The History Department is proud to congratulate the following History students:

• Eliane Julie GuitĂ© (BA Honours in History) for winning the Senate Medal for Outstanding Academic Achievement at the Undergraduate Level;
• Alda (Ally) Lorraine Krueger-Kischak (BA Combined Honours in History and Political Science) for winning the University Medal (University Medal in the Faculty of Public and Global Affairs);
• Jemma Michelle Fishman (Bachelor of Global, and International Studies Honours with History Minor) for winning the Senate Medal for Outstanding Academic Achievement at the Undergraduate Level.

More details on the medals:

University Medal – Undergraduate Level
Awarded annually, when merited, to the top one per cent of graduating students in each faculty.

Senate Medals for Outstanding Academic Achievement — Undergraduate
Awarded, when merited, to graduating students of outstanding academic achievement

to view the full list of award winners for this convocation session.

The post Congratulations! History Students Win Medals at June 2025 Convocation appeared first on Department of History.

Fourth year student Sarah Landry put together a zine for her directed study course, HIST 4917A. In her zine she discusses her reflections about majoring in History and what she has learned in her courses.

Check out Sarah’s zine:

Course Information

HIST 4917 [0.5 credit]
Directed Study
Independent study of an historical topic or theme under the supervision of a faculty member. A course outline specifying readings, assignments, and name of faculty member must be submitted to the Undergraduate Supervisor during the first week of the semester.

The post Student Project, Sarah Landry’s Zine appeared first on Department of History.

On Friday, members of the History Department came out to proudly watch our undergraduate and graduate students cross the stage for convocation.

It was an especially exciting time for one of our graduates, Mary Gunn! Not only did she win the University Medal, but she also crossed the stage that morning with her youngest son!

Congratulations to Mary, Vicente, and all their fellow graduates!

The post Two Generations of Graduates Celebrating Together appeared first on Department of History.

The History Department is proud to congratulate the following History students:

• Katherine Elizabeth Hamilton Dunton (BA Honours in Psychology with History Minor) for winning the Senate Medal for Outstanding Academic Achievement at the Undergraduate Level.
• Mary Kathleen Gunn (BA Honours in History) for winning the University Medal (Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences);
• Nicholas Benjamin Langer (BA Honours in History) for winning the Senate Medal for Outstanding Academic Achievement at the Undergraduate Level;
• Lauren Leslie McCoy (Bachelor of Global, and International Studies Honours with Specialization in Global, and Transnational History) for winning the University Medal (Faculty of Public Affairs);
• Angel Xing (Bachelor of Journalism and Humanities Honours in History) for winning the Senate Medal for Outstanding Academic Achievement at the Undergraduate Level.

More details on the medals:

University Medal – Undergraduate Level
Awarded annually, when merited, to the top one per cent of graduating students in each faculty.

Senate Medals for Outstanding Academic Achievement — Undergraduate
Awarded, when merited, to graduating students of outstanding academic achievement

to view the full list of award winners for this convocation session.

The post Congratulations! History Students Win Medals at June 2024 Convocation appeared first on Department of History.

This Winter semester, Jennifer Evans and PhD student Noë Bourdeau have team taught a fourth-year seminar on Trans History. On Saturday April 20th, students in that class will present their work to community in a partnership with the Ottawa Trans Library. Students have explored various topics and themes in their research from trans musicology to rural trans lives and activism. Some students have explored forms of artistic creation, from zines to podcasts. Taking history out of the university and into community helps students recognize the enormous responsibility we all have to making these stories known.

The post Community Event With Trans Library appeared first on Department of History.

The following excerpt is from the article by Emily Putnam. The full article, “Decoding the Decades: Looking at Canada in the 1980s in New Object-based History Course,” can be viewed online.

A brand-new history course called From Walkmans to West Edmonton Mall: The material culture of the 1980s in Canada offers a hands-on exploration of object-based research, shedding light on the cultural shifts and iconic artifacts that defined a generation.

The upcoming full-year, fourth-year course (2024-2025) on the eccentric 1980s was created as part of the Students as Partners Program (SaPP) and in collaboration with . It will offer an immersive experience to students, allowing them to explore, observe, and even use authentic items from a national museum’s collection of signature objects from ‘the decade of decadence.’

But as History Professor James Opp, co-creator of the course, explains, the cultural world of the 80s was a lot more complex than how it is often caricatured in contemporary media.

Notably, the course will allow students to tell new stories about the objects in creative ways, working in multi-media formats that link the object to the sounds and sights of the decade.

While Opp and Mortimer will encourage students to use new media and technology for their work in the course, they will urge them to venture beyond nostalgia and deeply consider the impact of new technologies in a pre-digital world.

The post Jim Opp and Angela Mortimer Discuss New History Course appeared first on Department of History.

