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Forrest Pass @forrestpass.bsky.social · 07/10/2026

Les chatbots ont de la misère avec les drapeaux.... whether with fleurs de lis or fields of wheat... #vexillologie / #vexillology

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Forrest Pass @forrestpass.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

Image from Canadian Museum of History:

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Forrest Pass @forrestpass.bsky.social · 12/09/2026

Who wore in better, Weird Al (facetiously, obvs) or Raffi....?

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Forrest Pass @forrestpass.bsky.social · 12/09/2026

Up early to take my eldest to swimming practice, but at least I have an appropriate new t-shirt:

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Forrest Pass @forrestpass.bsky.social · 12/09/2026

When Alaska's flag design was announced in 1927, William Simpson of New Westminster, BC, alleged Benson had plagiarized Simpson's design for a Cdn flag, published two years earlier. The intrepid Stroller White took up the case! (Seward Gateway, Jul 29, 1927) #cdnhist #alaskahistory #vexillology

Clipped headline from Seward Daily Gateway, Jul 29, 1927, reads "Did Bennie Benson Honswoggle Alaskan Solons Asks White"

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Forrest Pass @forrestpass.bsky.social · 10/09/2026

If you can source a clerical collar and hood, do I have the Halloween costume for you!

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Forrest Pass @forrestpass.bsky.social · 08/09/2026

Mid-career moments: realizing that my 1st scholarly article appeared 20 yrs ago. Research began even earlier, when I was still using steno pads for notes! There are some things I would change, but I think it's held up. Be the judge yourself (it's free-2-read): tinyurl.com/yc4dr5pr #bchist #cdnhist

Dense notes on the Grand Post of the Native Sons of BC fonds at the Nanaimo Community Archives, handwritten in pencil on yellow stenographer's paper.

Title of an article in BC Studies entitled "The Wondrous Story and Traditions of the Country: The Native Sons of British Columbia and the Role of Myth in the Formation of an Urban Middle Class," written by a bright-eyed and bushy-tailed third-year PhD candidate named Forrest D. Pass.

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Forrest Pass @forrestpass.bsky.social · 08/09/2026

Any weekend when I add a vintage N.L. Barlee to my library is a good weekend (IYKYK - and I K that @benbradleyca.bsky.social K's...) #bchist

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Forrest Pass @forrestpass.bsky.social · 07/09/2026

I see your real manatee and raise you the first book published by Winnipeg-based Harlequin Enterprises, now the world's largest romance publisher, in 1949. I'm including a copy in an exhibit in 2027! (Spoiler alert: no real manatees in this story). #InternationalManateeDay #CdnHist #CanLit (sort of)

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Forrest Pass @forrestpass.bsky.social · 28/08/2026

Quite so, but that is not the sense in which "America" is being used in the brochure:

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Forrest Pass @forrestpass.bsky.social · 28/08/2026

File under "Seemed like a good idea at the time": this Canadian National Railways slogan is a little cringeworthy today.... (From CNR fonds, @library-archives.canada.ca)

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Forrest Pass @forrestpass.bsky.social · 24/08/2026

A pleasure to chat with @cfrangou.bsky.social for this piece in @thewalrus.ca (and ICYMI, here's my Canada Day display this year, to which she refers!) #vexillology #abhist #abpoli

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Forrest Pass @forrestpass.bsky.social · 23/08/2026

Trade War Diary, Day 2: back from vacation and hit the Ottawa Farmers' Market. Fresh, local Canadian Produce: fending off foreign foes AND explosive diarrhea since 1867... #BuyCanadian #cdnpoli

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Forrest Pass @forrestpass.bsky.social · 14/08/2026

The same view this morning, sixty-six years later (M.V. Malaspina Sky instead of the long-decommissioned M.V. Quillayute). #bchist

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Forrest Pass @forrestpass.bsky.social · 08/08/2026

I'm not gonna lie: the August edition is devillishly hard...

