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In ten original studies, former students and colleagues of Maurice Careless, one of Canada’s most distinguished historians, explore both traditional and hitherto neglected topics in the development of nineteenth-century Ontario. Their papers incorporate the three themes that characterize their mentor’s scholarly efforts: metropolitan-hinterland relations; urban development; and the impact of ’limited identities’ — gender, class, ethnicity and regionalism — that shaped the lives of Old Ontarians.

Here we have the personal account of the misadventures that preceded the opening to the public of the Leacock home in 1958. Forty years ago, in October 1954, a committee was formed, chaired by Pete McGarvey, to acquire and preserve Stephen Leacock's summer home, known as The Old Brewery Bay. Four years later a golden key opened the front door of the home, allowing Leacock fans to pay homage to the humorist in a setting he had prized above every other.

As Bob and Mildred Lee, they amazed audiences with their death-defying motorcycle act. In reality they were Bob and Mildred Restall, parents of three, who balanced their glamorous show-business career with a happy, stable home life. In October 1959, the Restalls embarked on the ultimate family adventure, as Bob led his family to the east coast of Canada to dig for the famous treasure of Oak Island. For nearly six years they lived without telephone, hydro, or running water while newspapers and magazines chronicled their attempts to solve the mystery of the Money Pit.

Radio made its debut in the early twentieth century, and the world was never the same. The mysterious magic box brought people together as no other communication medium had ever done. In Nothing On but the Radio, author Gil Murray tells how the new household toy put voices and music into millions of homes. In the 1920s, families gathered around the crystal set; in the 1930s, radio comedians helped offset the Depression; in the wartime 1940s, radio kept up morale; in the 1950s and 1960s, its music, news, and information spread knowledge and entertainment.

This is the story of a young man’s journey through World War II. It covers a wide cross section of the strengths and weaknesses of young men not attuned to killing, and not mentally prepared to face the horror of seeing their close friends die violent deaths in battle.

Northern Algoma is a vast wilderness north of Lake Superior and a land rich in natural resources — fur, gold, iron ore, endless tracts of forests. Its modern history began in the eighteenth century with the fur traders. Then came the gold-seekers, followed by the lumber barons and the industrialists. As railways opened up the area to the world, more and more people came to seek their fortune, work, and adventure. The pages of Northern Algoma are filled with the voices of many of these people as they look back and remember. More than sixty historic photographs accompany their words.

In the early 1800s, Timothy Robers, a Quaker millwright from Vermont, drew a flourishing community of fellow Quakers to the area which became the new-market for settles and traders. It soon became the commercial hub of a rich farming area. By the mid-1800s it was a central point on the Ontario, Simcoe, and Huron Railway. Over the following decades, gas deposits were confirmed there and a barge canal was built along with a street railway. In the early 20th century Newmarket languished through a long period of slow growth — wars and the Depression took a terrible toll on the small town.

From prospectors to politicians, promoters to profiteers, New Westminster's known them all. It is Western Canada's oldest city, aptly named by Queen Victoria as the first capital of the new colony of British Columbia. On the mighty Fraser River, it has survived gold rushes, loss of capital status, fire, flood, the Depression, and two world wars. This collection of illuminating black and white photographs, artwork, and text shows how its tenacious citizens have thrived. It follows the city's festivals, traditions, organizations, people, and neighbourhoods.

This book unmasks one of the greatest human interest stories in Canadian history: the emigration of tens of thousands of children from Britain, from the late 1800s to the early 1900s, to become home children in Canada. Through first-hand accounts and archived materials, Corbett sensitively and accurately records the pilgrimage of the children who, against great odds, proved that Canada was the promised land.

Elizabeth Simcoe's diary, describing Canada from 1791 to 1796, is history written as it was being made. Created largely while she was seated in canoes and bateaux, the diary documents great events in a familiar way and opens our eyes to a side of Canadian history that is too little shown. During her time in Upper Canada (now Ontario), Mrs. Simcoe encountered fascinating figures, such a explorer, Alexander Mackenzie, and Mohawk Chief, Joseph Brant.