Une bibliographie d’histoire religieuse du Canada 1964 2005 Bicrh / Bihrc : 1
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- C. Historical Review
- C. A Second Round of Conversation
- *Appendix Three: A Review of Criteria and Content for Each Section - *A3 Preliminary Note
- 01. Guides: Archives, Bibliographies, Description of Sources / Instruments de travail
- 02. Sources
- 03. General
Respondeo: Choice 1 would be a mistake. Though I fully agree they are a great bother. I believe that the value of the bibliography increases exponentially in direct proportion to the thoroughness with which the cross referencing is accomplished. Choice 2 would be unfortunate, and would greatly restrict the bibliography’s usefulness. Certainly the IT format will greatly facilitate word searches through the larger bibliography. Such searches will leave much concealed however, while the cross-references, while confessedly cumbersome, will reveal far more, in direct proportion to the degree of thoroughness, which in turn depends on the degree of knowledge possessed by those who establish the cross-references. Choice 3. Would conserve all of the value of the cross references, but would require a huge amount of work. Extrapolating from my experience of the last months, I believe it requires roughly forty-five minutes to accomplish the cross referencing for a computer page of about twelve items. Figuring that we are dealing with 1,400 pages of published bibliography, that would mean something in excess of 1,000 hours of work. Certainly a finite number and quite possible to accomplish, but quite beyond the bounds of the present project. Choice 4 is intriguing. It would still require a lot of work, more than I believe could be done just now. But it would mean far less bother in the continuing integration of materials in future years. I think it would be best be done from the beginning, though this is not absolutely necessary. Choice 5 seems most realistic if the cross-referencing is to continue, even in adumbrated format. The one thing is that as time and money become available down the line, perhaps, it can always be improved on. My experience teaches me that returning to projects is always problematic as the New World and New Challenges are ever unfolding. Thus my concern to accomplish as much as possible in the present circumstance. I have long thought that the strength of the integrated bibliography would depend on the thoroughness with which it is cross referenced. I believe the annual bibliographies, through most of their incarnations, have not been thoroughly cross-referenced, primarily due to space concerns, but also in the understanding that it is fairly easy to go through a one-year bibliography. During the last few years I think that the cross-referencing has been more thorough. I have always thought that the final work on the integrated bibliography should be heavily weighted towards concentration on this dimension. For one thing, such concentration would provide a final review as to the desirability of the primary location of an item (of particular moment given the addition of a number of new categories over the years). It is here I had intended to spend a large portion of the final work of integration. As part of the work of the last months I have provided such cross-referencing for volumes 61-68, 1995-2002. Those volumes represent the level of integration I believe the project deserves in order to represent its fullest value to the academic community, as well as to the religious bodies it intends to serve. C. Historical Review: The bibliography began in 1964 and has continued, with a few interruptions in the annual output, to 2005. In the mid-1980s I began the task of integrating the annual bibliographies into a master bibliography, receiving authorization to do so at the CCHA annual conference at the University of Manitoba, in June of 1986. I further secured permission from those who had participated in compiling the bibliography to that time. I began by arranging the bibliography in Pro-Cite, a very powerful dedicated bibliography programme, which continues to be popular today. After further discussion and reflection, however, I decided to abandon the dedicated Pro-Cite programme in favour of proceeding with the arrangement in WordPerfect. I made this decision for three reasons. The first concerned the universal popularity and availability of WP at that time, and through the 1990s. The second concerned the very high cost of purchasing the dedicated programme, which would necessarily restrict access to institutions, or to individuals who could afford the several hundred dollar investment in the programme. The final reason was that requiring the use of this programme would put one more technological obstacle in the way of accessing the materials, at a time when most were yet young in ways computer. Of course, in the interim IT developments, and the NET, renders much, though not all, of these concerns moot. During the next years I arranged funding to hire students, and worked myself, at transferring the items from 1964-1993 into usable electronic format. In 1993 I handed over responsibility for compiling the annual bibliography to the Centre de Recherche at Université St. Paul, with an accompanying 32 page Manual for Canadian Religious Bibliography Collaborators. I also spent most of a research year refining and arranging the materials from the first thirty years into the integrated categories, a total of some 1,066 printed pages of bibliography. John Moir then did a preliminary editing review of that material beginning in the Summer of 1994. By that time, advances in IT, including the NET, suggested that publishing the bibliography in print format was probably not feasible. And at that point I undertook some very demanding administrative responsibilities which caused me to put the project on the back-burner. In the Spring of 2004, as Richard Lebrun was working on transferring the English language publications of the CCHA into electronic format, the question of the master bibliography project arose once again. I was approached by the CCHA, indicating their interest in updating and completing the integrated bibliography. I was very interested in seeing the job done, as I believe in its utility and long-term value. After some conversation it was agreed that I would proceed to finish the work. The CCHA agreed to pay me an hourly stipend within the range of that paid to graduate students in Ontario universities. For my part I estimated that the work could be done within 1,000 hours if the further years of bibliographies: - were available in usable electronic format - maintained consistency of entry-format types - maintained a consistent Table of Contents format The project which I then began in February of 2005, after agreement was achieved between the English and French associations, was threefold: 1. Review the bibliographies published since 1995 and provide whatever editing would be necessary for reconciling these with the established integrated bibliographies, 1964-1994. 