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Canadian Historic Sites: Occasional Papers in Archaeology and History No. 1
Foreword
The increasing interest of the public in Canada's
historic heritage is reflected in the growing number of museums,
restorations, commemorations and similar developments sponsored by all
levels of government and various private interests. In the federal
sphere, responsibility for the selection, management and development of
sites of national historic importance rests with the Minister of Indian
Affairs and Northern Development. He is advised by the Historic Sites
and Monuments Board of Canada, an independent body composed of members
from each province, which considers all proposals for commemoration and
which recommends to the Minister those persons, places and events which
are of sufficient importance to the country as a whole to merit
recognition on a national level. The management and development of those
sites which the Minister has declared to be of national historic
importance are carried out by the National Historic Sites Service
(formerly Canadian Historic Sites Division).
The obvious results of the Service's work take the
form of National Historic Parks and Sites and involve the staff in
architectural restoration and preservation, museums and displays,
plaques, period furnishings and pamphlets. Historical and archaeological
research play a key role in all of this, for they provide the base of
knowledge which enables the Service to develop in a meaningful fashion
those sites which have relevance to national history. To date, our work
has concentrated on the broad aspects of communication with the general
public in the form of site interpretation and we have been unable to
give sufficient consideration to communication at the professional level
in the form of published research reports. We recognize, however, the
obligation of the historian and the archaeologist to make known the
results of their work and it is to discharge this obligation that the
present series of occasional papers has been inaugurated.
Although our series is primarily designed as a
publication medium for the staff of the National Historic Sites Service,
we will consider for publication any papers of professional quality that
relate to our fields of interest. Papers will be published in both
English and French in separate issues. They will be published first in
the language in which they are submitted, with the translation appearing
as soon as possible. As the name of the series implies, numbers will be
issued on an occasional basis, with the timing dependent on the
readiness of papers for publication.
The first article is a broad survey intended to
introduce the program of historical archaeology carried out by the
Department of Indian Affairs and Northern Development since 1962. John
H. Rick, formerly Senior Archaeologist in the National Historic Sites
Service and now Chief of the Service's Research Division, covers the
results of our excavations at various sites across the country and
discusses some of the problems encountered. The second article on glass
trade beads by Kenneth E. and Martha Ann Kidd presents a new
classification system and nomenclature which, it is hoped, will be of
benefit to archaeologists who are working with these materials. The
system is designed for use in the field, requires no costly nor
expensive equipment, and, in addition, is expansible to include any new
bead types which may be found in future work in sites in northeastern
North America. The final article in this issue is a brief summary of the
history of the Roma settlement on Brudenell Point, Prince Edward Island,
by Mrs. Margaret Coleman. A report on the archaeological field work at
this site during the years 1968 and 1969 will be published in a
forthcoming issue.
It is hoped that these papers will receive the
critical and helpful attention of those working elsewhere in similar and
related fields and will serve as a stimulus to further research in the
anthropology and history of Canada.
J. A. MacDonald
Deputy Minister
Department of Indian Affairs and Northern Development
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