History professor wins Tyrrell Historical Medal

[img_inline align=”right” src=”http://padnws01.mcmaster.ca/images/Nelles edited.jpg” caption=”Dr. H.V. Nelles, McMaster’s L.R. Wilson Professor of Canadian History, received the 2006 Tyrrell Historical Medal of the Royal Society of Canada on Nov. 19. Photo by Deborah McIvor.”]McMaster's L.R. Wilson Professor of Canadian History, H.V. Nelles, received the 2006 Tyrrell Historical Medal from the Royal Society of Canada on Nov. 19. The medal is awarded for outstanding work in the history of Canada.

“I am delighted to be honoured with the Tyrell Medal for contributions to the writing of Canadian history,” said Nelles, who is the author and co-author of several books, including A Little History of Canada. “It is truly an honour to be among a company that includes such great historians as Ramsay Cook, Fernand Ouellet, Jack Granatstein, Michael Bliss, Carl Berger and my mentors, J.M.S. Careless and D.G. Creighton.”

Nelles is the first member of McMaster's Department of History to receive the Tyrrell Historical Medal.

“The award recognizes Dr. Nelles as one of the leading historians of Canada of our generation,” said Ken Cruikshank, chair of the Department of History.

He added that over the past three years, two other members of the department, Professor Michael Gauvreau and Distinguished University Professor John Weaver, have been recognized by the Canadian Historical Association for writing the best book in Canadian history in 2006, and the best book on a non-Canadian subject in 2004, respectively.

“The award demonstrates the strength of the department and the university in another way,” said Cruikshank. “Our reputation for excellence and commitment to quality, in both research and teaching, that led such a distinguished historian to join McMaster's Department of History in 2004 as our first L.R. Wilson Professor in Canadian History.”

Nelles is also the Distinguished Research Professor Emeritus at York University.

He is the author or co-author of The Philosophy of Railroads (1972), The Politics of Development (1974), The Revenge of the Methodist Bicycle Company (1977), Monopoly's Moment (1986), Southern Exposure (1988), The Art of Nation-Building (University of Toronto Press, 1999), which has been translated as L'Histoire Spectacle (Boreal, Montreal, 2003), and most recently A Little History of Canada (Oxford University Press, Toronto 2004).

Established in 1927, the J.B. Tyrrell Historical Medal was endowed by Joseph Burr Tyrrell (1858-1957), FRSC, geologist, geographer, explorer, engineer and amateur historian, to promote the knowledge of the history of Canada.