1957 Fredericton Encaenia

Wade, Hugh Mason

Doctor of Laws (LL.D.)

Orator: Toole, F.J.

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L to R: Sidney Earle Smith, Hugh Mason Wade, Edwin John Pratt, Arthur Deinstadt Ganong
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Source: UA PC-4 no.6ad

Citation:

ENCAENIA, MAY, 1957
HUGH MASON WADE
to be Doctor of Laws

My Lord Chief Justice, Mr. President, Ladies and Gentlemen:

In Mason Wade, Director of Canadian Studies at the University of Rochester, we honour a man who is the foremost authority upon what makes Canada unique among nations, its bilingual character and culture.

As a young man, he became acutely aware of the interesting experiment in nation-building on the northern borders of his state of Vermont. He read the works of Francis Parkman, dealing with the conflicts between English and French during the 18th century, and ever since he has followed in the path of his master. He wrote a biography of Parkman, a scholarly edition of Parkman's journals, and many articles in periodical publications, endeavouring to understand and explain the complexities of Anglo-French relations in Canada.

In 1955, in consummation years of devoted labour, there came monumental work that has become essential to students of Canadian history. The French Canadians is the most complete and scholarly study written in English upon the establishment and expansion of the French race in North America. The trail blazed by Parkman has been widened and carried as far as the mid-twentieth century. The young man from Vermont, whose antecedents are Yankee, has made a great contribution not only to scholarship but to the mutual understanding of French and English Canadians.

The province of New Brunswick is an area in which French and English-speaking people meet, work, and live together. Here the significance of Mr. Wade's work is highly appreciated. In recognition of this the University is proud to confer upon him the degree of Doctor of Laws.

From: Honoris Causa - UA Case 70, Box 1

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