Welcome to Public History @ Ambrose! Come explore our student-faculty research.
We have been working on two projects: “Placing Memory in High River’s Built Environment,” and “Refugee Stories: The Immigration and Resettlement of Germans in Western Canada, 1947-1960.”
Public History @ Ambrose is a website of the Ambrose University History program.
Ambrose University offers three and four-year degrees in History. For program specifics, please see our program page at Ambrose University or view program details and course descriptions in the current Ambrose University Academic Calendar.
Most of the content of Public History @ Ambrose emerges out of HI 380 Applied Research in History, an annual course in which third-year students work with faculty members to produce real-world historical research.
If you represent a community group, church, or historical organization in the Calgary region and would like to partner with us on some historical research, please contact Professor Kyle Jantzen at kjantzen@ambrose.edu.
“Placing Memory in High River’s Built Environment” is an oral history research project about life in the town of High River, Alberta, Canada. Our purpose is to discover the relationships between particular places (buildings, parks, streets, etc.) and the memories of High River residents. We want to document the places that were significant in the history of High River and—perhaps more importantly—that stand out in the memories of High River residents.
Click on the links below to find out more!
Overview of the “Placing Memory” project
Learn about the origins of the project, and the partners working together on this local history research, including our project funder, the Alberta Historical Resources Foundation.
What do High River residents remember about the 1960s? What was life like in town during Canada’s centennial year of 1967? [under development]
Discover the sites of memory–places, spaces, events, and organizations–that are near and dear to the hearts of long-time members of the High River community. This is the heart of the “Placing Memory” project.
Objects of Memory (High River History Harvest)
Keepsakes. Photos. We all hold onto them. Examine objects of memory that bring meaning to High River residents.
What have we learned about “placing memory” in High River? Read presentations and reports to find out more about the “Placing Memory” project and what we’re discovering about High River.
Talk to Us
Do you have a special memory of a favourite place in High River? Any pictures you think we should have? Any comments about our website? Interested in being interviewed for the Placing Memory project?
If you answered yes to any of those questions, we’d love to hear from you! Just fill out the contact form below.
Photo of Centre Street courtesy of the Museum of the Highwood (MH975.043.014), http://museumofthehighwood.com.
“Refugee Stories: The Immigration and Resettlement of Germans in Western Canada, 1947-1960” is an oral history research project about the history of immigration to Canada. Our goal is to document the history and memory of the experiences of ethnic Germans from Eastern Europe and Germany itself–many of them refugees–who immigrated to Western Canada after the Second World War and started new lives here.
Click on the links below to find out more!
Overview of the “Refugee Stories” project
Learn about the origins of the project, and the partners working together on this research.
History of postwar German immigration to Canada
Learn more about the background behind the wave of German refugees and immigrants who came to Canada in the 1940s and 1950s.
Hear the stories of postwar German refugees and immigrants. This is the heart of the “Refugee Stories” project.
See documents, artifacts, and photographs relating to German immigration to Canada in the 1940s and 1950s.
Talk to Us
Were you or someone you know a German immigrant to Canada between 1947 and 1960? Do you have any pictures from that time you think we should have? Did you enjoy reading about this immigration history? Do you know someone who might want to be interviewed for the Refugee Stories project?
If you answered yes to any of those questions, we’d love to hear from you!
Photo of the Beaverbrae courtesy of Ian Boyle/Simplon Postcards, http://www.simplonpc.co.uk.
