CCHA, Historical Studies, 56 (1989), 8

Editor’s Foreword

The publication of the 1989 edition of Historical Studies marks the second occasion on which this well-established publication has appeared as a refereed journal. Under the arrangements adopted at the annual general meeting of the Canadian Catholic Historical Association in 1988, all the papers which follow have been evaluated by independent referees and subjected to a process of editorial revision.

It is also a reflection of the arrangements introduced in 1988 that the contributions to this year’s Historical Studies are not simply the proceedings of the annual conference organised by the Canadian Catholic Historical Association in conjunction with the Learned Societies. Two of the four papers printed here (those by Raymond Huel and Roberto Perin) were read at the 1989 conference. The third (by Michael Power) was presented in a substantially different version at the 1988 meetings. The fourth (by Michael Cottrell) was submitted independently.

I should like to take this occasion to thank my colleagues on the Editorial Board of Historical Studies – Glenn Wright (Associate Editor), John Moir, Raymond Huel, and Marianna O'Gallagher – for their invaluable help in making possible this transition in the journal’s history. I should like also to express my gratitude to the members of the Executive of the Canadian Catholic Historical Association who have given their unqualified support.

Now that Historical Studies has taken on the character of a refereed journal, we hope that it can continue to develop in new directions. In particular, it may do even more to make known the sources available for the study of Roman Catholicism in English-speaking Canada. For twenty-five years it has included an exhaustive annual bibliography of published works relating to this topic. A project under consideration for the near future is to publish descriptions of archival sources which directly or indirectly shed light on Canadian Catholic history.

Whatever the precise outcome of such plans, we remain convinced that Historical Studies has a central role to play in stimulating research into the history of Roman Catholicism in this country and in reporting the results of this research to a broadly defined audience.

Terrence Murphy