Little, J.I. 1947–

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Little, J.I. 1947–

(John Irvine Little)

PERSONAL:

Born 1947.

ADDRESSES:

Office—History Department, Simon Fraser University, 8888 University Dr., Burnaby, British Columbia V5A 1S6, Canada. E-mail—[email protected].

CAREER:

Historian, educator, writer, and editor. Simon Fraser University, Burnaby, British Columbia, Canada, professor and chair of the history department.

WRITINGS:

Colonizing an Eastern Frontier: Compton County, Quebec, National Museum of Man, National Museums of Canada, (Ottawa, Ontario, Canada), 1981.

Nationalism, Capitalism, and Colonization in Nineteenth-Century Quebec: The Upper St. Francis District, McGill-Queen's University Press (Kingston, Ontario, Canada), 1989.

Ethno-Cultural Transition and Regional Identity in the Eastern Townships of Quebec, Canadian Historical Association (Ottawa, Ontario, Canada), 1989.

Crofters and Habitants: Settler Society, Economy, and Culture in a Quebec Township, 1848-1881, McGill-Queen's University Press (Buffalo, NY), 1991.

(Editor) The Child Letters: Public and Private Life in a Canadian Merchant-Politician's Family, 1841-1845, McGill-Queen's University Press (Buffalo, NY), 1995.

State and Society in Transition: The Politics of Institutional Reform in the Eastern Townships, 1838-1852, McGill-Queen's University Press (Buffalo, NY), 1997.

(Editor) Love Strong as Death: Lucy Peel's Canadian Journal, 1833-1836, Wilfrid Laurier University Press (Waterloo, Ontario, Canada), 2001.

Borderland Religion: The Emergence of an English-Canadian Identity, 1792-1852, University of Toronto Press (Buffalo, NY), 2004.

The Other Quebec: Microhistorical Essays on Nineteenth-Century Religion and Society, University of Toronto Press (Buffalo, NY), 2006.

Contributor to books, including The Immigrant Experience, edited by Catherine Kerrigan, University of Guelph, 1992; and On the Margins of the Family, edited by Nancy Christie and Michael Gauvreau, McGill-Queen's University Press, 2003. Contributor to periodicals, including Histoire sociale—Social History, Scottish Economic and Social History, Canadian Papers in Rural History, Journal of Canadian Studies, Labour/Le Travail, Journal of the Early Republic, Journal of the Canadian Historical Association, Journal of Historical Geography, Canadian Historical Review, Historical Studies in Education, Studies in Religion, Revue d'histoire de l'Amérique Française, Journal of Eastern Townships Studies, and the Journal of Family History.

SIDELIGHTS:

J.I. Little is a historian who specializes in the history of Quebec, Canada. He has written a number of studies on the communities established in the Eastern Townships in that province, including those started by families from the Isle of Lewis and the Isle of Arran.

In a review of Little's 1989 book Nationalism, Capitalism, and Colonization in Nineteenth-Century Quebec: The Upper St. Francis District, Business History Review contributor Peter Way noted: "J.I. Little takes a fresh look at an old topic—the Quebec colonization movement—by examining the understudied Eastern Shore from the perspective of both French Canadian nationalism and large-scale business enterprise." Writing in the book's preface, the author notes that he examines "the agents of colonization (basically church, state and capital, but also certain key individuals) as well as their impact on a specific Quebec frontier. The historical, geographical and theoretical context is established in the first chapter, and each of the following chapters focuses on a particular project or enterprise which influenced the socio-economic development of the upper St. Francis district."

For example, the author addresses how Canadians failed to question the model of company-lease Crown forest reserves or to show interest in the more efficient Scandinavian model of small-scale, privately owned woodlots. In the process, he writes of the ideological contradictions and social costs that have resulted from the entrenchment of the large-scale lumber companies. "Little's account is written in a straightforward fashion, and he makes good use of business and state records," noted Way in the Business History Review.

Crofters and Habitants: Settler Society, Economy, and Culture in a Quebec Township, 1848-1881, published in 1991, was called "an invaluable case study of a settler society in Winslow township, Quebec," by Urban History Review contributor Francoise Noel. The book explores how two very distinct social groups—the Gaelic-speaking crofters from the Isle of Lewis in the Outer Hebrides and the French-speaking habitants from south of Quebec City—adapted to the rugged physical environment of the Appalachian plateau of southeastern Quebec. Noel noted: "Marginal areas are seldom chosen for detailed study. This welldocumented and lucid study therefore makes an important contribution to our knowledge of the settlement process in nineteenth century British North America/Canada."

Little is also the editor of The Child Letters: Public and Private Life in a Canadian Merchant-Politician's Family, 1841-1845. The book examines the nineteenthcentury society of the Eastern Townships of Lower Canada (Quebec) via the letters of Marcus Child, a Member of the Legislative Assembly (MLA) of the province, and his family. Via these letters, which discuss both political and family issues, the author provides a detailed history of the township's politics during the 1830s and the 1840s. In addition, the correspondences present a view of society at that time outside of the lives of the small British-born elite.

"There are many published volumes of memoirs and correspondence which could serve as raw materials for similar analyses in Canada," the author writes in the book's introduction, "though most of them emanate from British settlers of the gentry class." The author went on to note that "they represent the views and experiences of a rather narrow segment of society." The author also commented in his introduction: "The Child family's letters deserve a wider audience if only because the family were members of two crucially important but historically neglected groups, the post-Loyalist settlers and the pre-industrial middle class."

