Exclusive! These action pics from the recent History Graduate Banquet held at Boffins convey just a pale sense of the fun and conviviality of the event, as this image of beaming students and proud faculty attests. Not, however, that the event was without a darker side, as captured below when Undergrad Director G.R. DesBrisay had his grandmother's famous shortbread recipe snatched by unknown assailant Margaret Robbins. Click on either photo to enlarge.

And Click Here to see more scenes of that happenin' scene.

This one is worth getting all bold about.

Those of you who know your First World War may have heard about Lord Kitchener's Pals Brigades. That was a recruiting campaign to lie down and avoid. (Don't mention the Somme!) Thankfully, this recruiting campaign isn't like that at all.

As many of you already know, there is a fairly huge discrepancy on campus between the number of work/study employment opportunities available to students in the sciences and the scant few such opportunities available to history students. That may be about to change.

The University Learning Centre is looking for a few good students to serve their fellow students and generally advance the cause of university civilization by undertaking to work as PALS, Peer Mentors engaged in Peer Assisted Learning.

PALs work with ULC coordinators and professors on a variety of academic support projects and initiatives serving U of S students, including:

• providing guidance for Learning Communities for first-year Arts and Science students
• leading Structured Study Sessions for traditionally difficult courses
• organizing and leading Communication Café sessions for ESL and EAL students in the Global Commons
• leading small-group Study Skills workshops for undergraduate students
• contributing to the development and delivery of Community Service-Learning events
• working with the Math and Stats Help Centre programs

Ok, so that last bit might not be required of the likes of you. Where strong history students might come in especially handy, PALS-wise, is in

• assisting junior students with their writing in a discipline-specific way.

As our friends (pals, even) over at the the PALs Recruiting Office put it, "Strong students can offer support to their peers, and, in so doing, bolster the quality of student commitment and effort in the courses we teach." Amen to that.

As for what your university can do for you, in return for working with the ULC to help other students succeed, PALs receive valuable experience, ongoing training, a support system and a place to prepare their work or collaborate, and an honorarium equivalent to (Canadian) tuition for one or two 3CU classes.

In an ideal world, wouldn't all historians be pals? And wouldn't all PALs be historians?

The deadline for applying for a PAL-ship is fast approaching. Very fast. Like, tomorrow, Friday, March 28th (extended from an earlier deadline.)

To learn more, click here or here or call Donna at the ULC, 966-2886. Do it now!

Historians are creatures of chronology, so you are no doubt accustomed to reading this blog from the bottom up. In which case, you could be forgiven for thinking that grad students have all the fun. But that is not necessarily the case. Or not necessarily always the case, at any rate.

Why, this very month, the Department of History and the History Undergraduate Students Association are hosting the annual

History Graduation Banquet
Thursday, March 13th, 6:30 pm
Boffins Club*
(Located at Innovation Place, here on campus.)

Come celebrate your impending graduation! Or that of your friends and/or loved ones! Celebrate whomever you like! Whatever you like! Just don't miss it.

Family and Friends and Faculty Welcome!
Fun for the whole posse!
(Or crew, if people still have crews.)

Tickets are $25 each, and can be reserved in advance by emailing

uofshusa@yahoo.ca

or
buy or reserve in advance and in person,
this Thursday, March 7th from a pizza-slinging HUSA rep posted outside Arts 156
from 10:am to 2pm.

* Artists conception. Boffins Club, fine though it is, is not exactly as pictured above.

As you can imagine, the grad student community is all aflutter over the impending momentous events scheduled for this Friday, March 7th. Take a deep breath, and get this.

First, there is the HISTORY GRAD STUDENTS COLLOQUIUM, downstairs in the Faculty Club, starting at 3:30 and featuring the following presentations:

Lesley Wiebe: "A Historical Analysis of Amebiasis Among Indians in Northwest Saskatchewan"

&

Karin Tate-Penna: "The Divinity of the Imperial House: Rome's emperor cult and the deification of women under Trajan and Hadrian."

As if that isn't enough, hot on the heels of that event comes the annual HISTORY GRAD STUDENTS COMMITTEE BOOK PUB, on the main floor of the Faculty Club in the Window Room from 5-7pm.

Come bid on a wide variety of history books, at least one microwave oven, and perhaps on student research assistants who will be auctioned off to the highest bidding faculty members. Undergrad and grad students alike are invited to bid on the books and the microwave.

Not only do you stand to walk away with some fine literature and perhaps a perfectly functional small appliance, but when it is all over and you slope off into the night in search of another drink, you will know that you have contributed to a number of worthy causes. All proceeds go towards sponsoring HGSC events, the Buffalo Conference, and the Dave Debrou Memorial Scholarship in History.

Speaking of Mark Meyers (see below; seen on the right), we are delighted to report that the editorial board of the Journal of the Canadian Historical Association (JCHA) recently announced that Mark has won the award for the best article in the 2007 print issue of the journal. "'Your brain is no longer your own!': Mass Media, Secular Religion, and Cultural Crisis in Third Republic France" was based on the paper that Mark presented at last year's CHA meeting here in Saskatoon. The award will be presented at the 2008 annual meeting of the CHA in Vancouver. Congratulations, Mark!

