Ross Fair
@rossfair.bsky.social
Historian of Upper Canadian settlement and agriculture; Public Historian.
Improving Upper Canada: Agricultural Societies and State Formation, 1791-1852 (UTP, 2024) https://utorontopress.com/9781487553531/improving-upper-canada/
Improving Upper Canada: Agricultural Societies and State Formation, 1791-1852 (UTP, 2024) https://utorontopress.com/9781487553531/improving-upper-canada/
I'm pleased to learn that The Champlain Society has awarded me its 2025 Floyd S. Chalmers Award for my book, Improving Upper Canada. #cdnhist #envhist #onhist #aghist
champlainsociety.utppublishing.com
November 3, 2025 at 8:52 PM
For #Halloween let me resurrect (from the long-deceased and dearly-missed Torontoist) a piece I wrote about resurrection men who supplied Toronto's medical schools. Grave Robbing! Luggage! Trains! "Terrible Feeling of Indignation among the People!"
web.archive.org/web/20160307...
web.archive.org/web/20160307...
October 31, 2025 at 1:44 PM
For #Halloween let me resurrect (from the long-deceased and dearly-missed Torontoist) a piece I wrote about resurrection men who supplied Toronto's medical schools. Grave Robbing! Luggage! Trains! "Terrible Feeling of Indignation among the People!"
web.archive.org/web/20160307...
web.archive.org/web/20160307...
Reposted by Ross Fair
Very sad news about the loss of historian Tim Cook, who died far too young. His impact on our understanding of Canadian military history was just massive. An outstanding historian. He will be missed.
www.cbc.ca/news/canada/...
www.cbc.ca/news/canada/...
Tim Cook, chief historian at Canadian War Museum, dies | CBC News
Tim Cook, the chief historian at the Canadian War Museum and the country’s “pre-eminent military historian,” has died, the museum announced Sunday.
www.cbc.ca
October 26, 2025 at 11:03 PM
Very sad news about the loss of historian Tim Cook, who died far too young. His impact on our understanding of Canadian military history was just massive. An outstanding historian. He will be missed.
www.cbc.ca/news/canada/...
www.cbc.ca/news/canada/...
Reposted by Ross Fair
Best thing I've ever read about AI and the academy - every line a banger
“An extraordinary amount of money is spent by the artificial intelligence industry to ensure that acquiescence is the only plausible response. But marketing is not destiny.” Out from behind the paywall: the Editors on the literature of AI resignation.
www.nplusonemag.com/issue-51/the...
www.nplusonemag.com/issue-51/the...
Large Language Muddle | The Editors
The AI upheaval is unique in its ability to metabolize any number of dread-inducing transformations. The university is becoming more corporate, more politically oppressive, and all but hostile to the ...
www.nplusonemag.com
September 16, 2025 at 5:45 PM
Best thing I've ever read about AI and the academy - every line a banger
Reposted by Ross Fair
Historians are often tempted to tell you something is "worth about X in today's dollars." Here's why I think you should not do that, and what I think you should do instead
buttondown.com/anotherway/a...
buttondown.com/anotherway/a...
Please Stop Putting Very Old Things in "Today's Dollars"
Instead, do this
buttondown.com
August 12, 2025 at 3:48 PM
Historians are often tempted to tell you something is "worth about X in today's dollars." Here's why I think you should not do that, and what I think you should do instead
buttondown.com/anotherway/a...
buttondown.com/anotherway/a...
Reposted by Ross Fair
Reposted by Ross Fair
Why did historic artists make so many paintings of extremely large cows?
Our curator @olliedouglas.bsky.social reveals all!
Our curator @olliedouglas.bsky.social reveals all!
April 11, 2025 at 1:47 PM
Why did historic artists make so many paintings of extremely large cows?
Our curator @olliedouglas.bsky.social reveals all!
Our curator @olliedouglas.bsky.social reveals all!
Reposted by Ross Fair
Perfect description of why so many historians in particular are hostile to AI
This made me cheer. It gets directly at a problem I’ve often noticed: people don’t fundamentally understand what a historian *does*.
March 22, 2025 at 8:45 PM
Perfect description of why so many historians in particular are hostile to AI
Reposted by Ross Fair
Today’s must read from American historian and Yale professor, Timothy Snyder
snyder.substack.com/p/the-absurd...
snyder.substack.com/p/the-absurd...
March 16, 2025 at 5:35 PM
Today’s must read from American historian and Yale professor, Timothy Snyder
snyder.substack.com/p/the-absurd...
snyder.substack.com/p/the-absurd...
Reposted by Ross Fair
Word of the day is ‘huff-snuff’ (16th century): a hectoring bully or braggart.
February 28, 2025 at 6:05 PM
Word of the day is ‘huff-snuff’ (16th century): a hectoring bully or braggart.
Reposted by Ross Fair
if you thought archives were problematic, wait till you see no archives
February 11, 2025 at 7:33 PM
if you thought archives were problematic, wait till you see no archives
Reposted by Ross Fair
How not to label your family photographs.