2. Complete the final editing of integrated bibliographies, 1964-1993. 3. Complete the integration of all of the bibliographies, 1964-2005. Immediately I began the project in February 2005, it was discovered that the annuals for the last ten years did not all exist in usable electronic format. I began by re-entering the material for the first three volumes manually, then scanning for the next three. Finally the last years were available in a format which could be employed, after some few hours of editing. As well, there were adjustments to be made within the entry-types. And then, of course, there was the question of adjustments within the Table of Contents, particularly the radical changes introduced to the ordering of categories in years 2003 and 2005. In the Autumn of 2005 as I confronted the task of how to reconcile the set of questions which adjustments to the Table of Contents required, with the improvements of 2003 and 2005, I thought it would be prudent to approach the CCHA with two concerns. 2 The first had to do with time. I had now used almost half of the allotted time of roughly 1,000 hours to bring the project to the point where I had expected it would begin. In meeting with the CCHA executive I explained the work done to date. And, I proposed the allocation of a further 400-600 hours of labour in order to bring the project to a conclusion which would be professionally congruous. Of course I would wish to have proceeded without the obstacles, but that Platonic ideal did not obtain. In any event, stressing my own commitment to the work, and my desire that it be brought to the point of completion as fully and rapidly as possible, I offered to reduce my remuneration for the added 4-600 hours of labour by up to one-half of what had been agreed previously for the initial estimate of 1,000 hours. 2. The second concern involved the Table of Contents. I requested authorization of the CCHA Executive to proceed with a conversation among interested parties to see whether some agreement might be reached with respect to the order of categories as located within the Table of Contents. There is, I believe, almost universal consent that the adjustments to the Table of Contents constitute laudable improvements which will be beneficial for the present, as well as the long-term. My concern was to address issues (while frankly acknowledging that they are not properly any of my business), which seemed to be of moment for the CCHA / SHECC and constituents over the long term. That is, the most expeditious way to represent our materials for ease of access and integration in a continuing master bibliography. After some conversation the Executive supported my proposal to pursue such a conversation. Quite apart from the labours of individual compilers, in assembling the annual bibliographies, some thousands of hours of labour have now been employed to bring the integrated bibliography to this point, I have personally invested well over 2,000 hours in the project. I have received some financial remuneration for 500 of these hours. We are now then, in the final quarter of completing the project. Thus the project to date. Finally, as we go forward, I would invite discussants to consider the good news before us. Regardless of what develops over the course of this conversation, this is the achievement: - Forty years of the annual bibliographies available in usable electronic format, 1964-2005. - Achieved integration of 1,066 pages of materials in partially cross-referenced categories, being the bibliographies 1964-1993. About 400 pages of these 1,066 are now finally edited and reconciled with respect to entry-format type. These two tasks will be accomplished for the remaining 650 pages. {The outstanding question here is the degree of accommodation which can be made within these 1,066 pages to the new categories which have been introduced over the 40 year period. That will depend on just how much can be accomplished within the added allotment of time. Quite a bit I think. Of course it can always be done later, but as the length of this project indicates, later is often slower to arrive than we intend or hope! My own preference would be to try to draw out and thoroughly integrate all items relating to communities of men and women religious. This is a huge area, of enormous significance for Canadian history as a whole, which will greatly benefit researchers by the more refined degree of identification which the distinct category allows. After that, those items falling within categories as: Women and Gender, First Nations, etc., in so far as time permits. Quite frankly, this is where I would prefer to invest my time, and where I believe my talents might best serve the larger world of church and academy.} - Achieved reconciliation of entry types, final editing, and thorough cross-referencing for 218 pages of the remaining bibliographies, vols. 69-71 {Some adjustments to the cross-referencing will be required here once the final Table of Contents format is decided.} - Achieved reconciliation of entry types, some final editing, but not cross-referencing for the remaining 108 pages. {The time required to achieve these tasks is not immense. It will depend on the decision with regard to the Table of Contents. In any case, I anticipate something less than 100 hours.