Among the issues discussed in the letters, which represent almost a daily correspondence between Child and his family, are religion and moral reform, local life in Stanstead village, and vignettes of social life in Kingston. Little also notes that the letters support other new findings that gender identities were not as strictly defined during this era. "Little spends a good deal of time analyzing Child's relationship with his wife and children, attempting to place them into the historical debate over gender roles and family domesticity," commented Eric Jarvis in the American Review of Canadian Studies. Jarvis went on to write in the same review that "in a subtle way, the Child letters … speak to the reader and … provide an understanding of the historical context of the age."

In his 2004 book Borderland Religion: The Emergence of an English-Canadian Identity, 1792-1852, the author explores how religion helped forge a distinctive national identity for English-Canadians and why radical evangelical churches from New England failed to make inroads into the lives of its close Canadian neighbors, even though most of the people in that region were of American origin. As a result, according to the author, a common culture became differentiated on either side of an international boundary line.

"The standard techniques of popular history are well utilized—copious statistical analyses, census records, church records, church newspapers, diaries, and personal letters," noted Edward Smith in a review of Borderland Religion in the Canadian Historical Review. "Little's use of local histories is admirable because these tenaciously detailed sources are too often ignored by academic historians." Brian Clarke wrote in Church History: "Readers in the United States will also find this book of interest for the new light it sheds on the distinctive character of American religion."

The Other Quebec: Microhistorical Essays on Nineteenth-Century Religion and Society was published in 2006 and features seven essays by the author, and one by Marguerite Van Die, that examine the role and influence of religion on the Eastern Townships of Canada. Drawing on diaries, personal letters, and other sources, the essays provide a look at the lives of ordinary people and the complex ways that religious beliefs and institutions influenced rural societies.

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

BOOKS

Little, J.I., Nationalism, Capitalism, and Colonization in Nineteenth-Century Quebec: The Upper St. Francis District, McGill-Queen's University Press (Kingston, Ontario, Canada), 1989.

Little, J.I., editor, The Child Letters: Public and Private Life in a Canadian Merchant-Politician's Family, 1841-1845, McGill-Queen's University Press (Buffalo, NY), 1995.

PERIODICALS

American Historical Review, February, 1999, Francoise Noel, review of State and Society in Transition: The Politics of Institutional Reform in the Eastern Townships, 1838-1852, p. 172; April, 2006, Stephen A. Marini, review of Borderland Religion: The Emergence of an English-Canadian Identity, 1792-1852, p. 460.

American Review of Canadian Studies, springsummer, 1998, Eric Jarvis, review of The Child Letters, p. 200.

Beaver: Exploring Canada's History, April, 1991, J.M. Bumstead, review of Nationalism, Capitalism, and Colonization in Nineteenth-Century Quebec, p. 55.

Business History Review, winter, 1991, Peter Way, review of Nationalism, Capitalism, and Colonization in Nineteenth-Century Quebec, p. 998.

Canadian Book Review Annual, annual, 2004, Jay Newman, review of Borderland Religion, p. 102.

Canadian Historical Review, September, 1990, review of Nationalism, Capitalism, and Colonization in Nineteenth-Century Quebec, p. 416; September, 1993, David B. Demeritt, review of Crofters and Habitants: Settler Society, Economy, and Culture in a Quebec Township, 1848-1881, p. 465; March, 1996, David A. Sutherland, review of The Child Letters, p. 140; March, 1999, Anne Drummond, review of State and Society in Transition, p. 171; December, 2005, Edward Smith, review of Borderland Religion, p. 706.

Choice: Current Reviews for Academic Libraries, September, 1997, review of State and Society in Transition, p. 197.

Church History, June, 2006, Brian Clarke, review of Borderland Religion, p. 452; September, 2007, Michael Gauvreau, review of The Other Quebec: Microhistorical Essays on Nineteenth-Century Religion and Society, p. 672.

Ethnic and Racial Studies, April, 1990, Henry Roper, review of Nationalism, Capitalism, and Colonization in Nineteenth-Century Quebec, p. 299; October, 1994, Henry Roper, review of Crofters and Habitants, p. 704.

Historical Studies, annual, 2006, Robert Choquette, review of Borderland Religion, p. 122; annual, 2007, Louis-Georges Harvey, review of The Other Quebec, p. 90.

History: The Journal of the Historical Association, October, 1990, Ged Martin, review of Nationalism, Capitalism, and Colonization in Nineteenth-Century Quebec, p. 463.

International History Review, September, 2002, Marguerite Van Die, review of Love Strong as Death: Lucy Peel's Canadian Journal, 1833-1836, p. 644.

Journal of Canadian Studies, spring, 1997, Colin M. Coates, review of Crofters and Habitants, p. 167.

Journal of Eastern Township Studies, spring, 2006, Guy Laperriere, review of Borderland Religion, p. 78.

Journal of Interdisciplinary History, winter, 1995, John Zucchi, review of Crofters and Habitants, p. 556; summer, 2006, Nancy Christie, review of Borderland Religion, p. 163.

Journal of Social History, winter, 1993, Fernand Ouellet, review of Crofters and Habitants, p. 433.

Labour/Le Travail, spring, 2002, Sylvie Depatie, review of State and Society in Transition, p. 293.

Reference & Research Book News, November, 2001, review of Love Strong as Death, p. 58; February, 2005, review of Borderland Religion, p. 79.

University of Toronto Quarterly, winter, 2002, Kathryn Carter, review of Love Strong as Death, p. 456.

Urban History Review, March, 1993, Francoise Noel, review of Crofters and Habitants, p. 127.