Bibliography of Alberta history

The following is a bibliography of Alberta history.

Surveys and reference

• Heritage Community Foundation. Alberta Online Encyclopedia, online 2009, a short encyclopedia
• The Canadian Encyclopedia (2008) a very good starting point online edition
• The Dictionary of Canadian Biography (1966–2006), scholarly biographies of every important person who died by 1930 online edition
• Cashman, Tony. A Picture History of Alberta. Edmonton, Alta.: Hurtig, (1979) . 215 pp.
• Friesen, Gerald. The Canadian Prairies: A History (2nd ed. 1987)
• MacGregor, James A. A History of Alberta. Edmonton, Alta.: Hurtig, 1972. 335 pp.
• Owram, Douglas R., ed. The Formation of Alberta: A Documentary History. Calgary: Hist. Soc. of Alberta, 1979. 403 pp. primary sources
• Palmer, Howard. Alberta: A New History (1999), standard survey by leading historian
• Pitsula, James M. "Disparate Duo" Beaver 2005 85(4): 14-24, a comparison with Saskatchewan, Fulltext in EBSCO
• van Herk, Aritha. Mavericks: An Incorrigible History of Alberta (2001) 14 popular essays on the fur trade, aboriginal peoples, exploration, the North-West Mounted Police, ranchers, homesteaders, territorial and provincial politics, women, and Albertan culture.
• Wardhaugh, Robert A., ed. Toward Defining the Prairies: Region, Culture, and History. (2001). 234 pp.

Economics, business, labour

• Ascah, Robert L. Politics and Public Debt: The Dominion, the Banks, and Alberta's Social Credit. U. of Alberta Press, 1999. 360 pp.
• Bercuson, David Jay, ed. Alberta's Coal Industry, 1919. Calgary: Hist. Soc. of Alberta, 1978. 264 pp. 1919 primary source
• Breen, David H. Alberta's Petroleum Industry and the Conservation Board. U. of Alberta Press, 1993. 800 pp.
• Breen, David H. and Macleod, R. C., eds. William Stewart Herron: Father of the Petroleum Industry in Alberta. Calgary: Hist. Soc. of Alberta, 1984. 459 pp. primary sources
• Bright, David. The Limits of Labour: Class Formation and the Labour Movement in Calgary, 1883-1929. U. of British Columbia Press, 1998. 286 pp. online
• Burrill, Gary. Away. Maritimers in Massachusetts, Ontario and Alberta: An Oral History of Leaving Home. McGill-Queen's U. Press, 1992. 272 pp. a primary source; interviews with oil workers
• Chatko, Paul. Developing Alberta's Oil Sands: From Karl Clark to Kyoto (2005) author's discussion
• Ferguson, Barry Glen. Athabasca Oil Sands: Northern Resource Exploration, 1875-1951. Regina, Saskatchewan: Can. Plains Res. Center, 1986. 283 pp.
• Hart, E. J. The Selling of Canada: The CPR and the Beginnings of Canadian Tourism. Banff: Altitude, 1983. 180 pp.
• House, John D. The Last of the Free Enterprisers: The Oilmen of Calgary. Toronto: Macmillan, 1980. 230 pp.
• Johnston, Alex; Gladwyn, Keith G.; and Ellis, L. Gregory. Lethbridge: Its Coal Industry. Lethbridge Hist. Soc. (1989) 148 pp.
• Kennedy, Margaret A. The Whiskey Trade of the Northwestern Plains: A Multidisciplinary Study. New York: Lang, 1997. 181 pp.
• Klassen, Henry C. A Business History of Alberta. U. of Calgary Press, 1999. 362 pp.
• Parker, James M. Emporium of the North: Fort Chipewyan and the Fur Trade to 1835. Regina, Sask.: Can. Plains Res. Cen., 1987. 208 pp.
• Richards, John and Larry Pratt. Prairie Capitalism: Power and Influence in the New West. Toronto: McClelland and Stewart, 1979. 340 pp. influential Marxist interpretation
• Schneider, Ena. Ribbons of Steel: The Story of the Northern Alberta Railways. Calgary: Detselig, (1991) 312 pp.
• Wetherell, Donald G. and Kmet, Irene. Useful Pleasures: The Shaping of Leisure in Alberta, 1896-1945. U. of Regina Press, 1990. 430 pp.

