McMaster History Department Newsletter Vol. 7, September 2001 ...

McMaster History Department Newsletter
Vol. 7, September 2001
Table of Contents
• Chair's Message
• History Graduate Studies Reunion
• New Faculty Appointments
• Colloquium Series
• Bertrand Russell Editorial Project News
• Alumni News
• Faculty News
• Graduate Student News
• Messecar Professors
Chair's Message
Greetings:
It is my very great pleasure to welcome you to the History Department's new electronic
NEWSLETTER. Since the publication of the last newsletter in the Fall of 1999, the composition of
the department and the undergraduate curriculum have changed substantially. Information about our
new colleagues as well as the entire history department curriculum, including several course
outlines, is now available through the main menu on this website. Many people have contributed to
this NEWSLETTER. I am especially grateful to my Administrative Assistant, Wendy Benedetti, and
to the history department webmaster, Stephen Streeter, for editorial and technical assistance.
Highlights in this issue include the new Richard A. Rempel Graduate Scholarship in History, and the
Fall 2000 History Graduate Studies Reunion. You are invited to peruse the colorful retrospectives of
the McMaster history graduate program by Professor John Weaver and former graduate student
Professor Nick Terpstra through special links provided below. In the future we hope to host a
reunion for undergraduate alumni, which will require considerable planning. Please send us your
news, comments, and opinions about our new means of communication with you.
Welcome,
Virginia H. Aksan
Associate Professor & Chair
vaksan@mcmaster.ca

History Graduate Studies Reunion
In September 2000, the Department sponsored the Graduate Alumni Reunion. Graduates from the
last three decades toured the Mills Library, pondered displays at the Museum of Art, and reminisced
over the McMaster graduate student experience. In a speech entitled, "History in the Public Eye,"
Nicholas Terpstra (class of 1983), now a professor in the history department at the University of
Toronto, explained what made his graduate student years at McMaster so special. Professor John
Weaver gave the faculty perspective in "The Way We Were," a personal and sweeping overview of
the department's evolution. Weaver also announced the Richard Rempel Graduate Award, in
recognition of Dr. Rempel's outstanding dedication and service to the graduate student program. For
more about the reunion, see the McMaster Humanities Reunion News and reunion photos.
New Faculty Appointments
In 2000 the department gained two tenure-track appointments in U.S. history. Dr. Karen Balcom
(Ph.D., Rutgers University, 2001), who specializes in U.S. and Canadian social and cultural history,
will also teach courses for Women's Studies. Dr. Stephen Streeter (Ph.D., University of Connecticut,
1994), a specialist in modern U.S. foreign relations and Latin American history, joins us from
Wilfrid Laurier University, where he taught for four years. Streeter will also teach courses in the
Globalization theme school and Hispanic studies.
In 2001 the department hired Dr. Stephen Heathorn, a modern British historian. Before joining our
faculty, Dr. Heathorn was a newly tenured professor in history at Indiana University-Purdue
University at Indianapolis. In addition to greatly strengthening McMaster's program in British
history, Dr. Heathorn will be actively involved with the Bertrand Russell Research Centre.
Colloquium Series Lectures
Our Visiting Speakers Series of 2000-01 included lectures from Professors John Merriman, Susan
Neylan, Jack Granatstein, Joy Parr, former Mac student Matthew Trundle, and current Ph.D.
candidate Bonnie Sallans. Among our other distinguished guests was visiting Hooker Professor Dr.
Erich Gruen, who participated in our 2000 Graduate Colloquium and also presented a paper to the
faculty entitled "The Near East and the Classical World: Creative Cultural Confusion." For a list of
recent and upcoming lectures click here.
Bertrand Russell Editorial Project News
Modern British History doctoral candidates will be interested in the new Metcalfe Research
Assistantship, which sponsors doctoral research on Bertrand Russell's Education Writings and the

Experimental School at Beacon Hill. The fellowship will be awarded to a student in McMaster's
Department of History.
