Edmonton: The Life of a City

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

This collection of 34 short essays on different aspects of Edmonton’s
growth from the fur-trade era to the present is very diverse. Some
papers, like those by urban historians Gilbert A. Stelter (“What Kind
of City Is Edmonton?”) and Paul Voisey (“Unsolved Mysteries of
Edmonton’s Growth”), are academic and theoretical, while others,
like John Patrick Day’s “Donald Ross, Old-Timer Extraordinaire”
and Erna Dominey’s “Les Girls” (on women architects Jean
Wallabridge and Mary Imrie in the post–World War II era), are
anecdotal. A significant number of the articles are biographical
sketches, some of obscure individuals such as Alexander Taylor (founder
of the city’s first telegraph and telephone service), others of
well-known figures such as James Bird, the first chief factor of
Edmonton House in 1799; Emily Murphy, suffragette, social reformer, and
first woman magistrate in the British Empire; jazz musician Tommy Banks;
and Peter Pocklington, entrepreneur and owner of the Edmonton Oilers.
Among the more topical articles are Rebecca Priegert Coulter’s fine
and innovative study of voluntary and professional groups in the 1920s
that provided guidance to Edmonton youth; and Doug Owram’s analysis of
the impact of baby boomers on the University of Alberta.

The wealth of material contained in this book should prove invaluable
to future historians of Edmonton.