Keewatin Country Graduate Student History Conference 

Each year the Universities of Saskatchewan, Manitoba and Winnipeg sponsor the Keewatin Country Graduate Student History Conference, which offers graduate and top undergraduate students the opportunity to present their research in a collegial and scholarly environment. This year the Keewatin Conference returns to Saskatchewan and brings more than thirty presenters as well as faculty, guests, and supporters to the Temple Gardens Mineral Spa Resort in Moose Jaw from 28-30 April 2011.

Moose Jaw Homestead Rush, c. 1908 (Source: University of Alberta Libraries Flickr Stream)

The name “Keewatin,” a Cree/Ojibway word for the Cold North Wind that blows across the Prairie Provinces and Northern Plains states, was chosen for its powerful local resonance and demonstration of a commitment to inclusivity beyond our individual institutions. As in previous years, this year’s conference is committed to remaining accessible to all students regardless of historical theme, geographic area or region. Organizers are committed to fostering an inclusive and collegial atmosphere welcoming papers on all historical subjects. So successful has this become, in fact, that this year the Keewatin Conference promises to see the widest participation yet as we are set to welcome presenters from no fewer than six provinces, two U.S. states, and Europe!


Our keynote speaker this year will be Professor Sterling Evans, holder of the Louise Welsh Chair in Oklahoma, Southern Plains, and Borderlands History at the University of Oklahoma. His address will be based on his book Bound in Twine, which won the Theodore Saloutos Best Book Prize from the Agricultural
History Society in 2008. Professor Evans’s talk “Nothing New About NAFTA” speaks to issues of particular interest to Saskatchewan, its agricultural history and the borderlands region.

Postcard from Moose Jaw, c. 1913 (Source: University of Alberta Libraries Flickr Stream)

Organizers of year’s Keewatin Conference are also excited to introduce a number of innovations. We now have Facebook and Twitter pages, including a dedicated hashtag (#keewatin2011), in order to maintain informal contact with presenters, as well as provide an opportunity to continue links and connections among presenters even after the conference is over. This year we are also introducing participant commentating, giving PhD candidates the opportunity to comment on panels.

Anyone interested in joining us in Moose Jaw for all or part of Keewatin 2011 can still register. Until 31 March there is also a special conference rate at the Temple Gardens Mineral Spa and Resort for those participating in Keewatin 2011. Contact keewatin2011@gmail.com for registration forms or more info.

Please come support us in Moose Jaw! We look forward to seeing you there.

Mac the Moose in Moose Jaw (Source: "Mac the Moose", Wikipedia, photo by Lisa from Bloomfield Hills)

Voyageur Database Update!

This just in: Robert Englebert's Voyageur database is in the news! Read and listen to the CBC Manitoba news article (in French).

A Budding Scholar

Congratulations to History Postdoctoral Fellow Tolly Bradford and his wife Lesley Harrington (a postdoctoral fellow at the Natural History Museum, London, U.K.) on the recent birth of their son, Ewan.

Pictured here is Proud Papa Tolly reading Ewan his first book!

Timely Topic

Congratulations to soon-to-be-doctored Merle Massie, who recently passed her Ph.D. defense (supervised by Bill Waiser) and is now leaving us to take up a postdoctoral fellowship. The goodbye will not be wrenching, though, as she is only going across campus to the School of Environment and Sustainability (SENS) where she will work with Dr. Maureen Reed.

Dr. Reed is the Canadian investigator of a three-country team (Sweden, Finland, and Canada) that researches environmental disturbances such as flooding, pests, major storm events, and economic restructuring in forest use. Merle's own contribution will look at flooding; given the floods last year in Manitoba and Saskatchewan and the forecast for this year, this is a timely topic indeed.

A secondary aspect of her research focuses on UNESCO biosphere reserves, particularly the Mt. Arrowsmith biosphere reserve at Parksville, BC (just outside of Nanaimo). This will build on Merle's doctoral work on Prince Albert National Park and the Prince Albert Model Forest.

Merle reports that she is excited (as she should be!) to be a part of this international and interdisciplinary project. We look forward to the occasional report from the far side of campus and wish Merle the best of luck.

Alumni News

Congratulations to alumnus Alan Long (Interdisciplinary MA, theatre and history), who has just been named the general manager of the Saskatchewan Native Theatre Compnay. Over the last decadeIn the last ten years, he has worked in various positions for Persephone Theatre, Rosthern Station Arts Centre and Saskatchewan Native Theatre Company.

For the full story, see today's article in The Star Phoenix: http://www.thestarphoenix.com/entertainment/Theatre+company+names/4284103/story.html#ixzz1E3XXfPXo .

All Things Voyageur

An interview with Robert Englebert will be aired on French CBC programme, Téléjournal Ouest, on February 21st between 6:00 p.m. and 7:00 p.m.

In the interview, Robert discusses the recent launch of The Voyageur Database Project, a database of 35,000 fur trade voyageur contracts signed in front of Montreal notaries between 1714 and 1830 (http://shsb.mb.ca/en/Voyageurs_database). This is, to date, the largest collection of data regarding the contracts signed by men of the Montreal fur trade. The information collected from the contracts includes: family names, parishes of origin, hiring company, length of contract, destination(s), advances and wages, supplies, conditions of hire, the name of the notary, date of signing, and miscellaneous notes. This project was a component of the Métis National Council's National Research Initiative.

