Arthur R. M. Lower
| Arthur Reginald Marsden Lower | |
|---|---|
| Born |
August 12, 1889 Barrie, Ontario, Canada |
| Died | January 7, 1988 (aged 98) Kingston, Ontario, Canada |
| Occupation | historian |
| Awards | Order of Canada, Governor General's Awards |
Arthur Reginald Marsden Lower CC FRSC (August 12, 1889 – January 7, 1988) was a noted Canadian historian and "liberal nationalist" interested in Canadian economic history, particularly the forest trade, and in Canadian-U.S. relations. He was the most nationalistic of Canadian historians, and highly distrustful of immigrants, Americans and any others outside of what he considered to be the Canadian family. The staple theory of Harold Innis influenced his research, much of which focused on the Canadian lumber industry. He was also strongly influenced by the ideas of American historian Frederick Jackson Turner regarding the influence of the frontier—The West—on distinctly American characteristics. Lower was an outdoorsman who not only loved nature, but emphasized the role of The North in shaping Canada.
Lower was born in Barrie, Ontario to a dysfunctional family. He studied history at the University of Toronto and Harvard University, where he obtained his doctorate. During World War I he served as an officer in the Royal Navy.
Lower taught history at Tufts College, Massachusetts, at Harvard and at United College, Winnipeg, where he chaired the Department of History for eighteen years. In 1944 he became professor of History at Queen's University, Kingston, a position he held until his retirement in 1959.
His general history Colony to Nation first published in 1946 was refreshingly opinionated. In this and other works, Lower influenced many English Canadians with his view of Canada's two nations - notably novelist Hugh MacLennan, the author of Two Solitudes. He also enjoyed poking fun at English Canadian "schooling" which he believed fell well short of "education". although he admired the quality Arianism generated by the frontier, he admitted it encouraged a careless and exploitative attitude toward natural resources, which angered him. The very title of his book on the lumber trade, North American Assault on the Canadian Forest, suggested, a friend told him, an exposé of "conquest, demolition, ravage, plunder, and exploitation."
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