Alumni Interview Project

The CCPH Alumni Interview Partnership Project provides a forum for current students and alumni to discuss their interests in public history, their experiences at Carleton University, and build relationships with one another.

Each interview was recorded as part of a podcast series. You can also subscribe to the series on iTunes. To view the complete list of posted interviews, please see our Interview Directory below.

Happy listening!

Interview Directory

“Re-Reading the National Narrative: The Education of a Popular Historian,” with Daniel Francis

On November 13th, 2013, to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Carleton Library Series, the Canadian Studies department and the CLS welcomed esteemed author and Carleton alumnus Daniel Francis to deliver a talk entitled “Re-Reading the National Narrative: The Education of a Popular Historian.”  Francis recalls the influences, the inspirations, and the roadblocks that have shaped his career as a popular Canadian historian.

Running time: 48 minutes

To listen to the podcast, please click here.

Anna Kuntz, Tom Bigelow & Natascha Morrison

Our fifth episode features graduate researcher Anna Kuntz (2012-present), and program alumni Tom Bigelow (2008-2010) and Natascha Morrison (2008-2010). Anna Kuntz is a first year MA student in the Public History program at Carleton University. Originally from Camrose, AB, Anna completed her BA in History at the University of Alberta Augustana Campus in 2011. In the past year she has worked for Heritage Collaborative Inc., a heritage consulting company in Edmonton, AB. Her major research essay examines soundscapes in Blackfoot Crossing Historical Park in southern Alberta.

Tom Bigelow is an Administrative and Research Assistant with Curatorial Services at the House of Commons.  He first worked with this group as an intern while enrolled in the MA in Public History program at Carleton University, in the summer of 2009. While at Carleton, his research looked at the commemorative events surrounding Québec City’s 400th anniversary in 2008, and the varying ways the “public” engaged with the spectacles presented, specifically Robert Lepage’s The Image Mill. Ultimately, his Masters Research Essay, entitled Re-imag(in)ing The Image Mill : Québec City’s 400th and remembering in the new media, examined how those in attendance could engage with what they saw via the internet and social media sites. Tom is an alumnus and former Research Assistant of the Carleton Centre for Public History. Today, he works and resides in Ottawa, his hometown, where he hopes to continue to contribute to local public history and to the public’s engagement with their past(s).

Natascha Morrison currently works as a Historian at Contentworks Inc. in Ottawa.  She graduated from Carleton University’s MA in Public History program in 2010. While at Carleton, her research focused on Remembrance Day in Canada, and the role of memory and commemoration within a historiographical context, resulting in a Masters Research Essay titled, Looking Backwards, Looking Forwards: Remembrance Day in Canada, 1919-2008.  She also has a co-publication with Tim Cook inCanadian Military History titled, “Longing and Loss from Canada’s Great War.” Since graduation, Natascha has worked for various firms in the Ottawa area on numerous historical and information management projects. Through Contentworks, Natascha is currently working on a project aimed at getting the Alaska Highway Corridor’s cultural landscape nominated as a National Historic Site of Canada.

To learn more about the Worker’s History Museum Walking Tour that Tom and Tascha describe, visit the Worker’s History Museum YouTube Channel to view their video!

Running Time: 37m

To listen to the podcast, please click here. Thank you for listening to the CCPH Alumni Interview Partnership Project, and be sure to subscribe in the iTunes store to download future podcasts as they are released!

Meghan Lundrigan & Joel Legassie

Our fourth episode features graduate researcher Meghan Lundrigan (2011-2013), and program alumnus Joel Legassie (2003-2005). Meghan Lundrigan graduated from the program in 2013. Originally from Nova Scotia, she received her BA, Hons., in History from Mount Allison University in 2011. Her MA research focused on historical misrepresentation on YouTube. She has been employed as a historical researcher at Parks Canada and is currently working with Parks Canada’s on the Heritage Lighthouse Project. She is beginning her Ph.D. at Carleton University in the fall.

Joel Legassie is a PhD candidate in the department of history at the University of Victoria. His research is on the colonization of Hokkaido, Japan in the late 19th & early 20th century, with a focus on the exchange of information among Japanese, indigenous peoples and Western (primarily English and American) foreigners. He also works as a freelance website developer, building and maintaining sites for a variety of clients, primarily in the non-profit and academic worlds.

Running Time: 20m

To listen to the podcast, please click here.

Fiona Sinead Cox & Angela Beking

Our third episode features graduate researcher Fiona Sinead Cox (2012-present), and program alumnus Angela Beking (2010-2012). (Fiona) Sinead Cox is a current Master’s student in Carleton’s Public History program. She studies portrayals and exclusions of poverty in the pioneer narratives of rural Southwestern Ontario museums. Originally from Goderich Township, Huron County, she received her undergraduate degree at the University of Western Ontario, with one year spent abroad at the University of Leeds in the United Kingdom. Sinead currently works at the Huron County Museum & Historic Gaol in Goderich, Ontario.

Angela Beking is a native of Oxford Station, Ontario.  She completed her B.A. (Honours) at Carleton University in 2009, and her M.A. in Public History, also at Carleton University, in 2012.  Her Major Research Essay examines how local stakeholders and former interpreters understood and explained the 2009 changes at Upper Canada Village, a living history museum near Morrisburg, Ontario.  Angela has worked in a variety of heritage institutions.  She was an interpreter at Upper Canada Village and the Heritage Coordinator at the Winchester Old Town Hall in the Township of North Dundas during her undergraduate degree.  For her Public History Internship, Angela worked as a Researcher on the Rideau Timescapes iPhone App Project with the Carleton Centre for Public History and Carleton’s School of Information Technology.

Running Time: 14m

To listen to the podcast, please click here.

Lina Crompton & Alex Comber

Our second episode features graduate researcher Lina Crompton (2012-present), and program alumnus Alexander Comber (2005-2007). Lina Crompton is an MA Public History Candidate at Carleton University. Originally from Ottawa, her research interests tend toward the national; to that end, the major research essay component of her degree will be investigating the National Film Board’s use of history in film during the decades leading up to the centennial celebrations at Expo ’67. She’s also interested in finding public representations of history in museums, on the radio, and in the street – and telling you about it.

Alex Comber is a 2007 graduate of the public history program. His studies, supervised by Dr. Susan Whitney, focused on media representations of identity at the 1931 Colonial Exposition, Paris.  Following an internship at the Canadian War Museum, he worked as Assistant Historian on Canada’s Naval History, an online exhibit to mark a century of Canadian naval service. He has researched on a series of exhibits at the CWM, and highlights include War and Medicine and the 2012-2013 LeBreton Gallery renewal. Rewarding work has helped identify, interpret, and promote artifacts, documents, and visuals to confront the visitor with powerful and compelling narratives about military history.  He has also worked as an archivist and on Second World War service files at Library and Archives Canada, and on an upcoming Parks Canada exhibit.  His interests vary but usually include military, maritime, and transportation history.

Running Time: 30 m

To listen to the podcast, please click here.