Robert Englebert in front of a poster display for the project

 
Over six years, working with Dr. Nicole St-Onge (Ottawa), Robert helped to build the database from the ground up as the project manager in charge of a dedicated team of students during his PhD. Although he left the project when he took up his position in our department, he continued as assistant director of the project, which included using the database for research and promoting the project.

The Voyageur Database is a valuable new research tool. For example, Métis and French-Canadian genealogists or labour and social historians can trace families across time and distance. The database is an important source of information on a largely illiterate group of people, who is otherwise difficult to document.

Congratulations, Robert, on the launch of this exciting new project! We look forward to your T.V. appearance.

Where's Waiser?

Bill Waiser and his wife, Marley Waiser (National Water Research Institute of Environment Canada), are spending February and March as visiting scholars at the Center for Canadian Studies at Duke University. Bill will bringing Saskatchewan to an international audience this month when he gives a talk at the Center on "A Tale of Two Futures: Saskatchewan in 1905 and 2005".


For more information on their activities as visiting scholars, see: http://jhfc.duke.edu/canadianstudies/newsletter.html.

HUSA Clothing Sale and Movie!

The History Undergraduate Students' Association will be selling clothing again this year.  Zip-up jackets are going for $90 and hoodies for $55. Both bear the University of Saskatchewan logo, as well as the Department of History. You can place your orders at the HUSA booth, which will be set up at the top of the Arts ramp on February 15, 16 and 17 from 11a.m. to 2p.m.  If you are unable to get your order in at the booth, just email Kristina at kar152@mail.usask.ca!

In the not-too-distant future, HUSA will be hosting a movie night.  The subject? Spies! World War II! French Resistance! The movie? Carve Her Name with Pride. Professor Pam Jordan will be introducing the movie.  
When: February 8
Time: 5 p.m.
Place: Arts 146

Reminder: Keewatin Country Graduate Student History Conference Deadline

The deadline to submit your abstract for the conference is fast approaching: January 31.  Re-posting the full call for papers below!


Presentations on ALL HISTORICAL TOPICS are welcome. The conference aims to promote interdisciplinary dialogue and is open to submissions from any relevant discipline. We encourage papers addressing a diverse range of regional, methodological, and thematic topics.

Over the past two years, the Keewatin Graduate Student History Conference has attracted graduate students and outstanding undergraduates from across Canada, the US and abroad. We look forward once more to welcoming young scholars to this opportunity to present exciting new work in an engaging and supportive academic environment.

This year we are excited to welcome keynote speaker Professor Sterling Evans, Louise Welsh Chair Oklahoma, Southern Plains, and Borderlands History at the University of Oklahoma. Author and editor of four books, Professor Evans is a leader in the fields of transnational borderlands and environmental histories. His address "Nothing New about NAFTA: Connecting the Prairies to a Larger North American History" will be based on his book Bound in Twine, which won the Theodore Saloutos Best Book Prize from the Agricultural History Society in 2008.

In addition to sharing exciting new scholarship and collegial interaction, the conference venue offers opportunities for physical relaxation and mental rest as well. Hotel accommodation at the conference venue includes complementary access to the rooftop mineral pool overlooking Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan.

Applicants are invited to submit proposals of 250 words along with a short (one page maximum) CV. The submission deadline is January 31, 2011. Please submit your proposals, and any questions, to keewatin2011@gmail.com .

Publishing Workshop: How to Turn Your Dissertation into a Book

When: February 9
Time: 1:30-4:30
Where: Grad Commons

Attention Grad Students -- and anyone else who might be interested!  Ever wanted to know how your PhD thesis could be turned into a book?  For some helpful advice, why not attend a publishing workshop...  Snacks will even be provided.

1:30 Introduction: Erika Dyck and Michael Kirkpatrick

1:30-2:15: Presentation by University of Manitoba Press, Editors David Carr and Jean Wilson

2:15-2:45: Questions, Answers, Discussion

2:45-3:00: Refreshment Break

3:00-3:45: Panel on Experiences Turning Dissertations into Books
Lucas Richert, Postdoctoral Fellow (History), "Using my Post-Doc to Revise My Book"
Simonne Horwitz, Assistant Professor (History), "Balancing Work and Revisions"
Valerie Korinek, Professor and Head of History, "Dissertation to Book: Some Suggestions"

3:45-4:15: Questions, Answers, Discussion

For more information, contact Michael Kirkpatrick (kirpak@hotmail.com)

14th Annual Michael Swan Honours Colloquium

The Honours Colloquium will be held on Friday, January 21 from 9:00 to 4:30 in Agriculture 1E80.  Come see what our undergraduate students have been researching.  And as an added incentive: lunch is provided if you show up between 12:00 and 1:00!

Session One (9:05—9:50 a.m.): Questionable Practices in Modern US Policy

Shannon Colville. “‘Grave Moral Doubts’: The Tuskegee Syphilis Study and the Nuremberg Code.”

David Guenther. “Duck and Cover: The Effects of the U.S. Civil Defense Movement during the Cold War.”

Bradley Wickert, “U.S. Intervention in Guatemala: Did it ‘Work’?”

Session Two (10:00—10:55 a.m.): Dimensions in Canadian Social History

Scott Dumonceaux. “The California Gold Rush and the Fraser River Gold Rush: A Comparison.”

