Ronald Rudin

Ronald Rudin. Remembering and Forgetting in Acadie: A Historian’s Journey through Public Memory.

The winner of the inaugural Public History Prize is Ronald Rudin, for his project Remembering and Forgetting in Acadie: A Historian’s Journey through Public Memory. Published by the University of Toronto Press, the book explores the commemorations and collective memory of the 400th anniversary of the founding of Acadie and the 250th anniversary of the deportation of the Acadians. Adopting a highly innovative approach as an “embedded historian,” Rudin conducted interviews with a wide range of peoples – Acadians, Anglophones, and First Nations – and he draws on his own personal reflections on the formation of public memory. Rudin’s remarkable project also includes an accompanying web site and a documentary film, Life After Île Ste-Croix, which are integrated with his book. By combining film, internet, and print, Rudin has created an outstanding and thought-provoking contribution to public history that challenges the field’s traditional boundaries.

Honourable Mention
Heather MacDougall.  Making Medicare: The History of Healthcare in Canada, 1914-2007. Canadian Museum of Civilization Social Progress Web Gallery, http://www.civilization.ca/medicare.

Heather MacDougall’s Making Medicare exhibition in the Canadian Museum of Civilization Social Progress Web Gallery is an eye-catching, bilingual, and comprehensive narrative of the gradual development of Canada’s hospital and medical services insurance programs. This web component of more than three hundred windows is impressive, for it allows a general audience to navigate with ease through a timeline spanning over ninety years and within categories detailing the various economic, social, and political actors and factors that shaped Canada’s medical system. Of note is the educational tool designed for students and teachers to further enhance their understanding of this history. The Committee is extremely pleased to honour this thoroughly researched and highly accessible work that makes an important contribution to the fields of public history and health care.