Canadian Museum of History Announces Digital Mercury Series Launch

The University of Ottawa Press (UOP) and the Canadian Museum of History are proud to launch the Digital Mercury Series, an ebook collection of all 500 volumes published in the series since 1972, offering unprecedented access to a remarkable body of research on Canadian history, archaeology, culture and ethnology.

The 162 ebooks of the Archaeology sub-series will be launched at the 49th annual conference of the Canadian Archaeological Association, taking place in Whitehorse, Yukon, from May 4 to 7. The ebooks of the Cultural Studies, History and Ethnology sub-series will be subsequently released throughout the year.

The Archaeology sub-series represents a vast collection of preventive and exploratory archaeological research conducted over a period of about 50 years in various regions throughout Canada: the Atlantic provinces, the Pacific Coast, Quebec, Ontario, Baffin Island, Hudson Bay, the Yukon and the Prairies. These works on dwellings, tools, ceramics, games, bones, and other buried or submerged artifacts reveal, in their own way, the history, practices and customs of the Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal people who have occupied the country since prehistoric times.

“UOP is proud to collaborate with this national institution to offer unparalleled access to the entire catalogue of the prestigious Mercury Series, providing an opportunity for new generations of researchers, wherever they may be located, to discover this pillar of our national history,” said Robert Major, UOP president.

“The Canadian Museum of History is delighted to work with the University of Ottawa Press to make this important Canadian collection of scientific studies available to researchers and other readers interested in this type of publication, both in our country and abroad,” stated Mark O’Neill, the Museum’s President and Chief Executive Officer. “The Mercury Series showcases the variety of research projects the Museum has supported and continues to support. Our intent in converting the books in this series to ebook format is to provide access to them to new generations of researchers and academics.”

Created in 1972, the Mercury Series is the Canadian Museum of History’s primary vehicle for publishing academic research and includes numerous landmark contributions in the disciplines of Canadian history, archaeology, culture and ethnology. Books in the series are published in either English or French, and all include an abstract in the second official language.  Visit the website to discover more.