Useful Pleasures: The Shaping of Leisure in Alberta, 1896-1945

Nora D.S. Robins is Collections Co-ordinator (Internal) of the
University of Calgary Libraries.

Useful Pleasures is a scholarly work that studies how changing patterns
of leisure, technological innovation, and economic activity have
affected the production, distribution, and reception of culture in
Alberta. The study covers the half-century from 1896 to the start of the
economic boom that followed World War II—a period bounded at one end
by a major upswing in the European settlement of Canada, and at the
other by the opening of the Leduc oil fields in 1947. This time period
provides a meaningful framework for the historical analysis of leisure
in Alberta.

The book has two parts. Part I sets out some of the technological,
social, and institutional components of leisure in Alberta history. The
framework for leisure was determined by a number of interrelated
factors: ethnicity and the view of the dominant culture; the rural basis
of the population; transport and communication technology; the nature of
work; and the amount of time and money available for leisure activity.
(Prior to 1945, Alberta was neither a cultural mosaic nor an egalitarian
society; rather, the English speakers dominated by means of their number
and their control over cultural, political, and economic life.) Part II
takes a topical approach, examining activities such as hunting, fishing,
golf, tennis, baseball, hockey, curling, camping, motoring, theatre,
radio, crafts, fairs, and rodeos.

The authors call this work a “preliminary exploration of themes and
topics with an emphasis on the institutional and structural components
of leisure.” They have done an admirable job. Producing an informative
and well-researched work on a little-studied aspect of social history.
The references are extensive and more than 100 black-and-white
photographs greatly enhance the text.

Useful Pleasures is the fifth in a series co-published by Alberta
Culture and Multi-culturalism and the Canadian Plains Research Centre.
Readers will look forward to more titles in this series.