Canada and Its Provinces: A History of the Canadian People and Their Institutions

Canada and Its Provinces: A History of the Canadian People and Their Institutions (23 vols, Toronto, 1913-17), ed Adam Shortt and Arthur G. Doughty, was written by "one hundred associates." Canada and Its Provinces was the most comprehensive study of Canadian historical and political development to appear before WWI. The first 6 of its 12 sections deal with Canada's evolution into a Dominion, the next 5 trace the history of the provinces and regions, and the last is a one-volume general index. In its editors' view, the purpose of the work was to prevent "sectionalism" and to promote "a broad national spirit in all parts of the Dominion" as the means to "an enlightened patriotism which vibrates to the sentiment of nationality." Today's reader may find the language dated, but these volumes are still an essential source for Canada's view of itself before 1918.