Abstract

ABSTRACT

“Living Next to Living History”: When Official History Meets Vernacular Commemoration in Louisbourg, Nova Scotia
Emily MacLeod

Louisbourg, Nova Scotia is a town imbued with a spirit of the past. It was only a mere decade after Louisbourg’s final siege in 1758 that inhabitants had begun to resettle on the fortification’s ruins. Louisbourg was one of the first historic sites to be considered for designation under the Historic Sites and Monuments Board of Canada (1919), which resulted in two waves of expropriations, one in 1928 and another in 1962. Due to the initial removal of twelve families in the 20s and fifty-two properties from the extensive 1962 expropriation, there remained a silence in Louisbourg’s official narrative. This thesis examines the importance of both official and vernacular knowledge in (re)creating the Louisbourg narrative – how both sides engage with history and how this contributes to an attachment to place. The decision to create personal archives, genealogies, and festivals suggests that Louisbourg residents are coming to terms with the implications of living near living-history. Ultimately, however, the park exists in the town Louisbourg, but it is not of Louisbourg. The fluidity of history is severed by this disconnect. In order for these two solitudes to mediate the distance between professional and amateur historians, both sides must come together to weave their individual threads into the larger fabric that is Louisbourg’s evolving historical narrative.