Ferron Olynyk. “A Changing Landscape: Impacts of Postwar Suburbanization in Canada.”

Myles Shingoose. “‘This Needs to be Stopped, But Where?’: The Decision to Stop the On-to Ottawa Trek in Regina.”

Kristi St. Laurent. “From ‘Je me souviens’ to “je ne me souviens pas’: The Historian’s Responsibility in Reconciling and Rehabilitating Canadian History.”

Session Three (11:05 a.m. —12:00 p.m.): Indigenous Practices and Minority Populations

Melissa Armstrong. “African and Western Constructions of Disease with Witchcraft in Mind.”

Laura Champ. “Re-imagining the Lewis and Clark Expedition: A Process of Shared Exploration with the Mandan and Hidatsa Indians.”

Julie Sapsford. “Reflections on the Silver Screen: American Indians and the Hollywood Musical in the 1950s.”

Jason Stockfish. “Epitomizing the Canadian Mozaic: A Brief History of Multiculturalism in Saskatchewan.”

 

Session Four (1:00—1:55 p.m.): Rumors of War

Aaron Birkland.  “Frank Beecher Doran: The Perspective of a First World War Canadian Casualty.”

Filip Cupial. “The Priceless Horse: The Use of Cavalry in Two 17th- and 18th-Century East European States.”

Justin Fisher. “Uneasy Allies: The Soviet Union, China, and the Vietnam War.”

Isaac Mills. “A Decisive Factor? The Value of Intelligence in the Battle of the Atlantic.”

Session Five (2:05—3:00 p.m.): Ancient Texts, Tales, and Monuments

Keely Bland.  “The Vatican Vergil: Poetry, Art and the Historical Perspective.”

Victoria Hiebert. “The Building Program of the Emperor Maxentius.”

Guy Hucq. “Salesman and Statesman: The Senate’s Role in Promoting the Julio-Claudian Principate.”

Scott Tomkins. “Marco Polo and the ‘Old Man of the Mountain.’”

Session Six (3:10—4:05 p.m.): Women in Art and Reality

Melissa Allan.  “Making Something Out of Nothing: The Great Depression and Gendered Relief Policies in Canada.”

Chantal de Medeiros. “Erotic Imagery in Corinth’s ‘Boston Mirror,’ ca. 350 BC.”

Jannaya Friggstad. “Colouring Inside the Lines? Female Artists and Gender Boundaries in 17th-Century Europe.”

Sara Wright. “A Modern-Day Moses and the Freeing of the Israelites: Harriet Tubman and the Underground Railroad.”

For more information about the event, please contact our undergraduate director, Dr. John McCannon (john.mccannon@usask.ca).

Gold Medal Winner

Jim Miller, Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council Gold Medal Recipient

On Thursday, December 16th, SSHRC and Industry Canada announced that Professor Jim Miller (Canada Research Chair in Native-Newcomer History) has won the SSHRC Gold Medal, Canada's highest research honour, for his award-winning scholarship on Native-Newcomer histories.

Many department members were in attendance at Convocation Hall on December 16th to congratulate Jim on his marvellous achievement.  We are very proud! This is the first time that a scholar from the University of Saskatchewan has been awarded this distinction.  And there is really a gold medal, which we expect to see Jim wearing on all "ceremonial" occasions in the Department--or at the very least, the first department meeting of 2011...

For more details on the award and Jim's research contributions (and to see a video of the actual presentation, if you missed it), please see the article by the U of S Research Communications.

Congratulations, Jim!

Introducing a Future Historian?

Congratulations to Vickie Lamb Drover (Ph.D. student) & Doug Drover on the birth of their son, Samuel Clement Drover.  Sam was born on Sunday December 5th.  Big sister Grace has been handling the adjustment with aplomb.

Best wishes from all of us in the History Department!

World AIDS Day, Wednesday December 1st

Simonne Horwitz, our own AIDS scholar, would like to draw your attention to World AIDS Day.  In the past this has been a day of activism and global awareness but with the increasing availability of Antiretroviral Treatment in the North less attention has been paid to HIV/AIDS. The disease continues to affect many in the global south, while the statistics for Saskatchewan - double the Canadian national average - are horrific. A number of student groups of campus have arranged an awareness event, the screening of the brilliant docu-drama "A Closer Walk" followed by two brief presentations.  Professor Horwitz will be speaking.

Where: Neatby Timlin Theatre
When:  Dec. 1, From 5 p.m.
Cost: Free

Sir Hans Sloane's Correspondence Online

Credit: Wellcome Library, London
Sir Hans Sloane. Mezzotint by J. Faber, junior, 1729, after Sir G. Kneller, 1716.

Using my editor's privilege, I am pleased to announce the launch of my database of Sir Hans Sloane's Correspondence: https://drc.usask.ca/projects/sloaneletters . 

The pilot project already contains entries for over 1400 letters addressed to Sir Hans Sloane (1660-1753), who was a physician, scientist and collector.  Sloane's books, plant samples and curiosities formed the foundation collections of the British Library, British Museum and Natural History Museum.  The correspondence covers a wide range of topics from travel and collecting to scholarly disputes and medical cases -- and more is to come, as there are thirty more volumes of correspondence to enter.

