An Analysis of Canadian Social Welfare Historical Writing John R. Graham Lakehead University The writing of Canadian social welfare history is examined in three stages. Until drca 1970, the literature tends to portray sympathetically social welfare's underlying motives. The next stage, or a "new social history" (ca. 1970-81), is more critical, with a particular frame of reference on socioeconomic class relations. A more diverse third stage (post-ca. 1980) expands the number and variety of topics beyond first- and second-stage writing and challenges many previous assumptions, especially re- garding power and human agency. Future avenues of research also are considered, particularly the need to emphasize diversity, and a Canadian identity, more explicitly as historical phenomena. English-language Canadian historians have written about social wel- fare for several decades aral have created what is, at last, a growing body of research.' What follows is written for a wide audience encom- passing scholars and students of history, social work, and related social sciences. The literature's evolution is conceived in three stages, begin- ning with an early literature (to ca. 1970), followed by what came to be called a "new social history" stage (ca. 1970—ca. 1981), and finally a more diverse, third stage (post-ca. 1980).^ So that social welfare historians might maintain a relevance beyond the academy, it is im- portant to frame research, as much as possible, in the context of such current public policy imperatives as social welfare retrenchment. In Social Service Review (March 1996). © 1996 by The University of Chicago. All rights reserved. 0037-7961/96/7001-0007101.00