Western and the Hilborn Issue

 

   Professor Kenneth Hilborn was a member of the History Department at the University of Western Ontario (now Western University) for many years. When he died, he bequeathed a significant amount of money to the University, most of which is used to fund scholarships for prospective students of history. To those scholarships, his name is attached. 

  Two recent articles indicate that Western University has undertaken a court action to have his name removed from those scholarships. The reprehensible Professor Emeritus held views that are now not acceptable.

   If there is any debate about the action of the University, up at the University, I am unaware of it. It could simply be that Professor Hilborn was an awful person, or perhaps it is that no one wants to publicly challenge those who think Hilborn horrible. It is not a good time to come to the defence of someone whose views are so at odds with the Zeitgeist which exists, at least on college campuses. Hilborn’s always were.

   There is no doubt that Professor Hilborn was a zealous, right-wing, very anti-communist conservative. The degree to which he was a ‘racist’ is more debatable as is the contention that he opposed LGBTQ rights, as well as the assertion that he caused “epistemic violence by suppressing, dismissing and trivializing people who were oppressed, vulnerable or discriminated against.” 

   Apparently those words are found in a document produced by a research group in Western’s history department, which is at odds with another history department document produced a few years ago when Hilborn first became an issue. It has been suggested that the new criticism from within the department is what led the University to seek to remove Hilborn’s name.

   The first two simple paragraphs are basically correct, but the issue is a complex one better examined by others. I think it is worth doing so and will provide all you need to proceed. Background about Hilborn and the donation is included below, as well as the articles which attack Hilborn. The response to those attacks by Professor Francine McKenzie, a professor at Western, is a good one I think, and, among other things, indicates that there are no stipulations with the scholarships that suggest that students have to devote themselves to studying only the types of revolting ideas promoted by Professor Hilborn. I also don’t think it likely that Professor Hilborn insisted that the Department agree with his ideas when the money was given or that it endorse his ideas after he was gone.

   I am interested in this because I am assuming that the University is asking for Hilborn’s name to be removed, but has no intention of relinquishing the money. I find that baffling and wonder if Western would have pursued this course if Hilborn had any remaining relatives. If his name is unacceptable, then his money should be as well.

   I also will declare an interest. I was a student in the History Department at Western and also was an employee of the University. I knew Hilborn as well as anybody, which means I knew him not at all. He lived alone and was regarded by many as a rather “odd duck.” He walked from south London to the north with a briefcase in one hand and the newspaper in the other which he read as he walked. He was thought to be wealthy (and obviously was), knew about Kurgerrands, but clearly never spent any to update his wardrobe.

   He was outspoken and frequently confronted those who were opposed to the Vietnam war or those who wished to divest from South Africa. If you want to know what he thought you simply have to look at his letters to Western News and I have included one sample from the hundreds he wrote. If you would like to examine some of his arguments, they are plainly on display and you will see also from the many rejoinders he produced, that he was a tough guy to argue with. His views were well known, but I am sure that if he had pushed and promoted them excessively in the classroom or inflicted punishing grades on those who disagreed, purely on ideological grounds, the department would have heard about it. 

   He taught a course on “Totalitarianism” and I am pretty sure he was against it. One has to at least admire his prescience and if he were alive today he would have a chance to see it in action on campus.

Sources:

Information About Professor Hilborn and the Scholarships:

In Memoriam: 2013
In memoriam - Kenneth Hilborn (posted Dec. 11)
Professor Emeritus Kenneth Hilborn, who retired in 1997 from Western's Department of History, died peacefully at home in London, Ontario, on Thursday, November 21 in his 79th year. Prior to his retirement Professor Hilborn had 36 years of service at Western where he taught courses in International Relations. Professor Hilborn was a graduate of Queen's University (Kingston) and the University of Oxford. He was the son of the late Harry W. Hilborn and the late Marguerite Mary Carr Hilborn. Cremation has taken place. Internment at Mount Pleasant Cemetery. Expressions of sympathy may be made through London Cremation Services (519) 672-0459 or online at www.londoncremation.com

The Donation Announcement, 2016. 

The Donation Announcement, Sept, 1, 2016

“Donation From the Estate of Professor Ken Hilborn Creates Awards for History Students,” Western Social Science News and Updates, Sept.1, 2016.