Richard Marchese is a 4th Year student in Honors Political Science with a Minor in History. Over the past summer, and after completing several courses in History, Richard completed an undergraduate research assistantship under the joint supervision of Chris Trainor, Head of ĐÓ°ÉÔ­´´’s Archives and Special Collections (ASC) and cross-appointed to the Department of History; Ann Seymour, Executive Director of the Native North American Travelling College (NNATC), and Dominique Marshall of the Department of History. The project is part of a larger initiative of the NNATC to celebrate its 50th anniversary in 2024 by highlighting the history and heritage of the college as one of the sources for its renewal. It is also part of Trainor and Marshall’s joint initiative of “Archival Rescue,” between ASC and the . You can read about Richard’s research below. Richard’s blog is also posted at the Facebook and Instagram accounts of the NNATC:

Creating an Archive for the Native North American Traveling College

A Research Internship Completed at ĐÓ°ÉÔ­´´ University

A blog prepared by Richard Marchese, Undergraduate Research Assistant

24 August 2023

The Project Briefly

What is an internship, what is your internship?

An I-CUREUS opportunity is great for anyone looking to expand their horizons as a student at ĐÓ°ÉÔ­´´ University. It is a project that gives funding to your coordinator to allow a student to be paid to do some research. For me, the internship has been mostly about archiving books for the . I was looking at the collection of the books left on the shelves of the NNATC over its 50 years of existence, and was then instructed to do an inventory, by entering the data about each book using archival practices to make an archival catalogue of all the books with the appropriate information.

Creating the archive, and the work that went into it

The work that went into creating the archive could be tedious and repetitive at times, but the information that I learned about the Indigenous population of Canada and America, was so valuable to me that I did not mind. I would take a book from the one of the 14 boxes that were temporarily moved to ĐÓ°ÉÔ­´´’s archives, study its features to evaluate the condition, add the title, , author, page number, and so on, as I was taught by Chris Trainor, Archivist at ĐÓ°ÉÔ­´´â€™s . The most interesting part of the job was being able to read some of the information. My personal favourites were the creation stories, the textbooks on a particular tribal group, and the binder’s containing minutes about meetings that the College had. These three things allowed me to get a good insight into the types of things each distinct nation valued and used to survive as the generations of people who lived these amazing lives adapted to their environments.

Why this summer was great

This summer was great for me. I was able to help an organization that I believe has not only great historical value but future value to the Indigenous population and settler population. I did this by using the research skills I learned at ĐÓ°ÉÔ­´´ University. I have always been interested in Indigenous culture and this summer allowed me to explore that with the proper materials and supervision. I-CUREUS, and the NNATC gave me that opportunity and I am very thankful.

The Details of the Project:

The most challenging aspect

The most challenging aspect of the archive project would have to be the amount of time spent reading. Reading titles, information about the book and even in a few cases the books themselves. The repetitiveness of opening a book, finding the information needed and documenting it then repeating the task over and over again was taxing on my focus.

The most rewarding aspect

Despite the repetitiveness of the project my attention was quickly redirected by the passion that I found for the information in these books. I feel this archive is very important to the future of the Native North American Traveling college. The most rewarding aspect of the project was being able to help an organization that bases itself around education. Especially when that education is going towards a community that has struggled with systematic oppression.

The most interesting aspect

The most interesting aspect of the project was the trip to the Akwesasne reserve, where I met the organizers and employees of the NNATC, as well as learned more about its history from a firsthand account. I have never been to the reserve for business and education, so it was cool. During our trip to the reserve the NNATC welcomed both myself and my supervisor with open arms and gave us a full tour of the museum and showed us how they do business. It was very exciting and taught me a lot. It was my favourite workday, the NNATC made it feel like a school field trip.

The Experience Brought to Life

Tell us about the collection

The collection of books that the NNATC provided us with were mostly derived of newspapers, binders containing minutes of past meetings of the NNATC, kids’ books, and other miscellaneous books. Most of the books have one of the NNATC stamps. All the books have a tie to Indigenous life, history, culture, organizations, beliefs, or education. This is because the original purpose of the NNATC was to provide education to people who were sent through the residential schools but wanted to learn more about their culture. The books all come from different collections that were donated to or purchased by the NNATC. These books come from a wide variety of schools, people, and organizations looking to help the cause, and for good reason. What is being done by the NNATC is great.

Oldest – newest books

The oldest book in the collection was copyrighted in 1941, it is called “Building America”. It is a Publication of the Society for curriculum study, and it is number 176 in the arrival document.

The newest book was a binder containing the curriculum of a course taken by a trustee for the community from 2012.