First Nations, Metis

• Drees, Laurie Meijer. The Indian Association of Alberta: A History of Political Action. U. of British Columbia Press, 2002. 246 pp.
• McClintock, Walter. The Old North Trail: Life, Legends, and Religion of the Blackfeet Indians. (1910). 539 pp.
• Pocklington, T. C. The Government and Politics of the Alberta Métis Settlements. Regina: Can. Plains Res. Cen., 1991. 162 pp.
• Price, Richard, ed. The Spirit of the Alberta Indian Treaties. Toronto: Butterworth, 1979. 202 pp.
• Samek, Hana. The Blackfoot Confederacy, 1880-1920: A Comparative Study of Canadian and U. S. Indian Policy. U. of New Mexico Press, 1987. 236 pp.
• Ward, Donald. The People: A Historical Guide to the First Nations of Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba. Saskatoon: Fifth House, 1995. 115 pp.

High culture

• Ainslie, Patricia Ainslie, and Mary-Beth Laviolette. Alberta Art and Artists: An Overview (2007) 147 pages
• Calder, Alison and Wardhaugh, Robert, ed. History, Literature, and the Writing of the Canadian Prairies. U. of Manitoba Press, 2005. 310 pp.
• Keahey, Deborah. Making It Home: Place in Canadian Prairie Literature. (1998). 178 pp.
• Johns, Walter H. A History of the University of Alberta, 1908- 1969. Edmonton: U. of Alberta Press, 1981. 544 pp.
• Melnyk, George. The Literary History of Alberta, Vol. 1: From Writing-on-Stone to World War Two. Edmonton: U. of Alberta Press, 1998. 240 pp.
  • Melnyk, George. The Literary History of Alberta. Vol. 2: From the End of the War to the End of the Century. U. of Alberta Press, 1999. 302 pp.

Politics and government

• Aberhart, William. Aberhart: Outpourings and Replies. ed. by David R. Elliott, Calgary: Hist. Soc. of Alberta, 1991. 296 pp. a primary source
• Barr, John J. The Dynasty: The Rise and Fall of Social Credit in Alberta. Toronto: McClelland and Stewart. 248 pp.
• Bell, Edward. Social Classes and Social Credit in Alberta. McGill-Queen's U. Press, 1993. 196 pp.
• Boudreau, Joseph A., ed. Alberta, Aberhart and Social Credit. Canadian History Through the Press. Holt, Rinehart and Winston of Canada, 1975. 122 pp. newspaper reports; primary source
• Bruce, Christopher J.; Kneebone, Ronald D.; and McKenzie, Kenneth J., eds. A Government Reinvented: A Study of Alberta's Deficit Elimination Program. Oxford U. Press, 1997. 518 pp.
• Caldarola, Carlo, ed. Society and Politics in Alberta: Research Papers. Toronto: Methuen, 1979. 392 pp.
• Elliott, David R. and Iris Miller. Bible Bill: A Biography of William Aberhart. Edmonton: Reidmore Books, 1987. 373 pp.
• Finkel, Alvin. The Social Credit Phenomenon in Alberta. U. of Toronto Press, 1989.
• Gray, James H. R. B. Bennett: The Calgary Years. U. of Toronto Press, 1991. 310 pp.
• Hesketh, Bob. Major Douglas and Alberta Social Credit. U. of Toronto Press, 1997. 315 pp.
• Hewitt, Steve. Riding to the Rescue: The Transformation of the RCMP in Alberta and Saskatchewan, 1914-1939. (2006). 205 pp. excerpt and text search
• Johnson, William. Stephen Harper and the Future of Canada (2006)
• Lin, Zhiqiu. Policing the Wild North-West: A Sociological Study of the Provincial Police in Alberta and Saskatchewan, 1905-32 (2007) online
• Mardon, Ernest, and Austin Mardon. Alberta Election Results 1882–1992. Edmonton: Documentary Heritage Society of Alberta (1993).
• Monto, Tom. The United Farmers of Alberta: A Movement, A Government (Edmonton: GranhPublishing, 1989)
• Rennie, Bradford J. ed. Alberta Premiers of the Twentieth Century. Canadian Plains Research Center, University of Regina. (2004) excerpt and text search
• Rennie, Bradford James. The Rise of Agrarian Democracy: The United Farmers and Farm Women of Alberta, 1909-1921. U of Toronto Press, 2000. 282 pp.
• Thomas, Lewis H., ed. William Aberhart and Social Credit in Alberta. Toronto: Copp Clark, 1977. 175 pp. readings
• Thomas, Lewis Gwynne. The Liberal Party in Alberta. University of Toronto Press: (1959).
• Tupper, Allan and Gibbins, Roger, eds. Government and Politics in Alberta. U. of Alberta Press, 1992. 335 pp. textbook

