rural-history

Wednesday, November 19, 2025 3:30 pm - 5:00 pm EST (GMT -05:00)

Two topics: Ordnance in the Orchard & Raw Milk Debates

Two presentations:

Bram Fookes, Billy Bishop Museum: "Ordnance in the Orchard: WW2 and the Militarization of Rural Ontario," and Lydia Kinasewich, History, University of Guelph: "Raw Milk Debates: Rural Producers and Consumer Health Concerns, 1956-91"

The presentation will take place in person at the University of Guelph in Room 132 of the MacKinnon building, and also remotely over Zoom. All are welcome to attend the in-person talk. For the Zoom presentation, please register through Eventbrite.

Wednesday, October 29, 2025 3:30 pm - 5:00 pm EDT (GMT -04:00)

Drinking Ontario Wine: A Dream?

Dr. Marcel Martel (F. R. S. C.), York University, and Dr. Alex Gagné bring to light a wide range of factors that shaped the early wine industry in Ontario.

The presentation will take place in person at the University of Guelph in Room 132 of the MacKinnon building, and also remotely over Zoom. All are welcome to attend the in-person talk. For the Zoom presentation, please get a ticket to register (registration is free).

Tuesday, September 23, 2025 3:30 pm - 5:00 pm EDT (GMT -04:00)

Becoming Green Gables: The Making of a Famous Farmhouse

Join Dr. Alan MacEachern from the Western University History Department on Tuesday, September 23, 3:30–5:00 pm, McLaughlin LIbrary, Whitelaw Room 246B, University of Guelph for the first lecture in the Rural History Roundtable series for Fall 2025.

Dr. MacEachern's talk draws from his recent book, Becoming Green Gables : The Diary of Myrtle Webb and Her Famous Farmhouse. A few copies will be available for purchase at his presentation, and copies can also be ordered at McGill-Queens University Press.

Register for the Zoom link if you wish to attend remotely.

Wednesday, February 12, 2025 3:30 pm - 5:00 pm EST (GMT -05:00) Wednesday, March 12, 2025 3:30 pm - 5:00 pm EDT (GMT -04:00)

Rural History Roundtable Speaker Series Winter 2025

Three online lectures offered through the University of Guelph during Winter 2025 with thanks to the Francis and Ruth Redelmeier Professorship in Rural History.

  • January 23: Local Need, Lasting Legacies: Japanese Canadian Internment & Rural Medicine, Letitia Johnson, University of Victoria
  • February 12: The Medieval Pig, Dolly Jørgensen, University of Stavanger
  • March 12: Mmm...Manitoba: The Stories Behind the Foods We Eat, Kimberley Moore and Janis Thiessen, University of Winnipeg
Thursday, October 17, 2024 3:30 pm - 5:00 pm EDT (GMT -04:00) Tuesday, November 12, 2024 3:30 pm - 5:00 pm EST (GMT -05:00)

Rural History Roundtable Speaker Series Fall 2024

Rural History Speaker Series for Fall 2024

  • Thursday, 26 September, 3:30 - 5:00 pm. Rebecca Beausaert, University of Guelph. Book Launch. 'Tea Meetings, Concerts, and Other Things Too Numerous to Mention': Women's Leisure in Small-Town Ontario, 1870-1914. 
  • Thursday, 17 October, 3:30 - 5:00 pm. Edward Dunsworth, McGill University. "Beyond the Labour Shortage Narrative: A New History of Canadian Farm Labour."
  • Tuesday, 12 November, 3:30 - 5:00 pm. Ross Fair, Toronto Metropolitan University. "A Measure of Improvement in Upper Canada: The 1852 Agricultural Exhibition."