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A Paean to the Faithful

An image of some years ago stands out in my mind: I was standing outside of a classroom, listening to hearty applause from a clearly delighted audience. The person occasioning that appreciation was a small woman in a yellow dress, Phyllis Airhart, who had just finished her excellent Presidential address, “The Three Conversions of Edis Fairburn.” The audience’s appreciation was obvious; moreover, it was critical appreciation. The members of the Canadian Society of Church History (CSCH) who made up that audience had come to expect excellence, and with good reason. The CSCH has over the years consistently demonstrated scholarly excellence through its general membership as well as its executive. When the invitation was extended to me three years ago to let my name stand for the Executive of the Society I was keenly aware of that standard, and of the responsibility I was agreeing to undertake. This is not the Presidential Address I had originally anticipated delivering. In 1990 I was already pondering the topic I might research for presentation in the event that such would be asked of me. Canadian feminist and Methodist Nellie McClung was an obvious possibility. She had travelled extensively in the United States in support of the U.S. suffrage campaign in 1917, preaching her gospel of women’s rights and temperance to an eager audience south of the border. That story had yet to be told, and would provide I hoped, an entertaining and enlightening hour.