Do you like our new outfit?

The whole team of us here at What's Up is delighted with the renovations underway on the departmental website, which is shaping up very nicely indeed under the command of Mark Meyers and College of Arts and Science webmaster Jason Belhumeur.

Stay tuned for further advances.

The entire What's Up team has been enamored for some time with the electronic book revolution, and things seem to have taken an even more interesting turn of late. So if you have never bookmarked or favourite-ed a url in your live, now is the time to do so with Live Search Books. Because Microsoft moves in mysterious ways. Having provided the historical world (in fact, the whole world) with the great gift of Live Search Books, they have made it weirdly hard to find the link you need to get at those tens of thousands of tomes old and new. But we here at What's Up have done the heavy lifting, so just save that link and you will be in business.

The two main sites for books on the open web are Google Books and Microsoft's rival version, Live Search Books. In general, Google Books has a larger selection, but Microsoft has a big advantage so far as new books are concerned. Some publishers allow Google Books readers access to up to 10% of a given book's content. This is very useful in many cases, but you can rarely access more than 5 or so pages in a row before running into pages that are withheld -- fair enough, they want you to buy the book.

Publishers working with Live Search Books, however, grant up to 20% access to a book's content (once you enroll and sign up -- free, just need an email account) and that 20% can be contiguous. It might well, for example, include a complete chapter in a book of essays. You cannot print effectively from these current books (out-of-copyright works can be dowloaded and printed in part or in whole as pdf files from either Google Books or Live Search Books), but, hey, you can read. In many cases the books are not in the library or out on loan, or just too new to be found elsewhere.

Ronald S. Love (1955-2008)

The department learned recently of the sudden death from natural causes of Dr. Ron Love, a former colleague who taught at the U of S for many years. Originally from Alberta, Ron earned a doctorate from the University of Southern California in 1987. A post-doctoral fellowship brought him to Saskatoon soon after, where he conducted his research into sixteenth-century French history and taught a wide variety of courses throughout the 1990s. From here he moved to a tenure-track appointment at the University of West Georgia, where he swiftly rose to the rank of associate professor. He was the author of several works, including Blood Religion: The Conscience of Henri IV, 1553 - 1593 (McGill-Queen's Press, 2001) and Maritime Exploration in the Age of Discovery, 1475 - 1800 (Greenwood, 2006), and was co-editor with Glenn Ames of Distant Lands and Diverse Cultures: the French Experience in Asia, 1600 - 1700 (Greenwood, 2003). A warm tribute from colleagues at the Western Society of French Historians, of which Ron was a past president, makes it clear that "His joy at seeing old friends and making new ones, his capacity to extend a welcoming hand to new members of the society, and his gracious help to those of us who served after him ... will be long remembered." A memorial service for Ron Love was held February 17th in Carrollton, Georgia.

The beerishly inclined (and legally entitled) among you should know that there will be a Beer Night Fundraiser next Friday, January 25th, from 8-10pm at the Hose and Hydrant on 11th Street just off Broadway. The fundraiser itself will feature a happy mixture of undergrads, grad students, and faculty -- a perfect model for the target of the fundraising, the second annual Buffalo Conference (May 9-11 at Manitou Beach), a showcase for historical research presented by senior undergrads, grad students, and faculty working in any field of history. Profits from the fundraiser will go to support students attending the conference.

Tickets for the Beer Night Fundraiser cost $12. They will be for sale next week in the tunnel and can be also be purchased directly from Mandy Fehr. We here at What's Up also happen to know that those attending tomorrow's Honours Colloquium at the Diefenbaker Centre (see below) will have the first opportunity to purchase tickets. Those very tickets (which will also be sold at the door on the day) will entitle you to prize draws and "other fun activities". See you there!

The long drought is over. It has been 51 long weeks since we last held an honours colloquium, but now the time has come. This very Friday, in fact. Even if you are not contractually obliged to attend and present a paper by dint of your enrollment in the History Honours Program, you are certainly invited to come along and celebrate the stupendous scholarship and cutting-edge historical research and insight put forth by this year's senior honours students.

To whet your historical appetite, here is the tasty program on offer at the ...

11th Annual Michael Swan History Honours Colloquium

Friday, 18 January 2008
9:15 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.

Diefenbaker Canada Centre, University of Saskatchewan

Sponsored by the History Undergraduate Students Society (HUSA) and the Department of History

9:30-10:15 On Being Heard

(Sarah Shephard, moderator)

Jayme Pfeifer. “‘Rough Music’ in Ben Jonson's Epicoene.”

Margaret Robbins: “'Annie Get Your Gun' and 'Calamity Jane': History and Myth in American Western Musicals.”

Paul Aikenhead. “Looking For A Place To Happen: A Semiological Analysis of The Tragically Hip.”

*******

10:15-10:30 Coffee

*******

10:30-11:15 Underground & Underdog

(Gayle Cluett, moderator)

Ryan Spence “The use of the Supernatural in Procopius' Secret Histories: Criticizing an Autocrate”

Heather Douglas. “The Albigensian Crusade: An overreaction to heresy in Languedoc?”

Felipe Paredes-Canevari. "Bannockburn: Scottish Prowess or English Folly?"

