Category Archives: Public Lecture Series

Wednesday, Dec. 11, 2019, 7:00 pm, Nova Scotia Archives

Mr. Bob Sayer

Abstract:
Laurent’s career that included being a hostage, leader of armed resistance, negotiator, peacemaker and Treaty signer makes him a towering figure. As an adolescent, he was a hostage in Boston, where his father was hanged. Head of the E’se’katik/ Mirligueche/ Lunenburg band, he became a leader of the Mi’kmaw forces based in the Baie Verte area. He is mentioned in various dispatches and minutes. Casteel, in his infamous survival story, features Laurent. Spokesman for his people, Laurent met with the Halifax Council and proposed partition in 1755. He fought in the Beausejour and other campaigns, and became prominent in the Mi’kmaw leaders’ debate and dispute about peace and war. Laurent appeared before the Halifax Council again in the French-Mi’kmaw “Scare” of 1762. He had signed the 1760 treaty that became a go-to document in later landmark provincial and Supreme Court decisions.

Click here for a bio of Bob Sayer

Wednesday, Nov. 20, 2019, 7:00 pm, Nova Scotia Archives

Ms. Stefanie R. Slaunwhite, PhD Candidate, University of New Brunswick

Abstract:
In 1964, when Graham Creighton High School in Cherry Brook, Nova Scotia, opened its doors for integration, many of its feeder communities were relatively rural and isolated. Racial tensions emerged, creating a legacy of conflict. Graham Creighton was the predecessor to Cole Harbour District High School, which has received considerable attention in the media related to racial tensions. While racism was undoubtedly a contributing factor to tensions between the communities, it must be considered that integration at Graham Creighton was not simply an integration of two races; rather, it was an integration of several very distinct and relatively rural communities. This article examines the nuances of community and integration, considering factors such as class, socio-economics, and geography.

Click here for a bio of Stefanie R. Slaunwhite

Wednesday, October 23, 2019, 7:00 pm, Nova Scotia Archives

Dr. Heidi MacDonald, University of New Brunswick

Abstract:
This presentation highlights key moments in the women’s suffrage campaign in Nova Scotia, from the 1830s through the 1960s. It will examine the important roles played by groups such as the Women’s Christian Temperance Union, the Halifax Local Council of Women, and the Nova Scotia Equal Suffrage Association, as
well as individuals such as Eliza Ritchie, Edith Archibald, and Mary Chesley.

Click here for a bio of Heidi MacDonald

Wednesday, Sept. 18, 2019, 7:00 pm, Nova Scotia Archives

Phyllis R Blakeley Memorial Lecture

Ms. Sara Hollett, Gorsebrook Research Institute

Abstract:
In 1962, the Nova Scotia Travel Bureau hired advertising firm, Dalton K. Camp & Associates (DKCA) to design and distribute tourism promotional materials across North America. This paper argues that the ideas presented in the advertising of DKCA represented a significant shift away from earlier ways of seeing identity and history in tourism promotion. These new ways of seeing reflected consumerism, as well as a more modern understanding of how history could be used to sell a destination.

Click here for a bio of Sara Hollett

Wednesday, May 15, 2019 — 7:30 p.m., Nova Scotia Archives

HMS Jervis Bay – the Nova Scotia and Maritime connections

Harold E. Wright, retired Saint John historian

Abstract: HMS Jervis Bay, an Armed Merchant Cruiser, was sunk in November 1940 while protecting convoy HX84 outbound from Halifax. The ship had recently been refitted at the St. John Drydock. A large number of her crew was from the Maritimes. This presentation will give a brief overview of the ship and crew but focus on Convoy HX84 and her Nova Scotia crew.

Click here for a bio of Harold Wright.

Wednesday, April 17, 2019

Women and the War at Home: Pictou County Women in Industrialized Work, 1939 to 1945:  The New Woman Worker of Shipbuilding

Kirby Ross, Halifax Women’s History Society and Saint Mary’s University

Abstract: As Canada entered the Second World War, the opportunities for women had to change drastically, as a vast number of men were sent across the world to fight against the Axis powers. World War Two provided newfound opportunities for women to join work forces which had previously been closed off to them. Particularly, these new jobs were found in the industrial settings that men left. Employers in Pictou County needed to replace the missing men, and women filled these positions. Industrial roles clearly differed from the domestic work that women primarily performed before the war years. Some of these jobs were in fields that women had worked in during World War One while others represented new opportunities. In Pictou County, women began working in different industrial fields, such as shipbuilding. With labour shortages, the attitude towards women working in this field changed as demand grew for these jobs to be filled. In examining Pictou County, an important industrial center in Nova Scotia but relatively small by Canadian or global standards, the presentation will analyse not only the new work opportunities that opened to women in shipbuilding but also illustrate the ties between these new industrial opportunities and women’s prior experience and the social and economic networks that shaped their industrial employment.

Click here for a bio of Kirby Ross.

Wednesday, March 20, 2019 — 7:30 p.m., Nova Scotia Archives

Invisible Victims: The Trial for the Murders of the Emoneau Family of Lunenburg, Nova Scotia in 1791

Kenneth S. Paulsen
Bunker Hill Community College

Abstract:
 This paper will explore the murders of the Emoneau Family at Lunenburg, Nova Scotia in 1791. On 19 March 1791, Frédéric Emoneau, his wife Juliana Elisabetha Frankin and their granddaughter Catherine Elizabeth Emoneau were murdered by their godson George Frederick Boutelier and his brother John Boutelier. The murders were the first to occur in the township of Lunenburg since its founding in 1753. The trial for the murders is unusual in that the Boutelier brothers were tried for the murder of Frédéric Emoneau. Elisabetha and Catherine Elizabeth Emoneau are not mentioned by name during the trail. Elisabetha Emoneau and her granddaughter are obliquely mentioned during the trial without naming them. They are largely invisible despite the acknowledgement that they had been murdered along with Frédéric Emoneau. Under British common law, women had no legal personality. The paper will examine the circumstances of the disappearance and invisibility of these two women in the trial.

Click here for a bio of Kenneth Paulsen.