Peeking into the past



Image credit: The Globe and Mail



On Wednesday, I received a digital version of The Globe and Mail's 1911 Christmas edition.

Based on that edition, you wouldn't know that the world was undergoing technological, artistic, business and political change. The year 1911 marked:

• a shift in Canadian politics as Sir Robert Borden replaced Sir Wilfred Laurier; 
• the Mona Lisa's theft from the Louvre;
• the coronation of King George V and Queen Mary in Westminister Abbey; 
• Mexican revolutions;
• a U.S. antitrust ruling against oil baron and philanthropist John D. Rockefeller's Standard Oil prompts the company to divide into 34 companies and results in increased profits;
• Louis Chevrolet and William C. Durant founding Chevrolet;
• Nobel Laureate Ernest Rutherford's major advances with atoms;
• the acquisition of Hollerith Tabulating Machine Company (its new parent company would eventually brand itself IBM);
• the death of Joseph Pulitzer (namesake of the Pulitzer Prizes); and,
• the births of Marshall McLuha, William Golding and Tennessee Williams

I usually rely on history books, classic literature and art for a glimpse of yesteryear, but in this case a digital rendition of a newspaper transported me back a full century.

The detailed illustrations, sheet music, tales and even the advertisements present a rural, patriarchal picture of Canada and Canadians. By 1911, our country was prospering, but had yet to shed all its innocence and enter a truly industrial age.

That peek into the past made me smile. I thank the editors, illustrators, designers, writers and even the advertisers for serving up today's helping of

      AWESOME!

Check it out for yourself:  http://ezine.dmdigital1.com/Globe1911Christmas/ (I recommend page 46 for all my Island readers.)