"Have Doctorate will travel " : Reflections on life as an Itinerant history professor

Abstract

The story begins in 1989 - with optimism, enthusiasm and a certain trepidation. Having finished my degree, and been made fit by a year of work in construction, I accepted a one year contract in Western Canada, rather than full-time work at the Public Archives of Canada. The alternative: a lifetime of wondering “what if.” The year, by most every measure, went well - but perhaps in keeping with future fate, the full-time contract went elsewhere. The deciding vote, I came to learn from the voter himself, was based on my supposed urge to return east (a goal I did not have, but there you go).