Previous Scholarship Recipients
University of Calgary | University of Alberta
University of Calgary – Faculty of Graduate Studies
2008/09
David Gallant; level of study: Ph.D.
David’s Ph.D. thesis will explore “war enthusiasm” in Canada in 1914, challenging the prevailing view that there was an outpouring of enthusiasm among the vast majority of Canadians in the early days of the war. David will investigate the ideas of those who supported Canada’s entry into war, particularly the sceptical and more restrained voices within the English-Canadian majority. Exploring newspapers and magazines, as well as soldiers’ letters and diaries, it will be possible to better understand Canadian views. Also, it has been argued that Western Canadians were the most enthusiastic supporters of the war in 1914. On August 4, a crowd in Regina erupted in a mighty roar upon hearing the news that Britain had declared war on Germany. It is therefore necessary to examine western sources, such as the Calgary Herald and Portage la Prairie Weekly, in order to better understand Canadian attitudes to war.
Michael Swanberg; level of study: MA
For his Master thesis, Michael will conduct a survey of the federal Conservative Party of Canada’s grassroots organization in Western Canada in the early 1950s, when George Drew was the leader of the party. George Drew’s tenure as Conservative leader immediately preceded John Diefenbaker’s sweep of the West in the 1957 and 1958 federal elections – a phenomenon that has had lasting ramifications to this day. This study will investigate how party organization under Drew’s tenure as leader helped lay the foundation for this decisive switch in the region’s partisan preferences. It will also draw attention to how the party responded to the rapidly changing social and economic exigencies of the period. Specifically, party responses to the rapid urbanization and economic diversification of the West will be addressed to determine how well the party crafted a political platform to reflect the dominant discourses of Western political culture. This study will also utilize the recently-opened George Drew papers at the Ontario Provincial Archives, which will allow Michael to introduce previously unstudied primary records to the historiography on the period.
Gretchen Albers, Level of Study: Ph.D
Topic of Study: The topic of my dissertation is Protestant women missionaries who served the Dakota (Sioux) people of Manitoba, Saskatchewan, North Dakota, South Dakota, and Nebraska in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries (1870-1930). It is a cross-border approach that pays particular attention to how gender and race impacted the mission field. More specifically, I hope to write about the interactions between white missionary women and First Nations women, and to explore the experiences of First Nations women who converted to Christianity and attempted to become missionaries to their own people.
My research is at the Ph.D. level, and it will hopefully become a book after it is a dissertation! I gave a talk at the Northern Great Plains History conference last year that stemmed from one of my chapters, and the journal "North Dakota History" expressed interest in publishing it, so portions of it may become journal articles, as well.
Jessica Buresi, Level of Study: M.A.
Topic of Study: Generally my subject concerns the Catholic Oblate missionaries and their relationship with the First Nation Peoples. Specifically, my topic concerns the Oblate father Nicolas Coccola and hisadvocacy and arbitration work he did for the land, fishing and mining rights of the First Nations peoples of British Columbia (the Kootenays inKamloops and the Babine and Carrier Nations). This is my focus as of right now, but it may change to reexamining the life and work of Father Lacombe in Alberta.
I am undertaking my research project to complete my Masters degree in History next year. Upon completing my course work this year, I will be writing a thesis next year.
As of now, my work is not contributing to any publication, but I hope to publish parts of the thesis, (or at least present at conferences) next year.
2007/2008
Glenn William (Mark) Iceton; M.A. 1st year completed
Topic: Conflict between the First Nation and European land management practices in the Yukon and how the First Nations responded to the policies imposed by the government.
I am working on a Masters of History at the University of Calgary and have recently completed my first year of the program. This has consisted primarily of course work as well as refining my thesis topic: rising competition in the fur trade in the northern Yukon Territory following the American purchase of Alaska and how First Nations wildlife management practices were affected and altered in response. I am now in the process of conducting the research for my thesis.
Pernille Jakobsen; Doctorate in History
Topic: “Bench-Breakers”: Women Judges in Western Canada, 1916 to 1980.