} - Everything in place to have, for May of 2006, an integrated bibliography of the 1,400 published pages to date, with fully reconciled entry types, and some degree of cross-referencing - Altogether then, no panic, no crisis, but some challenge and possibility. Grace a Dieu! C. A Second Round of Conversation: Initial Response from Brian Hogan. It appears to me that the issue is at once simple and complex. We have been fortunate that the original categories have stood the test of time, and adjusted perceptions, particularly well. We are blessed with a much improved TOC which will serve our constituents, and the community of researchers very well for the foreseeable future. We are challenged with respect to the ordering of those categories, and to a very minor extent, with terminology and some areas of content. Reduced to stark outline, the immediate burden is this: how to reconcile the tasks associated either with adjusting 1,284 published pages to fit the ordering as preferred in the last three years; or to adjust the latter 108 pages to fit the order employed for the first 1,284 pages. Of course, putting things so starkly would seem to bias the question rather heavily. If it were so simple there would be no need of this consultation. It is the going forward, in the most useful and expeditious manner, that concerns me. Particularly given the realistic constraints within which the tasks are to be completed. At the end of the day (which will occur in one week’s time), some concrete decision must be made. Otherwise this project will be left in abeyance for some unspecified time while larger and smaller meetings of the associations and the interested parties consult further, perhaps at annual gatherings, to achieve some further resolution. As the conversation has developed to this point, and given the constraints of time (and the accompanying incarnational reality of lucre) I am beginning to suspect that we will have to proceed with some interim measure. This course of action may be less desirable than we would like, particularly as concerns going forward. Of course, it can always be reversed and corrected at a later date, with some greater investment of time. My concern in advancing the question, and the accompanying proposal forward was to see whether we might achieve some more judicious and efficient employment of limited resources. I look forward to such further assistance and insight as your time and patience permits. Here I wish to conclude as I commenced, by expressing my sincere appreciation for your time and attention to something of significant, though rather less than monumental, import. ENDS (The above conversation factored largely in concluding to the present ordering of the bibliography. A substantial number of adjustments have since been made to the section titles. Further changes can be accommodated in future versions.) *Appendix Three: A Review of Criteria and Content for Each Section - *A3 Preliminary Note: To assist movement through the bibliography and to promote ease of access to items, a rudimentary coding system is employed. The system is primarily dependent on the insertion of an asterisk before the numeric or alpha identifier, of section or item. So, for example, to move to the head of Section 15, use the Search and Replace (S&R) function and enter *15. Similarly, to move to a particular subject, as: *Rome, *Protestant, *Muslim, *CND, *Montreal, *Bourgeois, etc. The fact that system is not case sensitive, and so does not differentiate between lower and upper case characters, provides greater ease of access. Boundary issues arise at every point throughout the bibliography, as to just where an item should find its primary location. The main manner of resolving such issues is to define the content of sections as clearly as possible. Even then, however, as new research areas develop, and novel perceptions emerge, the limitations of the decision of a previous decade may well be exposed for its shortcomings. Accordingly, the ultimate resolution is extensive cross-referencing. This has been accomplished to the 90% level in the second collection (1995-2005). Subsequent versions of the bibliography will see a fuller representation of references moving towards the 90% level throughout. The thorough cross-referencing can make for some considerable over-burden before the researcher engages items specific to the section. In some few cases the list of cross-reference items extends to dozens of pages. To assist the searcher in moving immediately to the full item-specific area of the section, a further refinement has been added to the coding system. In order to skip past the cross-references and to engage that part of the section which contains full-entry text items, simply add a “T” to the numeric or alpha identifier, thus: *15T; Toronto: *TOT; Québec : *QCT; Society of Jesus: *SJT. 01. Guides: Archives, Bibliographies, Description of Sources / Instruments de travail This first section of the BiCRH includes items dealing with the location, description and general organization of primary and other source materials concerned with Canadian religious history. The original TOC template, in 1964, identified the section as : “Guides: bibliographies, description of sources.” Perhaps another way of identifying this section would be something like “Sources: locators, descriptors and organizers,” including materials dealing with libraries and archives. It includes writings concerning, or originating from archives and libraries and their supporting associations and organizations, other than those of an immediately primary nature. These latter materials are located in the Second Section, “Sources”. Thus, to avoid confusion, the decision to entitle the First Section “Guides”, and the Second Section, “Sources”. Therefore, while the First Section contains items about sources, the Second Section contains items which are sources, or approximate most closely to that status. That said, this first section identifies reference materials dealing with archival, library and other source locations. It includes the many forms of catalogues, checklists, descriptors, directories, guides, indexes, registers and finding aids such institutions regularly produce to assist in the multiple tasks involved in managing a very complex variety of materials. Finally, this site serves as the primary location for the wide variety of atlases, dictionaries, encyclopaedias, handbooks and general reference texts pertinent to the subject. 