The Recent Articles about "The Hilborn Issue:"

“Western University Seeks Court Approval to Rename Scholarships Honouring 'racist' Professor: Late London Prof Spoke out Against Multiculturalism, Feminism, Student Activism, LGBTQ Rights,” by Colin Butler, CBC NEWS, Sept. 7, 2022.

"Western University is seeking permission from an Ontario court to remove the name of an emeritus history professor from six academic prizes funded by his estate following criticism that he espoused radical, racist views."

“Western Seeking to Remove ‘racist’ Professor’s Name From 6 Scholarships,” Estella Ren, The Gazette, Sept. 8, 2022

The Criticism of Hilborn and the Scholarships:

“University Donations and the Legitimization of Far-Right Views,” Asa McKercher, Active History, Sept. 14, 2019.
This article is cited in the CBC article noted above. Professor McKercher is in the History Department at the Royal Military College.  He notes that Hilborn did not publish enough and that what he did publish would not have been accepted in respected academic publications. He does make a good point at the conclusion about universities having to be careful of donors with "questionable motives", but apparently Hilborn's was to "reward academic achievement amongst history students."

“Congress 2020, Interrupted: Racism and Commemoration in Western University’s Department of History,” Will Langford, Active History, May 5, 2020.
This essay is also cited in the CBC article. Professor Langford thinks Hilborn was a racist, associated too closely with unsavoury characters on the far right, and a supporter of "Western Civ." Prof. Langford argues that those on the right, mix up and conflate academic freedom and free speech. It is worth reading his related articles which touch upon Rushton and Jordan Peterson. 
See: “Congress 2020, Interrupted: Racism, Academic Freedom, and the Far Right, 1970s-1990s,” Active History, 28 April 2020, https://activehistory.ca/2020/04/congress-2020-interrupted-racism-academic-freedom-and-the-far-right-1970s-1990s/ 
“Congress 2020, Interrupted: A Brief History of University Codes of Conduct,” Active History, 21 April 2020, https://activehistory.ca/2020/04/congress-2020-a-brief-history-of-university-codes-of-conduct/

I did not and do not agree with most of Hilborn's views, but feel strongly that he had the right to express them. My views about free speech and academic freedom are less nuanced than Professor Langford's and they are expressed here: "Free Speech & Ontario Universities."

The Response to the Criticisms by Professor McKenzie:

“Western’s History Department and the Hilborn Student Awards,” Francine McKenzie, Active History, May 7, 2020.
"While Hilborn was a faculty member, his controversial and objectionable views provoked critical responses from faculty and students.  Few current members of the History Department knew Ken Hilborn or were aware of his political and personal beliefs. After Asa McKercher’s essay appeared in Active History in September 2019, the department discussed the implications of having student awards created through his bequest and decided that the awards should stay."

A Sample of One of Hilborn's Letters to Western News:
    

   Those who wish to examine Hilborn's opinions have the opportunity to do so by visiting the Western News website. The folks at Western Libraries' Archives and Special Collections are to be commended for digitizing the print issues which go back to the early 1970s. 

    The issues are searchable and the results are always interesting. The "Letters to the Editor" section is particularly useful for those interested in the thoughts and ideas expressed by faculty and students in the latter part of the last century and the first part of this one. The "Letters" seem to have ceased around the time the Western News became digital in 2018.

    That may not be such a loss. I doubt that those on campus would feel as free to express themselves these days. Plus it may also be the case that faculty have less time to write letters which help not at all in advancing careers. The Hilborn critics often attack him for his polemicizing and for not publishing more academic articles, but students surely learned more from the letters published and rebutted than the academic articles printed and they were more widely read.

   

   Here is an example of an exchange between Hilborn and another faculty member over the South African issue. Presented first is a letter challenging one of Hilborn's earlier letters. Hilborn's rejoinder follows. There are many such letters and rejoinders and they are usually even longer.

   Here is the link to the Western News Archive. 

Baguley Letter _ Nov. 3, 1988, p.4.
Both 'a sustained argument' and 'a source of wonder...'

 Dear Sir: New readers of Western News should be warned that periodically dull and predictable letters from Kenneth H. W. Hilborn appear in this column defending the regime of South Africa as a bulwark against communism. Hilborn's recent effort (20 October 1988) has at least the merit of presenting a sustained argument (against 'divestment'), for what it is worth. It also has the merit of containing an analysis of the plight of what he calls the 'economically vulnerable mass' of black South Africans. Yet it is a source of wonder why, with the economically and politically invulnerable advantages of a professor's salary, tenure and a free society, he should not be more sympathetic to their plight and should be so resolute in justifying the status quo in the regime that oppresses them. David Baguley, French Department.

