Forrest Pass

This is fascinating, esp as I recently found this 1931 composite photo/cartoon of a Cdn Govt Motion Picture Bureau staff dinner in an antique shop. Seems making morality films didn't preclude some frivolity in the off-hours. Work hard, play harder! #cdnhist #filmhistory

This is fascinating, esp as I recently found this 1931 composite photo/cartoon of a Cdn Govt Motion Picture Bureau staff dinner in an antique shop. Seems making morality films didn't preclude some frivolity in the off-hours. Work hard, play harder! #cdnhist #filmhistory

The forgotten Canadian film bureaus that cranked out morality tales about being a good worker | CBC News Unclean habits and unsafe behaviours are the primary targets of a collection of 1920s government-sponsored films currently being digitized by a Toronto historian.

The forgotten Canadian film bu...
www.cbc.ca/news/canada/...

At Cumberland there's a young(er) staff member who has taken up letterpress printing, so hope springs eternal! Hard to find someone to run the wooden pump factory, alas....

Even closer to home, have you visited Cumberland Heritage Village yet? I've never been as a visitor, only as an employee (when I worked for City of Ottawa Museums), so I'd be curious to have your thoughts. Neat buildings but similar heritage trades staffing challenges..

We went a few weeks ago! My first visit ever (also for our boys), and Manon's first since her school. Setting aside the "fictionality" of the Village, it reminded me of Barkerville in the '90s in its level of active interpretation (tho' this will become more difficult as the heritage trades retire)

Detail from a 1938 leaflet reading "BOYCOTT JAPANESE GOODS"

In December 1938, a Chinese restaurant owner in Wallaceburg, Ontario, asked his local postmaster if he could distribute some fliers through the mail. A #FridayFind in the archives makes for a short thread about a consumer boycott to protest human rights abuses. #cdnhist #cdnpoli (1/6)

I saw a brand new copy of this in my neighbourhood's little free library recently - and I'm in Quebec so it was a French translation. A multi-pronged campaign, it would seem.

(Source for all: Library and Archives Canada, Canada Post Fonds, RG3, vol. 2187, "Stamped Envelopes")

Envelope from Toronto accordion and harmonica dealer Hough and Kohler Ltd with handwritten slogan "We do not handle German Goods"

Printed envelope from International Co-Operative Trading Co. Ltd., Port Arthur [Thunder Bay], Ontario, with red printed slogan "SAVE CHINA Boycott Japanese Goods"

Label affixed to the back of an envelope. Issued by the Trade Union Section C.L.A.W.F. [i.e. Canadian League Against War and Fascism], it features a caricature of Hitler marching over dead bodies with a hand stopping him and the slogan "BOYCOTT GERMAN-MADE GOODS"

The Wallaceburg question was one part of a larger debate before WWII over political speech and the post. The Post Office worried especially about statements on envelopes calling for boycotts of Germany and Japan, as the collection of labels and handwritten slogans in the same file attests. (6/6)

Letter from District Director of Postal Services, London, Ontario, to Director, Administrative Services, Post Office Department, Ottawa, Dec 31, 1938, inquiring about sending leaflet advocating boycott of Japanese goods through the mail.

Detail of handwritten note on the letter, dated Jan 13, 1939, reading "This should not be accepted for transmission in the mail."

This leaflet only survives because the postmaster asked the district director in London, ON, for advice. The director in turn sent it to HQ in Ottawa, which vetoed sending the leaflet through the mail. (5/6)

Detail from 1938 boycott leaflet: "BOYCOTT 'Made in Japan' ... THIS IS NOT INTENDED AGAINST OUR JAPANESE CANADIANS"

Remarkably, the leaflet draws a clear distinction between boycotting Japan and targeting Japanese Canadians. This is a nuance that the Cdn government didn’t make itself, as evident in Japanese-Canadian internment four years later. (4/6)

Full leaflet from 1938: "YOU CAN HELP CHINA Defend Herself Against Japanese Aggression BOYCOTT JAPANESE GOODS Only by exporting Silk for hosiery, etc., Christmas Tree Ornaments, Toys, Oranges, Tinned Crab and Tuna, Chinaware, can Japan obtain credits to buy War Materials to Kill the Defenseless Chinese. BOYCOTT "Made in Japan" Issued by THE CANADIAN FRIENDS OF CHINA, Chatham, Ont. THIS IS NOT INTENDED AGAINST OUR CANADIAN JAPANESE"

