More of a Man : : Diaries of a Scottish Craftsman in Mid-Nineteenth-Century North America / / Andrew Holman, Robert K. Kristofferson.

• VerfasserIn: Holman, Andrew,; Kristofferson, Robert K.,
• Place / Publishing House: Toronto : : University of Toronto Press, , [2018]; ©2013
• Year of Publication: 2018
• Language: English
• Physical Description: 1 online resource (492 p.) :; 14 illustrations

More of a Man presents the only known diaries of a skilled craft-worker in Victorian Canada: Andrew McIlwraith, a Scottish journeyman who migrated to North America during a tumultuous period marked by economic depression and early industrial change. McIlwraith's journals illuminate his quest to succeed financially and emotionally amidst challenging circumstances. The diaries trace his transformations, from an immigrant newcomer to a respected townsman, a wage worker to an entrepreneur, and a bachelor to a married man.Carefully edited and fully annotated by historians Andrew C. Holman and Robert B. Kristofferson, More of a Man features an introduction providing historical context for McIlwraith's life and an epilogue detailing what happened to him after the diaries end. Historians of labour, gender, and migration in the North Atlantic world will find More of a Man a valuable primary document of considerable insight and depth. All readers will find it a lively story of life in the nineteenth century.

Table of Contents

Frontmatter -- Contents -- Acknowledgments -- A Note on the Source -- Dramatis Personae -- Abbreviations -- Introduction: Andrew McIlwraith and His World -- 'Is the Working Man Better Off in America than in Britain?' Andrew McIlwraith's Letter to the Ayrshire Times, August 29, 1860 -- Diary for 1857 -- Diary for 1858 -- Diary for 1859 -- Diary for 1860 -- Diary for 1861 -- Diary for 1862 -- Epilogue: Endings and Beginnings -- Appendix 1: The McIlwraith and Goldie Family Trees -- Appendix 2: Andrew McIlwraith's Mechanics' Institute Library Loans, Newton-on-Ayr, Scotland, 1846-1852 -- Appendix 3: Memoranda, Cash Accounts, and Letters Sent and Received, 1857-1862 -- Index