By Nicole Findlay
Brianne Laneville takes her beer more seriously than most, but you are more likely to find her at the National Archives than enjoying a black and tan at the local pub. The first-year history student is tracing the brewing industry in Canada.
Matthew Bellamy, a professor in the Department of History, identified Laneville as a research assistant after submitting a paper on the Battle of the Plains of Abraham, for his class Introduction to Canadian History.
“Having come to terms with the existing historiography, Brianne then entered the archives. Through the use of primary sources she managed to shed new light on the Marquis de Montcalm’s role in the events leading up to battle on the Plains of Abraham,” said Bellamy. “This is truly a remarkable achievement for any undergraduate, never mind one in their first year of studies.”
For Bellamy’s project, Laneville began by examining the 1901 census to determine how many people were employed as brewers and what the cultural backgrounds of each of this individuals was.
“We were struck by the defensiveness of Canadian brewers leading up to the onset of prohibition at the beginning of the twentieth century,” said Bellamy. “We thought that perhaps this was due to the fact that most of them did not hail from nations with strong beer-drinking cultures.”
Bellamy and Laneville compared Canada’s emerging breweries with those in the United States. Many of the brewers south of the border emigrated from Germany – a nation of beer producers and lovers. Although prohibition loomed over both Canada and the USA, the reactions among brewers in each of the countries was markedly different. Bellamy found that the Americans reacted aggressively in response to prohibition, whereas Canadians were took a more defensive stance.
“In response to the rising prohibitionist tide, these German-American brewers forcefully and unapologetically promoted their product as well as their profession,” said Bellamy.
Laneville has since focused her research on the emergence of the Canada’s brewing industry. Fluent in French, she has been translating letters exchanged between officials in the French government and their New France counterparts. The correspondence outlines the founding and development of Canada’s first commercial brewery. The Brasserie du Roy was founded in Quebec City in 1668 by Jean Talon, and opened its doors in 1670.
“The Canadian brewing industry is one of the earliest, largest, most widely dispersed, and most successful in the history of Canadian manufacturing,” said Bellamy. “As a result, it offers historians of all varieties a window through which to view the interactions of society and enterprise, technology and innovation, production and consumption, and business and popular culture.”
Her research under the Bellamy’s mentorship, has lead Laneville to set her sights beyond her undergraduate program.
“I would love to pursue graduate studies and eventually become a professor… perhaps at Carleton?”