Regional, urban, environment

• Belliveau, Anne. The Story of Alberta's Big West Country: Upper North Saskatchewan River Corridor, Shunda Basin, Brazeau Collieries and Nordegg. Calgary: Detselig, 1999. 240 pp.
• Conrad Norman C. eading the Entrails: An Alberta Ecohistory (U. Alberta Press 1999) online
• Foran, Max and Jameson, Sheilagh S., eds. Citymakers: Calgarians after the Frontier. Hist. Soc. of Alberta, 1987. 386pp.
• Foran, Max and Foran, Heather MacEwan. Calgary: Canada's Frontier Metropolis. An Illustrated History. Windsor, Ont.: Windsor, 1982. 367 pp.
• Foran, Max. Calgary: An Illustrated History/Calgary: Histoire Illustrée. Toronto: Lorimer; Ottawa: Natl. Mus. of Man, 1978. 192 pp.
• Hesketh, Bob and Swyripa, Frances, eds. Edmonton: The Life of a City. Edmonton: NeWest, 1995. 366 pp.
• Johnston, Alex and denOtter, Andy A. Lethbridge: A Centennial History. Hist. Soc. of Alberta, 1985. 240 pp.
• MacDonald, Graham A. Where the Mountains Meet the Prairies: A History of Waterton Country. (Parks and Heritage Series, No. 3.) U. of Calgary Press, 2000. 210 pp.
• Melnyk, Bryan P. Calgary Builds: The Emergence of an Urban Landscape, 1905-1914. Calgary: Alberta Culture, Can. Plains Res. Center, 1985. 214 pp.
• Rasporich, Anthony W. and Klassen, Henry C. Frontier Calgary: Town, City, and Region, 1875-1914. U. of Calgary and McClelland and Stewart West. 306 pp.
• Reasons, Chuck, ed. Stampede City: Power and Politics in the West. Toronto: Between the Lines, 1984. 216 pp. impact of oil on Calgary
• Smith, Donald B., ed. Centennial City: Calgary, 1894-1994. U. of Calgary Press, (1993) 88 pp.
• Wetherell, Donald G. and Kmet, Irene R. A. Alberta's North: A History, 1890-1950 U. of Alberta Press, 2000. 520 pp.
• Wetherell, Donald G. and Kmet, Irene R. A. Town Life: Main Street and the Evolution of Small Town Alberta, 1880-1947. U. of Alberta Press, 1995. 368 pp.

