About Us

The History Department studies the past to prepare historically informed global citizens for the challenges of today and tomorrow. Our faculty and students produce historical knowledge and interpretations that reveal how and why the past matters.

We have several areas of research focus in history: Canadian, Digital, Environmental/ Science/Medicine, Gender/Women, Indigenous, International/Global, Public History, Social/Cultural, and War/Conflict. Several of our faculty have cross-appointments to other departments or programs.

In geographic terms, we teach undergraduate and graduate courses on Canada, the United States, Europe, East Asia, Middle East, and Africa. Our department supports an undergraduate program in International Relations, in conjunction with the Department of Political Science, and we run an undergraduate program in American Studies. Our graduate students earn a PhD in History or MA in History. The MA options include a 12-month program, a 2-year program with a thesis, and a Public History field.

           

News and Updates

How Toronto’s army barracks became shelters almost 80 years ago

During the Second World War and for a decade after, Canada faced an unprecedented housing crisis. People had flocked to cities to work at munitions plants, causing a severe housing shortage, and the return of Canada’s 620,000 veterans only exacerbated the situation. The crisis was especially acute in Toronto, a magnet for post-war immigration. In response, the federal government moved more than 1,000 homeless families into army barracks. 

Opinion: Is this the end of English-language universities in Quebec?

The Coalition Avenir Québec government has been handed a report laying out a series of recommendations that could very well spell the end of McGill, Concordia and Bishop’s as the English-language universities we know. In his report, French language commissioner Benoît Dubreuil proposes that, based on current student populations, 31 per cent of the courses offered at English universities be taught in French. Considering François Legault’s determination to limit the use of English in Quebec, there is little reason to believe the premier will not follow through on at least parts of the report’s recommendations.

First World War postcard project launched by Western prof expands to hundreds of small town schools

In communities and classrooms around the country, Western history professor Jonathan Vance’s First World War postcard project is teaching a new generation about the everyday people who fought in one of the world’s deadliest wars. 

After having completed the first round of the project last year, sending more than 400 replicas of postcards sent by Canadian soldiers during the First World War to the original Canadian addresses that received them, this year the project has expanded to schools in those recipient areas through educational packets for students. 

When they died, they were buried without a marker. Inside the quest to restore dignity to some of Ontario’s forgotten

When Cody Groat was a kid, he’d ride his bike around a seemingly empty swath of ground in the local cemetery. Townsfolk, too, out for a stroll, would promenade past the clearing, thinking it was to accommodate future burials.

But below the grass-covered field — about the size of a youth soccer pitch — there were bodies, hundreds upon hundreds, laid to rest without marker or memorial.

It would take Groat, now all grown up and an assistant professor at Western University, to uncover the richness of history buried there, of people whose stories would reveal how generations have treated their impoverished, their shunned, their forgotten.

CBC News Reports on Search to finish her family tree that led this Chicago woman to an unmarked grave in Ingersoll, Ont

Robin Moore was searching for months to find any information about her great-great grandfather, who was an African American settler to Canada in the 19th century, for a family tree she's building. 

After several calls and lots of research, Moore, who lives in Chicago, found a potential connection in the southwestern Ontario town of Ingersoll, east of London, where her ancestor James Hisson may have been laid to rest. 

When Moore visited Ingersoll, she connected with Western University Indigenous studies and History professor, Cody Groat, who grew up in the town and is overseeing the research project.

CBC News Interviews Researchers looking to tell stories of Ingersoll's forgotten at unmarked gravesite

This summer, Indigenous studies and history professor Cody Groat and history students Rebecca Small and Emily Kirk, are among a team of historians, archaeologists and students at Western who are working to uncover the history and tell the stories of the more than 350 community members who are buried there.

Groat, with the assistance of Small and Kirk, and in collaboration with the Ingersoll Rural Cemetery Board, the Town of Ingersoll and the Township of Zorra, are now working to memorialize and remember these community members, planning to erect a headstone on the site with the names of everyone for whom this is their final resting place.

