Bill Hamilton
After years of teaching history at the secondary school level in Nova Scotia and at the university level in Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Ontario, UK, and Australia, we're proud that Bill has come to call Sackville home.
Years of teaching others taught him something too — local history is the essential ingredient in developing a student's interest in history at large. Once an interest is sparked by history that is local and personally meaningful, students branch out to the region, the nation and the world. He'd seen educators all too often go the other route and begin with the Peloponnesian Wars, inevitably losing the interest of the students. Bill tested his new approach while a professor at Mount Allison University.
He modeled a fourth-year seminar course in Canadian Studies after his theory. The uniqueness of his class attracted not only history majors, but students from a variety of disciplines who were picking up compulsory Arts credits. The course, entitled "The Culture of Atlantic Canada", remarkably took on a life of its own — no matter how much planning went into it, it was completely different every year.
He interviewed each member of the class to ascertain what aspect of 'culture' interested them. Their answers included music, sports, art, literature, science, and folklore. Lectures, field trips and assignments in the first term reflected these varied interests. In the second term each student completed a major paper on a topic of their choice. They each presented their work in class and lively discussion ensued. One famed year the class met in the library seminar room and nearly got kicked out. One librarian did not appreciate the presentation of the paper entitled "The Evolution Of Fiddle Music In Cape Breton". Not only did the student demonstrate by playing a few strathspeys and reels, she imported a fellow student who could step dance! Bill's study of how his students learned by involving themselves personally in their own local history inspired his book entitled "Local History in Atlantic Canada".
Another of his books was written for high school students in Cumberland County. "One County One World" uses the same basic approach of starting close to home, and was very successful at the Grade Nine level.
Retirement for Bill has meant that he's able to fit in more time for writing. He's a freelance journalist whose most recent assignments are featured with CBC Radio & TV, CTV, and the NB Forestry Association. His community involvement includes working with groups such as Yorkshire 2000; Historic Sites Identification Committee; the Westmorland & Tantramar Historical Societies; and the Board of the Sackville Co-op. On top of all that, he is also the author of the regular column "Tantramar Flashback" in the local paper, the Sackville Tribune Post. When asked how he can maintain such a high level of community involvement while regularly contributing a column on local history his humble response is simply "it's fun to write".
"Tantramar Flashback" is the perfect marriage of Bill's love of writing and his love of history. His columns, always of tremendous local interest (again, proving his theory right!), are read world wide by people with roots in the area and those interested in Atlantic Canadian history. Through his column, he has gathered extremely positive feedback with regular suggestions for future topics. Bill admits that he's "gone on longer than planned", but concedes that "one thing is certain; I'll never run out of topics!". The community surely hopes he won't — so that makes two things for certain.