Some transcriptions of letters are provided, but the database's initial intent to facilitate the use of the collection.  The collection has, until now, only been indexed according to letter-writer's name.  This has made it difficult to trace relationships between authors or to find specific subjects, given the sheer size of the correspondence.  As the database grows, it will be possible to make even more interesting connections.

But it is not just my project alone, as several students and alumni from our History department have provided research assistance for this project over the last couple years:
Jason Grier (B.A. Hons. and current M.A. student)
Amanda Harrigan (B.A. Hons. and M.A., now at the University of Alberta)
Rob Konkel (B.A. Hons., now at Oxford University)
Kurt Krueger (B.A. Hons. and M.A., now at the University of Victoria)
Melanie Racette-Campbell (M.A., now at the University of Toronto)
Heather Stanley (Ph.D. candidate)

I am sure that they will be just as glad that their efforts are finally seeing the light of day!

Interview with an Environmental Historian

Jonathon Clapperton, a doctoral candidate in our department, was recently interviewed for the Canadian Environmental History Podcast (Episode 18).  The interview is on Desolation Sound Marine Provincial Park, a popular destination for boating tourists and swimmers.  Jonathon considers the interconnections between the park and British Columbia's displacement of the Aboriginal population.

To download this episode, visit: http://niche-canada.org/naturespast.

Call for Papers: Keewatin Country Graduate Student History Conference, April 28-30, 2011

Facebook: Keewatin Country Graduate Student History Conference 2011
Website: http://artsandscience.usask.ca/history/keewatin/

The Departments of History and the History Graduate Student Associations of the University of Saskatchewan and the University of Manitoba/Winnipeg invite proposals for the Keewatin Country Graduate
Student History Conference 2011.

Presentations on ALL HISTORICAL TOPICS are welcome. The conference aims to promote interdisciplinary dialogue and is open to submissions from any relevant discipline. We encourage papers addressing a diverse range of regional, methodological, and thematic topics.

Over the past two years, the Keewatin Graduate Student History Conference has attracted graduate students and outstanding undergraduates from across Canada, the US and abroad. We look forward once more to welcoming young scholars to this opportunity to present exciting new work in an engaging and supportive academic environment.

This year we are excited to welcome keynote speaker Professor Sterling Evans, Louise Welsh Chair Oklahoma, Southern Plains, and Borderlands History at the University of Oklahoma. Author and editor of four books, Professor Evans is a leader in the fields of transnational borderlands and environmental histories. His address "Nothing New about NAFTA: Connecting the Prairies to a Larger North American History" will be based on his book Bound in Twine, which won the Theodore Saloutos Best Book Prize from the Agricultural History Society in 2008.

In addition to sharing exciting new scholarship and collegial interaction, the conference venue offers opportunities for physical relaxation and mental rest as well. Hotel accommodation at the conference venue includes complementary access to the rooftop mineral pool overlooking Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan.

Applicants are invited to submit proposals of 250 words along with a short (one page maximum) CV. The submission deadline is January 31, 2011. Please submit your proposals, and any questions, to keewatin2011@gmail.com .

National Ph.D. Dissertation Prize Winner

Congratulations to our recent graduate Jonathon Anuik!  At the biennial meeting of the the Canadian History of Education Association meeting in late October, he was awarded the Cathy James Memorial Dissertation Prize for the best thesis on the history of education in Canada. Dr. Anuik is an assistant professor of History and Interdisciplinary Studies at Lakehead University in Ontario.  His dissertation, “Métis Families and Communities and Christian and Public Schools: The Affirmation and Reclamation of Métis Identities in Saskatchewan, 1885-1979” (2009), was supervised by Dr. Jim Miller.

A Midterm Academic Road Trip

On Friday, October 22 in the midst of midterm exams, essay preparation and course work, U of S history enthusiasts Laura Shaw (3rd year History undergrad), Amy Samson (PhD History), Justin Fisher (4th year History Honours), Sheila Gibbons (MA History), Shannon Coleville (4th year History Honours), Amanda Shea (4th year History Honours) and Professor Erika Dyck participated in a 2-day workshop in Edmonton, Alberta (named in the order they appear in the photograph). The Community-University Research Alliance (CURA) project combines scholars and students with community partners and activists, including sexual sterilization survivors, who are committed to establishing a more inclusive history and the current debate over human rights issues surrounding past practices of sexual sterilization and current experiences of isolation and segregation for people with intellectual disabilities.

The first day of the workshop showcased the summer research that U of S students had conducted on this topic, including presentations about the way this issue has been covered in newspapers (Fisher), how the United Farm Women of Alberta advocated for sexual sterilization of people then deemed "mentally defective" (Gibbons), and the role that public health nurses played in advancing models of femininity and moral motherhood (Samson).

University of Saskatchewan contingent immediately following their stimulating presentations last Friday.

Saturday, October 23 conference participants reassembled at the Edmonton Public Library, where sterilization survivor Leilani Muir (now O'Malley), who is a member of the research team, read a statement from the Mayor of Edmonton, Stephen Mandel, declaring October 23 the "Remembering the History of Eugenics in Alberta" Day in Edmonton. This recognition, Leilani told participants, is a very important step in Alberta's history and a significant achievement for the CURA members. Over the course of the two-day event we worked closely with members of the public, survivors like Leilani and Judy Lytton, scholars and students from universities of Lethbridge, Calgary and Alberta (Edmonton) to promote a more inclusive understanding of mental health, disability and human rights in our society.

