The Punch "Festschrift"
Dr. Terrence Punch (1937-2017) was well-known in Nova Scotia for his radio talks, the speeches he made, the number of people he knew, and his deep long-term organizational involvements, but he was also a prodigious writer with a resumé of publications running to a hundred pages. We are honouring him with a book of essays.
Terry was one of the founders of GANS, its President from 1982-1988, and a regular contributor to The Nova Scotia Genealogist journal for many years. The year after his death, we organized a commemorative talk by a colleague of his, Dr. Bruce Elliott of Carleton University. We announced then that we wanted to prepare a "festschrift" in his honour.
At its best, a "festschrift" is a scholarly collection of writings which helps the reader understand the intentions of the honouree and helps carry that work forward, exploring the directions and possibilities in which the scholar's work may be built out by others.
Since that announcement, we have moved forward with a volume containing nine articles written by leading scholars for this purpose, plus a complete bibliography of Terry's work. Drs. Peter Ludlow and Paul Armstrong are co-editors, and they have jointly written an introduction to the book. GANS will be the publisher.
The volume is at the printer now: all of the articles and the bibliography are complete, and the layout and graphic design are finished.
The graphic design and printing have costs which have been subsidized with donations from Terry's friends, colleagues, and admirers to bring this project to fruition. Following publication, there will be a series of book launches around the province.
