When St. Mike’s Professor David A. Wilson completed his two-volume biography of the Irish Canadian Father of Confederation Thomas D’Arcy McGee, he was planning to continue teaching in the College’s Celtic Studies Program for the rest of his career. Instead, in 2013 he was appointed General Editor of the Dictionary of Canadian Biography, and has been there ever since – while still retaining a connection with the Program.
“I love working with such a talented team of editors and translators,” he says, “and having the opportunity to bring our biographies to the widest possible audience,” he says. With over 9,000 biographies published and more coming out each week, the Dictionary is the largest bilingual project in Canadian humanities. “Drawing mainly on primary sources, our biographies range from prime ministers to public hangmen, cardinals to cult leaders, bureaucrats to bootleggers,” Wilson notes. “From the story of a young Indigenous boy who froze to death while on the run from a residential school, to that of a mentally ill woman trapped in an Asylum for the Insane, they reflect a wide variety of Canadian experiences.”
Now, thanks to a new website developed by the teams at the University of Toronto and Université Laval in Quebec and launched this July, it will be possible for even more readers and researchers to learn about the women and men who helped make the country what it is today.
“Almost all Google searches are by theme rather than by name,” Wilson explains; “by linking individual biographies to broader themes, the new website will make our biographies much more accessible. At the same time, the links enable our readers to learn more about themes related to a particular biography.” For example, if someone Googles “Enslaved Black people in the Maritimes,” they will be directed to more than 40 related biographies, can read an essay outlining their historical context, and will have access to other sources on the subject.
Individual biographies are starting to get a new look as well. More of them now begin with a 100-word summary of the entry so that readers can quickly assess their significance, and they have headings and subheadings that highlight particular sections.
Until recently, the Dictionary had been organized chronologically by death date, with the new entries focusing entirely on the 1940s. Now, half of the biographies are drawn from all periods, enabling the Dictionary to draw on new research from earlier periods and to move forward into more recent times.
“Everyone in our Toronto and Quebec offices is excited by these changes,” says Wilson. “We have much more flexibility, and can include even more biographies of Indigenous peoples, racialized minorities, women and members of the working classes.”
All the biographies are subjected to a thorough editorial process. As General Editor, Wilson is the final set of eyes, reading each piece before it is posted to the website. “By the time the biographies land on my desk,” he says, “they need very little work. This is probably the most rigorously researched dictionary of national biography in the world.”
Unlike many other biographical dictionaries, the Dictionary of Canadian Biography remains free to readers, thanks to the support of the federal government, as well as of donors. Wilson is currently engaged in a fundraising campaign to ensure the Dictionary can continue its current level of activity and its contributions to the history of Canada.
“It is such an honour to be in both the Celtic Studies Program and the Dictionary of Canadian Biography,” says Wilson, “and to contribute in different ways to the intellectual life of the country.”
You can check out the website at www.biographi.ca