“If this craze for bicycle riding continues much longer our livery stable men will have to close down,” warned the editorial in the Fort Macleod Gazette in the early 1890s. “The young man and his best girl,” continued the editor, “…will shortly […]
Articles by Author
Canada Corner
Door-To-Door Bookstores
A depiction of a 19th century book agent canvassing a farmer.
“Success in book selling is not a matter of luck,” advises a small pamphlet […]
July 1, 2003, by Jeffrey S. Murray
Canada Corner
Mapping The Mountains
Topographer James McArthur and assistant W.S. Drewry carry photographic equipment to a mountaintop in 1887.
In the fall of 1910, an inconspicuous wooden box, measuring about a foot square, arrived in the basement shipping rooms of Department of the Interior, the Ottawa-based federal agency responsible for monitoring the settlement of western Canada. A red label pasted diagonally across one side of the box read: Glass. Handle Carefully. Although the railway manifest provided no other clues as to the contents, experienced clerks in the room knew the […]
May 1, 2001, by Jeffrey S. Murray
Canada Corner
Settling For Scrip
“The mission of the…Half-breed Commission has been entirely successful,” boasted commissioners James Walker and Arthur Côté in their final report to the federal government’s minister of the interior. Writing from Calgary in the fall of 1899, Walker and Côté had every reason to be pleased with themselves. Their four-month expedition to the Athabasca country north of Edmonton had just “quieted” the land claims of some 1,200 Métis by handing out land grants or scrip worth an incredible $300,000. At […]
May 1, 1999, by Jeffrey S. Murray
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Miscellaneous
ATTENTION: ALBERTANS ACROSS THE COUNTRY Do you have any old military books laying around the house? Why not think of donating them to The Military Museums. Located in Calgary, The Military Museums is Canada's second largest tri-service military museum. The Military Museums Library and Archives has recently expanded its facility and is building up its military book collection for use by present and future generations. If you or your loved ones have military books please consider donating them to the Museum. The Archives are also interested in preserving personal histories of Canadians. We would greatly welcome diaries, letters, photographs, scrapbooks, as well as personal remembrances in non-paper form -- such as tapes, home-videos, films and negatives, or digital media -- in order that following generations may learn what Canadians experienced. If you would like to contribute, please contact John Wright at The Military Museums Library and Archives, 4520 Crowchild Trail SW, Calgary, AB T2T 5J4, 403-974-2831, jpwright@ucalgary.ca.
