History News

This week Dr. Susan Nance is interviewed in a piece on VICE, "Ringling Bros. Elephant Sanctuary is Hardly a Paradise." The story explains the nature of and controversy over the Ringling Brothers, Barnum & Bailey Circuses' decision to retire the company elephants and keep them at a facility in Florida in which the animals will be bred with artificial insemination and employed in cancer research. 

In an interview with Peter Holslin, Nance explains why the future of these particular elephants is so hotly contested, and the history of public interest in the lives of the elephant population in North America. 

Read the story at VICE.

HIST*1050 Invitation to History is a new, mandatory course for all first year History majors and minors. 

Invitation to History introduces students to the basics of the historian’s craft including interpreting primary sources, locating and critically analyzing secondary sources and writing for History. It will provide you with the tools you need for success in your History major, minor or area of concentration. Choose any one of the following four classes. 

Fall 2016 - Hist*1050*01  Licit and Illicit Drugs   (instructor: Dr. Catherine Carstairs)
This course will examine the history of the use of licit and illicit drugs across the world, and examine why some have been forbidden and others permitted. 

Fall 2016 - Hist*1050*02  Polar Encounters   (instructor: Dr. Alan Gordon)
This course will trace the history of northern American exploration, including the mysteries of the disappearance of the Franklin and Hudson expeditions, as well as encounters among various peoples in the North and between people and the environment.

Winter 2017 - Hist*1050*03  Crime and Culture   (instructor: Dr. Elizabeth Ewan)
This course will study criminal acts such as homicide, witchcraft, theft and slander and how they were defined and prosecuted in past centuries, and the class will employ historical court records to recover the experiences of people in the past.

For more, visit our First Year Courses page

Celebrate Black History Month and try your hand at transcribing. We suggest the Shadd Diary.

A journey into the Shadd Diary covers the years 1881-1889 and introduces the reader to a variety of fascinating individuals. Garrison is the son of Abraham Doras Shadd, the famed abolitionist and “conductor” of the Underground Railway, and brother of Mary Ann Shadd, the first black woman in North America to publish a newspaper. Garrison oversees his sons taking extended turns writing the diary, first William, then Charles, then others. You'll notice the change in hand-writing. They are fully engaged in farming and the community life of North Buxton.

The diary can be found here: https://ruraldiaries.lib.uoguelph.ca/garrison-william-shadd

We hope you'll join us!
- Erin Elizabeth Schuurs, PhD Candidate on behalf of Rural History at Guelph

The program for the 22nd Annual Tri-University History Conference on March 5, 2016 is here .pdf

Please join us for the 22nd annual Tri-University History Conference on 5 March 2016 at the Best Western Plus Royal Brock Hotel & Conference Centre in Guelph, ON. Organized by the history departments of Wilfrid Laurier University, the University of Guelph and the University of Waterloo, the theme of this year’s conference is “Contesting History: Reflections on Perspective and Approach.”

This year’s conference will also feature the inaugural Tri-University “Rapid Fire” Competition. Participants will have 3 minutes to deliver an overview of their dissertation, thesis or major paper to a panel of esteemed professors and conference attendees. The event will take place during the final session of the day and a number of prizes will be up for grabs.

Get the poster .pdf

Rural History Roundtable Winter 2016
sponsored by the Francis and Ruth Redelmeier Professorship in Rural History.

February 9: Miguel Mundstock Xavier de Carvalho 
"Swine Production in Ontario in the 20th century: Environment and Animal Welfare"

February 26: Tina Loo
“Moved by the State: Forced Relocation and a ‘Good Life’ in Postwar Canada”

March 11: Hamish Maxwell-Stewart
“Rural Convicts in a British Penal Colony: Transportation to Van Diemen¹s Land 1817-1853"

March 24: Jean-Yves Dufour
“Man-Animal Relations, as Viewed by Excavations in the Castle of Roissy, France (12th–19th c)”