Leilani Muir (in the Riders' ball cap) and Judy Lytton (in the Rider's winter hat) pictured with U of S contingent as the conference winds down.

The conference closed just in time for Leilani and Judy to help the Saskatchewan contingent prepare for the Riders v Eskimos game, which ended poorly for the Riders.

U of S contingent in full Rider fan gear, still optimistic that the Riders may not suffer widespread embarrassment in what ultimately resulted in a final score of 39 to 24.

News coverage from the conference can be seen here:

http://www.cbc.ca/health/story/2010/10/23/edm-u-of-a-eugenics-conference.html

http://www.edmontonjournal.com/health/Newgenics+rampant+Alberta/3718189/story.html

Event: Organizing for Women's Security

The news is disheartening: hundreds of missing aboriginal women, high poverty rates among single mothers, domestic abuse of women and children, lack of equal pay for equal work, low percentage of female elected officials...  In September, over 120 people met with Governor General Michaelle Jean to address these and other obstacles to women's security.

Please come to learn about what happened and what still needs to be done to improve women's security in all its dimensions in Canada.  Along with Beth Bilson (Acting Dean, Law) and Omeasoo Butt (History graduate student and President of the Graduate Students Association), Pam Jordan (History) will be hosting an informal discussion about the Governor General's Conference on Women and Security. An open discussion with the audience will follow formal remarks.

All are welcome.

Where: Theatre, Frances Morrison Library, 311 23rd St. E.
When: Wednesday, November 3
Time: 7:00-9:00 p.m.
Cost: Free

All in a Week's Work

Last week was eventful for two members of our department. As reported in The StarPhoenix on October 21, Professor Janice McKinnon has been named as one of this year's recipients of the Saskatchewan Order of Merit. This is the most prestigious award in the province and is awarded for major contributions to the province and its residents. Then, on October 24, Professor Bill Waiser became our department's only Doctor Doctor, when he received a D.Litt. at Convocation. The honorary degree recognizes his long record of research and publication.

Congratulations to Dr. McKinnon and Dr. Dr. Waiser!

Doctor Doctor Waiser receiving his honorary D.Litt. at Convocation

THE MOMS CONFERENCE

On Saturday, October 2nd members of our Department, including Sara Roberts, Amy Samson, Blaine Wickham, Lucas Richert, Simonne Horwitz and Erika Dyck joined some of our co-regionalists for a day of history of medicine.  The event was hosted by the University of Minnesota's History of Medicine group as the second annual 'MOMS' Day.  MOMS is the clever acronym for Manitoba-Ontario-Minnesota-Saskatchewan.  We were treated to a lovely reception at early modernist Jole Shackleford's house in St. Paul on Friday evening, where we met colleagues from the University of Minnesota, the University of Manitoba and the Northern Ontario School of Medicine.  On Saturday we heard and participated in a variety of presentations, including panels on eugenics, health care professions and diseases.  We closed the meeting with dinner on the 'West Bank Campus', seen here.


Image: The Merry Band of Mom-ers
Image Credit: Erika Dyck

Your Chance to Win... A Roman Coin!

The Archaeology Students Association is now selling tickets for a chance to win an authentic Roman coin. The coin is a silver denarius from the Roman Republic (c. 104 BCE) with Roma on the obverse and Saturn in his chariot on the reverse.

Tickets are $5 each or three for $10. The draw date will be November 1st.

Tickets can be purchased from any one of the ASA executive (President Lyle Goldie, VP Jeffrey Seckinger, Treasurer Heather Kerr or Secretary Rebecca Jackson). Their office is on the third floor of the Archaeology building (rm. 334) and they can usually be found lurking around the coffee pot.

Images: Past, Present, Future

Former history instructor, Dr. Jack Coggins, shows us that historians need not only focus on history. His exhibition, Images: Past, Present, Future, is now on at the STM College Art Gallery.

Dates: September 20-October 23
Hours: Regular building hours
Location: STM College, 2nd Floor, outside the Library
Admission: Free

Graduate Student Success

Congratulations to Ph.D. student, Liz Scott, who has received two awards this year for her project "'I Bless the Hour I Came Here:' East London Emigration and Perceptions of Empire, 1867-1914".

This summer, she held an Andrew W. Mellon Pre-Dissertation Fellowship in the Humanities (Institute of Historical Research, London). She was paired with a mentor from Birkbeck College, Dr. David Feldman. Liz reports that it was a fantastic experience and lovely way to spend the summer months! [ed. comment: Indeed, the weather in London was far better than in Saskatoon this summer.]

In January, she will be off to London again. She has been awarded a SSHRC Michael Smith Foreign Study Supplement and will be working as a Visiting Research Fellow, hosted by Dr. Barbara Taylor (University of East London) at the Raphael Samuel History Centre. This is part of a partnership between the Bishopsgate Institute, the University of East London and Birkbeck College for the Study of the History of East London. She is delighted that the centre is located just around the corner from Spitalfields Market and the old Petticoat Lane Market, which will provide excellent study-break spots! [ed. comment: What she does not note is the RSHC's close proximity to Brick Lane, which is one of London's top curry house destinations.]

Happy researching, Liz!

Oral History Workshop

Interested in learning more about how to do oral history in your own research?