Hilborn Letter Nov. 10, 1988, p.4

Critics fail to challenge accuracy, logic of case 

Dear Sir: To borrow some of the phraseology used by David Baguley in attacking me (letter, Nov. 3), "new readers of Western News should be warned" that letters like Baguley's, criticizing me and misrepresenting what! have written, "periodically ... appear in this column." 

   The most conspicuous characteristic shared by most (if not all) of these letters is their authors' failure to challenge either the accuracy of the information I cite or the logic I use in drawing conclusions from the evidence presented. My critics prefer instead to condemn me, as Baguley does, for being "dull" — or something equally irrelevant to the issue under discussion. At least in a university, if not on a political platform, it is surely more important to be accurate and logical than to avoid being dull. 

   Occasionally, critics also condemn me for "defending" somebody wicked —even when I have said nothing whatever about the actually or allegedly wicked people in question. Thus Baguley accuses me of "defending the regime of South Africa" and "justifying the status quo in the regime," even though my two recent letters opposing "divestment" (published by Western News on Sept. 29 and Oct. 20) contain not a single reference to that government, nor a single argument "justifying" South Africa's domestic status quo.

    In the 1950s, some American politicians used to suggest that any opponent of various hard-line anti-Communist policies must be a supporter of communism. Baguley has borrowed this McCarthyite technique and adapted it to his own purposes, by implying that opposition to divestment means support for apartheid. It is disappointing to find an academic displaying no more respect than politicians do for intellectual distinctions. I am mystified by Baguley's contention that I should be "more sympathetic" to the plight of economically vulnerable South African blacks. I have argued repeatedly against economic sanctions, including bans on investment that would inevitably inflict further hardships on these vulnerable people — sanctions that they themselves (as distinct from well-fed "leaders") clearly oppose. Does Baguley imagine that those willing to see blacks suffer from greater unemployment are expressing sympathy for them more effectively? 

   Finally, I hope that Baguley (whose specialty is French) will endeavor to improve his style in English. His letter contains this sequence of words: ". . that periodically dull and predictable letters from Kenneth H. W. Hilborn appear in this column. . ." I believe Baguley meant not that my letters are periodically dull and predictable, but rather that my dull and predictable letters appear periodically. When an adverb is intended to modify a verb, I think it better to place the adverb in close proximity to the verb rather than before an adjective more than half a dozen words away. We faculty members should set the students a good example in these matters.

Kenneth H.W. Hilborn

Department of History 

Post Script:

  If the old issues relating to the Vietnam war and South Africa are not of interest to you, but newer ones like the BDS Movement and the Middle East are, then do a search for "Hilborn and Chomsky." In 1987, Chomsky was invited to speak as an alternative to Henry Kissinger who wanted the USC to pay him $31,000. The debate that ensued between groups such as Hillel, UWO Canadians Concerned For the Middle East and others, will be of interest to those concerned with more recent political problems.

The Bonus:

  For two assessments of members of the UWO History Department whose characters are not questioned see: N.S.B.Gras and Wallace Klippert Ferguson.

  As for the matter of character questioning, here are two quotes I provided in a post about "Historical Censoriousness":

" Yet we need to be charitable about the moral failings of our ancestors - not as an act of charity to them but as an act of charity to ourselves.  Our own unconscious assumptions and cultural habits are doubtless just as impregnated with bias as theirs were. We should be kind to them, as we ask the future to be kind to us."

and

“The dispensing of moral judgments upon people or upon actions in retrospect,” wrote Butterfield, is the “most useless and unproductive of all forms of reflection.”

For The Foodies

    

   Thanksgiving will be here soon, so here are some more resources for those who like to cook. In "Food History" you were provided with menus, recipes, books about food and libraries which had large culinary collections. Add to all of that, this article from Atlas Obscura: "4 Library Collections Filled With Culinary Treasures: They're Saving Food History For the Future," Anne Ewbank, Sept. 19, 2022. 
   The four are: 
1) University of California, Davis, Wine Library (I discussed this one in "Libraries as Cabinets of Curiosities".)
2) University of Texas at San Antonio Mexican Cookbook Collection
3) New York Public Library Jewish Cookbook Collection
4) Janice Bluestein Longone Culinary Archive
("Last month, Janice Bluestein Longone passed away at the age of 89. Her passion for food and culinary history led her, in 1972, to launch a rare culinary books business out of her home in Ann Arbor, Michigan. Food luminaries such as Julia Child and James Beard often sought her out for research help.More than 20 years ago, Longone and her husband began donating their prodigious collection to the University of Michigan. Today, the archive consists of nearly 25,000 books and other food-related items, a testament to Longone’s dedication to seeking out, sharing, and preserving culinary history.")