In the late 1920s and early 1930s Bertrand Russell wrote extensively on education and also, with his
wife Dora Russell, ran a small experimental progressive school at Beacon Hill in England. While
there have been philosophical studies of Russell's educational thought, little work has been done on
the Beacon Hill School and its place in the history of progressive education. The Bertrand Russell
Research Centre is currently editing Russell's writings from this period for inclusion in The
Collected Papers of Bertrand Russell. The educational writings themselves are being edited by
Professor William Bruneau of The University of British Columbia and Russell's other writings for
the period are being edited by a team of researchers at McMaster University comprised of Dr.
Stephen Heathorn (History), Professor Nicholas Griffin (Director of BRRC, and Canada Research
Chair, Department of Philosophy) and Dr. Andrew Bone (Bertrand Russell Research Centre). The
Bertrand Russell Archives at McMaster University has a virtually complete collection of Russell's
published and unpublished work and offers a unique opportunity for original research.
The position is effective September 2002. All interested applicants should contact the History
Department's Administrative Assistant and Graduate Secretary, Wendy Benedetti, at
histdept@mcmaster.ca
Alumni News
• John Bacher, Class of 1985 (Ph.D.) is the author of a recent book, "Petrotyrrany" detailing
the connections between oil, war and dictatorship and a strategy for encouraging peace,
environmental protection and human rights. Science and Peace and Dundurn Press.
• Larissa Douglass, Class of 1999 (MA), is organizing a graduate conference at Oxford, 24-26
May 2002 in Central European Studies entitled, "The Contours of Legitimacy in Central
Europe: New Approaches in Graduate Studies." This is an international graduate conference
in the Humanities and Social Sciences from the Early Modern period to the present.
• Christine Cerdeira, Class of 1996 (Hons. B.A.) recently accepted a position with the West
Mercia Constabulary as Intelligence Analyst for Hereford, England.
• New! Anne Clendinning, Class of 1999 (PhD) has accepted a position teaching British and
European History with the Department of History, Nipissing University. Congratulations
Anne!
• Karin Foster, Class of 2000 (M.A.) has taken employment as Archivist for Grey County.
Congratulations, Karin!
• Sean Gouglas, Class of 2001 (Ph.D.) has taken a position at the University of Alberta. Sean
is Director of computing services for his faculty and also teaches history. As Sean was the
creator of our original website, we are confident that he will do very well.
• New! Samuel Kalman Class of 2001 (PhD) has accepted a tenure-track position with Salem
College, in Winston-Salem, South Carolina. Congratulations, Sam!
• Milena Kras, Class of 1997 (M.A.) is in her third year (part-time) of the Mastech-McMaster
MBA in Information Technology, and works at Canada Life in Toronto.

• Len Kuffert, Class of 2000 (Ph.D.) is living in Winnipeg and teaching at the University of
Manitoba. He and Roisin have just become the proud parents of fraternal twins.
• Julie Longo, Class of 1991(M.A.) and doctoral candidate at Wayne State University has
become the Chair of the Applied Arts and General Studies Department at St. Clair College in
Windsor, heading up both the Thames and South Campuses.
• Rachelle Longtin, Class of 1997 (M.A.) and a Ph.D. candidate at York University recently
published an essay in The Journal of the Classical and Medieval Numismatic Society. Her
article, "Constantine and Christianity: The Numismatic Evidence," won the graduate prize of
the Ferguson Foundation in 1997.
• New! Ken MacMillan, Class of 2002 (PhD) has accepted a tenure-track position at the
University of Calgary, teaching British history. Congratulations, Ken!
• Peter Penner, Professor Emeritus of History, writes that he is grateful for having chosen
history as a career. He claims to have had a most interesting life since retiring. Penner studied
in our M.A. programme in 1962 and received his Ph.D. here in 1970. He remembers his
years at McMaster fondly, especially certain professors who encouraged him to become an
historian. Dr. Penner taught at Mount Allison University from 1965-1992, and has most
recently traveled to his birthplace in Siberia as a volunteer with Rotary International's
Program.