Please join Omeasoo Butt, Liam Haggarty, and Mandy Fehr, PhD candidates in the Department of History, to share what they learnt from the Regional Oral History Office at the University of California, Berkeley this summer at the Advanced Oral History Summer Institute. Topics to be addressed include:
· Methodology – how to set up your interviews, the pre-interview, interview questions
· Theory – Understanding your role and the role of your interviewee
· Project Planning- where to start?
· Writing Oral History

Please RSVP to Mandy Fehr at abf948@mail.usask.ca no later than Wednesday September 29th. Space is Limited.

Date: September 30
Time: 1-4 p.m.
Place: Arts 1007

Place and Replace

On September 16-18, our History Department was well represented at the 'Place and Replace' joint meeting of Western Canadian Studies and St John's College Prairies Conference in Winnipeg. Although conference attendees still haven't come to a consensus on whether or not the west is the prairies, or the west includes BC, we nonetheless forged ahead with a diverse set of papers covering an expanse of topics that centred around examinations of 'place'. Topics included areas of Aboriginal, environment, gender, technology and migration history, indicative of the vibrant scholarship in western Canadian history. Members of our department included Tolly Bradford, Jon Clapperton, Stephanie Danyluk, Erika Dyck, Mandy Fehr, Liam Haggarty, Heather Stanley and former U of S student Margaret Robbins.

Story credit: Erika Dyck
Photo caption: Conference-weary travelers at the Winnipeg airport

Girl with the Pearl Earring

HUSA starts its annual film series with Girl with the Pearl Earring, introduced by Dr. Lisa Smith. The film is a beautiful depiction of seventeenth-century life, portraying the household of painter Johannes Vermeer from the perspective of young maidservant Griet. This movie has it all: simmering domestic tensions, the precariousness of art as an occupation and history by the bucketloads. Starring Colin Firth and Scarlett Johansson.

When: September 29
Where: Arts 134
Time: 6:30 p.m.
Price: Free

Revival of the A.S. Morton Chair

Dr. Bill Waiser, SOM, FRSC, starts off the year as our newly appointed A.S. Morton Chair. The Chair, with a term of five years, was created in 1967 to recognise excellence in scholarly achievement: publications, national and international reputation, research grant success and peer reviews.

Bill has written widely (thirteen books!) on western Canadian social and environmental history. Recent titles include Tommy's Team: The People Behind the Douglas Years (2010, with S. Houston) and the award-winning Sasatchewan: A New History (2005). In addition to regular media appearances, he also hosted the CBC Saskatchewan T.V. program, Looking Back: 1999-2001. His list of accomplishments includes receiving the Saskatchewan Order of Merit (2006) and Centennial Medal and induction into the Royal Society of Canada (2007). At the U of S, he has received awards of excellence in teaching, research and alumni honour.

In the words of our Department Head, Valerie Korinek, Bill "exemplifies the Department's culture of research intensity, teaching excellence, and community engagement, and we congratulate him on this award. We know he will be an excellent ambassador for historical research."

Image: A very young Bill Waiser
Image Credit: Provided by Bill Waiser

Meet the Profs

Once again, HUSA's "Meet the Profs" night is upon us. History students, students interested in history and history professors all welcome!

Date: Thursday, September 23
Time: 7 p.m.
Place: Alexander's (second floor)

Dying and Dining in a Roman Cemetery

The Classical, Medieval and Renaissance Studies Program is very pleased to invite everyone to an illustrated lecture by Professor Lea Stirling, Canada Research Chair in Roman Archaeology at the University of Manitoba, entitled "Dying and Dining in A Roman Cemetery in Leptiminus (Lamta, Tunisia)."

When: Friday, October 1
Where: St. Thomas More College, Rm 344B
Time: Refreshments 3:30, Talk 4:00.

Roman Feast?

The University of Saskatchewan’s Museum of Antiquities is honouring its recent benefactors and sponsors with a themed dinner, “The Flavours of Ancient Rome”. Taste Roman-inspired delights created by Faculty club chef Kevin Calder! The event will take place in the Window Room of Faculty Club on Thursday September 30 at 6:00 pm. For information and tickets please contact Tracene Harvey at 966-7818, or visit the Museum of Antiquities Rm. 106 College Building. Ticket prices: $15.00 students. $50.00 non-students. All are welcome!

History of Medicine Seminar Series (2010-11)

The Canada Research Chair in Medicine (Erika Dyck) will be hosting the first ever History of Medicine Seminar Series this year. She's organised a fantastic line-up of speakers and everyone is welcome to attend. The seminars will be held at 4 p.m. at the Faculty Club (Club Room) -- and refreshments will be included.

October 21: Lucas Richert (U of S), "Protecting Americans to Death?: Revisiting Reaganomics, the FDA and Free-market Pharmaceuticals in the 1970s and 1980s"

November 18: Susanne Klausen (Carleton), "'We want to ensure that what happened in England will not happen here': The Abortion Debate in Apartheid South Africa"

January 20: Geoff Hudson (Northern Ontario School of Medicine), "'An Indescribable Level of Degradation': Pre-Nightingale Nursing Re-examined"

February 17: Lesley Biggs (U of S), "Beyond the Two Silos: A Framework for Theorizing Alternative and Biomedical Knowledges"

March 24: David Herzberg (SUNY), "'The Pill You Love Can Turn On You': Feminism, the Valium Panic, and Late 20th-century Prescription Scares"

For more information, contact Dr. Lucas Richert (Postdoctoral Fellow): lucas.richert@usask.ca .

