Forrest Pass
@forrestpass.bsky.social
Historian, curator, heraldist, vexillologist, collector of arcane and eclectic Canadiana. All opinions my own. Likes, reskeets =/= endorsement.
This guy also makes an appearance on the back of my 1996 measles/rubella booster certificate (which I came across in my desk drawer the other day)!
November 10, 2025 at 6:25 PM
This guy also makes an appearance on the back of my 1996 measles/rubella booster certificate (which I came across in my desk drawer the other day)!
Sam Slick the Salesman: "Arriving at the farmhouse of Deacon Flint, Sam decides to sell his last clock, which the Squire describes as 'a gawdy, highly varnished, trumpery-looking affair.'"
Thanks Thomas Haliburton (1796-1865) for the mot juste. #cdnhist #nshist #canlit
Illustration: C.W. Jefferys
Thanks Thomas Haliburton (1796-1865) for the mot juste. #cdnhist #nshist #canlit
Illustration: C.W. Jefferys
November 9, 2025 at 1:34 PM
This early 20th c. pulp pamphlet promises so much: Vampires! Deathly Cars! Lady Grifters! Ferrets! Spoiler alert: it doesn't really deliver. The story is about charity fraud. #bookhistory #halloween
October 31, 2025 at 1:55 PM
This early 20th c. pulp pamphlet promises so much: Vampires! Deathly Cars! Lady Grifters! Ferrets! Spoiler alert: it doesn't really deliver. The story is about charity fraud. #bookhistory #halloween
My eldest (age 10) decided he wanted to be @mark-carney.bsky.social for Halloween this year. No time to shop at Savile Row, but I think the Costume turned out all right "notwithstanding" (see what I did there?) #cdnpoli
October 31, 2025 at 11:50 AM
My eldest (age 10) decided he wanted to be @mark-carney.bsky.social for Halloween this year. No time to shop at Savile Row, but I think the Costume turned out all right "notwithstanding" (see what I did there?) #cdnpoli
When is it not a good time for a very niche (and I don't mean @nichecanada.bsky.social) #cdnhist meme? I can't begin to know when...
October 29, 2025 at 8:04 PM
When is it not a good time for a very niche (and I don't mean @nichecanada.bsky.social) #cdnhist meme? I can't begin to know when...
I taught my seven-year-old how to operate our espresso machine. Never has a paternally imparted life skill paid such dividends to the imparter. #coffee #parentingwin
October 26, 2025 at 3:59 PM
I taught my seven-year-old how to operate our espresso machine. Never has a paternally imparted life skill paid such dividends to the imparter. #coffee #parentingwin
This kitty was not a great mouser, but did catch a pear! (Still my favourite design from my days as a herald). #heraldry #catsofbsky
Arms of Diane Marie Cecile Perry, Public Register of Arms, Flags and Badges of Canada, vol. 6, p. 55.
www.gg.ca/en/heraldry/...
Arms of Diane Marie Cecile Perry, Public Register of Arms, Flags and Badges of Canada, vol. 6, p. 55.
www.gg.ca/en/heraldry/...
October 24, 2025 at 11:57 AM
This kitty was not a great mouser, but did catch a pear! (Still my favourite design from my days as a herald). #heraldry #catsofbsky
Arms of Diane Marie Cecile Perry, Public Register of Arms, Flags and Badges of Canada, vol. 6, p. 55.
www.gg.ca/en/heraldry/...
Arms of Diane Marie Cecile Perry, Public Register of Arms, Flags and Badges of Canada, vol. 6, p. 55.
www.gg.ca/en/heraldry/...
#otd in 1964, the House of Commons Flag Cttee recommended this design for the National Flag of Canada. Listen to my conversation with David Borys on his "Curious Canadian History" podcast to find out more! #cdnhist #vexillology
(Photo: Cdn Mus of History, 2013.6.12)
shows.acast.com/cool-canadia...
(Photo: Cdn Mus of History, 2013.6.12)
shows.acast.com/cool-canadia...
October 22, 2025 at 2:06 PM
#otd in 1964, the House of Commons Flag Cttee recommended this design for the National Flag of Canada. Listen to my conversation with David Borys on his "Curious Canadian History" podcast to find out more! #cdnhist #vexillology
(Photo: Cdn Mus of History, 2013.6.12)
shows.acast.com/cool-canadia...
(Photo: Cdn Mus of History, 2013.6.12)
shows.acast.com/cool-canadia...
Donald Trump really has no respect for tradition. Doesn't he realize it's the prerogative of real, dyed-in-the-(red)-wool monarchists to destroy the White House? #cdnhist
October 21, 2025 at 12:51 PM
Donald Trump really has no respect for tradition. Doesn't he realize it's the prerogative of real, dyed-in-the-(red)-wool monarchists to destroy the White House? #cdnhist
OMG - a pack of Dentyne Fire Spicy Cinnamon a day in early grad school... and I have the receding gum lines to prove it... (very few cavities, though: 'twas sugar free).
October 20, 2025 at 5:06 PM
OMG - a pack of Dentyne Fire Spicy Cinnamon a day in early grad school... and I have the receding gum lines to prove it... (very few cavities, though: 'twas sugar free).