The proposed leaflet, published by the Canadian Friends of China in the nearby town of Chatham, urged residents of Wallaceburg to boycott Japanese goods. In the wake of Japanese atrocities in occupied China, such as the 1937 Nanjing Massacre, this boycott would “help China defend herself.” (3/6)

Chinese Canadian Peter Lamb [sic], residing at 443 James St, Wallaceburg, ON, in the 1931 Census of Canada.

Chinese Canadian Lee Doy, residing at 444 James St, Wallaceburg, ON, in the 1931 Census of Canada.

(The restaurateur is not named in the record, but was likely either Lee Doy or Peter Lam, who operated restaurants across the street from each other. Each employed a waiter and, along with a laundry owner, these made up Wallaceburg’s five-member Chinese Canadian community in the 1931 census). (2/6)

Detail from a 1938 leaflet reading "BOYCOTT JAPANESE GOODS"

In December 1938, a Chinese restaurant owner in Wallaceburg, Ontario, asked his local postmaster if he could distribute some fliers through the mail. A #FridayFind in the archives makes for a short thread about a consumer boycott to protest human rights abuses. #cdnhist #cdnpoli (1/6)

@brianbusby.bsky.social : Mariano the Merrickville Moulder made the cut!

Bennett gets the credit (or blame) but he just went to the College of Arms on a visit to London and was told he could use the coat of arms as a banner with no further formalities. Done and done! There is a lot going on, but the sun is cheerful....

BC flag presentation by W.A.C. Bennett, prob. 1966 (per the Centennial logos in background). After the 1965 adoption of the Cdn flag, but a Cdn Red Ensign still flies - evidence of persistent Britishness! #cdnhist #bchist #vexillology

(City of Victoria Archives, William E. John fonds)

From 12 to about a million: A record of the first Filipinos in Canada For many, it may be old log records; but for Pass, it offers a glimpse into the lives of Canadians in the early 20th century and the lesser-known history of Filipinos in Canada.

This story aired a few weeks ago on OMNI News Filipino in Tagalog (with me subtitled: I know but two words of Tagalog); today there's an English digital version. I'm pleased to help make known some little-known stories of #cdnimm history! #cdnhist #bchist

tinyurl.com/3xncphm3

I once had a girlfriend who consistently pronounced it "New-FOUND-land" - strong emphasis on the second syllable.

He always reads the paper in bed: "Olive the News that's Fit to Print"

From 12 to about a million: A record of the first Filipinos in Canada For many, it may be old log records; but for Pass, it offers a glimpse into the lives of Canadians in the early 20th century and the lesser-known history of Filipinos in Canada.

This story aired a few weeks ago on OMNI News Filipino in Tagalog (with me subtitled: I know but two words of Tagalog); today there's an English digital version. I'm pleased to help make known some little-known stories of #cdnimm history! #cdnhist #bchist

tinyurl.com/3xncphm3

BC's 2002 referendum on treaty negotiation principles is a possible precedent. Eight principles, each presented as a question, with a no vote for a particular principle conceivably being in conflict with a yes vote for another.

Conceivably, both could pass or fail. What then? Alberta becomes Schrödinger's Province, at once in Canada and out of it?

Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Archives!

@haroldberube.bsky.social?

And even in the big midwestern cities the numbers sometimes started again at municipal boundaries. On an architectural walking tour in a residential neighbourhood in Chicago, I remember a guide pointing out old numbers (on stained glass fanlights, e.g.) predating new post-amalgmation numbering..

Alas, my house doesn't qualify: no. 22, but wasn't standing in 22 AD! Seriously though, I'm wondering where one might find 19th century street addresses that run as higb the 1800s? A large Midwest/Prairie city that never had self-governing suburbs?

The important question is, WWJD? #bchist (or, as @benbradleyca.bsky.social might have it, #vitrifiedhistory)

Coincidentally, the exhibit I am working on right now includes similar ancient artifacts. No more spoilers 😉

#bookhistory #cdnhist