02. Sources : Located here are general collections of materials relating immediately to persons: demographic, genealogical and such information as is to be found in birth, baptism, associational, marriage, marriage contract, illness, death, obituary, will / inheritance, and cemetery records. The site also serves as the prime repository for lists of graduates, clergy, religious and family records in general. Records specific to a particular person are, of course, located in Section 08 dealing with biographical data. The religious concern for inclusion of such records in a bibliography of this type is that the use of the sacramental records - baptismal, marital, and death - provides the spiritual / religious chronicle permitting the historian to trace basic demographics and practices of a religious population. For the Christian cohort, concern for maintenance of these records is deeply rooted in the theological anthropology which privileges persons as primary, and so honours the body as sacral, both in life and in pre-resurrection persona. The historical concern is that many of these records contain essential information relating to the materialities of individual and collective lives which can be found nowhere else. They provide the basic building blocks for developing the socio-religious record of persons and communities over time. Ancillary to such concerns, are such as the artistic and architectural dimensions as, for example, of cemetery buildings, monuments, headstones, statuary, planning, etc. The section also contains items such as collections of religious newspapers and journals, including microfilm, and electronic format. For example, the newly collated papers published by the Canadian Catholic Histioircal Association, in electronic format, ed., Prof. , will be located here when it comes due for cataloguing. As the very brief title indicates, items in this section are either primary source materials, as letters, documents, etc., or materials approximating the description of such materials. Such are the variety of lists and registers which immediately identify the subjects of religious expression and experience at the most microcosmic level of personal identification. These include marriage, birth, death and sacramental registers, associational, marriage contracts, death, obituary, will / inheritance, and other demographic and genealogical h information in general. Also included here are all records dealing with internment, cemeteries and, generally, the ordering of the bodies of the deceased, including those in public cemeteries. It follows then, that included here are genealogical materials, again, as those which most immediately identify and locate the persons who are the subjects of all religious activity. From its very early years the Christian Church has directed a consistently high level of attention and care to honouring and ordering the bodies of the deceased. In fact, for many years, such work was regarded as among the most prestigious of ministerial tasks. Several of the first Bishops of Rome ascended to that position from their place as chief custodians of the catacombs. The section likewise incorporates lists of graduates, clergy, religious, and family records. Records specific to a particular person are, of course, located in Section 08 dealing with biographical data. The argument for inclusion of such records in a bibliography of this type is that sacramental and cognate records - baptismal, marital, and death - provide the spiritual / religious data essential for the historian’s task of establishing the fundamental demographics and practices of a religious population. For the Christian cohort, concern for maintenance of these records is deeply rooted in a tradition grounded in fundamental theological anthropology. This tradition first identifies persons as made in “the image and likeness of God”, in the Genesis account of creation. It further privileges the person in its incorporation and complex celebration of the the implications of the central mystery of incarnation in which Jesus, the Christ, is acknowledged as “true God and true man.” Thirdly, Christian soteriology emphasizes the salvation of the individual person and the continuity of her/his existence in the “resurrection of the body’, thus completing the cycle of birth, life, death and resurrection into eternal life. The historical concern is that many of these records contain essential information relating to the materialities of individual and collective lives which can be found nowhere else. They provide the basic building blocks for developing the socio-religious record of persons and communities over time. Ancillary to such concerns are such as the artistic and architectural dimensions as, for example, of cemetery buildings, monuments, headstones, statuary, planning records, etc. From the outset the bibliography included such materials, particularly those dealing with genealogical and cemetery sources. I do not recall ever discussing this point with Fr. Sheehan directly but I always assumed his concern was for the seminal value such records play as fundamental building blocks. His own creative, and ground-breaking use, of church records in exposing the family and social history of medieval England was undoubtedly at work in his decision to include these records in the bibliography. 03. General As the title implies, items located in this section are of a general nature. They are larger, and more synthetic treatises dealing with extended time periods and locales. Also found here are cognate studies with immediate application or interest to the work of the religious historian, such as general histories of the country or its particular regions. These normally include commentary on and critique of religious activity as a part of their purpose. Prior to the development of the new Table of Contents items here were of a more variegated sort, and the section was more extensive. Directory: colleges colleges -> Host: The cpc-houston will be held at the Albion Hurricanes’ fields in 2013. 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