April 8: Renée Worringer
"Wolf in Dog's Clothing: The History of Sheepherding Dogs for Livestock Management"

For more information, see our Events feed to the right or get the poster .pdf

Undergraduate Research Assistantships* -- now accepting applications

Transient Youth: Hitchhiking Rituals and Growing Up in Canada, 1920-1980
- supervisor: Dr. Linda Mahood

War and Hospitality: British Tourism, Hotels, and the Great War
- supervisor: Dr. Kevin James

"Colonial Morality," Comparative Perspectives
- supervisor: Dr. Norman Smith

Historical Photography Depicting Canines in the North American West: Database and Archival Blog
- supervisor: Dr. Susan Nance

* Apply by February 10, 2016. See www.uoguelph.ca/history/job-postings for detailed project descriptions and application info.

For our 2016 Gateway Seminar on Feb. 4, History Alumni talk about their career paths and the value of their history degrees:

* Sonja Missio (BAH, History’08) is a Prospect Researcher and Information Officer at North York General Foundation, involved in a major fundraising campaign and an international soccer journalist.

* Samuel Sharp (BAH, History'12, MA History'15) is a Historical Interpreter at the Gibson House Museum and a Program Instructor at Colborne Lodge Museum, Toronto.

All History students welcome! Pizza & Pop will be provided! Get the poster .pdf

THERE IS A FUTURE IN THE PAST!

History professor sees reminders of former prime minister Pierre Trudeau, but also intentions to connect to the deeper Liberal heritage.

Wednesday, January 6, 2016 — Feature by Teresa Pitman

A few months after Canada’s federal election, commentators are still dissecting the campaign and new Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is attracting global attention.

Prof. Matthew Hayday studies the history of Canadian politics at U of G. He’s intrigued by the ways Justin Trudeau’s campaign in the 2015 federal election echoed his father’s (former prime minister Pierre Trudeau) in 1968 and how it differed. Hayday points out that despite repeating some of his father’s strategies, Justin has also been careful to look beyond his father’s legacy and connect to a deeper Liberal heritage.

read the rest of the story at uoguelph.ca

Associate Professor Susannah Ferreira has just published a new book, The Crown, the Court and the Casa da Índia: Political Centralization in Portugal 1479-1521, with Brill.

from the dust jacket:
In The Crown, the Court and the Casa da Índia, Susannah Humble Ferreira examines the social and political context that gave rise to the Portuguese Overseas Empire during the reigns of João II (1481-95) and Manuel I (1495-1521). In particular the book elucidates the role of the Portuguese royal household in the political consolidation of Portugal in this period. By looking at the relationship of the Manueline Reforms, the expulsion of the Jews and the creation of the Santa Casa da Misericordia to the political threat brought on by the expansion of Ferdinand of Aragon into the Mediterranean, the author re-evaluates the place of the overseas expansion in the policies of the Portuguese crown.

Associate Professor Sofie Lachapelle has just published a new book, Conjuring Science: A History of Scientific Entertainment and Stage Magic in Modern France with Palgrave MacMillan.

from the dust jacket:
Conjuring Science explores the history of magic shows and scientific entertainment. It follows the frictions and connections of magic and science as they occurred in the world of popular entertainment in France from the mid-eighteenth to the early twentieth century. It situates conjurers within the broader culture of science and argues that stage magic formed an important popular conduit for science and scientific enthusiasm during this period. From the scientific recreations of the fairs to the grand illusions of the theatre stage and the development of early cinema, conjurers used and were inspired by scientific and technological innovations to create illusions, provoke a sense of wonder, and often even instruct their audience. In their hands, science took on many meanings and served different purposes: it was a set of pleasant facts and recreational demonstrations upon which to draw; it was the knowledge presented in various scientific lectures accompanied by optical projections at magic shows; it was the techniques necessary to create illusions and effects on stage and later on at the cinema; and it was a way to separate conjuring from the deceit of mediums, mystical showmen and quacks in order to gain a better standing within an increasingly scientifically-minded society.