Department of History


Paterson Hall 430
Telephone: 520-2834
Fax: 520-2819
E-mail: grad_history@carleton.ca

The Department


Chair of the Department:
G.F. Goodwin
Departmental Supervisor of Graduate Studies:
D.L. McDowall
Associate Supervisor:
M.J Barber

The Department of History offers programs of study leading to the degree of Master of Arts in Canadian, American, British, modern French, modern Russian, international (diplomatic), medieval, and European intellectual and social history. It also offers a program of study and research leading to the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Canadian history and in women’s history.

Master of Arts

Admission Requirements

The minimum requirement for admission to the master’s program is an honours bachelor’s degree (or the equivalent) with at least high honours standing.

The Department offers no qualifying-year program; applicants with a general (pass) degree may be considered for admission into the fourth year of Carleton’s honours B.A. program.

Program Requirements

Candidates may follow either a thesis or a non-thesis program, as follows:

Guidelines for Completion of Master’s Degree

Full-time students are expected to finish all requirements for the degree except 24.598 or 24.599 during their first two terms of study; part-time students should do so during their first twelve terms of study. The research essay or thesis requirement is designed to take both categories of students an additional two or three terms, respectively.

Language Requirements

All candidates are required to demonstrate a reading knowledge of a language other than English, the choice to depend upon the field of the candidate’s thesis or research. For seminars dealing with sources not in English, a reading knowledge of the appropriate language will be required before acceptance into the program. Details may be obtained from the supervisor of graduate studies.

Doctor of Philosophy

Admission Requirements

Applicants with an M.A. degree will be expected to have at least high honours standing. Applicants for the women’s history program will be expected to have at least one of their earlier degrees in history.

An applicant with an honours bachelor’s degree who has achieved an outstanding academic record and, in addition, exhibits very strong motivation and high promise for advanced research, may be admitted to the Canadian Ph.D. program directly. Such candidates will be required to complete at least 15.0 credits or the equivalent.

Residence Requirement

The normal residence requirement for the Ph.D. degree is a minimum of three years of full-time study after the B.A. honours degree, or two years after the M.A. degree.

Program Requirements

Candidates will be responsible for three fields: a major field (Canadian or women’s history) and two minor fields. In the case of Canadian history majors, at least one of the minor fields must concern American, British, French, Russian, or international history. In the case of women’s history majors, at least one of the minor fields must concern American, British, Canadian, French, Russian, or international history. Women’s history majors must declare their area of concentration from among these fields. The second minor field for both majors may be a transnational topic or in a related discipline. In each instance, the minor field should cover approximately one century. Written examinations will be taken in the two minor fields before the end of the student’s second term of study; an oral examination in the major field will be arranged during the student’s fourth term. Ph.D. candidates are required to submit a thesis proposal to the graduate supervisor within three months of completing their oral examination.

A reading knowledge of French will be required. The language examination will be written early in the first post-M.A. year, and before the candidate is permitted to take the doctoral field examinations. Proven competence in an additional language may be required if it is pertinent to the candidate’s program.

Students entering the Canadian history program with an honours B.A. will normally complete:

Students entering the second year (that is, the first post-M.A. year) of the Canadian history program will normally be required to follow: Students declaring a major field in women’s history will normally be required to follow: With other requirements completed, doctoral students will be required to write a thesis on a topic related to Canadian or women’s history (5.0 credits).

Guidelines for Completion of Doctoral Degree

It is expected that full-time students will complete the thesis requirement within two years, and part-time students within four years.

University of Ottawa

A Carleton University student may take one seminar in the Department of History at the University of Ottawa, with permission of the two departments.

Graduate Courses*

Most, but not all of the graduate seminars (History 24.500 through 24.588) are offered each year, but none is available during the summer. The directed studies and thesis courses (History 24.589 through 24.693) are always offered during the academic year, and are frequently available during the spring and summer terms as well.

Admission to graduate seminars in the Department of History is normally restricted to graduate students in the Department and to others who have successfully completed two full upper-level undergraduate History courses, or the equivalent, in the general area of the seminar, or who have received permission of the Department.

  • History 24.500T2
    Practicum in Applied History
    Study of the practical uses of history in such fields as teaching and methodology, archival management, museum research, oral history, journal editing, quantitative investigations, and contract research.

    Members of the Department

  • History 24.502T2
    Beginnings of Early Medieval Europe and Near East
    Transformation of the later Roman world into the polities of early medieval Europe and Near East.  Also offered at the undergraduate level, with different requirements, as 24.402 or 13.402, for which additional credit is precluded.

    R.C. Blockley.

  • History 24.505T2
    Law and Society in Medieval England

    J.G. Bellamy.

  • History 24.506T2
    Medieval Intellectual History
    An examination of selected aspects of medieval intellectual history.