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Forrest Pass @forrestpass.bsky.social · 08/08/2026

A previous passenger in 15A had strong opinions on this story in the Porter Airlines in-flight magazine (luckily, they didn't use that same pen to sully the Mr. Porter spot-the-difference, my favourite part of flying)...

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Forrest Pass @forrestpass.bsky.social · 05/08/2026

To the Canadian reader "d'un certain age," this sounds a lot like a tired old man living inside a broken mainframe computer, subsisting on jar after jar of blackberry jam. IYKYK. #canlit www.thenerve.news/p/cory-docto...

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Forrest Pass @forrestpass.bsky.social · 05/08/2026

Ummm... I hate to be a party-pooper, but it's been hiding in plain sight in rural Eastern Ontario for centuries (or at least decades...)

Signs read "Palais des Sports Glengarry Sports Palace" and "Bibliothèque des comtés unis de Stormont, Dundas & Glengarry / County Library Succursale / Alexandria Branch"

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Forrest Pass @forrestpass.bsky.social · 27/07/2026

Perfect album from the 90s.* *1989 is part of the "Long 1990s," right?

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Forrest Pass @forrestpass.bsky.social · 23/07/2026

#vexillology (My latest substitution for an American product is Maltese corn startch, which, I am disappointed to report, has neither a falcon nor a terrier on the label).

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Forrest Pass @forrestpass.bsky.social · 23/07/2026

And a nice @library-archives.canada.ca shout-out! #cdnhist Img: A Canadian (i.e. BC) Salmon Cannery, from the Empire Marketing Board collection.

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Forrest Pass @forrestpass.bsky.social · 20/07/2026

Easy for you to say, judgemental fortune cookie... #HistorianAllegories

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Forrest Pass @forrestpass.bsky.social · 17/07/2026

I think The Beaverton really ought to footnote @tomhawthorn.bsky.social from two days ago (tho' I'm sure many had the same thought!)

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Forrest Pass @forrestpass.bsky.social · 16/07/2026

Dress for the job you want, not that job you have - and that goes for your ride as well! (Big thank-you to @joeplanta.bsky.social for this delightful addition to my eclectic #vexillology collection!)

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Forrest Pass @forrestpass.bsky.social · 14/07/2026

Bonne Fête nationale française #14juillet (Image: Drapeau de la France libre, Caen, 11 juillet 1944. Photo: Ken Bell/Ministère de la Défense nationale, @library-archives.canada.ca, a16566) #vexillology / #vexillologie

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Forrest Pass @forrestpass.bsky.social · 03/07/2026

The second, contemporaneous with Raddall's book, is in M.M. Marberry's "The Golden Voice: A Biography of Isaac Kalloch," a 1947 life of an infamous 19c CA clergyman, politician, and rake. Did Raddall find the word in this bio? Did he remember it from the 1920s? Or did he coin it independently? (3/3)

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Forrest Pass @forrestpass.bsky.social · 03/07/2026

Not quite, but Raddall's use is early. Only two earlier instances over @archive.org (and none in digital newspapers I've checked). The earliest is in "Variety", Aug 5, 1925, in much the same context as Raddall: a British criticism of the immorality of 1920s American cinema. (2/3)

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Forrest Pass @forrestpass.bsky.social · 03/07/2026

Did a Nova Scotia novelist coin the term "Californication" 50 years before the Red Hot Chili Peppers? I was surprised to find the term in Thomas Head Raddall's "The Nymph and the Lamp" (1950), p. 366. Is it a Canadianism worthy of @canadiandictionary.bsky.social? (1/3) #cdnhist #canlit #lexicography

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Forrest Pass @forrestpass.bsky.social · 01/07/2026

My other Canada Day tradition is sharing some long forgotten, earnest, and often not-very-good patriotic poetry. This year's verse, from the pen of Frank G. Potter, appeared in his chapbook "All-Canadian Poems" (Kentville, NS: Privately printed, 1938). Happy reading! #cdnhist #canlit

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Forrest Pass @forrestpass.bsky.social · 01/07/2026

It'll be a great addition to my study mantel, alongside the BC Centennial 1971 desk flag I found a few years ago....