Interesting New History Websites

Over the last year, I've been compiling a list of nifty new history websites. There may be a slight history of medicine bias... But if you've discovered some other sites that you think would interest people, let me know.

The Casebooks Project is putting the records of early modern astrologer-physicians Simon Forman and Richard Napier online, if you'd like to find out how astrology and medical treatment used to go hand-in-hand.

Recipes, Remedies and Receipts focuses on manuscript recipe collections (c. 1500-1900), providing finding aids, links to libraries with relevant holdings and historical context information (if you want to know more about "snail water" or "oil of swallows"). But why stop there? If you have a pre-modern manuscript recipe collection, the site authors would love to hear from you!

In related news, The Wellcome Library (London) has been digitizing their collection of seventeenth-century recipe collections, if you fancy trying your hand at reading them.

Six archives and libraries in the U.S. have formed a History of Medicine Finding Aids Consortium, bringing together their finding aids. It makes it possible to do easy searching for many American history of medicine topics. Carrying on the "recipe" theme, I found thirteen different entries at four different libraries.

Have you visited any history of medicine monuments or places recently? If so, Himetop (the History of Medicine Topographical Database) would like to know about it. There are only two entries for Canadians so far. It's a wiki, which allows contributors to share their knowledge and pictures of places related to the history of medicine.

The Livingstone Online project is an online edition of David Livingstone's medical and scientific correspondence. You can view the original documents, as well as read transcriptions. The site authors have provided a helpful "historical companion" to the letters.

London Lives is my current favourite, largely because I've discovered some rapscallions in my husband's family tree. The database brings together holdings from over eight archives, making it possible to search over 3 million names of Londoners (1690-1800). The documents can tell us much about crime, poverty, apprenticeship, voting... and makes it possible to reconstruct biographies of individuals.

How to be a Retronaut offers an irreverent look at history, bringing together the past and present in intriguing ways.

I'll end on a modern, rather beautiful note. If you want to see coloured photos of Russia a century ago, Boston.com recently had a series of fascinating images of the Russian Empire.

Human Rights are Women's Rights

On August 24, her Excellency, Governor General Michaelle Jean was on campus to speak on "Human Rights are Women's Rights". Following the Governor General's very moving speech was no easy task, but our own Pam Jordan and Omeasoo Butt (graduate student) rose to the occasion admirably before a packed Convocation Hall.

Professor Jordan's discussion of international women's experiences, empowerment, and "possibilities and opportunities" available to those of us who believe that change is possible was deftly handled, thought-provoking, and struck the perfect balance between education, international gender politics, and encouragement to activism.

Ms Butt's contribution was poised (and often humorous), urging the assembly to work towards decolonization and partnerships between many groups -- women and men, First Nations and settlers, as it is the only way for the country, society and the academy to go forward.

What a fantastic and inspiring morning!

Story Credit: Valerie Korinek

Image 1: Her Excellency, Governor General Michelle Jean speaking
Image Credit: University of Saskatchewan Media Room, # 15
(http://www.usask.ca/mediaroom/photo_gallery/download_photo.php?image=15)

Image 2: Pam Jordan (left) and Omeasoo Butt being hugged by her Excellency (right).
Image Credit: John McCannon

How Professors Spend the Summer

Look out Congress Clio-paloozers, the Society for the Social History of Medicine hosted its annual meeting at Durham University (U.K.) this July, complete with a Saturday night Scottish-style Ceilidh. As was made evident by the dancing attempts, historians are better in the archives than on the dance floors, but it didn't stop Professors Smith and Dyck from dosey-doeing with the best of them. Aside from the folk music, conference attendees also witnessed the annual miners' march through Durham. Brass bands marched through the town carrying union banners; miners and their families filled the streets while onlookers spilled out of the pubs to pay tribute to the now-dead Northern tradition of coal mining. Although the festivities left precious time for scholarship, we left our mark by anchoring the conference with back-to-back presentations on gender, fertility and reproduction, or rather its lack, in papers about castration in eighteenth-century France followed by a paper about hysterectomies in post-WWII Alberta.

Story Credit: Erika Dyck

Images

1. Professors Dyck and Smith with various academics from Spain, Portugal, the U.S. and the U.K. at a pub.

Image Credit: A Yorkshire Miner who kindly took a photo using Professor Dyck's camera. His troop of miners regaled us with a sing-along and refused to let us leave unless we sang a song. Did we? Or didn't we? What happened in Durham, stays in Durham.

2. and 3. Durham Cathedral, with a procession of the miners going into the Cathedral for a special service to honour miners who died in mining accidents.

Image Credit: Erika Dyck.

* N.B. There are no images of the dancing. Sadly, all such images have been blurred in a terrible photography accident.

Undergraduate Student Essay Awards

Congratulations to Vanessa Cowan, Jordan Sherbino, Jason Grier and Alana Zuzak for winning the History Department essay prizes in the 2009-2010 competition!

Vanessa (History 111) and Jordan (History 152) were awarded the Simpson Prize, an annual prize that recognises first-year students who have written the best final examinations in a 100-level History course.

Jason's excellent essay on "The Surgery for Samuel Pepys: Scientific Curiosity and the Medical Marketplace in Seventeenth-Century London" for History 481 was awarded the James H. Gray Essay Prize in History (demonstration of academic excellence in a 400-level History course).

