"Doctor Penfield! I smell burnt toast!"

I believe that there is one thing that units Canadians. It's not Tim Hortons, hockey, snow, or drinking beer. It is the Heritage Minutes that are produced by Historica. It is a very rare occurrence to smell burnt toast in Canada without having someone quote the Minute about Doctor Penfield. Other Heritage Minutes are often quoted by my friends and family. Before the Minutes could only be seen by chance on television, but now they are all available to watch online and there are even lesson plans to go along with each minute. I'm such a fan of these one minute documentaries that I even joined a group on Facebook to celebrate these Canadian masterpieces.

In an article I read for Public History, "2007 Presidential Address of the CHA: Public History and its Discontents or History in the Age of WIkipedia" by Margart Conrad, Hertiage Minutes were briefly mentioned as being a positive thing for Public and Canadian History and I could not agree more. The Minutes are short enough to remember and hold one's attention (unlike some other programs about Canadian history I could mention). These brief snippets dispel the myth that Canadian history is boring and encourage people to seek out more information about the Minute that caught their attention. I learned a lot about Canada's history from these commercials that I didn't learn about in school, for example: the Halifax Explosion, Nellie McClung, The Vikings, and John Cabot just to list a few of my personal favourites.

Recently, when I went to explore the Historica website again, I was surpirsed to find that they added more "Minute" features. Now there is Footprint which are one minute documentaries featuring archival footage of Canadian athletes and sporting traditions. There is also Radio Minutes that are like pictureless Heritage Minutes. And my new personal favourite "Minute" variation, which I cannot wait to peruse further, Screen Legends, which illustrates through archival footage and narrations by the dreamy Colm Feore, Canada's contribution to the film industry.

Heritage Minutes are an important part of Digital and Public History because they utilize technology and are made with the public in mind. They are not, at least in my opinion, unbearable cheesy, but manage to capture one's interest and imagination. It was Heritage Minutes that led me to study history because they showed a different, more relatable and interesting side to history that wasn't taught in elementary or high school. Heritage Minutes showed me that Canadian history was more than the Hudson's Bay Company, the War of 1812, and Confederation.