The Black Box: Lady Bessie Borden’s Family, 1863–1956

Donald Wright speaks with Carman Miller about his book The Black Box: Lady Bessie Borden’s Family, 1863–1956. In a remarkable tale of tragedy, war, family conflict, and imperial diplomacy, The Black Box presents a collective biography of four generations of women in an elite Nova Scotia family during the late-nineteenth to mid-twentieth century. These intelligent, educated, artistic women were pragmatic and autonomous persons who contributed to the development, maintenance, defence, and management of the Borden family’s material resources. Illustrating the changing nature of the time, the book explores the adventurous and curious lives of women who moved at the highest levels of society. It examines how the synergies of their private and public lives redefined their place in society during an era when the state and religion became more active and private lives more public. It also demonstrates the role and importance of the material components of social power, such as dress, residence, clubs, and travel. Drawing on archival material retained by the family, the book reveals how the Borden family defined, secured, and sustained its status in society. The Black Box is a unique record of an elite family’s response to the changing political economy of imperial Canada. Carman Miller was born in Nova Scotia and educated at Acadia University (B.A., 1960; B.Ed., 1961), Dalhousie (M.A., 1964) and University of London (Ph.D., 1970). In 1967, he joined the History Department at McGill as a Lecturer; he became Assistant Professor in 1971 and Associate Professor in 1977. He also served as Chairman of the department from 1978 until 1981. Miller's research interests are primarily in Canadian military and political history of the late 19th and early 20th century. If you like our work, please consider supporting it: bit.ly/support_WTY. Your support contributes to the Champlain Society’s mission of opening new windows to directly explore and experience Canada’s past.