On 24 November, Sean Patterson will be giving a presentation exploring "The Unconventional Provenance of a William McGillivray Portrait.'

Since 1908, the Thunder Bay Historical Museum Society (TBHMS) has been regularly holding talks on a wide range of topics on the fourth Tuesday of each month at the Thunder Bay Museum (425 Donald Street East) from September to April. The TBHMS's 2015-16 Lecture series is being sponsored by the Department of History and forms part of its 2015-16 Speaker Series.

Join us for a celebration of Pallavi Das' new book Colonialism, Development, and the Environment: Railways and Deforestation in British India, 1860-1884.

While colonial encounters have been seen by scholars more or less in economic and political terms, what is largely missing is the metropole's economic development strategies that had definite ecological consequences for the colony. Focusing on the colonial encounter between Britain and India, Das looks at the economic development, including scientific and technological changes, and the environmental impact of the colonial encounter on India. Examining the railways and deforestation, Das shows how deforestation jeopardized railway expansion, which led to state implementation of forest conservation in order to maintain timber supplies. Das' book demonstrates how the history of colonialism has both economic (and political) as well as ecological dimensions.

Snacks and non-alcoholic beverages will be provided. Cash bar will be available.

Come join us to celebrate the 50th anniversary of Lakehead University and the Department of History! We have combined our annual Alumni Awards with Homecoming Weekend.

Alumni Honour Awards will be given to:

• Carlana Bartlett Lindeman (BA 1972, HBA 1973, BEd 1975, MEd 1979)
• John Potestio (HBA 1970, MA 1981)

Community Partnership Awards will be given to:

• Jesse Roberts (individual)
• Thunder Bay Public Library (organization).

This event is free and everyone is welcome! There will be prize giveaways!  Refreshments and snacks will be provided.

Dr. Valerie Hebert will be presenting "Pins, Potlucks and Paid Holidays: Creating the Nazi Community of the People" as part of the In Conversation Series held at the Orillia Public Library.

Register in advance at info@orilliapubliclibrary.ca or  705-325-2338.

Dr. Steven Jobbitt will discuss the current refugee crisis in Hungary and Europe. Focusing upon Hungary's response and his own recent first hand experiences in the country, he will examine the issues in a broader continental and global context. This presentation is free and open to the public and co-sponsored by RESRG: Resource, Economy, and Society Research Group.

Written by the late Ernest Zimmermann and completed and edited by alumni and faculty Michel S. Beaulieu and David Ratz, The Little Third Reich explores the eighteen months during the Second World War that the Canadian military interned 1,145 prisoners of war in Red Rock, Ontario (about 100 kilometres northeast of Thunder Bay). Camp R interned friend and foe alike: Nazis, anti-Nazis, Jews, soldiers, merchant seamen, and refugees whom Britain feared might comprise Hitler’s rumoured “fifth column” of alien enemies residing within the Commonwealth. For the first time and in riveting detail, the conditions in one of Canada’s forgotten POW camps is illuminated.

The book launch and presentation will be held on 27 October at the Thunder Bay Museum beginning at 7:30 pm.

Written by the late Ernest Zimmermann and completed and edited by alumni and faculty Michel S. Beaulieu and David Ratz, The Little Third Reich explores the eighteen months during the Second World War that the Canadian military interned 1,145 prisoners of war in Red Rock, Ontario (about 100 kilometres northeast of Thunder Bay). Camp R interned friend and foe alike: Nazis, anti-Nazis, Jews, soldiers, merchant seamen, and refugees whom Britain feared might comprise Hitler’s rumoured “fifth column” of alien enemies residing within the Commonwealth. For the first time and in riveting detail, the conditions in one of Canada’s forgotten POW camps is illuminated.

The book launch and presentation will be held on 20 September at the Nipigon-Red Rock District High School starting at 1 pm. A presentation will be made at 3 pm.

On 22 September, David W. Tarbet will be giving a presentation based on his new book Grain Dust Dreams published by SUNY Press. He will examine the difficulties and dangers of working in a grain elevator—showing how they operate and describing the effects that the grain trade has on the lives of individuals and cities from their invention in Buffalo, New York, through their present-day operation in Thunder Bay. Copies of the book will be available for purchase at the presentation.

Since 1908, the Thunder Bay Historical Museum Society (TBHMS) has been regularly holding talks on a wide range of topics on the fourth Tuesday of each month at the Thunder Bay Museum (425 Donald Street East) from September to April. The TBHMS's 2015-16 Lecture series is being sponsored by the Department of History and forms part of its 2015-16 Speaker Series.

The North Shore Historical Assembly, which the Thunder Bay Historical Museum Society hosted two years ago, was so well recieved that we have decided to stage a similar event this year, with a focus on Northwestern Ontario's history.

Several of the region's leading historians working in a variety of areas have been invited to give short vignettes of their current work. For a complete list of speakers, please visit www.thunderbaymuseum.com

The conference will also feature the launching of alumna and Department of History Alumni Award winner Elinor Barr's latest book Swedes in Canada: Invisible Migrants published by the University of Toronto Press.

Admission to the conference is free as part of 2015 Culture Days. Both events have been sponsored by the Department of History, Lakehead Social History Institute, and the Thunder Bay Historical Museum Society. 

Tea, Conversation, and film commemorates the launch of Women's History month. Featured is the life of Dorothea Mitchell, Pioneer film maker and Lady Lumberjack with displays, refreshments, and film showing of The Fatal Flower, a film shot in 1930 by the Port Arthur Amateur Cinema Society and completed 75 years later by local film makers.

An event organized by the City of Thunder Bay's Heritage Advisory Committee and part of Culture Days 2015, the film will be introduced by Prof. Kelly Saxberg. The completion of this film was a true Department of History project as Michel S. Beaulieu, Ronald Harpelle, Peter Raffo, and Thorold Tronrud formed the core project team.