February 12, 2025 at 5:46 PM
How not to label your family photographs.
Reposted by Ross Fair
Reposted by Ross Fair
Reposted by Ross Fair
Every day I get closer to understanding how it must have felt when the incoming Senator was Caligula's horse.
February 8, 2025 at 1:09 AM
Every day I get closer to understanding how it must have felt when the incoming Senator was Caligula's horse.
Reposted by Ross Fair
I just want to teach them to write...
January 2, 2025 at 6:00 PM
I just want to teach them to write...
Reposted by Ross Fair
Researcher: "We let the data speak for itself."
Earlier that day:
Earlier that day:
January 2, 2025 at 3:31 PM
Researcher: "We let the data speak for itself."
Earlier that day:
Earlier that day:
Reposted by Ross Fair
🗃️ #C19th #Genealogy #LocalHistory
A reminder that if you need an excel calculator that works with pounds, shillings and pence, I have one you can download and use freely. Please share…
chartistancestors.blog/2023/07/12/n...
A reminder that if you need an excel calculator that works with pounds, shillings and pence, I have one you can download and use freely. Please share…
chartistancestors.blog/2023/07/12/n...
Need a calculator that works with pounds, shillings and pence?
If you struggle to add, multiply and divide sums of money written in pre-decimal currency, then you are not alone – and you may wish to download the Excel calculator I’ve created for just tha…
chartistancestors.blog
December 30, 2024 at 12:48 PM
🗃️ #C19th #Genealogy #LocalHistory
A reminder that if you need an excel calculator that works with pounds, shillings and pence, I have one you can download and use freely. Please share…
chartistancestors.blog/2023/07/12/n...
A reminder that if you need an excel calculator that works with pounds, shillings and pence, I have one you can download and use freely. Please share…
chartistancestors.blog/2023/07/12/n...
Reposted by Ross Fair
"you'll be visited by three spirits"
The three spirits
The three spirits
December 24, 2024 at 1:36 PM
"you'll be visited by three spirits"
The three spirits
The three spirits
Reposted by Ross Fair
Sometimes working with manuscripts gets us really, really close to the people from the past allowing us to hear their voices. This is a story of a letter from a schoolgirl to her teacher, written probably sometime at the end of the 9th or the beginning of the 10th century. A thread 🧵 #medievalsky /1
December 22, 2024 at 12:02 PM
Sometimes working with manuscripts gets us really, really close to the people from the past allowing us to hear their voices. This is a story of a letter from a schoolgirl to her teacher, written probably sometime at the end of the 9th or the beginning of the 10th century. A thread 🧵 #medievalsky /1
Reposted by Ross Fair
Missed AHA President Michelle Arrow (@michellearrow.bsky.social) on ABC Radio National talking about the future of history at university? Listen here: https://buff.ly/3ZuSIbx
Is history history? - ABC listen
Universities are scrambling to make up the funding shortfalls they'll face because of reduced numbers of overseas students.
buff.ly
December 2, 2024 at 10:17 PM
Missed AHA President Michelle Arrow (@michellearrow.bsky.social) on ABC Radio National talking about the future of history at university? Listen here: https://buff.ly/3ZuSIbx
Reposted by Ross Fair
A view upsetting to the historians.
"It was a pity, said the Premier , that the fort interfered with the progress of such a fine expressway.
"It was a pity, said the Premier , that the fort interfered with the progress of such a fine expressway.
November 24, 2024 at 1:09 AM
A view upsetting to the historians.
"It was a pity, said the Premier , that the fort interfered with the progress of such a fine expressway.
"It was a pity, said the Premier , that the fort interfered with the progress of such a fine expressway.
Reposted by Ross Fair
'what's wrong with your massive sheep that looks like a brain?'
When you're painting a mid 19th century pastoral scene, why is there always a massive cow there?
November 21, 2024 at 12:56 PM
'what's wrong with your massive sheep that looks like a brain?'
Reposted by Ross Fair
"this is fine"
British Library Manuscript - royal ms 20 a ii f3r
British Library Manuscript - royal ms 20 a ii f3r
November 16, 2024 at 11:36 AM
"this is fine"
British Library Manuscript - royal ms 20 a ii f3r
British Library Manuscript - royal ms 20 a ii f3r
Reposted by Ross Fair
In response to OpenAI’s recent ‘A Student’s Guide to Writing with ChatGPT’, Arthur Perret (maître de conferénces, Jean Moulin Lyon 3) writes a line-by-line rebuttal — A Student’s Guide to Not Writing with ChatGPT www.arthurperret.fr/blog/2024-11...
A Student’s Guide to Not Writing with ChatGPT
Site web d’Arthur Perret, enseignant-chercheur en SIC.
www.arthurperret.fr
November 15, 2024 at 7:41 AM
In response to OpenAI’s recent ‘A Student’s Guide to Writing with ChatGPT’, Arthur Perret (maître de conferénces, Jean Moulin Lyon 3) writes a line-by-line rebuttal — A Student’s Guide to Not Writing with ChatGPT www.arthurperret.fr/blog/2024-11...