I am working on a Doctorate in History at the University of Calgary (I am currently completing my second year and am in the process of finishing my final reading course and preparing for comprehensive exams -- slated for Fall 2008). My dissertation topic concerns Western Canadian women judges from the 1880s until 1980. By "West" I mean Alberta, Saskatchewan, and Manitoba. I am interested in this topic because it provides me with an opportunity to combine my legal knowledge (I am a member of the Alberta Law Society) and my passion for Canadian history.
I do not have any publications to date. I did attend a legal history scholarship conference in Toronto last fall where I gathered insight into new approaches and met many eminent scholars.
2005/2006
Doris Jean MacKinnon
The research for my MA Thesis project, which was supported by the Foundation, focused on Marie Rose Delorme Smith, a Metis woman born in the Red River area in 1861 and died in 1960 in the Pincher Creek area. As a young girl, Marie Rose was sold to a whiskey and robe trader and they followed the treaties until changes on the praries necessitated a sedentary lifestyle. Marie Rose and her husband were pioneer homesteaders on the southern plains, where they raised 17 children. This thesis forms the basis of my book "I am alone in this world: the history of Marie Rose Delorme Smith," currently under consideration for publication with the Canadian Plains Research Centre. My PhD. dissertation, also funded by the Eleanor Luxton Foundation, will provide a comparitive analysis of Marie Rose Smith, of French-Metis ancestry, and Isabella Hardisty Lougheed, of Anglo-Metis (ie countryborn) ancestry.
Nathan Elliott; PhD
Topic: Visions of a New Canada: A Study of Postwar Reform 1917-1927
The Great War has often been seen as a major turning point in Canadian history. Historians have noted how the war transformed the nation’s economy, society, and culture. But historians have overlooked the fact that this cataclysmic event also raised questions about the future of the country. It resulted in the emergence of a number of noted Canadian thinkers, many of whom from western Canada, in the decade from 1917 to 1927 who regarded Canada’s contribution to the war effort as a catalyst for a regeneration of the nation, an opportunity to create a “New Canada.” Their ideas served as a landmark in the shaping of early twentieth-century Canadian national development.
Several overarching questions will drive historical inquiry. What were their visions of a post-war Canada? What were the similarities and differences in their visions? Did these individuals consider themselves part of a united cause or collective unit? To what degree were these reformers successful in making their visions for a New Canada a reality? How influential were feminist thinkers during the movement? Finally, to what extent has the language of reform in this postwar era and the views of these reformers shaped an overall reform ideology in twentieth-century Canada?
My study will benefit from previous major works dealing with the nature of the Great War and on postwar reform. But it will go beyond such studies by shifting the focus from studies of individual reform movements or the significance of the Great War on specific organizations to provide a synthesis, integration and analysis of an overarching reform ideology in the postwar era around the theme of a New Canada that shaped Canadian thought in the twentieth century.
Rachel Herbert; M.A.
Topic: Ranching Women in Western Canada, 1880-1940
University of Alberta, Faculty of Graduate Studies and Research, Department of History and Classics
2007/2008
Sean Atkins; 2008-09 he will be PhD 4th year
Topic of Study: Theoretical and Methodological Approaches to the Environmental History of Native Peoples. This is the second ELHF fellowship awarded to Mr. Atkins by the University.
2006/2007
Sean Atkins; Ph.D. 2nd year
Topic: Theoretical and Methodological Approaches to the Environmental History of Native Peoples
Peter Fortna; Ph.D. 3rd year
Topic: The History of the Image of Banff
Courtney Mason; Ph.D. 2nd year
Topic: Cultural History of Banff National Park
2005/2006
Matthew Wangler; M.A. 2nd year
Topic: The Creation of the Rocky Mountain Parks and Modern Canada
2004/2005
Justin (Tolly) Bradford; Ph.D. 2nd year
Topic: William Twin’s “Indiannes” and the Banff National Park
Allan Rowe; Ph.D. 4th year
Topic: Irish Immigration Settlement and Identity in Western Canada, 1870-1930