McMaster students are not just studying history — they're making it.

Myra Valley, Tenyia Miller and Kate Young are among 10 selected for the British Council's British Studies Essay Contest for Canadian undergraduate students, a feat almost unprecedented in the history of this prize, says their professor Jim Alsop.

“It is highly praiseworthy that three of the 10 awards go this year to McMaster students, all in history,” he says. “It is a great personal pleasure that all three were awarded the prize for the research essays which they wrote in one course, History 4AA6 in 2003-04.”

The British Council's British Studies Essay Prize recognizes undergraduate research in all areas of British studies (such as history, literature, political thought, the arts and social sciences) at Canadian universities. The 2003-04 competition had 36 entries, from 17 universities. All three McMaster essays are on themes in the social history of early modern British health.

“A central element in the national success of these three students is that History 4AA6 was taught following the inquiry model,” Alsop adds. “Inquiry has proven to be exceptionally valuable in stimulating original thought, and hence research, among students. Here is further proof — should any be needed — each of these three essays, in addition to being articulate, features innovative research of high quality. Each is potentially publishable.”

Myra Valley, a continuing part-time masters student in history, and full-time employee in the School of Business, wrote Newsworthy or Not? Reporting on Health Care Issues in Early Modern England.

Her essay examines the question of how newspapers in early modern England dealt with the health care issues of the day as represented by various epidemics such as smallpox, fevers, and the plague. During the period examined (1700  1730), censorship laws had been relaxed; newspapers were becoming more commercial; and reporting' was in its infancy, she explains. The paper examines the extent and nature of newspaper coverage relative to such variables as the nature of the illness, the location of the disease outbreak, public perception of the severity of the disease and the editorial focus of the reporting newspaper. Two possible reasons for the varying levels of newspaper coverage of the diseases were explored. In the newspapers examined, both the proximity of the epidemic and the level of fear it elicited appeared to have influenced the newsworthiness of these health care issues.

“This award from the British Council is an exciting and unexpected result of my research, one which provides immeasurable personal satisfaction and encouragement,” says Valley, School of Business manager, off campus. “Many thanks to Dr. Alsop for his counsel, guidance and encouragement, and Carl Spadoni of the Research Collections at Mills Library for his assistance (and patience) with the periodicals research. McMaster's library resource for this period is one of the best.”

Tenyia Miller's essay is titled, The Portrayal of Illness in Early Modern England: A Comparison of the Correspondence, Diaries and Autobiographic Writings of Clergymen, Laymen and Laywomen.

Miller, a 2004 graduate of honours history, focused her essay on the unexpectedly prominent theme of personal agency which emerged from her research. “This theme challenged any assumption that people were necessarily passive in the face of poor health and pain,” she says. “Instead, the evidence indicated that early modern men and women, clergy and laity alike, actively grappled with health issues using all the means at their disposal. Gender distinctives and religious convictions functioned alongside but did not displace this active response that clergymen, laymen and laywomen shared in common.”

“From my perspective, joining three of my classmates in winning essay awards is a tribute to the quality and effectiveness of Dr. Alsop's history seminar,” she says.

Kate Young wrote, At once both and neither: Sex, Gender, and the Hermaphrodite in Early Modern England.

Young, who graduated with honours French and history last spring, and is now working working on contract in McMaster's International Student office, was also awarded the first place prize from the 2003-04 Level IV McMaster Faculty of Humanities Essay Prize Competition, for her essay.

Her paper explores Historian Thomas Laqueur's book Making Sex. This book argues that until 1750 “there existed many genders, but only one adaptable sex,” she says. “My essay tests Laqueur's theory by exploring how early modern English society viewed and treated hermaphrodites, a group whose existence could be explained using the one-sex model. My examination of the early modern hermaphrodite, therefore, is not only the story of a marginal group within society but also reveals the complexity of the attitudes and beliefs of early modern English society with regard to sex and gender.”

McMaster history student Diane Wales received the first place prize in the 2003-04 Level III McMaster Faculty of Humanities Essay Prize Competition. Wales is also a full-time library assistant in Mills Memorial Library.

Her essay looks at the advertisements for popular and patent medicines in early modern English newspapers from the point of view of gender, “that is, whether the remedies were for use by men, women or both, and whether women were engaged in their manufacture or sale,” she explains. “The study confirmed that there was little understanding that similar symptoms in men and women might require very different treatments. At the same time, it also revealed that women continued to be very much involved in the healthcare field in spite of the efforts of regular (male) practitioners to ease them out of their traditional roles as healers and midwives.”

Wales is thrilled to receive the prize. “To a part-time student still plodding through level three, this prize is a tremendous boostan encouragement to just keep on going,” she says. “The seminar was a really valuable experience and I am so pleased for my classmates' success.”