{{Short description|Canadian economic historian (1859–1931)}} {{Use dmy dates|date=December 2019}} {{Infobox academic | name = Adam Shortt | honorific_suffix = {{post-nominals|country=CAN|CMG|FRSC|size=100%}} | image = Adam Shortt LCCN2014714764 (cropped).jpg | alt = | caption = Shortt by Bain News Service, c. 1920 | birth_name = | birth_date = 24 November 1859 | birth_place = Kilworth, Ontario, Canada | death_date = {{death date and age|1931|01|14|1859|11|24|df=yes}} | death_place = Ottawa, Canada West | spouse = {{marriage|Elizabeth Smith Shortt|1886}} | alma_mater = Queen's University | thesis_title = | thesis_year = | school_tradition = | doctoral_advisor = | academic_advisors = | influences = John Watson{{sfn|Mackintosh|1938|p=165}} | era = | discipline = {{hlist | Economics | history | philosophy | political science}} | sub_discipline = {{hlist | Economic history | political economy}} | workplaces = Queen's University | doctoral_students = <!--only those with WP articles--> | notable_students = Sir Edward Robert Peacock{{sfn|Ferguson|1993|p=14}} | main_interests = | notable_works = | notable_ideas = | influenced = {{flatlist| * Andrew Haydon{{sfn|Ferguson|1993|p=14}} * William B. Munro{{sfn|Ferguson|1993|p=14}} * Oscar D. Skelton{{sfn|Crowley|2003|p=29}} }} | signature = | signature_alt = }} '''Adam Shortt''' {{post-nominals|country=CAN|CMG|FRSC}} (1859–1931) was an economic historian 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, Canada West, on 24 November 1859 to George Shortt and Mary Shields.{{sfn|Wallace}} 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.{{sfnm |1a1=Gordon |1y=2014 |2a1=Wilson |2y=1973 |2p=7}}
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.<ref name="UWSCA">{{cite web |date=15 April 2014 |title=Shortt, Elizabeth Smith Fonds |url=https://uwaterloo.ca/library/special-collections-archives/collections/shortt-elizabeth-smith-fonds |location=Waterloo, Ontario |publisher=University of Waterloo Library |access-date=4 November 2016}}</ref> 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.{{sfn|Wilson|1973|pp=7, 9}} In 1891 he was the first to be appointed the John A. Macdonald Professor of Political Science.{{sfn|Wilson|1973|p=9}} While a lecturer at Queen's, he was appointed as the editor of ''The Queen's Journal'' 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.<ref name="QE">{{cite web |title=Shortt, Adam|url=https://www.queensu.ca/encyclopedia/s/shortt-adam |website=Queen's Encyclopedia |location=Kingston, Ontario |publisher=Queen's University |access-date=4 November 2016}}</ref>
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 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.{{citation needed|date=November 2016}}
In 1906 he was elected a fellow of the Royal Society of Canada and a commander of the Order of St Michael and St George in 1911. He received the Royal Society of Canada's J. B. Tyrrell Historical Medal in 1930.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Past Award Winners |url=https://rsc-src.ca/en/awards-excellence/past-award-winners#TyrrellMedal |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240629010729/https://rsc-src.ca/en/awards-excellence/past-award-winners#TyrrellMedal |archive-date=June 29, 2024 |publisher=The Royal Society of Canada}}</ref> 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.{{sfn|Gordon|2014}}
==Select publications== * 1898: [https://archive.org/details/earlyhistoryofca00shor The Early History of Canadian Banking: Canadian Currency and Exchange Under French Rule], ''Journal of the Canadian Bankers' Association'' via Internet Archive * 1904: {{cite book|title=Imperial Preferential Trade from a Canadian Point of View|publisher=Toronto : Morang|url=https://archive.org/details/imperialpreferen00shor|accessdate=4 November 2016}} * 1907: {{cite book|title=The Taxation of Public Service Corporations|year=1907 |publisher=Columbus, National Tax Association|url=https://archive.org/details/taxationofpubli00shor}} * 1909: {{cite book|title=Lord Sydenham|publisher=Toronto, Morang|url=https://archive.org/details/lordsydenham00shoruoft|accessdate=4 November 2016}}
