We are pleased to share that Improving Upper Canada by Ross Fair has been awarded the 2025 Floyd S. Chalmers Award in Ontario History! Congratulations to the author. Read the announcement: bit.ly/48KNTQR #CanadianHistory #OntarioHistory @torontomet.bsky.social

I'm pleased to learn that The Champlain Society has awarded me its 2025 Floyd S. Chalmers Award for my book, Improving Upper Canada. #cdnhist #envhist #onhist #aghist

For #Halloween let me resurrect (from the long-deceased and dearly-missed Torontoist) a piece I wrote about resurrection men who supplied Toronto's medical schools. Grave Robbing! Luggage! Trains! "Terrible Feeling of Indignation among the People!" web.archive.org/web/20160307...

Very sad news about the loss of historian Tim Cook, who died far too young. His impact on our understanding of Canadian military history was just massive. An outstanding historian. He will be missed. www.cbc.ca/news/canada/...

Best thing I've ever read about AI and the academy - every line a banger

Historians are often tempted to tell you something is "worth about X in today's dollars." Here's why I think you should not do that, and what I think you should do instead buttondown.com/anotherway/a...

Why did historic artists make so many paintings of extremely large cows? Our curator @olliedouglas.bsky.social reveals all!

Perfect description of why so many historians in particular are hostile to AI

Today’s must read from American historian and Yale professor, Timothy Snyder snyder.substack.com/p/the-absurd...

Word of the day is ‘huff-snuff’ (16th century): a hectoring bully or braggart.

if you thought archives were problematic, wait till you see no archives

How not to label your family photographs.

#MakeNewFranceGreatAgain #WhatEvenIsThisReality #NouvelleFrance #VastEarlyAmerica #PoliticalHumor #NewFrance

1913

Every day I get closer to understanding how it must have felt when the incoming Senator was Caligula's horse.

I just want to teach them to write...

Researcher: "We let the data speak for itself." Earlier that day:

🗃️ #C19th #Genealogy #LocalHistory A reminder that if you need an excel calculator that works with pounds, shillings and pence, I have one you can download and use freely. Please share… chartistancestors.blog/2023/07/12/n...

"you'll be visited by three spirits" The three spirits

Sometimes working with manuscripts gets us really, really close to the people from the past allowing us to hear their voices. This is a story of a letter from a schoolgirl to her teacher, written probably sometime at the end of the 9th or the beginning of the 10th century. A thread 🧵 #medievalsky /1

Missed AHA President Michelle Arrow (@michellearrow.bsky.social) on ABC Radio National talking about the future of history at university? Listen here: https://buff.ly/3ZuSIbx

A view upsetting to the historians. "It was a pity, said the Premier , that the fort interfered with the progress of such a fine expressway.

'what's wrong with your massive sheep that looks like a brain?'

"this is fine" British Library Manuscript - royal ms 20 a ii f3r

In response to OpenAI’s recent ‘A Student’s Guide to Writing with ChatGPT’, Arthur Perret (maître de conferénces, Jean Moulin Lyon 3) writes a line-by-line rebuttal — A Student’s Guide to Not Writing with ChatGPT www.arthurperret.fr/blog/2024-11...

Scholars and students of Canada/northern North America! Here's a Canadian history starter pack. Please let me know if I've forgotten anyone! go.bsky.app/KVWtRgB

A List of Things People Blamed on Flappers 🧵

Join Rural History Roundtable on Tues Nov 12 from 330-5pm EST, when @rossfair.bsky.social (TMU) will give a talk titled "A Measure of Improvement in Upper Canada: The 1852 Agricultural Exhibition." In person at MCKN Room 132, or via Zoom: www.eventbrite.ca/e/a-measure-... #cdnhist #aghist

The paper that broke Watergate is too chickenshit to endorse a presidential candidate? How times have changed.

Life really was better 50 years ago. Here's proof.

Tis the season for Ontario's local agricultural fairs, and @rossfair.bsky.social shares how his new book, Improving Upper Canada: Agricultural Societies and State Formation, 1791-1852, reveals the history behind these popular events. niche-canada.org/2024/09/10/n... #envhist #aghist #cdnhist

The new academic year brings a new round of the Rural History Roundtable, with presentations in Fall '24 by @rebeccabeau.bsky.social, Ed Dunsworth, and @rossfair.bsky.social. Watch here for more info: www.uoguelph.ca/arts/rural/r... #aghist #cdnhist #ruralhist

I discuss my new book, “Improving Upper Canada: Agricultural Societies and State Formation, 1791–1852,” in this episode of the Champlain Society’s “Witness to Yesterday” #podcast : bit.ly/WTYs324 #aghist #cdnhist #envhist

Similar point of view, 190 years apart. The fence in the foreground of John Howard’s 1834 painting of William Allan’s Moss Park estate (ROM collections) would be just beyond today’s Moss Park Armoury at background-centre of photo. #aghist #cdnhist #envhist utorontopress.com/978148755353...

Look what’s just been released! #aghist #cdnhist utorontopress.com/978148755353...

This is huge news. The microfilm (& OCR?) of EEBO and The Eighteenth Century (ie ECCO) is available via Internet Archive! I need to dig derper but I wonder about the reactions from libraries, Gale, and ProQuest. H/T to David Smith @dasmiq.bsky.social for sharing news. archive.org/details/bim_...

Hey! I spent a good little while working on the cover story for the summer issue of the Walrus. Read, share, shower me with praise, write me hate mail etc thewalrus.ca/ai-hype/

remember like 15 years ago when companies started selling "hoverboards" that were actually just regular electric scooters that caught on fire all the time? and every company started pushing "hoverboards" and they all sucked until they exploded and people stopped buying them? well a.i. is different.

New release date: late August. #aghist #cdnhist

Our amicus brief has made the news. Historians FTW. www.theguardian.com/law/2024/jan...

Actual footage of me turning a T/Th course into a M/W/F course.

A Christmas cartoon for the Guardian. Happy holidays, everyone!

The three act structure

On the seventh anniversary of THIS image, here's a funny story about the elephants, Naomi Wolf and the absurdity of online nostalgia.

Anger is an energy. Harness it. Toronto hit rock bottom with ticketing of King Street streetcar. Transit has nowhere to go but up My column this weekend (back after a 3 week break) www.thestar.com/opinion/cont...

My undergraduate #pubhist project for @TorontoMet History undergraduates is now complete. Students identified 353 memorials to #WWI soldiers in 135 Toronto churches (existing, demolished, or repurposed). #tohist #cdnhist #RemembranceDay 1/3 www.torontomu.ca/history/news...

For once the Fair organizes the agricultural societies. Forthcoming from UTP (March 2024). #aghist #onhist #cdnhist utorontopress.com/978148755353...