*******

11:15-12:00 Getting it Wrong

(Ryan Winquist, moderator)

Andrew Fitz-Gerald. "The effects of the Treaty of Nanking on Qing Dynasty China: Give `em an Inch and..."

Riley Dziadyk. "National Missile Defense Debates: Origins and Perspectives."

Kristine Montgomery. "Residential Schools 1946-1970: Changing Policies, Unchanging Objectives"

Michael Kunz: "Fumbling in the Light: America's Failure to Identify Genocide in Rwanda."

*******

12:00-1:15 Free Lunch!

Join us! Dine with the Stars!

*******

1:15-2:00 Culture Matters

(Nicole Gilewicz, moderator)

Kurt Kruger. "London and the Highwayman-Hero."

Heather LeGars. "Khaki is the New Black: British Women's Paramilitary Organizations in the First World War".

R.J. Williamson. "The Historiography of Slavery in the Antebellum South"

*******

2:00-2:15 Coffee

*******

2:15-3:00 Medicine and Authority

(Margaret Robbins, moderator)

Adam Fowler. “Thirteen Blackbirds: Theory and the Cure for Scurvy.

Cody Powell. "Social Reformers, Charlatans, and Entrepreneurs: Phrenology in History and in Practice".

Nicole Gilewicz. "Legacies of Mistrust: Tracing Western Interaction with Indigenous Health Systems"

*******

3:00-4:00 Cold War Fallout

(Kurt Kruger, moderator)

Tim Nyborg. "The Superpowers’ Resolve: Reactionism and Misperception in the Cuban Missile Crisis"

Romain Baudement. ''The Rise and Fall of Japan's Economic Miracle: Its Economic, Political and Social Causes and Consequences''

George McQuitty. "The Cyclical Model of Deng Xiaoping Economics: 1978-1987"

Elisabeth Kasleder. “The Origins of Revolution: Romanians Fight Against Communism”

*******

4:00 ­Closing Remarks

*****

Well, here's some news worth waiting for.

The HISTORY UNDERGRADUATE STUDENT ASSOCIATION & the DEPARTMENT OF HISTORY

present…

The sixth annual HUSA History Film Series!

Charming story for children? Or cleverly-disguised political allegory?

Itself a historical phenomenon, The Wizard of Oz premiered in 1939 and remains one of the most beloved films of all time. Outperformed by Gone with the Wind—another 1939 film—at the Oscars, the tale of Dorothy and her ragtag companions still went on to thrill countless millions of young viewers for almost six decades.

But was the original book by L. Frank Baum truly for kids? Scholars have long speculated that the 1900 novel contains multiple allusions to contemporary American politics. Was the Wicked Witch of the West really President McKinley? Is the Tin Woodman a stand-in for the industrial working class? Do historians and literary critics just overthink these things? Come follow the Yellow Brick Road with the History Department to find out!

Introduced by Geoff Cunfer, Department of History

DATE & TIME: Thursday, January 24 @ 7:00 p.m.

PLACE: Arts 134

ADMISSION: free! (refreshments available for a small fee)

Hot of on the hooves of last year's ground-shuddering success, we bring you Buffalo II!

A lot of people talk about the Return of the Buffalo, but here at the University of Saskatchewan we make it happen....

The University of Saskatchewan Department of History Invites proposals for the 2nd annual

Buffalo Province History Conference
Presentations on all historical topics welcome

May 9 – 11, 2008
Manitou Springs Hotel, Manitou Beach, Saskatchewan

Come join other graduate students and faculty from Manitoba, Saskatchewan, and Alberta in a supportive and academically enriching environment. We invite you to present a paper on an aspect of your research, listen and comment on the presentations of others, network with peers and faculty, and meet and socialize with potential future advisors and colleagues.

Although preference is given to graduate student submissions, we welcome proposals from faculty, senior honours students, and other specialists in the field of history.

Proposals for both complete panels and individual papers are welcome.

Panel Proposals should include a 250 word abstract for the panel as a whole as well as information for the individual papers. For an individual paper, please include a 250 word abstract and short biographical sketch. Please send submissions to Keith Thor Carlson (keith.carlson@usask.ca) by December 17th 2007.


For more information, visit our website: http://www.usask.ca/history/buffalo/

About the Buffalo Province History Conference

In 1904, Sir Frederick Haultain, the Northwest Territories’ first and only premier, had a dream: to unite the prairies into a single province called Buffalo. Building on that dream, the Buffalo Province History Conference seeks to bring together graduate students and faculty from Canada’s Prairie universities in a rigorous and collegial environment. Manitou Springs Resort and Mineral Spa (www.manitousprings.ca) is located in the centre of Buffalo province, one hour southeast of Saskatoon in the resort town of Manitou Beach.

The next CMRS colloquium will be held on Thursday, November 29th at 4:00 in STM 344B (with the presentation slated to begin at 4:30). And this one is special. "Frescoes, Fountains and Fizzy Water: Three Weeks in the Eternal City" is a presentation by the student participants in this past year's Rome Summer Program (Katrina Bens, Chantal de Medeiros, Becky Littlechilds, Sarah Ostafie, Felipe Paredes-Canevari, Nina Thurlow), who will discuss their experiences in Rome and the nature of the program. Since this will almost certainly not be the last Roman study-abroad opportunity offered by Professor Angela Kalinowski, there's all the more reason to see what the wildly successful first edition was all about.