Alana's superb essay, "Supposedly Idyllic: Enemy Alien Internment at Banff National Park" (History 258), received the Glen Makahonuk Book Prize for best labour history paper in an undergraduate or graduate History course.

The quality of all essays submitted to the competition was extremely high and impressed the Awards Committee.

Attention Local and U of S History Buffs!

If you happen to be around campus this week, you might be interested in a special event. On Thursday, July 29th, the U of S celebrates the 100th anniversary of laying the cornerstone of the College Building. The celebration will take place at 2:30 at the Nobel Plaza, 107 Administration Place. A Reception will follow in the College Building Gallery (Main Level).

Possible Career Option for Historians

Although What's Up often highlights academic success, it is important to note that there are, in fact, other career options for historians.

Wendy Gillis, for example, has had a busy summer as a journalism intern at the Ryerson Review of Journalism and the Toronto Star. As of May, she was working on a magazine feature about hyper local online news sites and collaboration with readership at the Ryerson Review. More recently, Wendy began an exciting 10-week internship in the newsroom at the Toronto Star.

And Toronto, between blackouts, earthquakes and riots, is certainly a newsworthy place to be this summer! A quick search of the Toronto Star website reveals that Wendy has been covering a wide-range of issues, from alleged police brutality or the Niagara miracle to a medieval knight at the G20.

While a history student in our department, Wendy developed her journalistic chops by editing The Sheaf and writing occasional articles for the Saskatoon Star Phoenix. Wendy is currently a student in the Master of Journalism programme at Ryerson University and has had an embarrassment of riches to undertake her studies: an Ontario Graduate Scholarship (which she declined) and the prestigious SSHRC Bombardier Graduate Scholarship.

Well done, Wendy! We hope that you send us the occasional dispatch from the media trenches, but in the meantime we'll keep an eye out for your byline.

Any text is possible if you take Latin!

Two of our very own department members have created a hilarious send-up of a old deodorent ad. John Porter stars in a YouTube video filmed by Ann DeVito. It is one in a series: see if you can spot the guest appearances and voice-overs by other members of the department...

So make sure you register today! It's never too late to gain the ability to parse Latin verbs or to compose sentences in Latin--in short, to become the most Latinate (wo)man in the world.

Alumna Grand Slam

Becky Littlechilds, who graduated from our CMRS programme in 2008, has had four major life events in the last month. She successfully defended her M.A. thesis (University of Victoria) on June 4, 2010. She then gave birth to a bouncing baby boy named Emrys on June 17. She has also been accepted into the Ph.D. programme in classics at King's College London AND has received maximum funding: a tuition waiver and scholarship to round out her SSHRC grant. Fantastic news, Becky!

Good luck to you and Emrys in Londinium... and don't forget to check out the hidden Roman baths just around the corner from the Strand location of KCL.

Image: Sophocles, King's Building, Strand Campus, KCL
Image Credit: "King's College London", Wikipedia

Seventy-Fifth Anniversary of the Regina Riots

Bill Waiser spoke to Michael Enright on The Sunday Edition (CBC) on July 4 about the On-to-Ottawa Trek and the Regina Riots.

Image: Rioters and police during the Regina Riot, 1 July 1935

Credit: Regina Archives

Caregiving on the Periphery

Congratulations to Myra Rutherdale (Associate Professor, York University) on the publication of her edited collection, Caregiving on the Periphery: Historical Perspectives on Nursing and Midwifery in Canada (McGill-Queen's University Press, 2010). Myra was a postdoctoral fellow in the department in 2003-4 when she came up with this project.

The book examines women's important cultural and medical roles as nurses and midwives in remote locations (Newfoundland and Labrador, northern Saskatchewan, northern British Columbia, and the Arctic). Topics also include Western Canadian Mennonite midwives, missionary nurses, and Aboriginal nursing assistants in the Yukon. Caregiving at the Periphery highlights religious, colonial and class themes, paying special attention to nursing in Aboriginal communities and the relations of race and medical work.

For more information on the book, please see: http://mqup.mcgill.ca/book.php?bookid=2456.

Hewton Bursary

Congratulations to alumnus Lucas Richert (B.A., University of Saskatchewan) on being awarded a Hewton Bursary earlier this spring.

Lucas recently defended his doctoral dissertation on "Pills, Politics and the Food and Drug Administration During the Reagan Years" (University of London, U.K.). Among his many accomplishments, Lucas has also been a lecturer at the University of Portsmouth and a Historical Researcher and Copy Editor for the Literary Encyclopaedia.

Lucas will next research asylums in nineteenth-century Upper Canada and 1950s Saskatchewan (Weyburn and North Battleford). We heartily wish him luck in his future endeavours!

BOOK LAUNCH

A book launch for Bill Waiser and Stuart Houston will be held to celebrate their new book Tommy's Team: The People Behind the Douglas Years.

The book examines the people behind Tommy Douglas while he was premier of Saskatchewan. Although the individuals are interesting in their own right, it is their connection to Douglas that shaped and informed their roles. This collection of 36 stories provides a broad, nuanced perspective on Douglas and explains why Douglas was one of the most successful political leaders of his era.

Date: June 15, 7:30

Time: 7:30

Place: McNally-Robinson