Historian in Residence: Mapping Calgary’s Literary Landscape

Shaun Hunter is the 2020 Historian in Residence

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Agatha Christie on board RMS Kildonan Castle leaving Southampton, January 1922. Courtesy of the Christie Archive.

Mapping Calgary’s Literary Landscape

Where was Rudyard Kipling standing in 1907 when he called Calgary the “wonder city of Canada”? Which hotel welcomed Agatha Christie and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle on their 1920s tours through town? Which Calgary settings have found their way into novels and poems through the decades?

During the COVID-19 pandemic, I have been spending my days plotting the answers to these and other questions on a digital literary map of Calgary.

I’ve had the idea in mind for a while. Now, as Heritage Calgary and the Calgary Public Library’s Historian in Residence, I have a chance to dig into the project. With libraries closed and programming on hold, I’ve become a mapmaker full time.

Rudyard Kipling. Elliott and Fry Collection/Bassano Studios.

Many people are surprised to learn that Calgary has a literary landscape. I was, too. Growing up in Calgary in the 1960s and 70s, I had never seen my hometown on the page. A few years ago, I set out to find the city in prose and poetry. That reading project turned into the book Calgary through the Eyes of Writers  – 160 literary excerpts by 146 writers across the city’s history.

Since my book was published in 2018, I have continued to find Calgary locales depicted on the page, landmarks in the city’s literary history, and trivia. Lots of trivia.

During my residency, I will be focusing on mapping sites in the City of Calgary’s Inventory of Evaluated Historic Resources  – a trove of more than 800 buildings and places identified as having heritage value by Heritage Calgary. By my count, more than 100 have literary connections.

Sir Arthur Conan Doyle in Paris, 1925. Hulton Deutsch/Getty.

For each map pin, I’ll add a brief description and, where possible, a photograph from the Library’s Calgary’s Story collection as well as links to the Library’s catalogue. I’ll also be including sites from my own research.

A final exhibit at the Central Library at the end of the residency will feature an extensive digital map, as well as an annotated physical map of selected sites.

I’ll continue to post map updates on my Twitter (@ShaunMHunter) and on my Facebook page. If you’ve got literary sites to add to the mix, please send them my way.

In the meantime, if you’re curious about where Kipling, Christie and Conan Doyle touched down in Calgary, take a look at the map below and click on the pins for the stories.

Shaun Hunter is currently serving as the Calgary Public Library’s Historian in Residence. Once the Library re-opens, she will be happy to meet with fellow researchers and historians. At that time, you can request an individual consultation by emailing historian@calgarylibrary.ca with your preferred date and time as well as the topic you wish to discuss or research question you have. In the meantime, you can explore a few of Calgary’s literary treasures at www.shaunhunter.ca.     

This Saturday, Shaun will be posting a virtual literary walk of the Bow River on Twitter in the spirit of Jane’s Walk weekend. Follow along at @ShaunMHunter

The Historian in Residence is presented in partnership with Calgary Public Library.

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