While it might seem cruel [note from editor: it is cruel] to remind people in Saskatchewan in
late November of what Rome can be like in the Summer, this promises to be a highly entertaining and inspiring presentation. Everyone welcome.

While the current moratorium on library lending makes life undeniably difficult for all history students, the growing array of electronic sources does make life less difficult than it might otherwise have been. In addition to Historical Abstracts, Academic Search Premier, Early English Books Online, Eighteenth Century Collections Online, and various treasures you probably already know about, there are others you might consider.

For one thing, the library continues to roll out new offerings on a permanent or trial basis: you can see what's new for yourself at http://library.usask.ca:9003/eresources/archives/current_trials.html#001394#more

Don't forget to check out the History subject page in the library catalogue, which pulls links to most of the main electronic sources under one roof. When you click on the History link, it opens by default to the options for finding journal articles. https://library.usask.ca/subject/hist/articles

To see the offerings under books, click on the "Books & Theses" tab near the top of that page, and scroll down to check the options for "eBooks". You might get lucky and find just the tome you need, in its full searchable entirety.

One potentially useful option not presented on the library page is the University of California Press, a leading academic publisher that makes a surprising number of its books free to the universe via their "eScholarship Editions" web portal at http://content.cdlib.org/escholarship/
You can click on "View Public Titles" under the search box to filter out books that are not available for free. Note that the default for the simple search box on their site is a title search, so don't be surprised if your author search gathers zilch first time. Click here to see one especially useful book they offer free to everyone.

And don't forget that you can find amazing things at Google Books Search (not to be confused with a regular Google search), and Live Search Books. Both sites offer tens if not hundreds of thousands of out-of-copyright (but often still state-of-the-art) books that can be read and downloaded freely, and both sites also allow you the option of searching their entire holdings by keyword or a key phrase. That's a revolution. Both, and especially Live Search Books, offer access to significant portions of some brand new books, as well: don't assume that you won't find anything new there. Both sites are particularly valuable for finding 19th and early 20th century editions of earlier works, including diaries and editions of letters or public records that were never published in any other edition.

Enjoy!

We all know that there is no such thing as a free lunch, but it seems that sage advice does not apply to breakfast. Not, at least, if you are a student of the College of Arts and Science. Because if you move quickly and get your name on the list, you could get in on the following Breakfast Opportunity of a Lifetime (offered monthly).

Breakfast with the Dean, College of Arts and Science

Dean Jo-Anne Dillon

invites Arts and Science students to join her

for breakfast and conversation.

Time: 7:30 am

Date: Tuesday, November 27

Place: Faculty Club

The first 12 students to sign up will be reserved a place at breakfast.

Sign-up sheet is posted in the ASSU office.

Breakfast with the Dean will be held monthly.

An important announcement from the U of S Library:

For the duration of the CUPE strike, no loans (that is: check-out, interlibrary loans, laptop lending) are available at University Library branches.

However, through arrangements between the University and the USSU, photocopying in all University Library branches will be free to students while loan services are unavailable.

Photocopiers are also available in the Reserve areas of each branch library for copying Reserve materials. Also, a DVD/video player is now available in the Murray Library Reserve area for viewing DVDs and videos on Reserve in Murray while these items are not available for loan.

Fines have been suspended for the duration of the CUPE strike. However, books can be returned--if you do not need them, return them so others can use them in the Library. This also applies to Interlibrary Loan materials. Books that have been returned are being reshelved.

Although the STM Library Catalogue has been integrated with the U. of S. Library Catalogue, the STM Library is independent. Books can be borrowed from STM Library.

There are other collections on campus that are also independent. See "other Library Catalogues" on the Library's web site.

Note that books borrowed from STM or other campus libraries do need to be returned when due.

The Library's Electronic resources continue to be available as normal through the Library’s website.

Reference service remains available in Murray Library in most of the other branches when they are open. The AskUS Live (IM) (https://library.usask.ca/uask) services are available as normal.

Library hours are continually being revised, please see the website before making a trip to campus.

Bill Waiser has received two Saskatchewan Book Award shortlist nominations for two different books. In the non-fiction category, Everett Baker’s Saskatchewan (Fifth House Publishers) examines the photographic work of Saskatchewan Wheat Pool field man Everett Baker, who documented on film everyday people doing everyday things in Saskatchewan in the 1940s and 1950s. His colour photographs have been described as a national treasure.

Nominated in the Children's category, Tommy Douglas is a biography of Saskatchewan’s longest serving premier in Fitzhenry and Whiteside’s “The Canadians” series. The book is aimed at adolescent readers and represents Waiser’s first venture at writing history for a younger audience.

Allison Fairbairn, events coordinator at Saskatoon’s McNally Robinson bookstore, said, “Bill Waiser has the remarkable ability to choose topics that resonate deeply with prairie readers, and to make history both readable and immensely enjoyable. At McNally Robinson we know that a new book by Bill will be an instant bestseller.” The Saskatchewan Books Awards are now in their fifteenth year. The awards gala will take place at Regina’s Conexus Arts Centre on November 24. Good luck, Bill!

