GUELPH – After a decade of writing about Guelph’s history for local newspapers, local author Ed Butts had more than enough material for a book.
The result is Guelph Stories, a self-published volume made up of his newspaper stories.
He credits his readers with giving him the idea for the project.
“I’ve been writing these articles for a long time, and a few people said, ‘why don’t you put them in a book?’” said Butts.
He was happy to oblige, but a key challenge was deciding what to include and what to leave out.
“I really didn’t want to leave anything out, but I knew I couldn’t put them all in,” Butt said.
Much of what he trimmed included war stories, even though these were the stories that started him writing for Guelph newspapers.
The author, who has more than 30 books by various publishers to his credit, approached the editor of the former Guelph Mercury in 2014, proposing to research the names on Guelph’s Cenotaph and write about them as a First World War 100th anniversary project.
“Every one of those names on the Cenotaph has got a story behind it,” said Butts, noting that by the time the Mercury ceased publication, he had written more than 50 stories.
When the paper closed 2016, Butts continued to write for the Guelph Mercury Tribune, and he currently contributes to online publication GuelphToday.com.
And though he started off writing about war, he has covered a variety of local history.
Book’s themes
His book is broken down into five themes. One titled “the Famous and the Forgotten,” highlights stories of once famous Guelphites.
Another deals with Guelph’s sports history, while a third shines light on Guelph’s “dark underside,” said Butts.
Then there is the “Sundry Stories” section, which Butts calls a “mixed bag of all sorts of things,” followed by “In Times of War.”
Butts is not sure how many stories there are altogether in the 299-page volume, but it’s “a lot.”
He couldn’t name a favourite, but highlighted the story of Herb Philp, a journalist who fought in the First World War.
Butts’ research into the soldier led to its own book, This Withering Disease of Conflict, featuring Philp’s letters home from the front.
“When I found him, that sort of led to a whole new project,” said Butts.
Guelph Stories is available at the Bookshelf in Guelph or by emailing Butts at edpbutts@yahoo.com.
