How the Filing Cabinet Facilitated the Growth of Corporate Bureaucracies

Another Day at the Office: How the Filing Cabinet Facilitated the Growth of Corporate Bureaucracies By Michael Feagan Historians of technology have a tendency to focus on big and innovative technologies, such as the locomotive, the steam engine, the printing press, or the aeroplane. Technologies that have been with us for longer or are used … Continue reading How the Filing Cabinet Facilitated the Growth of Corporate Bureaucracies →

Jewish Calendar In Canada

Jewish Calendar In Canada First Posted on Friday, September 3, 2021 / Yom Shishi, 26 Elul , 5781 By: David Orenstein Back on March 5 I wrote about the Mi’kmaw Calendar in the CSTHA post “Mi’kmaw Calendar and Traditional Astronomy: A Two-Eyed Seeing Partnership”. So now it’s time to reflect on my own calendric tradition. … Continue reading Jewish Calendar In Canada →

Montreal Engineer New NRC Chairman: One Hundred Years Ago Yesterday

Montreal Engineer New NRC Chairman: One Hundred Years Ago Yesterday Another 1921-2021 Centennial in the History of Canadian Science and Technology First posted Friday, August 20, 2021 / Yom shishi, 12 Elul, 5781 By David Orenstein 2021 continues to be an opportunity for historians of Canadian Science and Technology to celebrate centennials, including today’s commemoration … Continue reading Montreal Engineer New NRC Chairman: One Hundred Years Ago Yesterday →

Telegraph Schools: The Development of Technical Education in Canada

Telegraph Schools: The Development of Technical Education in Canada By Michael Feagan Developing and using large telecommunications networks requires a body of workers skilled and knowledgeable in operating and maintaining that network. In the nineteenth century this training was done through apprenticeships or learning while working other positions at the telegraph office, such as a … Continue reading Telegraph Schools: The Development of Technical Education in Canada →

CSTHA Conference Application Deadline Extended to Aug. 29th

Call for Papers: Science, Technology, and History in Times of Crisis CSTHA Virtual Conference 4-7 November 2021 NEW Deadline for proposals: 29 August 2021 Please click here to download this notice as a PDF: CSTHA 2021 We invite scholars and researchers to the biennial conference of the Canadian Science and Technology Historical Association to explore … Continue reading CSTHA Conference Application Deadline Extended to Aug. 29th →

The Origins of the Electric Telegraph in Canada

175 Years of Telecommunications: The Origins of the Electric Telegraph in Canada By Michael Feagan During the spring of 1844, Samuel B. Morse sent the first American telegraph over an experimental line from Washington to Baltimore. The message was “What hath God wrought?” It was a biblical message that resounded in a triumphant and apocalyptic … Continue reading The Origins of the Electric Telegraph in Canada →

Creating the Electric Tree Pt. 3: Conflict and Compromise

Part 3 Creating the Electric Tree: Conflict and Compromise By Michael Feagan Historians of the telephone have often pointed out the social significance of public reactions to the overcrowding of poles and wires in late nineteenth-century cities. One of the first Canadian historians to recognize social conflict over poles and wires was Robert Collins, who … Continue reading Creating the Electric Tree Pt. 3: Conflict and Compromise →

Insulin at 100: July 1921

Insulin at 100: July 1921 One of the 1921-2021 Centennials in the History of Canadian Science and Technology First posted Friday, July 23, 2021 / Yom shishi, 14 Av, 5781. By David Orenstein, Danforth CTI, Retired Back in the good old days, pre-pandemic that is, if I had writer’s block on any project, large or … Continue reading Insulin at 100: July 1921 →

Scientia Canadensis v. 43 n. 1

The latest number of Scientia Canadensis (43, no. 1) is now available on Erudit. Articles include: Jennifer J. Connor, "An Author’s Delusion in Victorian Canada: Richard Maurice Bucke and Transnational Publishing of Popular Science." J. T. H. Connor, "Bibliographic Ghostbusting: The Evanescent Life and Spirited Times of the Canadian Journal of Homoeopathy (1856-57)." Raphaël Pelletier, … Continue reading Scientia Canadensis v. 43 n. 1 →

Creating the Electric Tree Pt. 2

Part 2 Creating the Electric Tree: Physical Limitations of Telephone Poles and Wires By Michael Feagan This is the second entry in a three-part series on the history of utility poles in Canada. Click here to read Part 1. Although the standard for telephone poles was set for forty-feet tall, many poles went well over … Continue reading Creating the Electric Tree Pt. 2 →