The George Stanley Lecture Series in Canadian Studies
Sackville, New Brunswick
On 13 September 2002, Canadians were
saddened to learn of the death of
Dr.
George F.G. Stanley. Dr. Stanley was an outstanding Canadian who had
longstanding ties to Mount Allison University.
Dr. Stanley was educated at the University of Alberta and at Oxford
University where he held a Rhodes Scholarship. He joined the History
Department at Mount Allison in 1936. In 1947, he left Sackville to take up
a Chair in Canadian History at the University of British Columbia. In
1949, he moved once again, becoming Head of the Department of History at
the Royal Military College. He spent 20 years at RMC, also serving as
Dean of Arts.
In 1969, Dr. Stanley returned to Mount Allison to become the first
Director of Canadian Studies, a position he held until his retirement in
1975. George Stanley was a prolific scholar having authored many books and
scholarly articles. He also served a President of the Canadian Historical
Association, was a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada, a Companion of
the Order of Canada and is credited with having suggested the design for
the Canadian flag. In 1982, Dr. Stanley began a five-year term as
Lieutenant-Governor of the province of New Brunswick.
Dr. Stanley left a great legacy at Mount Allison University, and we were
delighted to honor his contributions this year by launching the George
Stanley lecture in Canadian Studies. The Stanley Lecture is an occasional
lecture presented by an accomplished Mount Allison professor.
The inaugural address was given on
20 March 2003 by Dr. Bill Godfrey. Dr. Godfrey
is a long time member of Mount Allison's History Department. Bill is a
widely published author and has a long association with Canadian Studies.
His Stanley Lecture, entitled "Why Write a History of the Moncton
Hospital?" centered around his new book The Struggle to Serve: A History of
the Moncton Hospital, 1895 to 1953 (McGill-Queen's University Press). An
overview of the book follows.
The Struggle to Serve: A History of the Moncton Hospital, 1895 to 1953:
The first half of the twentieth century witnessed the creation of Canada's
modern hospital system. While a progressive and successful inevitability
is often assumed about this process, in many small communities the
emergence and growth of public hospitals was not easily accomplished.
Through the prism of New Brunswick's Moncton Hospital this continuing
"struggle to serve" is analyzed and placed in a broader North American
context. In an era of government cutbacks in health services and
comparisons with a more privatized American system, this is a timely
examination of Canada's hospital experience as a slow journey from largely
privately funded to increasingly governmentally funded institutions.
Employing documentation within one hospital and the communities it served
along with an intertwined overview of local, provincial and federal
hospital policies, or non-policies, revises the sometimes rose-tinted
picture of public and private acceptance and generosity. The relationship
between the hospital's urban and rural constituencies and its French- and
English-speaking patients is explored to demonstrate how ever-increasing
patient numbers meshed with changing funding sources to achieve substantial
growth in hospital services during the 1895 to 1953 period. Focusing on
the financial, political and professional forces that shaped the Moncton
Hospital facilitates consideration of patients, personnel, funding and the
public debates. How one community understood the role of the hospital and
how community use and perceptions change over time is matched with the
make-up and impact of hospital advocates, board members and support groups
such as the Ladies' Aid. The external efforts of hospital supporters and
staff to gain political and economic support is at the heart of this study
because hospital history is as much a study of politics and community
persuasion as it is of internal therapeutic advances.
The Struggle to Serve moves hospital studies in a largely unexplored
direction while contributing to an under-researched area of Canadian
history. It is directed at both general and scholarly audiences and
increases our understanding of medical, nursing, urban and Atlantic
Canadian history.
Joanne Goodrich
Administrative Assistant
Centre for Canadian Studies
Mount Allison University
63D York Street
Sackville, N.B
Canada E4L 1G9
Tel (506)364-2264
Fax: (506) 364-2645
e-mail jgoodric@mta.ca
For more information about the
George Stanley Lecture Series,
please contact Dr. Andrew Nurse, the Centre's Director at
anurse@mta.ca
The second Stanley Lecture in Canadian Studies will be presented by Professor
Thaddeus Holownia on Wednesday, 28 January 2004 at 7:30 p.m. in the Owens
Art Gallery, Mount Allison University.
The 2006 Stanley Lecture in Canadian Studies will be presented by Dr. Alex Fancy
(Drama and Modern Languages, Mount Allison University). The lecture, entitled "Mon pays,
c'est un balcon: Text, Image and Voice in Québécois Theatre", will be delivered on Monday,
6 March 2006 at 7:30 p.m. in the Owens Art Gallery, Mount Allison University.