    Also offered at the undergraduate level, with different requirements, as 24.406, for which additional credit is precluded.

    W.R. Laird.

  • History 24.507T2
    Galileo and His Age
    An intensive examination of the scientific and polemical works of the Italian physicist and astronomer Galileo Galilei (1564-1642). His life and thought are explored in the context of his medieval predecessors and of sixteenth- and early seventeenth-century science and philosophy in general.  Special attention is given to the role of patronage, the Jesuits, biblical interpretation, and the circumstances that led to his trial and condemnation.
    Also offered at the undergraduate level, with different requirements, as 24.407, for which additional credit is precluded. W.R. Laird.

  • History 24.516T2
    The French Revolution, 1520-1804
    A sound reading knowledge of French is required for admission.

    Roderick Phillips.

  • History 24.525T2
    Society and Culture in Canada, 1850-1939
    Changes to the structure and values of Canadian societies and their culture in the period of urban-industrial transition.
    Members of the Department.

  • History 24.526T2
    Perspectives on State Formation in Canada
    An exploration of selected problems of political history: the construction of official statistics, the language of governments, the invention of nationalisms, the making of political cultures, the autonomy of the state, the practices of bureaucrats, the political role of women, the encounter of the welfare state and families, the political economy of the state, communities and the state.

    Also offered at the undergraduate level, with different requirements, as 24.426, for which additional credit is precluded.

    Dominique Marshall.

  • History 24.529T2
    History of Northern Canada
    A seminar on the regional history of the Canadian north, including both the provincial and the territorial norths. Topics include native peoples, culture contact, the fur trade economy, and resource frontier development. Canadian attitudes toward the north and the concept of Canada as a “northern nation” are also examined.

    Also offered at the undergraduate level, with different requirements, as 24.434, for which additional credit is precluded.

    K.M. Abel.

  • History 24.530T2
    Canadian Immigration and Ethnic History
    An examination of immigration and ethnic history in a selected period between the eighteenth and twentieth centuries.

    Also offered at the undergraduate level, with different requirements, as 24.424, for which additional credit is precluded.

    M.J. Barber or B.S. Elliott.

  • History 24.531T2 French Canada Since Confederation
    A study of topics relating to the political and social history of French Canada and to problems of cultural duality.

    Dominique Marshall.

  • History 24.532T2
    Ontario in the Nineteenth Century

    J.K. Johnson.

  • History 24.533T2
    Intellectual History of Canada
    An intensive examination of selected aspects of Canadian thought from the early nineteenth century to the present.

    A.B. McKillop.

  • History 24.534T2
    Problems of Growth and War in Canada, 1896-1921

    D.L. McDowall.

  • History 24.535T2
    The Canadian Diplomatic Tradition
    An examination of the origins, evolution, context, and intellectual content of Canadian diplomatic practices and policies.

    G.N. Hillmer.

  • History 24.536T2
    Science and Technology in the Canadian Experience
    An examination of the role and relationship of science and technology, including their social and engineering applications, in the Canadian historical experience.

    Also offered at the undergraduate level, with different requirements, as 24.421, for which additional credit is precluded.

    J.H. Taylor.

  • History 24.537T2
    The Maritimes in Transition, 1870s to 1920s
    A seminar on social and economic themes.

    Also offered at the undergraduate level, with different requirements, as 24.422, for which additional credit is precluded.

    D.A. Muise.

  • History 24.539T2
    Acadian and Quebec Society before 1763
    An examination of the main political and social developments in both communities with attention being paid to the history of France during the same period.

    Also offered at the undergraduate level, with different requirements, as 24.432, for which additional credit is precluded.

  • History 24.540T2
    The Age of the American Revolution

    P.J. King.

  • History 24.550T2
    Selected Problems in the Political Economy of Canadian Labour
    A study of selected aspects in the history of Canadian labour with emphasis on the dynamics of social, economic, political, and cultural change in twentieth-century Canada.

    Also offered at the undergraduate level, with different requirements, as 24.425, for which additional credit is precluded.

  • History 24.556T2
    Historical Perspectives on Power
    An inquiry into historical analyses of politics in light of the current social philosophical conceptions of power and consciousness, with reference to early modern England, and/or Canada in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, and/or Latin America in the late colonial period, with particular emphasis on Mexico, depending on the instructor(s).
    R.B. Goheen, Dominique Marshall or Sonya Lipsett-Rivera.

  • History 24.557T2 Community in Early Modern England, 1450-1600

    R.B. Goheen.

  • History 24.558T2
    Culture and Society in Eighteenth- and Nineteenth-Century Britain: Selected Topics Deborah Gorham.

  • History 24.559T2
    Women in Nineteenth- and Twentieth-Century North America and Britain
    An examination of the role and image of women in the context of social and economic development and of the family in North America and Britain.