• New! Brian Raychaba (PhD to 1999) has a new position as Executive Director of Canada's
Save the Children Foundation. Brian is based in Vancouver, B.C. Every continued success in
your new position, Brian!
• New! Geoff Spurr, Class of 2001 (Ph.D.) has taken a position in the Department of History
at High Point University, North Carolina. Congratulations Geoff!.
• New! Bruce Strang, Class of 2000 (Ph.D.) has taken a tenure-track position at Lakehead
University with the History Department. Congratulations Bruce!
• Fiona Tomaszewski, Class of 1992 (Ph.D.) is teaching at John Abbot College in Quebec.
Praeger Publishing Co. has recently published her book, A Great Russia: Russia and the
Triple Entente 1905-1914.
• Derek Tucker, Class of 2002 (M.A.) defended his thesis, Successful Pioneers: Irish Catholic
Settlers in the Township of Hibbert, Ontario, 1845-1887 in November. Derek has secured
employment with the Provincial Government, Estates department.
Donations to the Department of History
Over the years the History Department at McMaster University has received many generous
donations from alumni and former members of the Department who wish to encourage the study of
history by providing extra financial support for our best students.
Graduate Scholarships in History
Buchanan's Bounty Trust Book Prize The Ezio Cappadocia Graduate Prize in European History The
James Robertson Carruthers Memorial Award New! The Richard Fuller Memorial Awards (History)
The Richard Fuller Memorial Scholarships for History (Research) The H.W. McCready Graduate

Prize in History Richard A. Rempel Graduate Scholarship in History New! The Edna Elizabeth Ross
Reeves Scholarship Friends of E.M. Wightman Essay Prize
The Edith M. Wightman Travel Scholarship
Faculty News
Conferences
• In April 2001 Drs. Michael Gauvreau and Nancy Christie organized a two-day conference,
"On The Margins of Family, " at Dundurn Castle in Hamilton. Bettina Bradbury of York
University served as the keynote speaker. Dr. Christie is the winner of the 2001 Sir John A.
Macdonald Prize for "Engendering the State: Family, Work, and Welfare in Canada",
Toronto, University of Toronto Press, 2000.
• Dr. David Wright organized the sixth Hannah conference entitled "Hannah International
Conference on the History of Mental Illness." The conference was sponsored by McMaster
University and the University of Toronto, with keynote addresses by Professors Roy Porter
and German Berrios.
• Dr. David Barrett, as president of the Historical Society for Twentieth Century China
(HSTCC), was co-organizer of the conference, "Reinterpreting Twentieth Century China:
New Perspectives," held in Hong Kong, June 2001, at Hong Kong Baptist University.
Inter-departmental Partnerships
The English and History Departments collaborated on an Open House for local High School History
and English students 20 March 2002. The day was a great success, with over 100 students from area
high schools attending.
Post-Doctoral Fellows
Matthew Hendley, who served as a Postdoctoral Fellow from 1999 to 2001, has recently published
two articles: "Anti-Alienism and the Primrose League: The Externalization of the Postwar Crisis in
Great Britain, 1918-32", in Albion; and "Tradition and Innovation in the Historiography of British
Conservatism", in Twentieth-Century British History. Dr. Hendley has recently been appointed to the
the history department at the State University of New York, Oneonta.
Collaborative Projects, Publications and News
• Ken Cruikshank and Nancy Bouchier are consulting with Red Canoe Productions on a
video about the history of Hamilton's waterfront.
• Dr. Kathleen Garay, associate member of the department, served as a key members of the
team that created the Mystic Women of the Middle Ages website. Dr. Garay co-authored

with Madeleine Jeay (Department of French and also a member of the team) "The Life of
Saint Douceline, a Beguine of Provence", translated from the Occitan with Introduction,
Notes and Interpretive Essay, Woodbridge, Suffolk: Boydell and Brewer, 2001.