Cooking Resources Up At Western University

   The Archives and Special Collections in the Western Libraries has recently digitized some books and papers that contain food recipes as well as some medical ones. The History Cookery Collection offers the Crete and Emily Chadwick's Recipe Scrapbooks and a few others. Although no information is offered about either Crete or Emily, apparently they were members of the Chadwick family from Ingersoll. A finding aid to that collection is found here: The Chadwick Family Papers. 

     Check with the folks up at the Archives Collection in the D.B. Weldon Library for additional information. 

The Bonus:
   If you are cooking for a literary crowd see, "Cooking With the MLA.

Hail Again

  

   Back in May I discovered that hail storms were hazardous and perhaps becoming more so. The post that resulted is full of information about hail and, as usual, provides sources where more can be found. Even if you aren't interested in hail, you will be if you read that post - "Hail Storms- Something Else to Worry About." 

  Why now in the fall am I again writing about hail? It is because, here in London, there are people involved in The Northern Hail Project. That involvement has even attracted the attention of the New York Times which recently wrote about it. Given that Mulcahy's Miscellany has inadvertently become a repository of a considerable amount of hard-to-come-by hail information, I may as well provide some more.

  Having already invested more time in this meteorological event than intended I will simply provide the links to the sources along with some of the information contained within them. Just as hailstones melt, links have a tendency to rot. 

  Here is the story about the folks up at Western who found some very large hailstones. "Northern Hail Project Recovers Record-breaking Hailstone: Rare Giant Specimen Aids Better Understanding of Hailstorms,"By Jeff Renaud, Western News, August 03, 2022.

"A Canadian record-breaking hailstone was recovered by Western University’s Northern Hail Project (NHP) field team, following a storm earlier this week near Markerville, Alta. The record-breaker weighs 292.71 grams, eclipsing the previous title holder – a hailstone weighing 290 grams, collected nearly 50 years ago in Cedoux, Sask. on July 31, 1973.
With a diameter of 123 millimetres, the hailstone has a slightly larger span than a standard DVD (120 mm).
Led by Francis Lavigne-Theriault, the NHP field team followed a storm to Markerville (about 35 kilometers southwest of Red Deer, Alta.) and found several baseball-sized hailstones.
The team traveled farther south and approximately 20 minutes after the storm had passed (6:14 pm MDT) and recovered several larger hailstones under a tree canopy, many of which are grapefruit to softball-size including the record breaker.
Lavigne-Theriault and the team ultimately collected seven bags at the aforementioned location, all of which are baseball-sized hail or larger (at least 70 millimetres or 2.75 inches in diameter). The samples are currently being stored in a freezer....
“Finding large hailstones like this is like hitting the jackpot so this Markerville sample joins an elite club of giant hailstones,” said Brimelow. “This stone will also help us refine our estimate of just how large it is possible for hail to grow.”Because giant hailstones are so rare, the international research community does not have a good understanding yet of what conditions are required for hailstorms to produce them.
“Every new data point helps inform us on what conditions are required,” said Brimelow. “Once we have measured and 3D-scanned the Markerville hailstone, we can then make thin sections. The growth layers evident in those will reveal information on the hailstone’s growth history in the storm.”

  Here is the story as reported in the New York Times. Some content is provided since it is found behind the NYT's paywall. 

"The Hunt for Big Hail: Hailstones of Record Size are Falling Left and Right, and Hailstorm Damage is Growing. But There is Surprisingly Little Research to Explain Why,"

By Oliver Whang ,Sept. 5, 2022

"In August, a couple of days before his 68th birthday, Leslie Scott, a cattle rancher in Vivian, S.D., went to the post office, where he received some bad news. His world record had been broken, the clerk told him. That is, the hailstone Mr. Scott collected in 2010, which measured eight inches across and weighed nearly two pounds, was no longer the largest ever recorded. Some people in Canada had found a bigger one, the clerk said.