In the fantastically good news department, we here at What's Up would like to extend a belated Happy Birth Day to Shoshana Abigail Miller, and to welcome her to the history community. Shoshana was born at 4:02 a.m. on Thursday, November 15th, and weighed in 7 pounds 1/2 oz. Shoshana is the daughter of M.A. candidate Tenyia Miller and her husband David Miller. All the Millers are doing well. Very well, in fact.

Congratulations to Ph.D. candidate Merle Massie, whose article "‘Has Saskatchewan any History?’: Writing Provincial History in Saskatchewan 1913-2005 will appear in the Fall 2008 edition of Prairie Forum. The essay is an expanded version of the paper Merle gave at the Buffalo Province conference in Watrous in May 2007.

This just in to the What's Up news desk, from our loyal HUSA correspondent, Margaret Robbins...

HUSA/HISTORY MOVIE NIGHT!

What: The Killing Fields

When: Tuesday, November 13 at 7 pm

Where: Neatby-Timlin Theatre (aka ARTS 241)

Why: Come here Professor Pam Jordan introduce the film and learn about this dark chapter of Cambodian history. The story is about an American in Cambodia during an 'ethnic cleansing' campaign.Whether you know a lot of or no Cambodian history this would be a super time to learn something new! The movie has a fantastic reputation and Professor Jordan will extrapolate on the history and the portrayal. It promises to be an informative and super interesting night!

Don't forget that the movie is FREE and there will be a small concession there for all your movie munching needs. Feel free to bring non-history students to this event because it is free for all. Hope you all can make it! Hooray!

Margaret Robbins

Remember how T.A.s and Profs used to always go on about how it was important for students to prepare for tutorials or seminars? Well, click here for an enlightening two minute video demonstration of what can happen if you don't do your homework. With thanks to the crack news team at the Onion News Network.

The Department of History is extremely pleased to announce that the University of Saskatchewan will present Carla Fehr with the University Medal in Social Sciences and the Dean of Arts and Science Medal at fall convocation, this coming Saturday, October 27th.

Fehr grew up on a farm in the Osler area and attends the University of Saskatchewan where she recently earned a Bachelor of Arts Honours Degree in International Studies (Development Stream). During her undergraduate career, Fehr was involved in various on-campus groups, including Engineers Without Borders, the International Studies Student Association, and the Model United Nations.

Carla is at present in the Master’s program in History studying under the supervision of Dr. Jim Handy. She is the examining The Economist magazine between 1843 and 1871 and its role and influence in shaping the modern world.

Congratulations to Carla!

Say it loud!

The HISTORY

UNDERGRADUATE STUDENT

ASSOCIATION & the DEPARTMENT OF HISTORY

present…

The sixth annual HUSA History Film Series!

300

Thermopylae, 480 B.C.E. Greece vs. Persia. The greatest last stand in ancient history.

To save their fellow Greeks from domination at the hands of the Persian ruler Xerxes, King Leonidas of Sparta and his band of 300 warriors defend a crucial mountain pass against an army of countless thousands. They fight knowing that their fate is certain annihilation. But their self-sacrifice delays the invasion long enough to allow the rest of Greece to prepare for resistance—and ultimate victory.

First told by the Greek historian Herodotus, the tale of Leonidas now comes to life in the graphic novel by Frank Miller and the 2006 film 300 by Zack Snyder. But as history or myth? Come find out with HUSA!

Introduced by Angela Kalinowski, Department of History/CMRS

DATE & TIME: Thursday, October 25 @ 7:00 p.m.

PLACE: Arts 241 (Neatby-Timlin Theatre)

ADMISSION: free! (refreshments available for a small fee)

Tomorrow's History Graduate Students Colloquium features presentations by Mandy Fehr, "The Relationships of Place: A Study of Memory, Change, and Identity in Aboriginal British Columbia", and Tenyia Miller, "Sickness as a Scripted Occasion: Reading Religious Language in Seventeenth-Century Illness Narratives." Friday, October 19, 3:30 pm in the Faculty Club (downstairs). Grad students and faculty welcome.

Ever wondered not just why you would, and not just whether you would, but how you would actually apply to grad school? If so (or even, frankly, if not), have we got an undergrad workshop for you! And just so as nobody is confused, we're calling it:

How to Apply to Grad School

A History Department Undergraduate Workshop

Wednesday, October 17^th, 2:30-4:00pm in Arts 102

If you are even thinking of applying to graduate school in the next year or two, be sure to come along for some pertinent, helpful, and altogether free advice.*

Our resident experts will set you straight on

Canadian, American, & British grad programmes!

(and programs!)

Get the inside scoop from current grad students and faculty members involved in grad school within living memory! Find out what you need to do to get to the best place for you! Learn how to get somebody else to pay for it!

FIND OUT WHAT ITS ALL ABOUT!

All that, plus

Refreshments will be served!

As they say in grad school, “whaddayagoddalose?”

* not to be confused with the sort of free advice best left unheeded

The Diefenbaker Centre is hosting a fascinating exhibition, "Imagining Reproduction in Science & History", on now through October 28th. The exhibition features images of the body dating mainly from the period 1650-1800, and is being held in conjunction with a conference of the same title, October 19-21st. The conference, which is by invitation only, involves scholars from Canada, the U.S., and Britain, and presenters include our very own Lisa Smith and Larry Stewart. Click here for the conference program, and to see more of the images on display.

