Department of History

Organized to mark 50 years of the Maritime History Archive [MHA] on Memorial's campus, this symposium was a timely celebration of a rare collaboration. The research community at and beyond Memorial has benefitted from the links between academics who work with the local and global records of the MHA and the specialist archivists who curate them.

Students and faculty were joined by provincial and university archivists, and by members of the public for presentations and discussion throughout the morning. The three presenters are soon to defend their PhDs at their respective universities (Alberta, British Columbia and St Andrews, Scotland). All had spent some time in the MHA and reported on this and other archival encounters.

Masters and Honours Students just starting on their research used the morning, and an informal session in the afternoon, to explore the arc between conceiving of a primary-sourced research project, effecting it, and articulating its significance.

We are grateful to Stephen Hay, Meaghan Walker and Matt Ylitalo for making the trip to Memorial, for the excellence of their presentations, and the warmth of their conversations. The Head of the Department also did us proud by hosting an evening reception.

Funding from the Scholarship in the Arts Program and the President's Award for Distinguished Teaching made the day possible.