• Drs. John Weaver and Lori Chambers (Lakehead University) co-authored "Abuse and
Desertion in Hamilton, 1859-1892," which appeared in Ontario History, Autumn 2001. John
Weaver also independently published "Exploitation by Design: The Dismal Science, Land
Reform, and the Cape Boers, 1805-22" in The Journal of Imperial and Commonwealth
History.
• Drs. Ken Cruikshank, Karen Balcolm, and Stephen Streeter have recently launched the
American History Website, a project funded by a grant from the Center for Leadership and
Learning. The website can be accessed through the "links" portion of the McMaster History
Department menu or directly here.
• Drs. C.M. Johnston and J. Greenlee (History, Memorial University) recently co-authored
"Ideal Citizens: Missionaries and the British Empire", published by McGill-Queen's
University Press.
• Dr. Ruth Frager recently published an article, "Labour History and the Interlocking
Hierarchies of Class, Ethnicity, and Gender: A Canadian Perspective" in the International
Review of Social History 44 (1999).
• Dr. Richard Harris, Professor of Geography and now an Associate of the Department, is
based at University College London this year. He is studying the emergence and evolution of
British Colonial housing policy, 1930's-1960's. He is especially interested in the Caribbean,
Ghana, Kenya, and Singapore, and is dividing his time between the British Library, the
Institute of Commonwealth Studies, and the Public Record Office. He is still in search of
inexpensive, good coffee, but enjoys the cheapest tea in London at the Institute of Historical
Research, where the furniture has not changed in living memory. In an earlier incarnation he
did research on Canadian housing and housing policy. Recently, his co-authored paper on the
Veterans Land Act was published in the Canadian Historical Review (vol. 82, no. 2), another
on the Nova Scotia Housing Commission appeared this fall in Acadiensis. A chapter,
"Canadian Cities in a North American context", was published last year in North America.
The Historical Geography of a Changing Continent, eds. T. McIlwraith and T. Muller
(Lanham, Md.: Rowman and Littlefield, 2001). He will be speaking about his earlier work on
Toronto at a conference on English migration to Canada that is being organized by Phil
Buckner at the Institute of Commonwealth Studies in June, 2002.
• Watch CBC Newsworld at 10 p.m. Wednesday January 16 to see Drs. Paul Fritz and David
Russo(Professors Emeriti) in a segment on the Antiques Roadshow. Dr. Fritz is well-known
for his expertise in antiques and his extensive collections. They are enjoying retirement in the
Kingston area.
• Dr. Stephen Streeter has published Managing the Counterrevolution: The United States and
Guatemala, 1954-1961 (Athens, OH: Ohio University Press, 2000) which has been reviewed
favourably on H-NET. He is working on a second monograph that will encompass the
Alliance for Progress years in Guatemala, and has initiated two new research projects. The
first investigation will compare U.S. development and counterinsurgency strategies in
Vietnam and Guatemala as part of the five-year MCRI Globalization project headed by
Professor Will Coleman. The McMaster Arts Research Board has alos awarded Steve a seed
grant to begin a study of the U.S. role in the 1973 coup that toppled President Salvador
Allende of Chile.

• Dr. David Barrett was co-editor (with Professor Larry N. Shyu) of two volumes of
conference papers published in 2001: Chinese Collaboration with Japan, 1932-1945: The
Limits of Accommodation (Stanford Univesity Press), and China in the Anti-Japanese War,
1937-1945: Politics, Culture, and Society (Peter Lang, Inc.). Dr. Barrett also contributed two
articles and three translations from the Chinese to these volumes.
• New! Dr. Daniel Woolf, Professor of Early Modern and Tudor British History, and Dean of
Humanities, has taken a position starting in July 2002. Dr. Woolf will be the new Dean of
Arts at The University of Alberta in Edmonton. We wish him every success in his new
position.
