From pre-contact Indigenous trading through 1939, Thinking Big examines the history of businesses, business leaders, and organizations in Winnipeg. Discover how the Winnipeg business community dealt with challenges such as the Great Depression and the post-World War I depression, and organized itself to take advantage of periods of growth and prosperity.

Jim Blanchard is the Head of Reference Services at Elizabeth Dafoe Library at the University of Manitoba. He is a former president of the Manitoba Historical Society and is the author of Winnipeg’s Great War: A City Comes of Age and Winnipeg 1912, and is the editor of A Thousand Miles of Prairie: The Manitoba Historical Society and the History of Western Canada.

Jim Blanchard's profile page

"James Blanchard has produced yet another great read about the history of Manitoba" - Sandy Riley, Canadian lawyer and business leader

"Jim Blanchard is a prolific local historian, whose books have brought the early history of Winnipeg to life for countless readers. In Thinking Big, he draws our eye to the city's business development, from the HBC and the Indigenous free traders of the fur trade, to the much less well-known story of North Star Oil. His case studies show that 'thinking big' was not only about private capital and intrepid settler entrepreneurs, but relied critically on public investment and oversight." - Professor Esyllt Jones, History Department, University of Manitoba