Adam Shortt (1859–1931) was an

economic historian Economic history is the study of history using methodological tools from economics or with a special attention to economic phenomena. Research is conducted using a combination of historical methods, statistical methods and the application of ...

in Ontario. He was the first full-time employed academic in the field at a Canadian university ( Queen's University).

Biography

Shortt was born in

Kilworth Kilworth () is a village in north County Cork, Ireland, located about north of Fermoy near the River Funshion. The M8 Cork–Dublin motorway passes nearby. Kilworth has an army camp, located on the R639 regional road between Mitchelstown an ...

Canada West The Province of Canada (or the United Province of Canada or the United Canadas) was a British colony in British North America from 1841 to 1867. Its formation reflected recommendations made by John Lambton, 1st Earl of Durham, in the Report ...

, on 24 November 1859 to George Shortt and Mary Shields. At the age of twenty he attended Queen's University with the intention of becoming a Presbyterian minister. When he graduated in 1883 however, he pursued graduate studies in philosophy, chemistry and botany. In 1886 Shortt married Elizabeth Smith, one of the first women to receive a medical degree in Canada; they had two daughters and a son together. The same year he began working as a tutor for John Watson, and in 1887 was appointed a lecturer in the field of political economy at Queen's. In 1891 he was the first to be appointed the John A. Macdonald Professor of Political Science. While a lecturer at Queen's, he was appointed as the editor of ''

The Queen's Journal ''The Queen's Journal'' is the main student-run newspaper at Queen's University at Kingston in Kingston, Ontario. The paper was founded in 1873 and has been continually publishing ever since. It is as old as ''The Harvard Crimson'', the oldest ...

'' and is largely credited with moving the paper from a strict focus on campus matters to a more mixed discussion on all university interests, particularly to broaden the readership amongst alumni. He is credited with establishing the first card catalogue at the Queen's Library. Regarded as the father of professional economics in Canada, Shortt took a historical approach as differentiated from economic theory, as he believed that the economics of nations depend on natural resources, geographic location, and specific economic attributes. Shortt went on to

Glasgow University The University of Glasgow (abbreviated as ''Glas.'' in post-nominals; ) is a public research university in Glasgow, Scotland. Founded by papal bull in , it is the fourth-oldest university in the English-speaking world and one of Scotland's four ...

for his master's degree in political economy. He is most well known for his research into the history of Canadian banking and for his association with the

National Archives of Canada Library and Archives Canada (LAC; ) is the federal institution tasked with acquiring, preserving, and providing accessibility to the documentary heritage of Canada. The national archive and library is the 16th largest library in the world. Th ...

. In 1906 he was elected a fellow of the

Royal Society of Canada The Royal Society of Canada (RSC; , SRC), also known as the Academies of Arts, Humanities, and Sciences of Canada (French: ''Académies des arts, des lettres et des sciences du Canada''), is the senior national, bilingual council of distinguishe ...

and a commander of the

Order of St Michael and St George The Most Distinguished Order of Saint Michael and Saint George is a British order of chivalry founded on 28 April 1818 by George, Prince of Wales (the future King George IV), while he was acting as prince regent for his father, King George III ...

in 1911. He received the

's J. B. Tyrrell Historical Medal in 1930. At the time of his death on 14 January 1931, he was a chairman of the Board of Historical Publications at the National Archives, a position he had held since 1918.

Select publications

* 1898
The Early History of Canadian Banking: Canadian Currency and Exchange Under French Rule
''Journal of the Canadian Bankers' Association'' via

Internet Archive The Internet Archive is an American 501(c)(3) organization, non-profit organization founded in 1996 by Brewster Kahle that runs a digital library website, archive.org. It provides free access to collections of digitized media including web ...

* 1904: * 1907: * 1909:

References

Footnotes

Bibliography

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External links