspective; an ap­ tably helped to professionalize their ap­ proach that allowed them to incorporate proaches to history, and also encouraged women into the story. Included are pro­ them to write for a wider audience. files of two Victorian women, Agnes Also operating outside of the acad­ Maule Machar and Sarah Anne Curzon, emy, Constance Lindsay Skinner and Isa­ whose writings were influenced by their bel Murphy Skelton gained a degree of professional respect and support from Table of Contents for Reviews, pp.5-6. some male academics through their per- 266 LABOUR/LE TRAVAIL sonal affiliations and innovative combi­ In this collection of historiographical nation of "scientific" history research essays, a number of themes emerge. The methods, combining cultural and social authors argue that women have been in­ history. Self-made and earning her pre­ volved in historical work for a long time, carious living by the pen, Skinner scorned but that the professionalization that oc­ much about the academic world, yet de­ curred around the turn of the century ex­ pended upon and valued her connections cluded women both from history and the with those academics who recognized her writing of history. Because gender shaped talents. Married to Oscar D. Skelton, so much in their lives — finances, respon­ well-known political economist and sen­ sibilities to family, and restrictions in mo­ ior public servant, Isabel Skelton was less bility, for example — they tended to write financially strapped. However, her desire about events, people, and places within to engage in research and writing was their local areas whose experiences bore often thwarted by family responsibilities. similarities to their work. In spite of obstacles, Skinner and Skelton Of the individuals highlighted in this produced works of originality in content text, all had some parental encourage­ and approach. ment and support for their intellectual The third section, titled "The Acad­ pursuits. These women initially engaged emy," looks at women either within or on in collective community history without the edges of the academy, articulating the constraints on their lines of inquiry or challenges they faced in being accepted methods. But when faced with the pros­ into the history profession, regardless of pect of outside critical attention to their training and talents. Often receiving en­ work, the standards of male scholarship couragement in undergraduate study or imposed new rules. In the case of even at the Master's level, women found Women's Institutes, there were internal that few professors encouraged them to differences as to how "professional" they go further. The few Canadian women who ought to be. In the case of the nuns, as did obtain doctorates were almost always members of their community gained in passed over for permanent faculty ap­ academic training, their desire to shape pointments. Their options were to leave their community histories for an outside the country for better prospects or stay for critical audience grew. poorly paid sessional work. Others taught While one of the express purposes of in public schools or worked in archives. the book is to "call into question the le­ Not surprisingly, independent means and gitimacy of the amateur/professional di­ freedom from family demands often de­ chotomy as applied to the term 'histo­ termined whether and when a woman his­ rian,'" the implicit message is that pro­ torian could practice her craft. gress is measured by women's attainment The last section, "New Departures," of professional status. Contemporary ten­ looks at the development of women's his­ sions among women making history in­ tory as a category of study within univer­ side and outside the academy are only sities during the 1970s. The chapter sug­ briefly addressed. This account does not gests that while some of the interest in go beyond the 1970s, however. With the women's history grew out of the feminist professionalization of women's history, movement, the relationship between one wonders whether there is a danger of women historians and feminist activism is creating a new canon that excludes "ama­ not a given, nor is it always a comfortable teurs": minority women, feminist activ­ one. The essay further suggests that in ists, and those exploring family and com­ spite of gains women historians need to munity stories in non-academic ways. be proactive to both maintain and im­ Nevertheless, this eclectic collection prove the status of women in their profes­ of essays illustrates how women, because sion. of their lived experience, recorded history REVIEWS 267 differently from men. In some cases, they of history emphasizing continuity with initiated new ways of approaching history the expressed intent of being meaningful through interdisciplinary methods and to contemporary society. In Citizens and erased the false boundaries of public and Nation, Friesen, a University of Manitoba private worlds. Without addressing the historian, proposes a radically different overtly political topics of male historians, thematic focus and periodization of Cana­ their act of writing women into history dian history based on the dominant mode was sometimes political. This collection of communication and culture. His chro­ does not pretend to be definitive. How­ nology introduces four overlapping peri­ ever, it does point to the existence of a ods bridging "time immémorial" to the vibrant alternative stream of Canadian present. It begins with an era Friesen re­ historiography that grew alongside the fers to as "oral-traditional," proceeds to a professional male-stream historiography "textual-settler" period, continues onto and has yet to be fully explored. "print capitalism," and concludes with our contemporary experience of "screen Sharon MacDonald capitalism." The author is especially in­ University of New Brunswick terested in how these particular regimes of communication shape the experience of space and time. Within each of these communication and technological eras, Gerald Friesen, Citizens and Nation: An Friesen focuses on an "ordinary" individ­ Essay