October 20, 2025 at 3:14 PM
I still maintain that one of the top three Massachusetts flag proposals looks uncannily like the former BC Ferries flag (yeah, yeah, mayflower vs dogwood). #bchist #vexillology
@jmcelroy.bsky.social @bcferrys.bsky.social
www.wcvb.com/article/mass...
@jmcelroy.bsky.social @bcferrys.bsky.social
www.wcvb.com/article/mass...
October 14, 2025 at 3:02 PM
I still maintain that one of the top three Massachusetts flag proposals looks uncannily like the former BC Ferries flag (yeah, yeah, mayflower vs dogwood). #bchist #vexillology
@jmcelroy.bsky.social @bcferrys.bsky.social
www.wcvb.com/article/mass...
@jmcelroy.bsky.social @bcferrys.bsky.social
www.wcvb.com/article/mass...
#otd (OK, OK, a few days earlier) in 1864, someone wrote an insulting letter to a young lady of Ingersoll, ON. Her brother was unimpressed, and threatened the "double-dyed villain and poltroon" with a "public cow-hiding." Hell. Hath. No. Fury. Full text in alt-text.
#cdnhist #onthist
#cdnhist #onthist
October 9, 2025 at 6:04 PM
A day late for International #Vexillology Day, the latest addition to my vexillological ephemera collection: a Royal Kennebacasis Yacht Club church service program, 1932, featuring Blue Ensign and club burgee. Also a nice ex. of early 20c letterpress job printing! #cdnhist #nbhist #SailAway
October 2, 2025 at 3:09 PM
A day late for International #Vexillology Day, the latest addition to my vexillological ephemera collection: a Royal Kennebacasis Yacht Club church service program, 1932, featuring Blue Ensign and club burgee. Also a nice ex. of early 20c letterpress job printing! #cdnhist #nbhist #SailAway
Yeah, the overhang is bit too dramatic (unless it was blasted for safety later on):
September 23, 2025 at 6:20 PM
Yeah, the overhang is bit too dramatic (unless it was blasted for safety later on):
I like to think that festive Dief very closely resembled this charming caricature by former Ottawa Citizen cartoonist Rusins Kaufmanis, complete with Union Jack top hat!
#vexillology #cdnhist #cdnpoli
#vexillology #cdnhist #cdnpoli
September 19, 2025 at 4:28 PM
I like to think that festive Dief very closely resembled this charming caricature by former Ottawa Citizen cartoonist Rusins Kaufmanis, complete with Union Jack top hat!
#vexillology #cdnhist #cdnpoli
#vexillology #cdnhist #cdnpoli
Clearly time for an Agent 18-67 and Agent IXE-13 (in his "l'espion playboy" years) mashup. Strong "Bon Cop, Bad Cop" vibes...
September 16, 2025 at 8:09 PM
Clearly time for an Agent 18-67 and Agent IXE-13 (in his "l'espion playboy" years) mashup. Strong "Bon Cop, Bad Cop" vibes...
#Vexillology #Heraldry find of the week: a BC shield w/ maple leaf and fleur de lis in place of Union Jack. Designed in 1958 by Gerard Tremblay for a Franco-Colombien youth magazine. @jmcelroy.bsky.social, I wonder if this less colonial version might have topped the bracket? #bchist
September 16, 2025 at 5:51 PM
#Vexillology #Heraldry find of the week: a BC shield w/ maple leaf and fleur de lis in place of Union Jack. Designed in 1958 by Gerard Tremblay for a Franco-Colombien youth magazine. @jmcelroy.bsky.social, I wonder if this less colonial version might have topped the bracket? #bchist
Still a few hours of Labour Day left, so why not "strike" up the band and join in a rousing labour anthem, perhaps something from my all-time favourite bit of political ephemera, the New Party (i.e. @ndp.ca) Founding Convention Songbook? "Farmer-Labour Train" is a toe-tapper! #cdnhist #cdnpoli (1/2)
September 2, 2025 at 2:28 AM
Still a few hours of Labour Day left, so why not "strike" up the band and join in a rousing labour anthem, perhaps something from my all-time favourite bit of political ephemera, the New Party (i.e. @ndp.ca) Founding Convention Songbook? "Farmer-Labour Train" is a toe-tapper! #cdnhist #cdnpoli (1/2)
Not Alberta's first moral panic over "salacious" lit for children. Take this handwringing pamphlet from the province's "Advisory Board on Objectionable Publications," warning about (inter alia) sex in comics. Originally published 1955, the AB Archives has reissued (cheekily). #cdnhist #bookhistory
August 29, 2025 at 6:19 PM
Not Alberta's first moral panic over "salacious" lit for children. Take this handwringing pamphlet from the province's "Advisory Board on Objectionable Publications," warning about (inter alia) sex in comics. Originally published 1955, the AB Archives has reissued (cheekily). #cdnhist #bookhistory
Interesting that the intro to this cool project mentions the Egyptian precedent, as Woodland's co-founder Anne Elizabeth Wilson was certainly aware of it: her Egyptian-inspired personal bookplate included a mummified cat! #cdnhist #egyptology #bookhistory
August 28, 2025 at 7:27 PM
Interesting that the intro to this cool project mentions the Egyptian precedent, as Woodland's co-founder Anne Elizabeth Wilson was certainly aware of it: her Egyptian-inspired personal bookplate included a mummified cat! #cdnhist #egyptology #bookhistory