Colin Howell
Colin Howell Profile
Emeritus Professor
B.A., M.A. (Dalhousie), Ph.D. (Cincinnati)
Research
Publications
Curriculum Vitae
Dr Howell has taught at Saint Mary's University since 1970; received his Ph.D from the University of Cincinnati in 1976, and was promoted to Full Professor in 1985. An Adjunct Professor at Dalhousie University, Dr Howell has also held Visiting Professorships at the University of Hokkaido, Japan and the University of Maine, USA.
Professor Howell has served on several Committees with the Canadian Historical Association including 4 years as co-editor of the Canadian Historical Review. He is currently a Canadian Historical Association Council member responsible for copyright and access to information issues. Dr Howell also serves on the Editorial Advisory Board for Sport History Review.
Dr Howell currently holds the position of Executive Director at the Gorsebrook Research Institute for Atlantic Canada Studies.
2003-06
SSHRC INE Research Grant ($256,000) co-investigator, "Performance Indicators for the New Economy" in collaboration with Genuine Progress Index Atlantic. Ron Colman Principal Investigator
Publications as Author and Editor
- Blood, Sweat & Cheers: Sport & the Making of Modern Canada(Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2001)
- Northern Sandlots: A Social History of Maritime Baseball (University of Toronto Press, 1995) Honorable Mention, Macdonald Prize, Canadian Historical Association
- Ground Zero: Perspectives on the 1917 Explosion in Halifax Harbour (Nimbus, Halifax, 1994) Co-edited with Alan Ruffman
- Jack Tar in History: Essays in the History of Maritime Life and Labour(Acadiensis Press, Fredericton, 1991) Co-edited with Richard Twomey, Saint Mary's University; Winner of Keith Matthews Prize, Canadian Nautical Research Society
- A Century of Care: A History of the Victoria General Hospital in Halifax, 1887-1987 (Saint Mary's University and Victoria General Hospital, Halifax, 1988)
- Canada and the Wider World. Ongoing External Influences in Canadian Development (Lighthouse Press, Halifax, 1982)
Recent Articles and Reviews
2001 'Of Remembering and Forgetting: From Ritual to Record and Beyond' Sport History Review, forthcoming 2001
2000 'Development, Deconstruction and Region: a Personal Memoir' Acadiensis, XXX, 1 (Autumn, 2000), 23-30
1999 'Two Outs; or Yogi Berra, Sport and Maritime Historiography', Acadiensis, XXIX, 1 (Autumn, 1999), 106-121
1999 'Scottish Influences in Nineteenth Century Nova Scotian Medicine: A Study of Professional, Class and Ethnic Identity,' in Marjorie Harper and Michael Vance, (eds.) Myth, Migration and the Making of Memory(Gorsebrook Research Institute and Fernwood Books, Halifax, 1999)
1998 'On Metcalfe, Marx and Materialism: Reflections on the Writing of Sport History in the Postmodern Age' Sport History Review 29 (1998) 96-102
1997 'Baseball and the Social Construction of Masculinity,' in Joy Parr and Mark Rosenfeld, eds. Gender in Canadian History Reprinted from Northern Sandlots
1997 'Modernization Theory and the Traditional Sporting Practices of Native People in Eastern Canada,' Journal of Comparative Physical Education and Sport, XIX, 2 (1997), 79-84
| Education: | Ph.D. | 1976 | University of Cincinnati, Cincinnati, Ohio |
| M.A. | 1967 | Dalhousie University, Halifax, Nova Scotia | |
| B.A. | 1965 | Dalhousie University, Halifax, Nova Scotia | |
| Teaching Experience: | ||
| Saint Mary's University | 1985-Present | Full Professor |
| 1978-1985 | Associate Professor | |
| 1973-1978 | Assistant Professor | |
| 1970-1973 | Lecturer | |
| Dalhousie University | 1993-Present | Adjunct Professor |
| University of Hokkaido | 1994 (Autumn) | Visiting Professor |
| University of Maine | 1984 (Summer) | Visiting Professor |
| University of Cincinnati | 1968-70 | Evening College |
| Dalhousie Univesity | 1969 (Summer) | Lecturer |
| Wilmington College (Ohio) | 1968 (Summer) | Lecturer |
