Fifty Years Later: Experiences of an Editor‪.‬

When I took over as editor of Alberta History (then called the Alberta Historical Review) in 1958, I'd already been associate editor for two years and had been helping out since the first issue in 1953. The first copies were multilithed (one step up from mimeographing) on legal-sized paper, and after a year, on letter-sized paper. The procedure was for the editor, the Rev. W. Everard Edmonds, to put the copy together, often in handwritten form, after which I edited it, laid out the issue, and turned the copy over to a typist to prepare the multilith sheets. This was all done in the offices of the Alberta Department of Economic Affairs. However, the typing sometimes led to problems if the final copy wasn't checked properly. The earliest screw up I can recall occurred in the Summer 1955 issue. In telling the story of the first Calgary Stampede, there was a quote from the Calgary Albertan to the effect that Lucille Mulhall had successfully roped a steer while thousands in the grandstand had cheered. However, here is how it came out in the quarterly: