One Great History

One Great 150 - Chief Peguis

Welcome to the first episode of One Great 150, folks! We're beyond excited to get this project going and to have you along for the ride. And to kick things off, we're starting with Chief Peguis!

 

The Red River Valley that Peguis arrived into was one already marked with the scars of the fur trade, and he quickly established himself as a skilled leader, hunter, and warrior in the area. Over his summers spent at his camp near Kildonan Park, Peguis would witness the comings and goings of countless new arrivals: Cuthbert Grant, returned home after many years away, the Selkirk Settlers, the Selkirk Settlers coming back, and Lord Selkirk - who Peguis would sign the Peguis-Selkirk of 1817 with.

 

A huge thank you to Niigan Sinclair and Allen Sutherland for speaking to us about Peguis! If you want to hear the interviews in full (and you should, they're great), you can check them out for free on our Patreon - available here. For $5 a month you also get access to our bonus episodes, including post 150 episode discussions on sources and what we had to leave out.

 

Thanks to the Winnipeg Free Press and the Manitoba Historical Society for their support! You can check out a brief write up of the episode in the Winnipeg Free Press.

 

About One Great 150:

 

The premise is simple: 15 people, 150 years. With 16 episodes leading up November 9th, 2023 - the 150th anniversary of the signing of Winnipeg's incorporation papers.

 

Hanukkah in Winnipeg

Happy Hanukkah! This December, we explore some historic Hanukkah celebrations in Winnipeg, including a potato-grating contest and a questionable fruit salad. We are also joined by Belle Jarniewski from the Jewish Heritage Centre of Western Canada, who tells us a little bit about the history of the holiday and its significance for Winnipeg's Jewish community.

Winnipeg Free Press 150

Alex and Sabrina look back at the history of Winnipeg's paper of record and some of the journalists who helped make it what it is today. They also convince Nick to do a skit!

Manipogo

Alex tells Sabrina and Nick all about Manipogo, Manitoba's very own sea monster! Future doctor Kimber joins us to explain how this cannot exist.

Deanna Durbin, Winnipeg’s Sweetheart

We've got a special guest today, folks! Musician and author Melanie Gall joins us to talk about movie star Deanna Durbin.

In the 1930s and '40s, one movie star above all had captured Winnipeggers hearts: Deanna Durbin. Born Edna Mae Durbin at Winnipeg's Grace Hospital, Durbin skyrocketed to fame in the late 1930s with a stint on Eddie Cantor's radio program Texico Town and the film Three Smart Girls. She'd go on to save Universal Studios from bankruptcy and become the highest paid woman in America - before abruptly retiring to France.

Grand Beach

It's time for another beach episode - this time, to the other side of Lake Winnipeg! Explore the history of Grand Beach from the first ill-fated tourist excursion to the 'grand old days' as a Canadian Northern Railway Resort.

The Burton Cummings Episode

So, there's this guy. You used to see him around town, but he keeps moving away. His name is Burton Cummings. They named a theatre after him, and a community centre, and probably a few other things. He owns Salisbury House, got into a fight at a North End 7-Eleven, and even wrote a song or two that got played on the radio. He used to play these songs for royalty and presidents, and sometimes for kids at rec centers. Some of these songs he wrote by himself, and some he wrote with Randy Bachman, and they played in a band called The Guess Who, until they didn't, and then the rhythm section took the name when no one was looking. So yeah, this guy moved to Moose Jaw and yelled at a dance instructor until she moved away. Now he writes poetry. Oh, and one time he bought 50 canoes and blamed it on an accounting error. 

This month on One Great History, Producer Nick tells Alex and Sabrina all about Burton Cummings.

Special thanks to Martine from the Morris and District Centennial Museum for chatting with us for the Collecting Conversations segment!

Wilde Times

Join Sabrina, Alex and Nick on a journey through the development of Winnipeg's 2SLGBTQ+ across the 1970s - from the early days of the Mardi Gras and the Marlborough all the way to the creation of Giovanni's Room (better known to some as Gio's).

Thanks to Danielle with the Brandon General Museum & Archives for joining us for Collecting Conversations! Visit brandongeneralmuseum dot ca for more information.

William Beal

When homesteaders were coming to Canada by the tens of thousands in the late 19th century, William Beal was one of a small number of black pioneers who staked his claim in Manitoba. Though by all accounts he was never much of a farmer, Beal made his mark as a booklover and autodidact in the community at Swan River Valley.
In this episode, we explore the life of William Beal as well as the history of black immigration to Canada, and the tactics used by white Canadians and the Laurier government to prevent African-Americans from crossing the border.

Lord Gordon Gordon AKA Winnipeg’s Anna Sorokin

On the evening of July 2nd, 1873, a visiting Scottish lord, Lord Gordon Gordon, was kidnapped from James McKay's Silver Heights home and rushed towards the American border. The events that followed would spiral into a full-scale international incident involving both the Canadian and American governments and the discovery that Lord Gordon Gordon was not who he seemed.

A huge thank you to Jon Benson with The WRENCH for joining us for Collecting Conversations! Visit thewrench.ca/archive-project/ to learn more about The WRENCH's efforts to build a cycling archive.