Comments on: History Minutes

History Minutes

jb — Sun, 11 Apr 2004 22:49:31 -0800

History comes to the life, and to television. If people will not come to history, then let history come to them. [more inside]

By: jb

jb — Sun, 11 Apr 2004 22:51:53 -0800

Inspired by this recent Metafilter discussion about popular knowledge (or lack thereof) of history, I found these remarkable short films are now online. Most Canadians will probably recognise this long running series. But for those elsewhere, this is an ambitious project to promote historical knowledge and awareness among the general public, at least of recent Canadian history. Of course, the Canadians will claim anything they can as their own, but we do have our own myths and legends. Like all good histories, there is some silly swashbuckling, but also heroism and pride, not to mention tears. New minutes are also being made by students, including this excellent profile of Chief Piapot. The project is not without controversy; unabashedly proud, it only occasionally dwells on the darker side of Canadian history. But it succeeded at least in teaching this Canadian about the exciting origins of our "responsible government". Quicktime versions of the minutes are available at each page.

By: jb

jb — Sun, 11 Apr 2004 23:02:52 -0800

Just one correction - the bit about "responsible government" being a "Canadian idea" is pure nationalist myth. Though it was remarkable for a colony to be granted representational government, Britain had, of course, had a powerful representational (though elitist) parliament from the seventeenth century forward. It's a cute moment, but the historian in me cringes.

By: Gyan

Gyan — Sun, 11 Apr 2004 23:28:10 -0800

I guess any way to get people interested in history is nice. [maple leaf]

By: John Kenneth Fisher

John Kenneth Fisher — Sun, 11 Apr 2004 23:58:40 -0800

Very nice. Quite a few things here I didn't know about our closest and dearest friends.

By: arse_hat

arse_hat — Mon, 12 Apr 2004 00:22:16 -0800

Does anyone know of a source for the old animated Canadian history spots? I always loved the story of the "First Provisional Government in Manitoba" that ended with President Spence's historic words "for the love of God man don't shoot! I've a wife and family!"
In the pantheon of Canadian government sponsored ads, this is for me second only to the Hinterland Who's Who, "the Partridge or common ruffled Grouse" spot.

By: stbalbach

stbalbach — Mon, 12 Apr 2004 11:08:18 -0800

Wow that really is amazingly ambitious project. As someone with a BA in History at first I laughed at the idea of 60 second clips with staged events, some of it very silly and over-dramatic. Reminds me of Disney. But it is a very interesting way to teach. Images can hold long lasting impressions that just perhaps even 60 seconds is enough. Isn't this what the promise of TV was in the early days? I will try to find time to read/view these in more detail. Thanks for the link! This is IMO truly a Best of the Web.

By: stbalbach

stbalbach — Mon, 12 Apr 2004 13:41:54 -0800

BTW here is a very interesting article on the role of "the image" (TV, computers) in education. It basically says kids today are dumber than 30 years ago because they spend so much time in front of computers and TVs and don't read books.