| Hillsdale Preparatory School |
1967-8 | Teacher |
| Awards, Honours and Prizes: | |
| 1998 | President's Award for Research Excellence, Saint Mary's University |
| 1997 | Certificate of Merit, Association for Canadian Studies |
| 1996 | Honourable Mention, Macdonald Prize, Canadian Historical Association for Northern Sandlots (Toronto: University of Toronto Press) |
| 1991 | Keith Matthews Prize, Canadian Nautical Research Society |
| Nominee, Father William Stewart, SJ Medal for Teaching, Saint Mary's University | |
| 1970 | Canada Council Doctoral Fellowship (declined) |
| 1968-70 | Taft Teaching Fellowship, University of Cincinnati |
| 1967-70 | Teaching Assistantship, University of Cincinnati |
| 1965-7 | Graduate Scholarship, Dalhousie University |
| Research Grants: | |
| 2003-06 | SSHRC INE Research Grant ($256,000) co-investigator, "Performance Indicators for the New Economy" in collaboration with Genuine Progress Index Atlantic. Ron Colman Principal Investigagor |
| 1998-2000 | SSHRCC Research Grant ($47,000) for study of baseball and borderlands relationships between U.S., Canada and Mexico |
| 1991-3 | SSHRCC Research Grant ($27,069) for social history of baseball in Maritime Canada |
| 1986-8 | SSHRCC Research Grant ($17,910) for study of physical body and its relationship to ideas about the body politic |
| SSHRCC Conference Grants 1980, 1983, 1984, 1985, 1990, 1994, and 2001 | |
| 1990 | SSHRCC Matching Funds grant ($3,200) |
| 1985 | Research Grant, Victoria General Hospital ($2,500) |
| 1984-5 | SSHRCC Research Tools Award ($63,000) with Tony Winson |
| Saint Mary's University, Senate Research Grants 1976, 1983, 1985, 1989, 1990, 1993-6, 1998-2003 | |
Books Authored:
Blood, Sweat, and Cheers. Sport and the Making of Modern Canada (University of Toronto Press, January 2001)
Northern Sandlots: A Social History of Maritime Baseball (University of Toronto Press, 1995) Honourable Mention, Macdonald Prize, Canadian Historical Association
A Century of Care: A History of the Victoria General Hospital in Halifax, 1887-1987 (Saint Mary's University and Victoria General Hospital, Halifax, 1988)
Canada and the Wider World. Ongoing External Influences in Canadian Development (Lighthouse Press, Halifax, 1982)
Books Edited:
Putting it on Ice: Volume One. Hockey and Cultural Identities (Gorsebrook Research Institute, Halifax, 2002)
Ground Zero: Perspectives on the 1917 Explosion in Halifax Harbour (Nimbus, Halifax, 1994) co-edited with Alan Ruffman
Jack Tar in History: Essays in the History of Maritime Life and Labour (Acadiensis Press, Fredericton, 1991) co-edited with Richard Twomey. Winner of Keith Matthews Prize, Canadian Nautical Research Society
Editorial Work:
| Co-editor | Canadian Historical Review (1989-93)Vols. LXVII, 3 to LXX, 3 |
| Member | Publications Board, North American Society of Sport History (2001-present) |
| Member | Editorial Advisory Board, Acadiensis (2000-present) |
| Member | Editorial Board, Sport History Review (1996-present) |
| General Editor | Gorsebrook Publications Series, Gorsebrook Research Institute, Halifax, N.S. (1994-present) |
| Member | Editorial Board, Canadian Bulletin of the History of Medicine (1987-90) |
| Member | Editorial Advisory Board, Canadian Historical Review (1986-9) |
Books in Progress:
Baseball and Borderlands: A Comparative Analysis of Baseball Along the Mexican and Canadian-American Frontiers(presently in research stage, funded by SSHRCC three-year grant)
Putting it on Ice. Volume Two. Intenationalizing 'Canada's Game' (Gorsebrook Research Institute, Halifax, 2003) forthcoming July 2003
Forthcoming Articles:
"Baseball in Canada", a chapter in a book edited by William Kirwin and George Gmelch on the globalization of baseball
Articles and Review Articles
| 2003 | "Baseball and Borders. The Diffusion of Baseball into Mexican and Canadian American Borderlands, 1885-1911", Nine: A Journal of Baseball History and Culture, 11, 2, (Spring 2003), pp. 16-26 |
