The History of the Canadian West

Nora D.S. Robins is co-ordinator of Internal Collections at the
University of Calgary Libraries.

For fourteen years The History of the Canadian West and its predecessor, Canada West, have been recording the pioneer history of Western Canada. The present format is that of a digest-sized book containing non-fiction articles on almost any aspect of pre-twentieth century western Canadian history.

Publication of The History began in 1982 and, while it was meant to come out quarterly, publication has been somewhat erratic. Volume 3 contains ten vignettes on Alberta and British Columbia as well as two on Ontario. Topics include train wrecks, lost mines, buried treasure, civic politics, and the Northwest Rebellion of 1885. The best written and most informative article is on “Portaging in the Fur Trade.”

The quality of the prose varies and the treatment of most subjects is superficial, but this is not unexpected in a compilation of articles by amateur historians. Maps and old photographs illustrate each chapter. There are no references, bibliographies, or index. It may be of interest to local history buffs and armchair historians.