==References== ===Footnotes=== {{reflist|22em}}
===Bibliography=== {{refbegin|35em|indent=yes}} * {{cite book |last=Crowley |first=Terry |year=2003 |title=Marriage of Minds: Isabel and Oscar Skelton Reinventing Canada |url=https://archive.org/details/marriageofmindsi0000unse |url-access=registration |location=Toronto |publisher=University of Toronto Press |isbn=978-0-8020-7902-2 }} * {{cite book |last=Ferguson |first=Barry |year=1993 |title=Remaking Liberalism: The Intellectual Legacy of Adam Shortt, O.D. Skelton, W.C. Clark, and W.A. Mackintosh, 1890–1925 |location=Montreal |publisher=McGill-Queen's University Press |isbn=978-0-7735-1113-2 }} * {{cite encyclopedia |last=Gordon |first=Stanley |year=2014 |title=Adam Shortt |url=https://thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/adam-shortt |encyclopedia=The Canadian Encyclopedia |location=Toronto |publisher=Historica Canada |access-date=15 December 2019 }} * {{cite journal |last=Mackintosh |first=W. A. |author-link=W. A. Mackintosh |year=1938 |title=Adam Shortt, 1859–1931 |journal=Canadian Journal of Economics and Political Science |volume=4 |issue=2 |pages=164–176 |doi=10.2307/136775 |jstor=136775 |issn=0315-4890 }} * {{cite encyclopedia |title=Shortt, Adam |url=http://faculty.marianopolis.edu/c.belanger/QuebecHistory/encyclopedia/AdamShortt-CanadianHistory.htm |editor-last=Wallace |editor-first=W. Stewart |editor-link=William Stewart Wallace |encyclopedia=The Encyclopedia of Canada |volume=5 |location=Toronto |publisher=University Associates of Canada |page=396 |access-date=15 December 2019 |via=The Quebec History Encyclopedia }} * {{cite journal |last=Wilson |first=Ian E. |year=1973 |title=Short and Doughty: The Cultural Role of the Public Archives of Canada, 1904–1935 |url=https://archivaria.ca/index.php/ca/article/view/13090/14329 |journal=The Canadian Archivist |volume=2 |issue=4 |pages=4–25 |issn=1923-6395 |access-date=4 November 2016 }} {{refend}}
==Further reading== {{refbegin|35em|indent=yes}} * {{cite book |last=Berger |first=Carl |year=1986 |title=The Writing of Canadian History: Aspects of English-Canadian Historical Writing Since 1900 |url=https://archive.org/details/writingofcanadia0000berg |url-access=limited |edition=2nd |location=Toronto |publisher=University of Toronto Press |pages=[https://archive.org/details/writingofcanadia0000berg/page/n18 1]–31 |isbn=978-0-8020-6568-1 |access-date=15 December 2019 }} * {{cite book |year=2017 |editor-last=Dembski |editor-first=Peter E. Paul |title=Travels and Identities: Elizabeth and Adam Shortt in Europe, 1911 |location=Waterloo, Ontario |publisher=Wilfrid Laurier University Press |isbn=978-1-77112-225-2 }} * {{cite book |last=Neatby |first=Hilda |author-link=Hilda Neatby |year=1978 |editor1-last=Gibson |editor1-first=Frederick W. |editor2-last=Graham |editor2-first=Roger |title=Queen's University. Volume 1: 1841–1917 |location=Montreal |publisher=McGill-Queen's University Press |isbn=978-0-7735-0336-6 }} {{refend}}
==External links== * {{Internet Archive author |sname=Adam Shortt}} * {{FadedPage|id=Shortt, Adam|name=Adam Shortt|author=yes}} * {{cite book|last1=Shortt|first1=Adam|title=Adam Shortt fonds|url=http://www.archeion.ca/adam-shortt-fonds|website=Archeion|publisher=Queen's University Archives|accessdate=4 November 2016}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Shortt, Adam}} Category:1859 births Category:1931 deaths Category:19th-century Canadian historians Category:Canadian male non-fiction writers Category:Canadian Companions of the Order of St Michael and St George Category:Fellows of the Royal Society of Canada Category:Persons of National Historic Significance (Canada) Category:Academic staff of Queen's University at Kingston Category:20th-century Canadian historians Category:Presidents of the Canadian Political Science Association Category:Queen's University at Kingston alumni