As previously noted below, don't forget to remember to attend Gary Zellar's HGSC Lecture Series presentation, “African Creeks: Race and Identity in the Creek Nation”, Thursday October 18th at 3:00pm in Room 1022 of the Education Building. Click here for details.

This week's CMRS colloquium will be presented by Dr. Maud McInerney of Haverford University in Pennsylvania:

“Amazons in Haute Couture: Translation and Transformation in the Twelfth Century Troy Story”

Thursday, 18 October at 4:00 in STM 344B. (Talk to begin at 4:30.)

Dr. McInerney specializes in medieval English literature, but also has degrees in Classics. Her discussion of the history of the Tale of Troy promises to be most interesting. Everyone welcome.

Some of our best friends are profs. Seriously.

And students.
So you can bet that we here at What's Up will be sending one of the top reporters to bring you all the action as it happens tomorrow night at the

HUSA Social Highlight of the Year,

Meet the Profs Night!

You don't want to miss this one. The beveraging and munching and convivial yakking gets underway at 5pm, Thursday October 11th in the proverbial back room of Louis', right here on campus.

* Please note that the faculty have agreed to check their swords at the door on this occasion.

The Department of History has begun to issue press releases celebrating the major achievements of our faculty and students. These bulletins are sent to news outlets on campus, around town, throughout Saskatchewan, and across Canada. But you can read them here first. Be sure to congratulate Jim Miller when you see him, by the way.

Miller Key Player in Aboriginal Treaties Exhibition

University of Saskatchewan History Professor, J.R. (Jim) Miller has helped curate a new national exhibition, "Spirit and Intent: Understanding Aboriginal Treaties," at Library and Archives Canada in Ottawa.

Miller, Canada Research Chair in Native-Newcomer Relations and Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada, is one of the leading authorities in historical Aboriginal studies in Canada and author of several books, including the award-winning Skyscrapers Hide the Heavens. His latest project is a comprehensive history of treaty-making in Canada.

Over the past year, Miller and fellow curator, Dr. John Borrows, Law Foundation Chair of Aboriginal Justice and Governance at the University of Victoria and a member of Chippewa of the Nawash First Nations, have worked closely with Library and Archives staff in Ottawa to identify and select a rich collection of artifacts for the exhibition. Indeed, their work together on the exhibit is a reflection of the partnership underlying the treaty process.

“Spirit and Intent explores the assumptions and motives behind agreements between Aboriginal peoples and the Crown,” said Dr. Miller. "This process has been an important building block for modern Canada."

The artifacts in the exhibition include publications, maps, paintings, wampum belts, trade items, totems, diaries, land claim negotiations, and modern agreements. One of the many highlights is the original Treaty 9 document from 1905-06, also known as the James Bay Treaty.

"This exhibition is a significant expression of our continuing dedication to preserve and make the history of Canada’s First Peoples known," said Ian Wilson, Librarian and Archivist of Canada. "It contains treasures of our shared past that are extremely rare, priceless and of immense historical and cultural significance."

Miller’s involvement in the project illustrates the growing pre-eminence of the University of Saskatchewan in Aboriginal and Native-newcomer studies.

The Spirit and Intent exhibition is on display in Room C at Library and Archives Canada in Ottawa until March 24, 2008. The exhibition is also profiled on the LAC website:
http://www.collectionscanada.ca/whats-on/treaties-exhibition/index-e.html.

For students new to this university or looking to upgrade their research skills, the following events are just the ticket. Except there are no tickets. Just drop by.

There will be a "drop-in" History Research Help Session on Wednesday, October 24 at 2:00 p.m. in Room 161 [the computer lab] Murray Library. This session is suitable for all levels of students.

In case you don't know, our library has quite astounding microfilm resources, and much of that collection has not and may never see the light of online. So rather than just laying down and avoiding microfilm, or waiting for the digital age that may never come, why not make your peace with microfilm, and learn how to find and read the piece of microfilm you need?

So, with that in mind, on Thursday, November 1 at 3:00 p.m. there will be a help session on Microfilm Resources, in the Microfilm Reading Room, 2nd floor of the Murray Library. The session is suitable for upper level undergraduates, graduate students and researchers.

Spread the word.

The History Department is hosting two workshops for students considering applying for grad school and grad school funding. Current undergrad inhabitants of Planet History ought to have been bombarded by now with emails about this, but it never hurts to offer a reminder. And if the time to apply might be a year or more away, you can learn about your options in advance.

(The term "workshop" is something of a misnomer, by the way, as no work whatsoever is required of those wishing to attend, beyond showing up. These are information sessions designed to offer tactical advise and to answer any questions you might have.)

“Applying for Social Science and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC) Funding”. Friday October 5^th, 2:30 pm, Arts 710:

If you are thinking of applying to do a Master’s degree next year anywhere in Canada (including here), then you should be seriously considering applying for a SSHRC MA Scholarship, and tomorrow’s workshop will offer valuable advice. The first half of the workshop will, in fact, be directed specifically to applicants for MA funding, while the second half with focus on doctoral applicants.