Working at ĐÓ°ÉÔ­´´:

Tell us about ĐÓ°ÉÔ­´´â€™s Archives and Special Collections

The Archives and Special Collections or ASC for abbreviation, is a center within the ĐÓ°ÉÔ­´´ library where this project took place. I would like to thank the people who worked in the office with me Chris, Llyod, and a special congrats to Monica Ferguson who recently retired. Although I worked on this project by myself, we all shared a work environment. They made my experience great and welcomed me in with open arms, truly making me feel like part of a team. The ASC oversees supporting learning at ĐÓ°ÉÔ­´´ university and beyond.

Was the I-CUREUS training helpful? If so, what skills did you learn?

The archival training that I received from I-CUREUS was helpful and I learned enough that it was worth my time. When working for I-CUREUS, all research assistants also need to select a training module and I selected self-management, as I felt it was fitting since I was working on my own schedule. I learned things about responsibility, time management and preparation. All these things allowed me to be successful through my I-CUREUS project.

Advice for anyone looking to participate in a project at ĐÓ°ÉÔ­´´ or with the Native North American Traveling College

My advice to anyone looking to participate at a project involving the NNATC or ĐÓ°ÉÔ­´´ would be not to think about it, instead, just do it. I learned so much both about myself, the NNATC, Indigenous culture and Indigenous beliefs in general, that I felt there was no better way to spend my summer. Working as an employee at ĐÓ°ÉÔ­´´ showed me what a good work environment is supposed to look like. I now have the knowledge and experience to move into successful employment.

_____

[i] Ernest Benedict, “Travelling College,” National Film Board, 1968, 9 minutes.   Kelly Monique-Pineault, “Shifting the Balance: Indigenous and Non-Indigenous Activism in The Company of Young Canadians, 1966-1970,” MA Thesis (Canadian and Indigenous Studies), Trent University, 2011, pp. 85-91, mentions book donations from Lakehead University’s Students’ Union and the Ottawa Branch of the Imperial Order of the  Daughters of the Empire (IODE).

[ii]

[iii] “Ernie and Salli Benedict: Influential father and daughter strengthened Mohawk identity,” March 23rd, 2020, Windspeaker.com, .

[iv] Doug George-Kanentiio: A tribute to Ernest Benedict, 1918-2011, Indianz.com, 2011, 

The post RIchard Marchese Completes Undergraduate Research Assistantship appeared first on Department of History.

Our popular course, History of Sports, with Professor Matthew Bellamy is now available under a course number: HIST 1901.

Please note that students who have already completed a previous version of this course (under course number HIST 1900: History of Sports) should not take HIST 1901. Any questions regarding this should be directed to our Undergraduate Administrator, Tanya Schwartz.

The post History of Sports Course has a new Course Number appeared first on Department of History.

The History Department is proud to congratulate the following History students:

• Danielle Lyn Carron (MA History) for winning the Senate Medal for Outstanding Academic Achievement at the Graduate Level.
• Sarah Amalie Margaret Ham (BA Combined Honours in English and in History) for winning the University Medal (Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences);
• Lucas Ryan Robert Knight (BA Honours in Law with History Minor) for winning the Senate Medal for Outstanding Academic Achievement at the Undergraduate Level;
• Kaileigh Summers La Belle (BA Honours in History) for winning the Senate Medal for Outstanding Academic Achievement at the Undergraduate Level;
• Nikki Michelle Mosca (BA Honours in Film Studies with History Minor) for winning the Senate Medal for Outstanding Academic Achievement at the Undergraduate Level;
• Paula Gabrielle Rodrigo (BA Honours in in Anthropology with History Minor) for winning the Senate Medal for Outstanding Academic Achievement at the Undergraduate Level;
• Thea Gillian Foss Wallace (BPAPM Honours with Specialization in Communication and Policy Studies – Strategic Public Opinion with History Minor) for winning the University Medal (Faculty of Public Affairs);

More details on the medals:

University Medal – Undergraduate Level
Awarded annually, when merited, to the top one per cent of graduating students in each faculty.

Senate Medals for Outstanding Academic Achievement — Undergraduate
Awarded, when merited, to graduating students of outstanding academic achievement

Senate Medals for Outstanding Academic Achievement — Graduate
Awarded, when merited, to graduating students of outstanding academic achievement

to view the full list of award winners for this convocation session.

The post Congratulations! History Students Win Medals at June 2023 Convocation appeared first on Department of History.

“Electricity is everywhere, so researching its impact was an intimidating task. Breaking it down into specific objects, like the oven or a streetcar, and focusing on Ottawa made it far more manageable and felt more personal. Studying historic moments through objects has allowed us to create more of a connection between us and our work.”

Congratulations to FASS fourth-year undergraduate students Sadie Badour (History and Humanities) and Angela Mortimer (History), who were invited to  reflecting on their recent practicum experiences at Ingenium.

The post History Students Reflect on Practicum at Ingenium appeared first on Department of History.