Retirements
The year 2000 marked the retirements of Richard A. Rempel and David J. Russo. Speeches from
Drs. Alan Cassels, Ezio Cappadocia, John Campbell, John Browning and Louis Greenspan
entertained those assembled with stories about the retirees. Both Richard and David made great
contributions to the Department, to the teaching of History at McMaster and to the McMaster
community. Dr. Rempel has begun research on a history of Saskatchewan during World War II and
Dr. Russo has produced two books at retirement: American History from a Global Perspective, and
American Towns: An Interpretation. Click here for photos of the reunion.
New! Dr. Daniel Geagan will be retiring on 30 June 2002 after 29 years in the Department of
History. Dr. Geagan taught Ancient History, specializing in Ancient Greece, with an emphasis on
social and institutional history. His research involves the editing and interpretation of documents
from archaeological digs, with material from three different excavations. The largest set includes the
dedicatory monuments and the correspondence with Roman administrators found in the excavation
of the Athenian Agora. Dr. Geagan's teaching covered many of the cross-listed Classics/History
courses and will be missed by faculty and undergraduate and graduate students in both of these
areas. Dr. Geagan was appropriately celebrated on 30 April by his friends, colleagues and students.
We will miss his presence in the Department and we wish him well in his retirement. Click here for
photo.
In Memoriam
Dr. Ezio Cappadocia (1920-2000). A commemorative service was held at McMaster University
Convocation Hall on Friday, July 7th, 2000. Dr. Cappadocia arrived at McMaster in 1966 and
became a well-known figure on campus. He served as Chair of the Department for seven years. After
his retirement in 1989, he taught at the Centre for Continuing Education where he continued to draw
large enrolments because of his long-standing reputation as an outstanding teacher of European
history.
Awards
Dr. Harvey Levenstein, professor emeritus, has been awarded the Donald Sheppard (Triennial)
Book Prize for his book, Seductive Journey: American Tourists in France from Jefferson to the Jazz
Age. Dr. Levenstein shares this award with Dr. Katherine Dunbabin for her book on mosaics.

Visiting Professors
• Dr. David Gentilcore, Hannah Visiting Professor in the History of Medicine has joined our
faculty for the 2001-02 academic year. Dr. Gentilcore is Reader in History at the University
of Leicester (UK), where he teaches courses on early modern Europe and the history of
medicine, including a course for third-year medical students. He was a research fellow at the
Cambridge Wellcome Unit for the History of Medicine and, subsequently, holder of a
Wellcome University Award at Leicester. His interests lie in the cultural and social history of
Italy (1400-1800), especially health-related issues, and in the application of anthropology to
historical problems. He has published two monographs and hopes to use the Hannah Visiting
Professorship at McMaster to prepare his current project, Medical Charlatanism in Early
Modern Italy, for publication. Dr. Gentilcore will give a lecture to the Department in the
winter term.
• In 2001-02 Dr. James Moran, a CIHR Post-Doctoral Research Fellow in the History of
Medicine, will be cross-appointed with the History of Medicine Unit.
• Richard Harris, an Associate member of the Department and Professor in the School of
Geography and Geology, is spending the academic year at University College London. He
has a Fellowship from the British Academy to research the history of colonial housing policy
at the British Library and Public Record Office.
Sessional Lecturers
Dan Azoulay recently edited a book of "romance" letters from Western Canadians in the early 1900s
called Only the Lonely (Fifth House 2000). His two previous publications were Canadian Political
Parties: Historical Readings (Irwin 1999), and "Keeping the Dream Alive: The Survival of the
CCF/NDP in postwar Ontario," in Ontario Since Confederation (University of Toronto Press, 2000),
ed. E. Montigny and L. Chambers. He is currently writing an extensive history of romance in Canada
from 1900-1930.
Graduate Student News
Congratulations to our graduates!
Graduating Students: May 2001
Ph.D.