“How to Apply to Graduate School”. Wednesday, October 17^th, 2:30-4pm, Arts 102

This workshop concerns more general issues surrounding grad school: How do you choose a good school? A supervisor? A topic? What does the application process entail? What does it cost to apply? And what can you do to secure funding? Faculty and current grad students will be on hand to answer your questions about how the whole process works. There will also be brief presentations on why you might consider, and what would be involved in, applying to grad programs (or programmes) in Canada, the United States, and Great Britain, with sound practical advice.

If grad school is one of the options you are considering, these workshops will provide much useful advice.

Congratulations to Valerie Korinek, who delivered the Keynote Address "RE-oriented, Diverse & Modern: Queerying the Prairie" at The Prairies in 3-D Conference, in Winnipeg at St. John's College, University of Manitoba, this past Saturday, September 29th.

Breaking news: reports reaching the What's Up news desk at this hour indicate that Valerie Korinek's keynote address was an even bigger hit than first thought, scoring an 8.6 on the CRS (Conference Richter Scale). It is now confirmed that, in addition to delivering the widely anticipated scholarly goods, she also hit all her marks, the audience laughed at appropriate times, and many good and perceptive questions ensued.

The History Grad Students Committee is pleased to announce the first in the HGSC Lecture Series for 2007-08, which will be presented by our newest faculty member:

Dr. Gary Zellar

(Department of History)

“African Creeks: Race and Identity in the Creek Nation.”

Thursday, October 18^th at 3:00pm

Room 1022: Education Building

The Lecture is open to the general public. That means you!

Click here for more details

Just in: this all-points bulletin from Margaret Robbins, Commander-in-Chief of HUSA:

Hey-o HUSA members!!!

Welcome to HUSA! Hooray! I just wanted to send out a quick welcome email and let you know about our first event of the year! So, welcome first! This year looks like its going to be super fun. we have lots of events planned for the coming months which you will hear about through email and also keep an eye out for posters around campus. We also have a Facebook group - U of S HUSA- for anyone who wants to see what we're up to that way! all and all it looks like it will be a fantastic year starting with out fantastic first event!!

The State of the Department Address!!

When: Thursday October 4, 4:30 p.m

Where: Arts 217

What: Our friendly department head Professor Fairbairn will give a presentation on the various goings on in the Department of History and the undergraduate program. He will also answer any questions you may have about the department or the program!

Why: for fun! and also for information! greatest combination ever!

This is great opportunity to find out about the department and to take an active role in your program! Professor Fairbairn will be happy to answer questions so come prepared to ask and be told! hooray! It doesnt matter if you're a first year or in the upper years, all history students are welcome!!!

If you have any questions about this event or anything else to do with HUSA feel free to email us at uofshusa@yahoo.ca

HOORAY! so thats all for now but keep your eyes open for emails to come with information about Meet the Profs Night, Movie Nights and Haloween parties!!!

If you are in a nostalgic mood, you might want to check out Everett Baker's Saskatchewan: Portraits of an Era selected and with an introduction by Bill Waiser. The book is published by Fifth House in Canada, and Fitzhenry & Whiteside in the U.S. Baker's photographs, mainly from the 1940s and 1950s, offer a remarkable (and beautiful) record of Saskatchewan life. The magic of nostalgia is that, done right, it can speak to you even if the past in question was not exactly your own. This is done right.

Congratulations to Leanne Bablitz (M.A., 1996), now Assistant Professor of Ancient History at the University of British Columbia, on the publication of her new book, Actors and Audience in the Roman Courtroom (Routledge: 2007). The book asks what you would see if you attended a trial in a courtroom in the early Roman empire. What was the behaviour of litigants, advocates, judges and audience? It was customary for Roman individuals out of general interest to attend the various courts held in public places in the city centre -- and thanks to Leanne you can now tag along, too. Learn more about it by clicking here.

As if the thrill of starting a new term was not enough, get ready for the SOCIAL EVENT OF THE YEAR!

It is once again time for new and returning history students to get acquainted with their instructors -- that's right, HUSA is hosting the umpteenth annual Meet the Profs Night! This one will be happening October 11th @ 5:00 PM in the back room at Louis'. Refreshments and keen history students will be provided, which is a sure trap with which to lure History Faculty. Everyone in the Historical Universe is welcome.

Itching to break into print? Here's your chance. The editors of “The Mirror,” the undergraduate history journal published by the University of Western Ontario these past 28 years, are soliciting (soliciting being legal in Ontario) high-quality undergraduate student essays for their next edition. Deadline for submission is Thursday, November 1st. The Mirror’s editorial staff traditionally selects 10-12 papers for publication, among which are traditional essays on any historical topic, one historiographic essay, and a couple of book reviews. Submissions should be 12-20 pages in length and include a correctly sourced bibliography. Essays must have received a mark of 80% or higher. The grade of the essay, as well as the author’s contact information including email address must be attached to the submission. For further details contact the editor, Cari Ferguson.

