Mining the popular for historical perspective

allison martens

Nearly 80 history devotees from universities across Montreal visited Concordia on March 4 for the eleventh annual edition of its graduate students’ history conference, titled “The Past on Display: Public History, Memory and Memorialization.”

In addition, the gathering attracted more than 15 presenters who came from as far away as the University of Pittsburgh, Northern Arizona University and the University of Leicester in England, to present their papers on topics ranging from anti-war memorials to the 1969 Woodstock Festival.

“One of the great aspects of this conference was realizing the importance of getting history out of the confines of academia,” said Suki Wellman, an MA student at Concordia and chief organizer.

“These presentations shifted away from the grand narrative, took into account the experience of minorities, and factored in race and gender in the way they were presented to the public.”

Paul Hébert, one of several presenters from Concordia, explained the various ways that Canadians remember Vimy Ridge and World War I.

“So many people were affected by the War in so many different ways that it’s impossible to remember it in only one way. You have to look at all the different groups – such as political, pacifist and religious groups – and their agendas in trying to shape the way Canada would remember the War,” he said.

“You discover there is always more than one narrative for any given historical event.”

The theme of the conference held special significance, given that Concordia has recently announced a new Honours BA in Public History – the country’s first – that will accept its first students this September.

The History Department will also offer a concentration in public history at the graduatel levels. For more information, visit publichistory.concordia.ca

“Most historians don’t accept the fact that most people get what they know about the past from TV, museums and historical tourist sites. Too often historians have been reluctant to become involved in more public activities because they seemed at odds with their scholarly identity,” said History professor Ronald Rudin, who chaired the committee that developed the program.

“This program provides an opportunity for historians to add their skills to the production of history that is accessible to the larger population.”

Students will gain hands-on experience by completing an internship during which they might, for example, help to curate an exhibit at an historical museum.

Thanks to a $360,000 grant, provided largely by the Canadian Foundation for Innovation and the Quebec Ministry of Education, students in this program will also have a state-of-the-art laboratory on the tenth floor of the library building, complete with sound production and teaching facilities.

“It’s Canada’s first public history centre. When people think public history, they’ll think ‘Concordia,’” said History professor Steven High, who holds a Canada Research Chair in Public History.

Among other things, he hopes to use it to have workshops for students and teachers from across Canada and the world, to show them how they can use public history in their classrooms. “It’s a great way to make international connections.”