“I was sad all over the weekend,” Mr. Scott said, a few days after he heard the news. “I’ve been telling everybody that my record was broke.”

Fortunately for Mr. Scott, this was not quite right. On Aug. 1, a team of scientists from Western University in London, Ontario, collected a giant hailstone while chasing a storm in Alberta, about 75 miles north of Calgary. The hailstone measured five inches across and weighed a little more than half a pound — half the size and one-quarter the heft of Mr. Scott’s. So it was not a world record, but a Canadian one.

The Canadian hailstone added to the list of regional records set in the past couple of years, including Alabama’s in 2018 (5.38 inches long, 0.612 pounds), Colorado’s in 2019 (4.83 inches, 0.53 pounds) and Africa’s in 2020 (around seven inches long, weight unknown). Australia set a national record in 2020, then set it again in 2021. Texas’ record was set in 2021. In 2018, a storm in Argentina produced stones so big that a new class of hail was introduced: gargantuan. Larger than a honeydew melon....

Julian Brimelow, the director of the Northern Hail Project, a new collaboration among Canadian organizations to study hail, whose team found the record hailstone in August, said, “It’s a pretty exciting time to be doing hail research.”

Most reports of record hail are made by civilians, but the accuracy is often lacking. The first thing most people do when they find a big hailstone? Take a picture. Second? Show it to their family or friends. Third? Put it in the freezer — where sublimation, the phase change from solid ice to water vapor, can shrink the hailstone over time.

Mr. Scott, in Vivian, kept his world record in the freezer for weeks before someone from the National Weather Service was able to officially measure and weigh it. During that time, it shrank by about three inches, he said. “I just didn’t realize what I had,” he said. “There’s a lot more hailstones that fell, and there were bigger ones than the one I picked up...."

“Hail data are terrible,” Dr. Brimelow said. “It is probably one of the worst data sets on the planet..."

The record hailstone in Canada was collected when the Northern Hail Project intercepted a supercell as it was passing through central Alberta. The researchers used radar forecasting to predict the storm’s path, then pulled up to a stretch of road around 20 minutes after the hail swath had passed. The ground was littered with baseball-size hailstones, the largest of which the researchers bagged and froze.

The biggest hailstones “are really more of an academic interest,” Dr. Brimelow said, because they “fall in such low concentrations that they’re not really as hazardous as golf-ball-size hail.” But, Dr. Kumjian said, looking for “the absolute worst-case scenario” can refine forecasting models and help explain supercell dynamics. Studying single hailstones over time can have an outsize effect on the understanding of storms. And, he said, there is the irresistible question, What is the limit of nature?

Dr. Kumjian and Dr. Brimelow have been creating a database of the largest hailstones recorded around the world. The two believe they have determined the maximum possible size of hail: just over three pounds and around a foot in diameter. They will present their findings in September at the second-ever North American hail research workshop in Boulder, Colo.

Francis Lavigne-Theriault, who coordinates storm chases and field operations for the Northern Hail Project, said the presence of large hail in central Alberta indicated that it probably occurs “a lot more frequently” than previously thought. Dr. Brimelow said that the record was “quite remarkable,” because the conditions for hail formation in the area were generally less “juicy” than other areas in the country."

Sources:

   A website is under development at The Northern Hail Project.

    Related information is found at the Institute For Catastrophic Loss Reduction. Here is their pamphlet: "Protect Your Home From Hail."

Post Script:

   I won't carry on about pluviculture. In the NYT article there is mention of using cloud seeding to help decrease the size of hailstones. These days we generally think of cloud seeding as a way to increase rain and snowfall.  See the Wikipedia entries for "Cloud Seeding" and "Rainmaking" and this recent Washington Post article: "Cloud Seeding Gains Steam As West Faces Worsening Droughts," Maddie Stone, Nov. 21, 2021.

News From Elsewhere

  The weather has turned and I am back at the terminal, for now. While I think of something to write about, I will update you on some stories you may have missed while dealing with the death of the Queen.

Let's Start With Leicester

    Leicester is a city in the country where the Queen reigned. Recently it has experienced some riots and those rioting were primarily Muslims and Hindus. It’s not cricket to suggest that the riots were caused by the cricket match between India and Pakistan, but that appears to have been the catalyst for the violence that began on August 28th and which continued into September. Some have blamed the Hindus, some the Muslims and all have blamed the Internet since misinformation can be shared as quickly as a virus. 

