# Adam Shortt > Mediated Wiki article. Canonical URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Adam_Shortt > Markdown URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Adam_Shortt.md > Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adam_Shortt > Source revision: 1293320829 > License: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/) **Adam Shortt** (1859–1931) was an [economic historian](/source/Economic_history) in Ontario. He was the first full-time employed academic in the field at a Canadian university ([Queen's University](/source/Queen's_University_at_Kingston)). ## Biography Shortt was born in [Kilworth](/source/Middlesex_Centre#Kilworth_Heights), [Canada West](/source/Canada_West), on 24 November 1859 to George Shortt and Mary Shields.[4] 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.[5] In 1886 Shortt married [Elizabeth Smith](/source/Elizabeth_Smith_Shortt), one of the first women to receive a medical degree in Canada; they had two daughters and a son together.[6] The same year he began working as a tutor for [John Watson](/source/John_Watson_(philosopher)), and in 1887 was appointed a lecturer in the field of political economy at Queen's.[7] In 1891 he was the first to be appointed the John A. Macdonald Professor of Political Science.[8] While a lecturer at Queen's, he was appointed as the editor of *[The Queen's Journal](/source/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.[9] 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](/source/Glasgow_University) for his master's degree in political economy. He is most well known for his research into the [history of Canadian banking](/source/Early_Canadian_banking_system) and for his association with the [National Archives of Canada](/source/National_Archives_of_Canada).[citation needed] In 1906 he was elected a fellow of the [Royal Society of Canada](/source/Royal_Society_of_Canada) and a commander of the [Order of St Michael and St George](/source/Order_of_St_Michael_and_St_George) in 1911. He received the [Royal Society of Canada](/source/Royal_Society_of_Canada)'s [J. B. Tyrrell Historical Medal](/source/J._B._Tyrrell_Historical_Medal) in 1930.[10] 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.[11] ## Select publications - 1898: [The Early History of Canadian Banking: Canadian Currency and Exchange Under French Rule](https://archive.org/details/earlyhistoryofca00shor), *Journal of the Canadian Bankers' Association* via [Internet Archive](/source/Internet_Archive) - 1904: [*Imperial Preferential Trade from a Canadian Point of View*](https://archive.org/details/imperialpreferen00shor). Toronto : Morang. Retrieved 4 November 2016. - 1907: [*The Taxation of Public Service Corporations*](https://archive.org/details/taxationofpubli00shor). Columbus, National Tax Association. 1907. - 1909: [*Lord Sydenham*](https://archive.org/details/lordsydenham00shoruoft). Toronto, Morang. Retrieved 4 November 2016. ## References ### Footnotes 1. Mackintosh 1938, p. 165. 1. Ferguson 1993, p. 14. 1. Crowley 2003, p. 29. 1. Wallace. 1. Gordon 2014; Wilson 1973, p. 7. 1. ["Shortt, Elizabeth Smith Fonds"](https://uwaterloo.ca/library/special-collections-archives/collections/shortt-elizabeth-smith-fonds). Waterloo, Ontario: University of Waterloo Library. 15 April 2014. Retrieved 4 November 2016. 1. Wilson 1973, pp. 7, 9. 1. Wilson 1973, p. 9. 1. ["Shortt, Adam"](https://www.queensu.ca/encyclopedia/s/shortt-adam). *Queen's Encyclopedia*. Kingston, Ontario: Queen's University. Retrieved 4 November 2016. 1. ["Past Award Winners"](https://rsc-src.ca/en/awards-excellence/past-award-winners#TyrrellMedal). The Royal Society of Canada. [Archived](https://web.archive.org/web/20240629010729/https://rsc-src.ca/en/awards-excellence/past-award-winners#TyrrellMedal) June 29, 2024 at the Wayback Machine. 1. Gordon 2014. ### Bibliography - Crowley, Terry (2003). [*Marriage of Minds: Isabel and Oscar Skelton Reinventing Canada*](https://archive.org/details/marriageofmindsi0000unse). Toronto: University of Toronto Press. ISBN 978-0-8020-7902-2. - Ferguson, Barry (1993). *Remaking Liberalism: The Intellectual Legacy of Adam Shortt, O.D. Skelton, W.C. Clark, and W.A. Mackintosh, 1890–1925*. Montreal: McGill-Queen's University Press. ISBN 978-0-7735-1113-2. - Gordon, Stanley (2014). ["Adam Shortt"](https://thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/adam-shortt). *The Canadian Encyclopedia*. Toronto: Historica Canada. Retrieved 15 December 2019. - Mackintosh, W. A. (1938). "Adam Shortt, 1859–1931". *Canadian Journal of Economics and Political Science*. **4** (2): 164–176. [doi:10.2307/136775](https://doi.org/10.2307/136775). [ISSN 0315-4890](https://www.worldcat.org/issn/0315-4890). [JSTOR 136775](https://www.jstor.org/stable/136775) - Wallace, W. Stewart (ed.). ["Shortt, Adam"](http://faculty.marianopolis.edu/c.belanger/QuebecHistory/encyclopedia/AdamShortt-CanadianHistory.htm). *The Encyclopedia of Canada*. Vol. 5. Toronto: University Associates of Canada. p. 396. Retrieved 15 December 2019. – via The Quebec History Encyclopedia. - Wilson, Ian E. (1973). ["Short and Doughty: The Cultural Role of the Public Archives of Canada, 1904–1935"](https://archivaria.ca/index.php/ca/article/view/13090/14329). *The Canadian Archivist*. **2** (4): 4–25. [ISSN 1923-6395](https://www.worldcat.org/issn/1923-6395). Retrieved 4 November 2016. ## Further reading - Berger, Carl (1986). [*The Writing of Canadian History: Aspects of English-Canadian Historical Writing Since 1900*](https://archive.org/details/writingofcanadia0000berg). 2nd ed. Toronto: University of Toronto Press. pp. [1](https://archive.org/details/writingofcanadia0000berg/page/n18)–31. ISBN 978-0-8020-6568-1. Retrieved 15 December 2019. - Dembski, Peter E. Paul (ed.) (2017). *Travels and Identities: Elizabeth and Adam Shortt in Europe, 1911*. Waterloo, Ontario: Wilfrid Laurier University Press. ISBN 978-1-77112-225-2. - Neatby, Hilda (1978). *Queen's University. Volume 1: 1841–1917*. Montreal: McGill-Queen's University Press. ISBN 978-0-7735-0336-6. ## External links - Shortt, Adam. ["Adam Shortt fonds"](http://www.archeion.ca/adam-shortt-fonds). *Archeion*. Queen's University Archives. Retrieved 4 November 2016. --- Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Adam Shortt](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adam_Shortt) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adam_Shortt?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.