Congratulations to Alison Jeppesen (M.A., 2002) and Jeff Wigelsworth (Ph.D., 2006), and welcome to their wee bairn James Wigelsworth (C.E. June 9, 2007). This classic history family resides in Halifax these days, where Jeff has just begun the second year of his two-year SHRC postdoc at Dalhousie, and both he and Alison are doing some teaching as well. His thesis on Deism in Enlightenment England will be published by Manchester University Press in 2008 -- not that young James doesn't trump all that. And not just because this style-conscious bairn can pull off the Brian Johnson look so easily. It is easy to see what the Jamesian fuss is all about if you check out James' blog.

This just in from loyal correspondent and new HUSA president, Margaret Robbins:

This is just to let you know that HUSA (History Undergrad Students' Association) is starting our year! We will be in the tunnel on Monday September 17, Wednesday September 19th and Friday September 21st and this year membership is free!

Our plans this year include a Meet the Profs Night, movie nights, and other fun events in and around campus. If you have any questions about HUSA please feel free to email us!

We here at What's Up are not quite ready to leap back into the bloggerly fray on a regular basis, but since we are here anyway we thought you might like to check out our resident Russianist (and Arctic-ist) John McCannon's timely intervention into the Arctic freeze-out* being played out between Canada (and the West generally) and Russia. If it sounds just like old times, then it is all the more important that our leaders keep the historical and cultural context in mind -- as John reminds them, and us, in his op-ed piece in the Ottawa Citizen of Friday, August 10, 2007.
Click here to read it.
* (click here for undeservedly obscure musical reference)

Ian Dyck, a scholar of Victorian England who received his BA and MA in our department, and taught for a year at STM in the mid-80s before taking a permanent position at SFU, died on July 15th in Vancouver. A memorial service was held in Borden on July 28th, at his great grandfather's homestead where his brother and family now live. The following obituary appeared in the Star Phoenix.

Ian Dyck, 1954 2007 It is with profound sorrow that we announce the untimely passing of Ian Dyck, a remarkable father, son, brother, teacher, scholar and friend. Ian passed away in Vancouver on July 15, eight months after a bone marrow transplant and seven years from diagnosis of a chronic form of lymphocytic leukemia. A proud son of Saskatchewan farmers, Ian completed BA and MA degrees at the University of Saskatchewan before taking up doctoral work at the University of Sussex. D. Phil. in hand, Ian taught for two years in Saskatchewan and Lethbridge before coming in 1988 to Simon Fraser University, where he became an associate professor of History. His William Cobbett and Rural Popular Culture, published by Cambridge University press in 1992, established a reputation that he enhanced with two edited collections, a dozen articles and scores of reviews. His most recent work was a fine edition of Cobbett's Rural Rides for Penguin (2001), and he was gathering material for a seminal study of Rural Song in England. He will perhaps be best remembered as a superb teacher, a talent that won him the university's Excellence in Teaching Award in 1991. Hundreds of undergraduates delighted in his Western Civilization lectures and seminar on Popular Culture in Britain, and few professors made such an impression on graduate students. Ian is survived by his daughters, Jennifer of Ottawa and Kathleen of Vancouver, and their mother Karen. His father Clifford Dyck of Saskatoon; siblings, Murray (Linda) Dyck, Sherrie (David) Culver of Moose Jaw; nephews Matthew (Chris), Andrew (Gwen), their children (Wyat and Owen), Devon (fiance Virginia) of Moose Jaw. Meaghan (Jonathan) Hutzul of Edmonton. Several aunts and uncles and numerous cousins. Ian was predeceased by his mother Agnes Dyck (December 11, 2006). Family wishes to extend special thanks to Dr. John Stobbs, a colleague of Ian's for his unswerving attention and care in all situations. Also to his life long friend Jim Sutherland and other colleagues that visited him in hospital. Memorial donations in Ian's memory may be made to Vancouver General Hospital, Bone Marrow Transplant Unit, 899 W 12 Ave., Vancouver, BC V52 1M9.
Published in the Saskatoon StarPhoenix on 7/21/2007.

Click here to link to the Guest Book at Remembering.ca, where you can read and post rememberances of Ian.

What's Up is currently on summer hiatus, but History never sleeps and so there will be much to catch up on and report when the academic sap rises in September. Stay tuned for that. In the meantime, however, we here at What's Up interrupt this hiatus to bring you news of a great honour just now bestowed upon one of our own.

Bill Waiser has just been elected to the Royal Society of Canada. If Bill wore skates to work it would be like being elected to the Hockey Hall of Fame, except that Bill is very much not retired. The citation for Bill's nomination reads as follows:

W.A. (Bill) Waiser combines an impressive record of scholarly publication with effective communication of scholarship to the general public and service to his professional peers to make a profound contribution both to the academic world and Canada's general citizenry. His scholarship always ties the western region on which it is focused to the wider concerns and interests of the nation of which the West is a part, and he regularly communicates his findings to the general public through television and the press. These practices extend Waiser's valuable scholarship from the ivory tower to the public square.

If you would like to congratulate Bill personally, you can do so by turning out to the McNally Robinson bookstore in Saskatoon at 7:pm on July 3rd, where Bill will be signing copies of Everett Baker's Saskatchewan, a book of photos Bill selected and described drawn from Everett Baker's remarkable Kodachrome slides of Saskatchewan life between 1937 and the 1960s.