| 2001 | "Of Remembering and Forgetting. From Ritual to Record and Beyond," Sport History Review(Spring, 2001), 32, 1 |
| "Baseball and the Transformation of Twentieth Century Canadian Society," (CD-Rom History of Canada, Chinook Publishing, forthcoming 2001) | |
| 2000 | "Development, Deconstruction and Region: A Personal Memoir," Acadiensis, XXX, 1 (Autumn, 2000), pp. 23-30 |
| 1999 | "Two Outs or: Yogi Berra and Maritime Historiography, Acadiensis, XXIX, 1 (Autumn 1999), pp. 106-121 |
| "Baseball and the Transformation of 20th Century Canadian Society," CD-Rom History of Canada, Chinook Publishing, forthcoming | |
| 1998 | "On Metcalfe, Marx and Materialism: Reflections on the Writing of Sport History in the Postmodern Age," Sport History Review (1998), 29, 96-102 |
| 1977 | "Baseball and the Social Construction of Masculinity," in Joy Parr and Mark Rosenfeld, eds.,Gender in Canadian History. Reprinted from Northern Sandlots |
| "Modernization Theory and the Traditional Sporting Practices of Native People in Eastern Canada,"Journal of Comparative Physical Education and Sport, XIX, 2 (1997), 79-84 | |
| 1996 | "The Man Who Taught the Bambino," in Humber and St. James, eds., All I Ever Thought About Was Baseball (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1996) |
| 1995 | "Diversity, National Unity and Self-Awareness: The Cameron Report on Canadian Studies," guest editorial with Martha Macdonald, Journal of Canadian Studies 30, 4 (Winter, 1995-96), 3-4, 207-8 |
| "Connecting Countryside," New Maritimes (May-June 1995) 22-6 | |
| "Gendered Baselines, The Maritime Tour of the Chicago Blackstockings," excerpted from Northern Sandlots. The Telegraph Journal, New Brunswick Reader (Saint John, N.B.) 29 July 1995. 5 pages | |
| "They Played Old Fashion Ball," Dugout Magazine (Summer, 1995), 5 pages | |
| 1994 | "Baseball, Class and Community," in Chad Gaffield, ed., Constructing Modern Canada (Copp Clark, 1995). Reprinted from Social History/Histoire Sociale XXII, 44 (1989) |
| "Baseball and Native Peoples in Atlantic Canada and Maine," North American Society for Sport History (NASSH), Proceedings 1994 (Albuquerque, New Mexico) | |
| Three articles with Trudy Sable on native baseball in Mi'kmaq/Malicite News (January-March 1994) | |
| 1993 | "Industry, Urbanization and Social Reform, 1900-10," in Forbes and Muise, The Atlantic Provinces in Confederation (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1993), 155-191 |
| "Sport and Society after Confederation," in J.M. Bumsted, ed., Interpreting Canada's Past, II 2ndedition (Don Mills, Ont.: Oxford University Press, 1993) 166-88. Reprinted from Social History/Histoire Sociale XXII, 44 (1989) | |
| 1992 | "Medical Professionalization and the Social Transformation of the Maritimes Since 1850," Journal of Canadian Studies, 267, 1 (Spring, 1992) 5-22 |
| "Alexander Peter Reid and the Ideological Origins of the Welfare State," in David Naylor, ed.,Canadian Health Care and the State (Montreal and Kingston: McGill-Queen's University Press, 1992), 16-37 | |
| 1989 | "Baseball, Class and Community in the 19th Century Maritimes," Social History/Histoire Sociale, XXII, 44 (November, 1989) |
| "Orthodox Medicine and the Health Reform Movement in the Maritimes, 1850-1885," Acadiensis(Spring, 1989), 55-72. Co-authored with Michael J. Smith | |
| 1988 | "Back to the Bedside: Recent Writing on the History of Medicine in Canada," Acadiensis (Spring, 1988) XVII, 2 185-93 |
| 1987 | "A Separatist Temptation: Nova Scotia Premier W.S. Fielding Created a Stir in 1886 by Pledging his Liberal Government to Secession from Canada," Horizon Canada 9, 98 (March, 1987), 2348-52 |
| 1986 | "Economism, Ideology and the Teaching of Maritime History," in Buckner, ed., Teaching Maritime Studies (Fredericton: Acadiensis Press, 1986), 96-114 |
