In recent years, public history has developed as a credible strategy for communicating the value and significance of historical knowledge. It is hard to see how the shallowness of so much public life can be overcome without a commitment to better understanding our historical position. This project is dedicated to developing a set of historical notes to honour the people and history of civil society in the Maritimes, illuminating them with key stories and images.
The Scottish author, Robert Chambers, published his Book of Days in 1864, and the sub-title is still very apt for our project: "A Miscellany of Popular Antiquities in Connection with the Calendar, Including Anecdote, Biography, & History, Curiosities of Literature, and Oddities of Human Life and Character".
Andrew Downs (1811-1892) created the first Zoological Gardens in North America in Dutch Village in 1847, at the head of the Northwest Arm, expanding it eventually to over 40 hectares (100 acres) in size. He was humble and gentle, a practicing naturalist, who saw Nature as the greatest Temple and set out to share it with the public at large, not as dead, sterile taxidermied mounts, but as a living menagerie, to be experienced by all.
