Canadian History On The Web

Canada's strong web presence has led to a wide variety of sites devoted to Canadian history. Many are a direct product of the mandates and activities of government agencies such as archives and museums; others result from the initiatives of a wide variety of groups and individuals. Government programs actively support most. The Virtual Museum of Canada and Canada's Digital Collections are just two agencies encourage groups and institutions to become active on the web. The increased Canadian historical content, some of it good, some otherwise has to be responded to by historians interested in new media for historical enquiry.

Carleton University's Concentration in Public History examines new media in a Canadian context. In our inaugural seminar in the autumn of 2002, students adapted the U.S. based Public History Resource Centre's criteria as the basis for evaluating a select number of Canadian sites. Emerging from that initiative, the Carleton Centre for Public History will systematically review Canadian public history sites, starting with the reviews presented here. A selection of others is currently under revision for publication soon. We will continue critical appraisal of web-based history in Canada and welcome suggestions for sites to be examined or of potential reviewers.

While the sites reviewed here have different themes, all reflect well-established pathways in Canadian historiography, as well as the strengths of their respective sponsors. More importantly, all three demonstrate their sponsors' determination to make the web an important vehicle for transforming not only how we do history but also how we communicate our historical insights in new ways to new audiences. Our initiative will be both useful and exciting as a way of positioning these developments within the broader development of Canadian historical scholarship.