Matthew J. Bellamy
Professor - 19th and 20th century. Canadian history; government-business relations; brewing industry; culture of consumption; branding and brand management; lobbying; entrepreneurship and innovation
| Degrees: | B.A. (Carleton), M.A. (Carleton), Ph.D. (Carleton) |
| Phone: | 613-520-2600 x 2636 |
| Email: | Matthew_Bellamy@carleton.ca |
| Office: | 449 Paterson Hall |
Matthew J. Bellamy – Full Professor – 19th and 20th century. Canadian history; business history; entrepreneurship and innovation; government-business relations; beer and brewing; culture of consumption; branding and brand management; lobbying.
Matthew J. Bellamy is a professor of history at Carleton University where he has been the recipient of a number of teaching and book awards. He specializes in Canadian business, political and cultural history. In 2005 Maclean’s magazine named him as one of Carleton’s most popular professors. In 2007, he was the recipient of the Capital Educators’ Award. And in 2009 he was a finalist in TVO’s “best lecturer” competition. He is the author of Profiting the Crown: Canada’s Polymer Corporation, 1942-1990, for which he received the 2006 National Business Book Award. The $30,000 award is widely considered one of Canada’s most prestigious English-language book awards. His latest research has taken him into the realm of brewing history. His work has been recently published in The Walrus, The Globe and Mail, Literary Review of Canada, Canada’s History Magazine, Legion Magazine, the CHR and the international journals of Business History and Enterprise and Society. His book Brewed in the North: A History of Labatt’s was recently published by McGill-Queen’s University Press and received honourable mention from the Canadian Historical Association for being the best book in business history in 2021.
Professor Bellamy is accepting graduate students for Canadian history, and welcome inquiries about specific areas of supervision.
Research Interests
- Canadian Political History
- Canadian Economic and Business History
- Cultural History, especially the history of consumption
- Entrepreneurship and Innovation
Honours and Awards
2024 BHC Philip Scranton Best Article Award Winner
2023 Canadian Business History Association, Best Article Award Winner
2021 Canadian Business History Association / l’association canadienne pour l’histoire des affaires, Best Book Prize Honourable Mention
2018 “Raving Raven for Teaching Excellence”, Carleton University
2016 “Favorite Faculty Member”, Department of Housing and Residence Life Services
2015 “Favorite Faculty Member”, Department of Housing and Residence Life Services
2015 Maclean’s Magazine named “The Canadian Brewing Industry, 1670-2015” as one of Canada’s “cool courses.”
2012 Office of Quality Initiatives, Recognition for “Excellence in Teaching”
2010 Faculty of Arts and Social Science, Teaching Achievement Award
2009 TVO’s Big Ideas, Best Lecturer Competition, Finalist
2007 Capital Educators’ Award
2007 Carleton’s “Awesome Profs”, Charlatan
2006 National Business Book Award, Winner of the $20,000 first-place prize
2005 “Most popular profs”, Maclean’s Magazine
2004 Public Affairs and Management Faculty, Teaching Excellence Award
2002 Carleton University Student’s Association, Teaching Excellence Award
2001 Carleton University, Senate Medal for Outstanding Academic Achievement
Select Publications
“Business Against Drunk Driving: The Neoliberal State, Labatt Brewery, and the Creation of the ‘Responsible Drinker.’” Enterprise & Society 24, no. 2 (2023): 522–45.
“The Rise of the Big Three: The Emergence of a Canadian Brewing Oligopoly, 1945-1962” in Dan Malleck and Cheryl Warsh (eds.), Pleasure and Panic: New Essays on the History of Alcohol and Drugs (Vancouver, UBC Press, 2022), 270-94.
“The Making of Labatt ‘Blue’: The quest for a national lager brand, 1959–1971,” Business History, vol. 62, no. 1 (January 2020), 123-50.
Brewed in the North: A History of Labatt’s (Montreal and Kingston, McGill-Queen’s University Press, 2019)
“‘To Ensure the Continued Life of the Industry:’ The Public Relations Campaign of the Ontario Brewers during WWII,” Histoire sociale/Social History (November 2015): 403-423.
“John Labatt blows in and out of the windy city: A case study in entrepreneurship and business failure, 1889-1896,” Canadian Historical Review, (March 2014): 3-53
“I was Canadian: The globalization of the Canadian brewing industry,” in Andrew Smith and Dimitry Anastakis (eds.) Smart globalization: The Canadian business and economic history experience (Toronto, University of Toronto Press, March 2014)
“‘More money than since or before’: How John Labatt’s brewery prospered during the Canada temperance act period, 1878-1889”, Brewery History, 152 (Spring, 2013), 20-32
“Steaming into the age of rail and pale ale: John Labatt and the transformation of Canadian brewing, 1855-1877,” Brewery History, 146 (Summer, 2012), 16-28
“‘Rich by Nature, Poor by Policy’? The premature birth and quick death of commercial brewing in Canada, 1667-1675”, Brewery History, 137 (Fall, 2010), 48-70
“The Canadian Brewing Industry’s Response to Prohibition, 1874-1920”, Brewery History, 132 (Fall, 2009), 2-17
Profiting the Crown: Canada’s Polymer Corporation, 1942-1990 (Montreal and Kingston, McGill-Queen’s University Press, 2005)
(ed.) Canada and the Cost of World War II: The International Operations of Canada’s Department of Finance, 1939-1947 by R.B. Bryce (Montreal and Kingston, McGill-Queen’s University Press, 2005)