Legacy gift of $2M largest ever for Western Libraries

Western Libraries recently received its largest donation to date. A $2 million gift from the estate of Halina and James Russell (Rus) Robinson will give students and scholars access to rich resources in the emerging fields of military and veterans history.
Jonathan Vance, Distinguished University Professor and J.B. Smallman Chair in the department of history, said the signature collection created through Rus and Halina’s generosity will set Western apart.
“It gives students at all levels unparalleled access to the most important literature in military history, making Western a magnet for young researchers interested in the field.”

Ten summer reads by Western faculty and alumni

For the beach, backyard or your bedside table, Western News suggests 10 summer reads written by faculty and alumni.

Included in this list is Out Here: Governor Sir Humprey Walwyn's Quarterly Reports from NewFoundland, 1936-1946, authored by Peter Neary (1938-2024), professor emeritus, department of History and Melvin Baker.

Cowritten with Melvin Baker, this book centers on Walwyn, the British-appointed governor of Newfoundland during a period of remarkable change, culminating in Newfoundland’s union with Canada in 1949.

Is Putin drawing inspiration from Stalin’s military purge? Despite parallels, probably not

Assistant Professor Oleksa Drachewych's latest article featured in the Communication takes a look at Putin's recent actions in relation to another well known leader of Russia - Josef Stalin.

Drachewych writes that repression in Putin’s Russia since February 2022 has parallels to Stalinist terror. Drachewych's research, stemming from a 2022 analysis, looks at parallels between Soviet atrocities during the Second World War and Russia’s atrocities in Ukraine today. Some of these parallels are instructive.

Trudeau urges Pope to return Indigenous items held in the Vatican’s collection

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau urged Pope Francis on Friday to escalate reconciliation efforts with Indigenous peoples in Canada by returning cultural items stowed away in the Vatican’s extensive collection of artifacts.

In social media posts on Instagram, Facebook and X, Mr. Trudeau said he thanked the Pope for reconciliation efforts so far, and said he is advocating for the next step – returning cultural belongings to First Nations, Inuit and Métis peoples in Canada.

Assistant Professor Cody Groat is featured in this article, pointing out the significance of Mr. Trudeau's comments.

Give us access to these important archives, historians plead with London hospital officials

Great to hear Michelle Hamilton on London Morning, talking about this important petition to Save Victoria Hospital archives.

For three years, local archivists and historians have been trying to get their hands on hundreds of boxes of documents they say hold vital pieces of London's medical history and are currently sitting in a basement room at Victoria Hospital.

What's stopping them? London Health Sciences Centre officials won't let anyone look at the documents, said Michelle Hamilton, a historian and professor at Western University, who was brought in to work with the Vision SoHo Alliance in 2021 to document the culture and history of the South of Horton neighbourhood and its now-demolished South Street Hospital.

A Russian missile exploded near Zelenskyy. Experts say the Ukrainian leader's still Putin's top target

A missile strike on Odesa on Wednesday put these dangers in full view of the visiting leader of Greece, as well as Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, when the missile reportedly hit less than a kilometre from where they were meeting.

If Russia were to somehow kill the Ukrainian leader, Dyczok, a Western history and political science professor said it would undoubtedly be "a huge blow" to the country — though it would not stop Kyiv's fight.

Dyczok notes Zelenskyy addresses his fellow Ukrainians every night via video, as part of his efforts to stay connected to the people living through war on a daily basis.

 

Two Years of War

On The Power Vertical Podcast this week, host Brian Whitmore speaks with Steven Pifer, who served as U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine from 1998-2000 and is currently embedded at Stanford University’s Center for International Security and Cooperation, and Marta Dyczok, an Associate Professor of History and Political Science at the University of Western Ontario and CERES Fellow at the University of Toronto. Enjoy…

 

‘In soul, you are there’: Ukrainian students reflect on 2nd anniversary of Russian invasion

Nyshchei, a Ukrainian PhD student in History describes being a student throughout the war as feeling “split.” While she can’t envision a clear future with her friends and family back home remaining in danger, she lives in London safely attending classes and socializing with friends.

Nyshchei wants to thank her professors, staff and fellow history students for helping her overcome the confusion about the new academic system and unfamiliar country. 

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