History

Expert commentary with Dr. Stephen Davies, Director of the Canadian Letters and Images Project

Vancouver Island University History Professor Dr. Stephen Davies is founder of the Canadian Letters and Images Project, an online, digital archive of Canadian wartime letters and related materials. He started the project in 2000 to help his students understand the First and Second World Wars. Over the past 23 years, the website has grown to include more than 35,000 letters as well as images, diaries and other materials. 

VIU video project acknowledges Nanaimo soldiers’ contributions to the First and Second World Wars.

A Vancouver Island University (VIU) video memorial project that tells the story of Nanaimo soldiers who made the ultimate sacrifice during the First and Second World Wars will be displayed across the city.

Dr. Whitney Wood received more than half a million dollars from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research to pursue her study.

Studies on women’s health tend to focus on reproduction. Vancouver Island University (VIU) researcher Dr. Whitney Wood believes this has led to gaps and inequities in care.

Wood, VIU’s Canada Research Chair in the Historical Dimensions of Women’s Health, argues broadening historical research is important because these studies can inform current practice. 

Several shows were broadcasting from Serious Coffee on Hammond Bay Road

The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation launched its permanent bureau in Nanaimo on Friday, January 27 with a special live broadcast in the Harbour City that featured several experts from Vancouver Island University.

The Nanaimo bureau “will focus on telling stories from the mid-and-north Vancouver Island region” states a CBC news story. Listen to VIU experts talk about their research into various aspects of Nanaimo’s history and culture.  

VIU video project acknowledges Nanaimo armed forces members' contributions to the First and Second World Wars.

Private Reginald Edgar Emblem, a farmer and resident of South Wellington, served in the 72nd Battalion during the First World War. He died at age 20 of influenza and pneumonia in October 1918 and was buried at Seaford Cemetery in Sussex, United Kingdom.

Kelly Black, a Vancouver Island University Adjunct History Professor, received the Anne and Philip Yandle Best Article Award from the BC Historical Federation this June. The article, “Explaining Settlers to Ourselves: Rethinking interpretive narratives at heritage sites” was published in the spring 2021 edition of British Columbia History magazine.

Exhibit, which explores the history behind some of city’s more unusual street names, runs until June 25.

Nanaimo is home to many streets with less-than-common names, such as Dingle Bingle Hill Road and Bergen Op Zoom Drive. 

Project focuses on “natural” and medicalized childbirth in mid-to-late 20th century Canada.

Building on a decade of work on the histories of women's health, bodies and pain, Dr. Whitney Wood, VIU’s Canada Research Chair in the Historical Dimensions of Women’s Health, is exploring changing attitudes towards childbirth in mid-to-late 20th century Canada.