  A source-or-two will be provided below, but the headline in this one suggests that even Canadians should be interested in the local Leicester punch-up: "Leicester Riots a Warning That Violence in UK Can Be Sparked by Global Events, Experts Say Calls for New Measures to Prevent Sectarian Troubles in Other Countries Seeping into Neighbourhoods Here," 

Independent, Sept. 22, 2022

And Then There is Sweden

   Even here in Canada, or at least in southern Ontario, we tend to look up to Sweden, so this headline was surprising: "Gun Violence Epidemic Looms Large Over a Swedish Election." The results of the election were even more surprising: "Anti-immigrant Party Helps Defeat Sweden’s Government." 

Giorgia Meloni

And Now There is Italy

   This news has not happened yet, but it likely will as this headline indicates: 

"Italy Election Set to Crown Meloni Head of Most Right-wing Govt Since WW2," By Crispian Balmer, Reuters, Sept. 22, 2022.

ROME, Sept 22 (Reuters) - Italy's parliamentary election on Sunday could make history, giving the country its first female prime minister at the head of its most right-wing government since World War Two.

What About Canada?

   Although Pierre Poilievre  is now the Leader of the Official Opposition and there is some evidence that Canada is heading in the same direction rightward as the countries mentioned above, the headline attracting my notice was this one: "Worse Air Quality on Earth Recorded in Parts of B.C." which appeared atop the Weather Channel on August 11, and which was followed by this sentence:

"Around 3:00 pm ET on Sunday afternoon Vancouver had an air quality ranking of 199, which is the most severe ranking of all major cities on this day. Lahore, Pakistan came in second with a ranking of 161 and Dubai, United Arab Emirates came in third with a ranking of 158."

The U.S.?

  The only news of note  I could find was this:

The Bonus:

   Climate is of concern everywhere on the planet (except for Texas) and immigration is an issue in most countries. In Canada the focus now is on the potential that immigrants bring, not the potential problems that may come along as baggage.  Perhaps it is worth considering this comment by someone from south of our border, since it may apply here:

"At a time when Americans are already at odds with one another over what we might call core values — the cultural beliefs that glue our country together — it’s reasonable to worry about whether adding newcomers to the mix will complicate the task of forging a common future." From: "The Martha’s Vineyard Migrant Stunt Is Making One Truth About This Country Clear," Farah Stockman,  New York Times,  Sept. 16, 2022.

Sources:

  The headline from LeicestershireLive: 

“What Led to the Ugly Scenes of Violence and Disorder in Leicester?” Adam Moss, Sept. 19, 2022. 

"The issues behind the unrest in the east of the city are far more complex than just a cricket match....

As the country was in a period of official mourning and preparing for the funeral of Queen Elizabeth II, something very different was going on in one part of Leicester.

Tensions had been rising between different minority communities for quite some time, but were then brought into sharp focus after violence broke out following the India v Pakistan cricket match on Sunday, August 28. Further disorder involving members of Hindu and Muslim communities followed over the next fortnight, leading police to launch a major operation in a bid to restore calm."

Such ugly scenes are undoubtedly a mark of shame for Leicester, which is famed around the world for its diversity and regularly celebrates its multicultural nature as a source of strength and pride.

The tensions then continued into Sunday, when the city was suddenly hitting national and international headlines which had previously been dominated by the passing of the monarch. Police officers even had to be diverted from covering the funeral in London to ensure the force in Leicestershire had enough resources to cope with any situation which came their way.

   For more about the Swedish situation see: "Anti-immigrant Party Helps Defeat Sweden’s Government," David Crouch and Emily Rauhala, Washington Post, Sept. 14, 2022.

"The closely watched election has already reshaped Sweden’s political discourse, pushing anti-immigrant and tough-on-crime rhetoric into the political mainstream and deepening fears here about the polarization — or “Americanization” — of Swedish politics."

  

  The photo above does show a hazy Vancouver back in 2020 and the accompanying headline was, "Air Quality Not a Top Concern For Metro Residents, Says Survey," in the appropriately titled Delta Optimist.

Spring Is In The Air!!

Spring in Victoria

 As Fall Approaches

   If I was to go to the store today to pick up a rake for the leaves that will soon fall, I would expect to see shelves full of Halloween grotesqueries and perhaps even hear "Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer" emanating from the speakers. Such assaults on our senses are another reason I avoid shopping and will miss the "Black Friday" sales. Perhaps I already have. At my age it is difficult enough to keep track of the seasons, weeks and days, and presenting such out-of-sync stimuli does not help.

