The Thomas Hughes Diary Project is a venture that has taken its shape through the collaborative efforts of the Diocese of Huron Verschoyle Philip Cronyn Memorial Archives, the office of Community Based Learning at Huron University College , the Promised Land Project (a Community-University Research Alliance funded by SSHRC), and dedicated university students. As upper year history students at Huron University College located in London, Ontario the ‘Historian’s Craft Class of 09/10’ sought to apply the theoretical concepts studied in the classroom to this unique opportunity. As the next generation of historians, we are proud to present this project in digital form.

Guided by Professor Nina Reid-Maroney and Graduate Students, Tim Compeau and Devon Elliott, students collected and composed the information presented on this website. The class began working on this project early in September where students, working in pairs took turns working with the original copy of Thomas Hughes’s Diary in the Diocese of Huron Archives. So marked the beginning of digitizing the legacy of Reverend Thomas Hughes.

For the rest of the academic year, the class formed a contextual framework to surround the newly digitized diary by performing all tasks of the modern historian. Through this project, we, as students explored and were critical of our own historical method to present a comprehensive resource for all interested in public history, Canadian abolitionism, or a local history of Dresden, Ontario. From the work in the archives to secondary source and field trips to the many sites in which Thomas Hughes mentioned, research students performed all functions outside of class time. We are proud to present this website to you and thank you for your interest!

Credits

Communications and Marketing: Jake Deutsch, Jeffrey Rotenberg, Allison Sulman
Final Transcription: Allison Daigle, Doug Hunt, Lance Peddell
Additional Transcription: Megan Cowan, Stacy Grossman, Iris Warzecha
History/Memory: Heather Heyboer
Map Design and Field Photography: Claire Halstead, Lauren Wilson
Research: Matthew Belford, Matthew Sharpe, Nick Workman
Annotations: Wesley Brown Jonathan Lavy
Additional Primary Sources: Brad Bangsboll, Celine Christie
Website Coordinator: Christine Nott
Website Support: Jarad Fisher, Justin Vandertuin

Special thanks for their support to Maxine Dubuc, Manager of CBL programs at Huron; Archdeacon James Broadfoot and Carolyn Lamont, Diocese of Huron Archives; Archives Committee, Diocese of Huron.