Spring/Summer 2005 - University of Toronto Press Publishing

HISTORYViola Florence Barnes,1885–1979A Historian’s BiographyJohn G. ReidThe Professionalization ofHistory in English CanadaDonald WrightSTUDIES IN GENDER AND HISTORYViola Florence Barnes was one of the most prominentwomen historians in the United States fromthe 1920s to the 1950s. Born in 1885, Barnes waseducated at Yale University and began teaching atMount Holyoke College in 1919. She was aninstrumental member of the ‘imperial school’ ofhistorians, who interpreted North American colonialhistory within a British imperial framework.Specializing in New England and Canada’sMaritime provinces, her best-known book was TheDominion of New England, published in 1923.In this probing biography, John G. Reid examinesBarnes’s life as a female historian, providing arevealing glimpse into the gendered experience ofprofessional academia in that era. Reid also examinesthe imperial school, which, although rapidlylosing favour by the 1950s, had yielded results thatwere crucial to the study of North American colonialhistory.Viola Florence Barnes was cited as one of 100‘outstanding career women’ in the United States in1940. The later years of her life were marked by difficultyand disillusionment, as she tried in vain tohave her last book published. Yet, despite retiring in1952, Barnes remained an active scholar almost tothe time of her death in 1979. This exhaustive workis the first biography of Barnes – a major figure inthe study of North American history.John G. Reid is a professor in the Department ofHistory at Saint Mary’s University.The study of history in Canada has a history of itsown, and its development as an academic disciplineis a multifaceted one. The Professionalization ofHistory in English Canada charts the transition ofthe study of history from a leisurely pastime to thatof a full-blown academic career for universitytrainedscholars – from the mid-nineteenth to thelate twentieth century.Donald Wright argues that professionalizationwas not, in fact, a benign process, nor was itinevitable. It was deliberate. Within two generations,historians saw the creation of a professionalassociation – the Canadian Historical Association –and rise of an academic journal – the CanadianHistorical Review. Professionalization was also gendered.In an effort to raise the status of the professionand protect the academic labour market formen, male historians made a concerted effort toexclude women from the academy.History’s professionalization is best understoodas a transition from one way of organizing intellectuallife to another. What came before professionalizationwas not necessarily inferior, but rather, a differentperspective of history. As well, Wright arguesconvincingly that professionalization inadvertentlyled to a popular inverse: the amateur historian,whose work is often more widely received andappreciated by the general public.Donald Wright is an assistant professor in theDepartment of History and the Centre forCanadian Studies at Brock University.Approx. 240 pp / 6 x 9 / March 200533 halftonesCloth ISBN 0-8020-8017-0 £28.00 $45.00 EApprox. 240 pp / 6 x 9 / April 2005Cloth ISBN 0-8020-3928-6 £28.00 $45.00 E40