| 1986 | "Asylums, Psychiatry and the History of Madness," Queen's Quarterly, 93 (Spring, 1986), 19-25 |
| 1985 | "The Changing Face of Modern Medicine," Canadian Review of American Studies, 1, 3 (Fall, 1985), 339-343 |
| "W.S. Fielding and the Repeal Elections of 1886 and 1887 in Nova Scotia," in Buckner and Frank, eds., The Acadiensis Readers, 2 vols. (Fredericton, Acadiensis Press, 1885), II, 96-114. Reprinted from Acadiensis, VIII, 2 (Spring, 1978), 28-46 | |
| 1984 | "The Halifax Medical Elite and the Rise of Scientific Medicine," in Charles Roland, ed., Health, Disease and Medicine. Perspectives on the History of Medicine in Canada (Clark-Irwin, Hannah Institute of Medicine, Toronto, 1984), 105-22 |
| "Baseball and the Decline of Community," New Maritimes (November, 1984), 3, 3 | |
| 1983 | "Community-Oriented University Education," Reshaping Development 1984 and Beyond (Vanier Institute of the Family, 1983), pp. 62-3 |
| "Entrepreneurial Motivation: Some Evidence to Contradict McClelland," Journal of Small Business Canada, 1, 1 (1983). With John Chamard and Victor Catano | |
| "Cooperation in Canadian Studies at Atlantic Canadian Universities: An Assessment," Association for Canadian Studies, Newsletter, 5, 4 (Winter, 1983), 9-10 | |
| 1982 | "Historical Constraints on Entrepreneurial Activity in Nova Scotia," in Jean Pasquero, ed., Policy-Strategie et Politiques, 3, 6 (1982), 59-65. With J. Chamard and V. Catano |
| "Film and the History of Atlantic Canada," Acadiensis, XI, 2 (Spring, 1982), 140-5 | |
| 1981 | "Reform and the Monopolistic Impulse: The Professionalization of Medicine in the Maritimes,"Acadiensis, XI, 1 (Fall, 1981), 3-22 |
| 1979 | "W.S. Fielding and the Repeal Elections of 1886 and 1887," Acadiensis, VIII, 2 (Spring, 1979), 28-46 |
| 1978 | "The Maritimes and Canadian Political Culture," Acadiensis, VIII, 1 (Autumn, 1978), 107-14 |
| 1977 | "Nova Scotia's Protest Tradition and the Search for a Meaningful Federalism," in David Jay Bercuson, Canada and the Burden of Unity (MacMillan of Canada, Toronto, 1977), 169-91 |
| 1974 | "Maritime Merchant," a brief historical note for Canadian Newspapers on Microfilm, Canadian Library Association (April, 1974) |
Encyclopedia Articles
"William S. Fielding," New Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, London, 1998
"Alexander Peter Reid," Dictionary of Canadian Biography (DCB), (University of Toronto Press, Toronto) XIV, 863-4; James R. DeWolf, XIII, 272-3; Daniel McNeil Parker, XIII, 812-3; Joseph Norman Bond, VI, 76-7; William Grigor, III, 348-9; William Bruce Almon, VII, 16
"Anticonfederation and Secession," The New Canadian Encyclopedia III; Saint Mary's University, III, 1628; William T. Pipes, III, 1419; George Murray; III, 1178
"Aboriginal Games - Arctic Winter Games," "Baseball", "Boxing", "Hockey", "Lionel Conacher", "Team Sports"
"W.S. Fielding", "Nova Scotia's Secessionist Movement (1880s)", "Maurice 'Rocket' Richard", "Matchless Six - Fanny Bobby Rosenfeld", "Gilles Villeneuve" Oxford Companion to Canadian History, (forthcoming)
Invited Public Lectures
"Baseball, Borderlands and the Northeast," John R. Betts, Distinguished Lecturer, North American Society of Sport History, 2001
"Two Outs: Writing About Sport and Maritime History," W. Stewart MacNutt lectures, University of New Brunswick (Fredericton and Saint John), October, 1998
"Modernization Theory and the Traditional Sporting Practices of Native People in Eastern Canada," Plenary Address, Scientific Symposium, World Festival of Traditional Sports and Games, Bangkok, Thailand, December, 1996
"Baseball, Bush Leagues and Borderland: Nationalism, Imperialism and Cultural Diffusion," University of Windsor, November, 1996
"The Maritimes and the Challenge of Economic Restructuring," guest lecture to Harvard University Center for International Affairs, Fellows Program. Sponsored by the Council of Maritime Premiers, Halifax, August 1996
