History majors Bradley Robinson and Robert Dunham were recently featured in the Derry Journal (19 October 2012). Both Robinson and Dunham are participating in one of the many international exchange opportunities available to Lakehead University history students and were interviewed about their active roles as exchange students at the University of Ulster, Ireland. Dunham, for example, was recently elected as the Chair of the newly formed International Student's Society at Ulster's Magee campus.

 

For a short article by Bradley Robinson about the exchange opportunities available at the University of Ulster, click here.

 

 

Above: Bradley Robinson (l),
Professor Deidre Heenan, PVC Communication
and Provost of Magee and Coleraine (c); Robert Dunham (r) 

 

 

 

The Department of History is pleased to announce the publication of the latest book by John Potestio (HBA 1970; MA 1981. Published by the Institute of Italian Studies-Lakehead University, The R.F. Welch (Veltri) Company recounts the origin and development of a railway construction firm that was founded by two immigrants from Calabria, Italy in the 1880's. 

 

The R. F. Welch (Veltri) Company, founded in the 1890s by Vincenzo and Giovanni Veltri, two immigrants from Calabria, Italy, had a modest and unlikely beginning.  In the ensuing decades, the railway construction company grew thanks to the untiring efforts of the two brothers who sought employment for their largely immigrant crews, most of them Italian, in the United States and Canada. After a period of decline during the Great Depression and World War Two, the company, now under the management of Ralph Welch (Veltri), entered into an agreement with the Canadian Government and the Canadian National Railways to hire immigrant workers in Italy and Portugal to work on the CNR maintenance gangs. Starting in 1951, the thousands of immigrants who obtained a Welch contract would subsequently settle in various communities right across Canada. Hundreds of Italians (and, to a lesser extent, Portuguese) in cities such as Thunder Bay, Winnipeg and Edmonton credit their settlement in Canada to a company that was started, nourished and expanded by immigrant people. The story of the Welch Company represents an important chapter in the history of Italian Canadians.

 

The author of a number of books and articles exploring the history of Italians in Thunder Bay, John is now a retired teacher. More information on the book can be found on the Institute of Italian Studies-Lakehead University's website http://www.iislu.com/article/publications-127.asp

 

This past fall, Master of Arts student Jaimi Penney received the inaugural Thunder Bay Historical Museum Society's Ken Dawson Research Trust Bursary. This competitive bursary was established by the Estate of the late Ken Dawson to support historical research. Jaimi received the award in support of her master's project "Searching for a 'Just Society', Max Saltsman and the Era 
of Social Change in Canada, 1964-79" being supervised by Michel S. Beaulieu.

 

The Department of History is pleased to announce the release of a new book by Chair and Associate Professor Michel S. Beaulieu. 

 

Celluloid Dreams: An Illustrated History of Early Film at the Lakehead, 1900-31 explores how films made in or about the Thunder Bay, Ontario region between 1892 and 1931 not only parallels the development of film in Canada, but challenges the traditional interpretation of the early years of production in the country and reveals that, for many, film was the natural medium to promote their communities. The films produced in Northwestern Ontario also serve as visual records of the region's social and cultural development during the first decades of the twentieth century.

 

Proceeds from the sale of the book will go to the Thunder Bay Historical Museum Society. 

 

Dr. Ronald Harpelle's latest documentary film will premiere at the Bay Street Film Festival in Thunder Bay on Sunday 9 September at 7 pm. Hard Time is a film about Robert Hillary King, the only freed member of the Angola 3. King was a political prisoner who spent 29 years in solitary confinement in the infamous Louisiana State Penitentiary at Angola.

 

The film focuses on racism and human rights in the American penal system, and draws attention to the plight of Herman Wallace and Albert Woodfox, the other members of the Angola 3, who have been held in solitary confinement for more than 40 years. Together they formed they created a prison chapter of the Black Panther Party to fight for better conditions, security for inmates and justice behind bars.  Click here for the film's promo.

 

At this year's convocation ceremony, two graduating HBA History students were honoured with two of the university's highest awards for their academic achievements and contributions to the university.

HBA History student Sara Wills was awarded a President's Award. This award is given annually to the graduating students who have occupied positions of responsibility in student organizations and who, by their activities and achievements, have earned the gratitude of the University

 

HBA History student Ryan Gracey was awarded the Dean's Medal for Social Science and Humanities (four-year program). This awarded is given to the highest-ranking graduating student in Social Sciences and Humanities.

 

Congratulations to Sara and Ryan for these outstanding achievements and recognition!

 

 

 

 

 

Dr. Michel S. Beaulieu, Chair of the Department of History and Director of the Centre for Northern Studies, visited Petrozavodsk State University, Republic of Karelia, Russia Federation as an invited lecturer as part of the 10th International Summer School in Karelia (ISSK).

Directed by Dr. Lassi Heininen from the University of Lapland and a former Chair of Finnish Studies at Lakehead University, and co-financed by the European Union, ISSK is organized jointly by Petrozavodsk State University, the University of Lapland, the University of Tampere, the Aleksanteri Institute at the University of Helsinki, and the University of Eastern Finland.

Since its launch in 2003, the goal of the venue has been bringing together some 25 to 30 MA students on the Petrozavodsk State University campus for one week in order to further increase their knowledge of Nordic-Russian policies and cooperation, and to promote dialogue and a lively discussion among them. This year's theme is "Water: Global and Local."

Learn more about the International Summer School in Karelia.

 

Lakehead University

mourns the loss of Dr. Helen Smith,

much-loved  teacher and award-winning researcher.

She will be greatly missed by  her colleagues and students.