    M.J. Barber and Deborah Gorham.

  • History 24.560T2
    Revolutionary Russia, 1898-1921
    An examination of various primary sources available for research on revolutionary Russia. A sound reading knowledge of Russian is required for admission.

    R.C. Elwood.

  • History 24.562T2
    M.S. Gorbachev and the Collapse of the USSR
    A study of the main reasons for the collapse of the USSR, with emphasis on the CPSU, Soviet ideological presumption, and its participation in the international arena. The nature of the USSR in the 1980s and Gorbachev’s attempts at sweeping reform and their consequences provide the setting for this study.

    J.L. Black.

  • History 24.580T2
    Problems in International History

    Y.A. Bennett or J.L. Black.

  • History 24.588T2
    Historiography of Canada A seminar, primarily for graduate students in Canadian history, which examines the trends and methods of Canadian historical writing and the influences upon it.

    Members of the Department.

  • History 24.589F2, W2, S2
    Historiography A course of directed studies, leading to an oral comprehensive examination, in one of the following fields:

    Modern France

    The intensive study of selected problems in the writing of modern French political and social history.

    Roderick Phillips.

    Britain

    The intensive study of a range of selected problems in the writing of sixteenth-century or nineteenth-century English history.

    R.B. Goheen, Deborah Gorham, P. Walker.

    Modern Russia

    Concentrated reading in Russian history and historiography with emphasis on the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.

    R.C. Elwood.

    United States

    A course in which the trends and methods of historical writing on the United States will be examined.

    G.F. Goodwin or P.J. King.

    International History

    A course in which the trends and methods of historical writing on international history will be examined.

    Y.A. Bennett or J.L. Black.

    Medieval History

    Historical method and historiography of an aspect of the Middle Ages.

    J.G. Bellamy or W.R. Laird.

    European Intellectual and Social History

    Intensive study of a selected topic in the writing of European intellectual or social history during the seventeenth, eighteenth, or nineteenth centuries.

    Roderick Phillips or F.A.J. Szabo.

  • History 24.591T2, S2
    Directed Studies in a Canadian Field
    A program of supervised reading and preparation of written work in an area not covered by an existing graduate seminar.

  • History 24.592T2, S2
    Directed Studies in a Non-Canadian Field
    (same description as 24.591)

  • History 24.593F1, W1, S1
    Directed Studies in a Canadian Field
    (same description as 24.591)

  • History 24.594F1, W1, S1
    Directed Studies in a Non-Canadian Field
    (same description as 24.591)

  • History 24.595F1,W1
    Selected Topics in a Canadian Field
    A seminar in an area not covered by an existing graduate course.

  • History 24.596F1,W1
    Selected Topics in a Non-Canadian Field
    (same description as 24.595)

  • History 24.598F2, W2, S2
    M.A. Research Essay
    An examination of an approved topic in Canadian, American, British, modern French, modern Russian, international, or medieval history.

  • History 24.599F4, W4, S4
    M.A. Thesis
    A substantial historical investigation. The subject will be determined in consultation with the Department, and a supervisor will be assigned. The candidate will be examined orally after presenting his/her thesis.

  • History 24.610T2, S2
    Directed studies in one of the following aspects of modern European history: modern France (Roderick Phillips), modern Russia (R.C. Elwood ), and international history (Y.A. Bennett and J.L. Black).

  • History 24.640T2, S2
    Directed Studies in United States History

    P.J. King and G.F. Goodwin.

  • History 24.650T2, S2
    Directed Studies in British History

    Deborah Gorham or R.B. Goheen.

  • History 24.660T2, S2
    Directed Studies in a Transnational Topic
    Preparation for a minor field examination in an area not covered in another doctoral course.

  • History 24.688T2
    Historical Theory and Method
    A course primarily for doctoral candidates in history, offered in alternate years, in which current trends in historical theory and methodology will be examined.

  • History 24.690F4, W4, S4
    Directed Studies in Canadian History
    A program of supervised reading with several instructors in preparation for the Ph.D. oral examination.

  • History 24.691T2
    Canadian History Minor
    A program of supervised reading in Canadian history leading to a written comprehensive examination for doctoral students whose major field is women’s history. Students will attend History 24.690 (Directed Studies in Canadian History) in the fall and winter terms.

  • History 24.692F4, W4, S4
    Directed Studies in Women’s History
    A program of supervised reading with several instructors in preparation for the Ph.D. oral examination in women’s history.

  • History 24.693T2
    Women’s History Minor
    A program of supervised reading in women’s history leading to a written comprehensive examination for doctoral students whose major field is Canadian history. Students will attend History 24.692 (Directed Studies in Women’s History) in the fall and winter terms.

  • History 24.699F, W, S
    Ph.D. Thesis