"Baseball in the Hinterland of Canada and Japan," Hokkaido University of Education, Hakodate, Japan, November, 1993
"The Forgotten Issue: 19th Century Canadian Medicine and the Class Question," Queen's University, Kingston, Ontario, February, 1993
Conference Presentations
Over the past two decades I have presented over 50 conference papers, workshops and round-table discussions, and chaired and commented on that many again. The most recent of these are:
| May 2003 | Commenting upon papers relating to university student life before and after WWII at the Canadian Historical Association Meetings, Halifax, N.S. |
| March 2002 | "Baseball and Borderlands", paper presented to the NINE conference, Tucson, Arizona |
| December 2001 | "Baseball and Borders in Comparative Perspective", paper presented to the American Historical Association, San Francisco |
| May 2000 | "Reflections on the Writing of Atlantic Canadian History over Three Decades," Atlantic Canada Studies Conference, Mount Saint Vincent University, Halifax, Nova Scotia |
| "From Ritual to Record and Beyond," paper presented to North American Society for Sport History Conference, Banff, Alberta | |
| April 2000 | "Sport and the Northeastern Borderlands," North by Northeast Conference, Canadian-American Centre, University of Maine, Orono |
| February 2000 | "Baseball and Popular Culture in the turn-of-the Century American Southwest," American Popular Culture Association, Southwestern branch, Albuquerque, N.M. |
| October 1999 | Keynote Address to the Atlantic Canada Workshop, Queen's University, Kingston, Ontario. "Postmodernism and Materialism: Avoiding the Cacophony of Subjectivism in the Writing of Atlantic Canada History" |
Professional Activity
Co-founder of Atlantic Canada Studies Programme, and of the Gorsebrook Research Institute, Saint Mary's University. Three terms as Coordinator of Atlantic Canada Studies, and various stints as Executive Director of the Gorsebrook Institute and Chair of the Gorsebrook Board. Executive Director of the Gorsebrook September 1999 to present.
Founder and Co-Director of the Center for the Study of Sport and Community Health, Saint Mary's University, 2003.
Served on numerous committees of SSHRCC, including the Research Grants Adjudication Committee for History, and the Doctoral Fellowships Committee of the Canadian Historical Association, the Association for Canadian Studies, and the North American Society for Sport History. Served on the national executive of the Association for Canadian Studies, and of the Council for Canadian Studies Programme Administrators. Member of the Executive Council of the Canadian Historical Association, 1999-2002. (Responsibility for copyright and census issues). Former president of the Atlantic Association of Historians.
Founder and Co-Director of the Center for the Study of Sport and Community Health, Saint Mary's University.
Graduate Student Supervision
Supervised over two dozen MA and Ph.D. theses, and served as external examiner on a number of occasions at other universities.
In the past five years, three students under my supervision have received the Governor-General's gold medal in graduate studies at Saint Mary's University.
Community Service
Over the years I have been involved in a number of volunteer activities, including serving on the executive of the Friends of the Public Gardens, on the Halifax Foundation Book of Remembrance Committee (Halifax Explosion), as a resource person for Nova Scotia Sport Heritage Center and Hall of Fame, as selection committee member of the Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame, the Saint Mary's Sport Hall of Fame, and in coaching youth socceer. Have been involved in organizing club activities at Oakfield Golf and Country Club and the Grand Lake Yacht Club. Along with my wife Sandi Galloway, operate Lakefront Hideaway Bed and Breakfast.