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Primary sourceBook1914

Recollections of Sixty Years in Canada

Charles Tupper · 1914

Charles Tupper's own memoir, published in 1914, recounting his career from Confederation through his premiership.

Tupper's own memoir, written in retirement, giving his personal account of Confederation and his political career.

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Front cover of a blue cloth-bound book with the title 'Recollections of Sixty Years' and the author's name 'Sir Charles Tupper, Bart' in dark letters, with a dark embossed coat of arms with a crest, supporters, and motto in the center lower half.
Sir Charles Tupper, Recollections of Sixty Years in Canada, 1914.

About this source

What it is

This book is Charles Tupper's memoir, written in his retirement and published in 1914, a year before his death. In it he describes his early political work for Maritime union, the Confederation debates, the railway era, his time as Canada's High Commissioner in London, and his brief 1896 premiership.

Why it matters

As a firsthand account by one of Confederation's key architects, this memoir shows how Tupper wanted his own role in Canadian history to be remembered. It reflects his lifelong belief in uniting British North America and in Canada's place within the British Empire.

Look closer

  • Why might someone writing about their own life late in retirement choose to emphasize certain events over others?
  • How might Tupper's account differ from how historians or rivals described the same events?
  • What can a memoir tell us that an official document like a law cannot?

This book is part of the curated material that grounds the AI version of Charles Tupper on Humy.ai — when students ask about related events, the AI can quote it and cite it.

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