Joe Beef of Montreal: Working-Class Culture and the Tavern, 1869-1889

Type of resource
Author/collaborator
Title
Joe Beef of Montreal: Working-Class Culture and the Tavern, 1869-1889
Abstract
Irish-born Charles McKiernan (1835-1889), better known to late nineteenth century Montrealers as "Joe Beef", ran a popular waterfront tavern which also served as a source of temporary aid in times of unemployment, sickness and hunger. However, middle-class Victorian Montrealers considered McKiernan as one of the "wickedest" men in the city and his tavern a threat to the morality and social peace of the city. The author describes the intricate connections between drink and working-class culture along the Montreal waterfront and how the tavern provided a source of recreation and served as a centre for social services and labour activity in the era before the success of middle-class temperance and urban reform.
Publication
Labour/Le Travail
Volume
Vol. 8/9
Pages
9-40
Date
Autumn 1981/Spring 1982
Language
en
URL
Notes

Article also found in: Robert Douglas Francis and Donald Boyd Smith, eds. Readings in Canadian History: Post Confederation. Toronto, ON: Holt, Rinehart and Winston of Canada, 1990: 238-264.

Citation
DeLottinville, Peter. “Joe Beef of Montreal: Working-Class Culture and the Tavern, 1869-1889.” Labour/Le Travail Vol. 8/9 (Autumn /Spring 1982 1981): 9–40. http://www.lltjournal.ca/index.php/llt/article/viewArticle/2632.
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