Settlement, rural, pioneers

• Baker, William M., ed. Pioneer Policing in Southern Alberta: Deane of the Mounties, 1888-1914. Calgary: Hist. Soc. of Alberta, 1993.
• Bennett, John W. and Seena B. Kohl. Settling the Canadian-American West, 1890-1915: Pioneer Adaptation and Community Building. An Anthropological History. U. of Nebraska Press, 1995. 311 pp. online
• Bowen, Lynne. Muddling Through: The Remarkable Story of the Barr Colonists. Vancouver: Douglas & McIntyre, 1992. 234 pp.
• Brado, Edward. Cattle Kingdom: Early Ranching in Alberta. Vancouver: Douglas & McIntyre, 1984. 298 pp.
• Brunvand, Jan Harold. Norwegian Settlers in Alberta. National Museum of Man, Mercury Series, Canadian Centre for Folk Cultural Studies, Paper no. 8. Ottawa: Natl. Mus. of Man, 1974. 71 pp.
• Danysk, Cecilia. Hired Hands: Labour and the Development of Prairie Agriculture, 1880-1930. (1995). 231 pp.
• Hurt, Leslie J. The Victoria Settlement, 1862-1922. Occasional Paper, no. 7. Edmonton: Alberta Culture, Hist. Resources Division, 1979. 242 pp.
• Jaques, Carrol. Unifarm: A Story of Conflict and Change. U. of Calgary Press, 2001. 342 pp.
• Jones, David C. Empire of Dust: Settling and Abandoning the Prairie Dry Belt. U. of Nebraska Press, 1987. 330 pp.
• Jones, David C., ed. "We'll All Be Buried Down Here": The Prairie Dryland Disaster, 1917-1926. Calgary: Alberta Records Publ. Board; Hist. Soc. of Alberta, 1986. 200 pp. collects primary sources
• Leonard, David W. Delayed Frontier: The Peace River Country to 1909. Calgary, Alta.: Detselig, 1995. 256 pp.
• Palmer, Howard. The Settlement of the West (1977) online edition
• Rennie, Bradford James. The Rise of Agrarian Democracy: The United Farmers and Farm Women of Alberta, 1909-1921. U of Toronto Press, 2000. 282 pp.
• Gross, Renie. Groundwork: Carl Anderson, Farm Crusader. Wardlow, Alta.: Badlands Books, 1998. 352 pp.
• Jackson, Mary Percy. Suitable for the Wilds: Letters from Northern Alberta, 1929-1931. ed. by Janice Dickin McGinnis, Toronto: U. of Toronto Press, 1995. 264 pp.; a primary source
• Sharp, Paul F. Whoop-up Country: The Canadian-American West, 1865-1885. Reprint ed., Norman: U. of Oklahoma Press, 1973. 347pp. primary source
• Silverman, Eliane Leslau. The Last Best West: Women on the Alberta Frontier 1880-1930. Montreal: Eden, 1984. 183 pp.
• Thompson, John Herd. Forging the Prairie West. (1998)
• Voisey, Paul. Vulcan: The Making of a Prairie Community. Toronto: U. of Toronto Press, 1987. 341 pp.

Social, ethnic, religion and schools

• Banack, Clark. "Evangelical Christianity and Political Thought in Alberta." Journal of Canadian Studies / Revue d’études canadiennes 48#2 (2014): 70–99
• Byrne, M. B. From the Buffalo to the Cross: A History of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Calgary. Calgary Archdiocese. 555 pp.
• Cavanaugh, Catherine A. and Warne, Randi R., ed. Standing on New Ground: Women in Alberta. U. of Alberta Press, 1993. 202 pp.
• den Otter, Andy A. Civilizing the West: The Galts and the Development of Western Canada. U. of Alberta Press, 1981. 395 pp.
• Flint, David. The Hutterites: A Study in Prejudice. Oxford U. Press, 1975. 193 pp.
• Gray, James. Booze: The Impact of Whisky On the Prairie West (Toronto: Macmillan, 1972.)
• Hoe, Ban Seng. Structural Changes of Two Chinese Communities in Alberta, Canada. Mercury Series, no. 19. Ottawa: Natl. Mus. of Man, Can. Centre for Folk Culture Studies, 1976. 385 pp.
• McLachlan, Elizabeth. With Unshakeable Persistence: Rural Teachers of the Depression Era. Edmonton: NeWest, 1999. 187 pp.
• Palmer, Howard and Palmer, Tamara, eds. Peoples of Alberta: Portraits of Cultural Diversity. Saskatoon, Sask.: Western Producer Prairie Books, 1985. 551 pp.
• Palmer, Howard. Patterns of Prejudice: A History of Nativism in Alberta. McClelland and Stewart, 1982. 217 pp.
• Scheffel, David. In the Shadow of Antichrist: The Old Believers in Alberta. Peterborough, Ont.: Broadview, 1991. 252 pp.
• Stebbins, Robert A. The Franco-Calgarians: French Language, Leisure, and Linguistic Life-Style in an Anglophone City. U. of Toronto Press, 1994. 152 pp.
• Ukrainian Pioneers' Association of Alberta. Ukrainians in Alberta. Edmonton: Ukrainian Pioneers' Assoc. of Alberta (1975) 560 pp.
• Wall, Karen L. Game Plan: A Social History of Sport in Alberta (2013) online review

See also

• Bibliography of Canada
• Bibliography of Canadian history
• Bibliography of Nova Scotia
• Bibliography of Saskatchewan history
• Bibliography of British Columbia
• Bibliography of the 1837-1838 insurrections in Lower Canada
• List of books about the War of 1812