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Forrest Pass @forrestpass.bsky.social · 01/07/2026

To the sinister, a linguistic minority community flag ought not to take precedence over a province, but I live with three proud Franco-Ontarians! And taken as a trio, I guess BC is the senior flag here? Alberta included this year as a quiet thumbing of nose to separatist yobbery! #abpoli

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Forrest Pass @forrestpass.bsky.social · 01/07/2026

To the dexter, the typically the order would be National Flag, Ontario, Quebec, based on population at entry into Confederation. But here in QC, the Fleurdelisé takes precedence over all flags, incl the National Flag. So I compromised (2/3)

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Forrest Pass @forrestpass.bsky.social · 01/07/2026

Flags up for Canada Day, but some interesting protocol challenges this year. A very short, very nerdy 🧵 #cdnhist #vexillology

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Forrest Pass @forrestpass.bsky.social · 27/06/2026

Even North Korean passports opt for the iconic scenery of Mount Paektu rather than the Dear Leader's mug....

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Forrest Pass @forrestpass.bsky.social · 24/06/2026

Célébrons la Saint-Jean comme c'est 1950, en hissant le Fleurdelisé et en chantant O Canada! Let's celebrate Saint-Jean-Baptiste Day like it's 1950, flying the Fleurdelisé and singing O Canada! #vexillology #cdnhist #qchist

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Forrest Pass @forrestpass.bsky.social · 23/06/2026

British Columbia: Showing other provinces how to air grievances politely but firmly since 1871! (Image: Arch with "Carnarvon Terms or Separation" banner, Victoria, 1876. Source: BC Archives, @royalbcmuseum.bsky.social) #cdnhist #bchist #cdnpoli

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Forrest Pass @forrestpass.bsky.social · 23/06/2026

Les drapeaux sont hissés pour la Saint-Jean/la Fête nationale demain! #vexillology

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Forrest Pass @forrestpass.bsky.social · 21/06/2026

Advertise your Bluesky account w a Simpsons GIF

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Forrest Pass @forrestpass.bsky.social · 18/06/2026

In the 1990s, the Vancouver artist ManWoman ran a one-ManWoman campaign to rehabilitate the swastika. These art stamps were among his educational offerings, and included a clin-d'oeil to the Swastika, ON, sign... #cdnhist

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Forrest Pass @forrestpass.bsky.social · 18/06/2026

Anyone else notice a passing similarity between this year's G7 and America 250 logos? Ho-hum designs both, and of course both countries (and many others) can claim the red, white, and blue, but still... #vexillology

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Forrest Pass @forrestpass.bsky.social · 18/06/2026

Name a TV show you're positive no one remembers but you

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Forrest Pass @forrestpass.bsky.social · 16/06/2026

(Apparently by Richard Armour:

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Forrest Pass @forrestpass.bsky.social · 14/06/2026

Pschaw - amateurs! If you're into mixing politics and extreme sports, Rideau Hall (residence of the Governor General of Canada) had a pretty dope tobaggan slide in the 19th century... now there's a man's (and women's) pursuit! #cdnhist

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Forrest Pass @forrestpass.bsky.social · 13/06/2026

The skull in triangle is the emblem of the Royal Black Chapter, one of the higher degrees of the Orange Order. An example of the emblem from a Niagara preceptory:

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Forrest Pass @forrestpass.bsky.social · 09/06/2026

For International Archives Day / #iaw2026, I'm checking out urban planner Noulan Cauchon's 1927 scheme for "Hexagonopolis" @library-archives.canada.ca. A "honeycomb" street pattern would, he argued, speed up traffic flow while preventing accidents. #cdnhist #archives #urbanhistory #envhist

A blueprint plan for a city entitled "Hexagonal Planning" by Noulan Cauchon, 1927. The plan consists for hexagonal lots arranged on a Honeycomb pattern with roads and railways between them, as well as land set aside for parks.

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