Thanks for the Memories: More Stories from Calgary's Past

R. Douglas Francis is a professor of history at the University of
Calgary.

This collection of 55 stories about Calgary’s history—most of which
are based on the author’s childhood reminiscences—is a follow-up
volume to the popular Days Gone By: Jack Peach on Calgary’s Past
(1993).

Calgary has its share of popular historians—Grant MacEwan, Hugh
Dempsey, James Gray, and Jack Peach. Peach is the master storyteller.
This posthumous collection (Peach died in November 1993 at the age of
80) is “vintage Peach,” consisting of delightful vignettes that are
presented with wit and humor. There are stories about the early trains
in Calgary, the indignities of wearing bathing suits in the 1920s and
1930s, the tortures of wearing a belly binder, the hazards of riding a
bicycle in the city, and visits to the red-light district. Peach also
recalls the beginnings of some of Calgary’s finest buildings and
businesses, from the Anglican Church of the Redeemer to local breweries
and bakeries. As well, he recaptures his early schooling and teachers,
summer vacations, and trips to special events in the city.

To a professional historian, there is little of value in these stories.
It is difficult to know where historical fact ends and storytelling
begins. There are, of course, no footnotes, although the book does
contain some delightful archival photographs that enrich and enhance the
stories told. Of course, Jack Peach would have replied that these
stories were not written as history, but rather as pleasure reading for
those wishing to recapture the delights of the past; in that sense, they
are successful.