Samuel Kalman, "Vers un order nouveau: The Concepts of Nation and State in the Doctrine of the
Faisceau and Coix de Feu/Parti social francais"
Geoffrey Spurr, "'Those Who are Obliged to Pretend that They are Gentlefolk': The construction of a
Clerking identity in Victorian and Edwardian London"

Sean Gouglas, "The Influence of Local Environmental Factors on Settlement and Agriculture in
Saltfleet Township, Ontario, 1790-1890"
Graduating Students: November 2001
M.A. Stephen Burgess-Whiting William Campbell Tammy Chumley Carrie Dickenson Alana Foley
Brent Jewell Margaret McFarlane John McKerrow M.A. (Thesis)
Amy Meertens: "The 'New Eugenics': Psychiatry and Mental Health in Post-World War II Canada"
Suzanne Meade: "Medieval Prostitution in Secular Law: The Sex Trade in Late Medieval London,
Paris and Toulouse"
News
• Rhonda Hinther (Ph.D. candidate) has published "The Oldest Profession in Winnipeg: The
Culture of Prostitution in the Point Douglas Segregated District, 1909-1912," in Manitoba
History, Vol. 41, Spring/Summer 2001. In October she presented "Raising Funds and Class
Consciousness: Women, Gender and the Progressive Ukrainian Community in Canada, 1918-
1991" at the one-day Women Studies mini-conference What We Did on our Summer
Vacation: Recent Research from the Women's Studies Community at McMaster.
• Dan Gorman (Ph.D. candidate) delivered a paper to the Institute of Strategic Studies at Yale
University in February 2001. This past October he successfully presented papers on John
Buchan at the Western Conference on British Studies in Houston and the Victorian Studies
Association of the Western United States at UCLA. Dan is a very active member of the
Graduate Softball team, which just concluded another successful campaign under the skilled
guidance of. Dr. Dr. Dan Geagan, a coach now with several decades of experience!
• Amy Meertens (M.A. 2001) defended her thesis this past summer and landed a full-time job
with the Health Sciences as a public relations liaison in conjunction with Breakthrough
Films.
• Carrie Dickenson (M.A. 2001) and William Campbell (M.A. 2001) are now teaching
English as a Second Language in Seoul, Korea, and both hope to pursue doctoral studies
upon their return to Canada.
• Alana Foley (M.A. 2001) is studying for an M.A. in Middle Eastern Studies at University of
Toronto. Alana won the Edith Wightman Essay Prize.
• John McKerrow (M.A. 2001) was awarded the Ezio Cappadocia Graduate Prize in History
at the November convocation. This prize honours excellence in graduate work in European
history. John is currently in Scotland.
• Tammy Chumley (M.A. 2001) won the H.W. McCready Graduate Prize in History at
November convocation, awarded annually to a worthy M.A. graduate on the recommendation
of the Department.
• Steven Burgess-Whiting (M.A. 2001) is currently pursuing a doctorate in history at the
University of Western Ontario.
• David Leeson just returned from "The Western Conference on British Studies" in Houston,
where he successfully presented a paper on recruiting for the Black and Tans.
• Ken Macmillan (PhD candidate) held a Writing Workshop on 9 November for students.
This session, as well as the TA Workshop Ken held earlier in the term were well-attended
and helpful to TAs and students alike.

• Wendy Churchill (PhD candidate) co-authored a journal article with Dr. James D. Alsop,
"The Prescribing Physicians and Sick Scholars of Oxford: Jeremiah Webbe's Apothecarial
Notebook, 1653-54," in Vesalius: Official Journal of the International Society for the History
of Medicine, Vol. III, No. 2 (December 2001): 73-77.
Messecar Professors
In 1950 Mr. W. M. Messecar, President of the Brantford Cordage Company, gave McMaster
University an endowment for the purpose of naming a professorship in History. The following is a
list of past Messecar Professors to the Department of History. We hope to make a Messecar
appointment in 2002-3.
James Moore (Open University, U.K.) 1998
David Phillips (Melbourne) 1991
J.M.S. Careless (Toronto) 1988
William Eccles (Toronto) 1987
Kenneth McNaught (Toronto) 1984-85
Royden Harrision (Warwick) 1981
A.F. Thompson (Oxford) 1979
The Department of History invites submissions and updates. Please send news to
histdept@mcmaster.ca