[OR_Archaeology] BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY DETAILS FUR TRADERS

[Susan White]

BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY DETAILS FUR TRADERS

British Columbia based historian Bruce McIntyre Watson and the Centre
for Social, Spatial, and Economic Justice, an academic research centre
located on the University of British Columbia’s Okanagan campus,
have
introduced a 3-volume set, "Lives Lived West of the Divide: A
Biographical Dictionary of Fur Traders Working West of the Rockies,
1793-1858."

The work is a result of 20 years of research into the individuals
involved in the fur trade west of the Rocky Mountains and spans the
international border from Northern British Columbia to southern Oregon.

Avoiding the traditional fur trade historiography often written from
the
point of view of the decision makers, this more inclusive
comprehensive
biographical dictionary details the lives of over 3,500 individuals
who
were involved in the fur trade during the period 1793-1858. The main
biographical section (which spans all three volumes) is introduced by
chapters on the various groups of people and companies which employed
them, as well as a detailed breakdown of the fur trade posts in terms
of
physical structure and the necessities that the men manufactured
within
the posts. This is followed by a lengthy narrative on the complex
daily
realities that the ordinary fur traders experienced, family lives,
special events, daily routines, celebrations and holidays, conflicts
and
resolutions and adjustment to the realities of the inevitable non-fur
trade pioneer settlement. 

Following the extensive biographical entry section is a comprehensive
set of appendices detailing all of the fur trade forts and posts and
their personnel, the ships servicing the land based fur trade, medical
instruments and medicines found at the posts, a sampling of items that
individuals ordered in, and a listing of books found in company and
private post libraries. Last, showing how the fur traders moved on
with
their lives, is the post-fur trade settlement patterns on both sides
of
the international border.

For more information, visit
http://blogs.ubc.ca/liveslived/2010/06/18/hello-world/