McGills-Queen’s University Press just released Dr. Rusty Bittermann’s latest book Sailor’s Hope: The Life and Times of William Cooper, Agrarian Radical in an Age of Revolutions.
Sailor’s Hope is the first full biography of William Cooper, who was a central figure in the struggles in the second quarter of the nineteenth century to enlarge democracy in British North America and to end landlordism on Prince Edward Island. Cooper’s role in the history of Prince Edward Island paralleled that of William Lyon Mackenzie in Upper Canada and Louis-Joseph Papineau in Lower Canada. Like Mackenzie and Papineau, Cooper helped to create a mass movement that pressed for change by combining electoral politics with extra-parliamentary activism. Although Cooper did not live to see the end of landlordism on Prince Edward Island, his ideas and efforts were central to its elimination later in the century. In the first half of the nineteenth century, most Island farmers were tenants; landlords’ estates often were measured in tens of thousands of acres. By the end of the century, the last of the big estates had been legislated out of existence (by compulsory government purchase).
Sailor’s Hope draws from previously unused Cooper papers (held in New Mexico) and from research in archives in Scotland, England, California, Atlantic Canada, and elsewhere to tell the full story of Cooper’s life: his birth near Dundee, Scotland; his years with the merchant marine; his marriage in London to Sarah Glover; emigration to Prince Edward Island; farm-making; work as a land agent and miller; and his long involvement in Island politics. It also chronicles his involvement in ship-building with his two oldest sons, their transatlantic voyages, and the family’s emigration to California in a boat they built.
Sailor’s Hope is the third study in a series of books in which Bittermann seeks to frame the history of Prince Edward Island in terms of Atlantic and World history. Rural Protest: From British Colonization to the Escheat Movement (2006) contextualized the eighteenth- and nineteenth-century struggles for land reform on Prince Edward Island in terms of the broader, contemporary popular struggles in the Atlantic World. Lady Landlords of Prince Edward Island: Imperial Dreams and the Defence of Property (2008), co-authored with Margaret McCallum, examined the century-long struggle for land reform on Prince Edward Island from an imperial vantage point, analyzing the Island’s land question from the perspective of four prominent British women who owned large Island estates. Bittermann and McCallum are working on a fourth book in this series which examines Island history in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth century from the perspective of a prominent London merchant family.
Research for this series of studies has been awarded the Canadian Historical Association’s Clio Prize, Canadian Historical Association’s Hilda Neatby Prizes (for contributions to women’s history), and Prince Edward Island Museum and Heritage Foundation Heritage Awards.
Sara dos Santos’s paper, entitled “Re-Imagining France: Beur Protest, Identity, and the French State,” has been accepted for publication in the undergraduate history journal The Mirror. Hers was one of twelve articles selected out of 86 submissions from across Canada.
Congratulations to Sara!
The BA with Honours in History Anne Dance earned from STU in 2007 has led her to a thought-provoking career in graduate school. Here is an update from her:
“I recently won a three-year Commonwealth Scholarship for study at the University of Stirling’s Center for Environmental History and Policy. My PhD dissertation will explore the creation, regulation, and remediation of contaminated landscapes in Canada over the past century. In 2008 I completed my MA from the University of Victoria, where I researched BC hydroelectric development; I have also taken part in the Parliamentary Intern Programme (2008-2009) and worked as a Policy Analyst at Credit Union Central of Canada.”
After obtaining a STU History Honours degree, Doyle Lahey has pursued graduate studies in History and Library Science. Here is an update he sent us:
“Once I graduated from STU in 2008, I left for Halifax to undertake an MA in History at Saint Mary’s University, where I was offered the Faculty of Graduate Studies Research Fellowship. I studied under Dr. Michael Vance, an expert in Scottish and Irish immigration. My thesis compared the pre-Famine Irish experience of St. John’s, Newfoundland, Saint John, New Brunswick, and Halifax, Nova Scotia, between 1750 and 1850. I successfully defended my thesis in June 2010. After SMU I headed to Dalhousie, where I was accepted into the School of Information Management to undertake a Masters of Library and Information Science (MLIS) degree. Outside of school, I am conducting research for Pier 21 on the fire that occurred in the 1940s, which severely damaged the immigration port service. I am also the Co-Chair of the student chapter for the Association of Canadian Archivists (ACA) for Dalhousie University.”
Dr. Julia Torrie was toasted by her colleagues to salute the publication of her first monograph with Berghahn Books. Her book is entitled “For Their Own Good: Civilian Evacuations in Germany and France, 1939-1945.”
She was introduced by Dr. Karen Robert, Chair of the History Department, and she spoke briefly about how her project was set in motion, and about some of the central questions it raises.
Teresa Devor has won a SSHRC MA scholarship in the open national competition.
Dr. Julia Torrie will be presenting her new book on Wednesday November 10th at 4pm in the Rotunda of Brian Mulroney Hall.
Her book is entitled “For Their Own Good: Civilian Evacuations in Germany and France, 1939-1945” New York: Berghahn, 2010.
Julia Torrie received her PhD from Harvard University, and has been teaching History at St. Thomas University since 2002.
Food and various refreshments will be served, and copies of the book will be available for purchase.
We have the pleasure to announce that Christopher Kretzschmar, who graduated with Honours in History last year, was awarded a SSHRC MA fellowship for this year.
Associate Professor Michael Dawson was honoured at today’s convocation with a special faculty merit award, with particular public recognition of his commitment to research.