   My award this year for the premature escalation of the seasons goes to Tourism B.C.  On August 19th, I received from them an email with this title: "6 UNFORGETTABLE SPRING EXPERIENCES." Perhaps it is because the tourism industry is just as competitive as the retail one, that such an email was sent so early. Or perhaps it was a boast from B.C. where, in fact, spring does arrive earlier in some parts of it than anywhere else in Canada.

   You should know that I am just trying to make a point and do not at all wish to be perceived as being critical of the tourism folks out in Super, Natural British Columbia. The website "Destination BC" is an excellent one and their emails promoting the province make you want to hop on the nearest train (thus avoiding Pearson.) Have a look at "HELLOBC". It will entertain you during the long winter ahead which may arrive well after the Easter promotions have begun.

Penguin Books

    I see now that it has been over a dozen days since I wrote anything and that means the weather has been good. My last post was about an old friend, Graham Murray, and at the end of it I mentioned that he used to order books for us from the U.K. Many of them were Penguins or Pelicans, but we were younger then and had no need for Puffins for the children yet to come.

   A good description of what resulted from such acquisitions is provided by Penelope Lively. Apart from offering a peek at her library, she also mentions the child-rearing advice offered by one author and laments the loss of many of her books.

"Perhaps my most treasured shelves are those with the old blue Pelicans, over fifty paperbacks, including some seminal titles: F.R. Leavis’s "The Great Tradition," Margaret Mead’s "Growing Up in New Guinea," Richard Hoggart’s "The Uses of Literacy," Richard Titmuss’s "The Gift Relationship." And John Bowlby’s "Child Care and the Growth of Love," which had us young mothers of the midcentury in a fever of guilt if we handed our young children over to someone else for longer than an hour or so lest we risked raising a social psychopath – even the father was considered an inadequate stand-in. Pelicans were the thinking person’s library – for 3 shillings and 6 pence you opened the mind a little further. And Penguin had of course their own flamboyant Dewey system – the splendid color-coding: orange for fiction, green for crime, dark blue for biography and cherry red for travel.
I don’t have enough old Penguins. The Pelicans have survived, but the rest have mostly disappeared – read until in bits, perhaps, of left on beaches or in trains or loaned and not returned. And long gone are the days when a paperback publisher could confidently market a product with no image at all on the cover – just the title and the author’s name, emphatically lettered. Beautiful."

   When I last saw Graham he still had many books spread throughout the house where they are cared for by his wife who, you will be glad to know, appreciates them as much as he did. 

Sources:
  The quotation from Lively is found in: Dancing Fish and Amonites: A Memoir, pp.187-188.
   About Penguin Books you can easily find a lot. Up at Western Libraries there are these four books and more:
Baines, Phil. Penguin By Design: A Cover Story, 1935- 2005.
DBWSTK Z271.3.B65 B35 2005.
Greene, Evelyne. Penguin Books: The Pictorial Cover, 1960-1980, 
Storage: Z121.G726 1981
Morpurgo, J.E. Alan Lane: King Penguin - A Biography
Storage: Z325.L247M67 1979
Wooten, William & George Donaldson. Reading Penguin: A Critical Anthology
DBWSTK Z325.P42R433 2013.
Western Libraries even has a lot of Puffin Books which was the children's imprint of Penguin books. For the reason why Western University Libraries has so much "Kiddie Lit" see this post about Landmark Books.
Here is another description of the colours of the various genres:

Orange = General Fiction (F)
Green = Mystery and Crime (C)
Cerise = Travel and Adventure (T)
Dark Blue = Biography (B)
Grey = World Affairs (W)
Violet = Essays and Belles Lettres (E)
Red = Plays (P)
Yellow = Miscellaneous Penguins (M)

If you are really interested in Penguins, see: Penguin First Editions.

The Bonus: The "Penguincubator."

In 1937, "Allen Lane launched the "Penguincubator", a Penguin pocket book vending machine, which he installed in a busy street in London. By inserting 6 pence you choose and receive your book, or better, several books, as the small text under the photo indicates: "Some ingenious people noticed that a clever manipulation of the buttons of the machine made it possible to receive a pretty quantity of books beyond the 6 pence inserted. Lane hopes further testing will create a thug resistant machine".

From: "A Short History of Book Covers -3/4" Grapheine, July 12, 2017.