Section II, 1919 [m] Trans. R.S.C. 



The Significance for Canadian History of the Work of The Board of 

 Historical Publications 



By Adam Shortt, LL.D., C.M.G., F.R.S.C. 



(Read May Meeting, 1919) 



It has been remarked from time to time, not without a sub-acid 

 implication as to the mere relativity of Historical Science, that every 

 age demands the rewriting of history to suit its changing tastes and 

 shifting interests. There is a sense in which this is not only quite true 

 but is proof, also, of the progress of civilization and of the broadening 

 interests of humanity. In Shakespeare's time, and earlier, it was bad 

 form to treat seriously the lower orders of society otherwise than as 

 necessary servants and dependents of the nobler orders of humanity. 

 Broad-minded and versatile as he was, Shakespeare himself shows no 

 interest in the lot of labourers, peasantry, and petty tradesmen. 

 Their usefulness and fidelity to their masters are treated as of much 

 the same nature as those of the dog or the horse. The more important 

 virtues and the more interesting villainies are all reserved for the higher 

 orders of society. With their deeds and misdeeds alone serious 

 history is concerned. So far have we travelled since then, however, 

 that we seem already to have passed well into the opposite quarter. 

 We may even be inclined to take seriously the erstwhile facetious 

 appeal "Spurn not the nobly born, nor the well-connected treat with 

 scorn." Now-a-days, to be sufficiently poor to be afflicted by the 

 high cost of living, is prima facie evidence of virtue. And yet there 

 may be those who can remember when it was no particular disgrace 

 to be rich. 



In the transition from one of these extremes to the other, history 

 has been continually broadening its scope. It is to history in its most 

 disinterested form — a broad and impartial presentation of conditions 

 as they have actually developed — that we may yet have to appeal 

 to save us from many wild phases of economic and social doctrine. 

 A study of history in its broadest sense is simply the intelligent 

 appraisement of the development of a people or a nation, not merely 

 in its outward political and international relations, but even more 

 particularly in its social, economic, and intellectual progress. It 

 involves a clear-visioned presentation of the varied experiences 

 through which peoples or nations have passed in the constant attempts 

 to improve their condition individually and collectively. It presents 

 the outcome in failure or success of the numerous and varied experi- 



Sec. II. Sig. 8 



