Student research on exhibit at the Galt Museum

trevor.kenney — Fri, 15 May 2015 17:06:44 +0000

��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge undergraduate student research will be front and centre at the Galt Museum & Archives this summer.

Five students from Dr. Carol Williams' History 2800 - Women's History class will have exhibits at the museum from May 16 to Sept. 27.

"U of L students studying in the departments of History and Women & Gender Studies have access to many research and professional opportunities at the undergraduate level," says Williams. "The GALT exhibition partnership, developed in 2012 by myself, Wendy Aitkens, and other professional staff at the Galt Museum & Archives, is a premier example of this."

Five students from Dr. Carol Williams' History 2800 - Women's History class will have exhibits at the museum from May 16 to Sept. 27.

In essence, as part of the students' assignment for their course, students develop proposals for a public history display of their original research for the museum. Five finalists are selected by jury for the exhibit, affording an important professional development opportunity for undergraduate students.

"Each year the results are spectacular, and this year is no exception," says Williams.

The exhibition, Whither Girls and Women? Research by Undergraduate Historians, features original research produced by students Amanda High, Amanda Krawchuk, Diane McKenzie, Evan Woolner and Amanda Wolf. Students produced original research on any topic of women or girls’ history using primary sources, visuals and material objects retrieved from the Galt or other regional archives or private collections. Like all researchers tasked with the creation of original knowledge, students first reviewed how prior scholars had considered like-minded topics. Yet, the individual exhibits are diverse. Research skills learned in history courses serve students well no matter what career they pursue in the post university job market.

Following is a brief description of each exhibit:

It's Your Duty! - Recruitment propaganda in the Canadian Women's Army Corps in the Second World War - Amanda High

RIOT & DEBAUCHERY - Community opposition to Lethbridge’s Red Light District, 1880-1920 - Amanda Krawchuk

Strands of History - Women and commemorative hairwork 1865 - 1965 - Diane McKenzie

I Wouldn’t Marry Him...If He Didn't Have Running Water - Women’s roles on the family farm in Alberta - Amanda Wolf

Surviving A Plague - Experiences of southern Alberta nurses during the 1918 Influenza Epidemic - Evan Woolner

U of L launches Centre for Oral History and Tradition

trevor.kenney — Tue, 26 Nov 2013 17:29:59 +0000

The ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge has launched a new institute aimed at ensuring southern Alberta’s oral history is preserved and accessible.

The Centre for Oral History and Tradition (COHT) will not only advance research disciplines pertaining to oral history in the academic world, but also collaborate with community organizations across southern Alberta to help preserve, study and understand the region’s oral history.

The de Grandmaison oral history project is an example of the work that the Centre for Oral History and Tradition will undertake.

“The Institute will strive to preserve and analyze oral history sources,” says Dr. Heidi MacDonald, director of the new centre. “Oral histories contain valuable information that is often not available in any other form. Preserving these narratives is critical to understanding many fields of study. Our research will have an enduring relevance well into the future because the oral histories we capture will be studied for many more generations.”

��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge faculty and graduate students involved in the institute have expertise in such areas as employment, health, sport, gender, religion, culture and local history. Together with community partners, including the Galt Museum and Archives, the centre will provide workshops and other support in order to identify, establish and assist oral history projects undertaken in southern Alberta. The centre is also committed to ensuring these projects are made available to the public.

“We want to be a portal for the dissemination of oral history to other researchers as well as provide a place where this knowledge is available to the people of southern Alberta and beyond. In addition to sharing the research we at the centre are interested in, we want to build this capacity with community groups that have an interest in preserving their own oral histories,” says MacDonald.

Collecting and preserving oral histories is becoming increasingly important. MacDonald says information is continually becoming more transient, which will have implications for the future. For example, fewer people keep diaries, and in the workplace, e-mails are easily deleted.

“Sources that historians have traditionally used are becoming rare. Far less information is hitting paper today compared to even a decade ago,” says MacDonald. “In addition, oral histories can provide personal insights that expand on more standard histories.”

The announcement of the COHT was made at the Galt Museum & Archives. The event included a display demonstrating an oral history project undertaken by the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge Art Gallery and ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ Archives, an initiative that supports the gallery’s vast Nicholas de Grandmaison collection of artworks and artifacts.

As an itinerant painter, de Grandmaison often stayed with ranchers, farmers and Aboriginal families for several days at a time while he painted their portraits. His unique lifestyle, character and attitude having left a plethora of interesting experiences that augment the context of his paintings. These stories complement the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ's de Grandmaison collection.

The U of L is home to 12 different centres and institutes that foster and promote research expertise and capabilities as well as provide a platform for trans-disciplinary research.

The U of L’s Vice-President (Research), Dr. Dan Weeks, says these centres and institutes facilitate the formation of unique and creative research and teaching partnerships inside and outside of the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ.

“The ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge’s initiative to create new centres and institutes allows for greater collaboration among researchers and makes research more publicly available. The Centre for Oral History and Tradition will make an incredibly positive contribution to southern Alberta communities through its work,” says Weeks.

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Student research on exhibit at the Galt Museum

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