Conference
Crossing Boundaries and Constructing Linkages: The History of Montreal's Golden Square Mile in National and International Context, June 19th - 20th, 2019
Location: McGill University, Montreal, Quebec
Synopsis: A conference of academics and social studies experts which will present on the impact of the activities of the Golden Square Mile on Montreal’s and Canada’s social and financial history.
Sponsors: Montreal History Group, Macdonald-Stewart Foundation, Dawson College, McGill Institute for the Study of Canada, Chair in Canadian-Scottish Studies, McGill University, Rare Books and Special Collections, McGill University
Convenors: Professor Donald Nerbas – CBHA/ACHA, McGill University, Elizabeth Kirkland, Dawson College
Day 1: June 19th, 2019
- 9:00AM - 9:15AMWelcome
- 9:15AM - 10:15AMKeynoteRoderick MacLeod - The High Ground: A Brief History of the Golden Square Mile
- 10:15AM - 10:30AMNutrition Break
- 10:30AM - 12:00PMSession 1 - Institutions of a MetropoleLaurence Mussio (York) - The Role of Canada's First Bank in the 19th Century Rise of MontrealKurt Korneski (MUN) - "Not a very orderly population": George Simpson, Donald Smith, and the Making of a de facto State in Labrador, 1830-1855Jean-Philip Mathieu (McGill) - Square Mile Capital and the Formation of Montreal Rolling Mills, 1867-68
- 12:00PM - 1:00PMLunch
- 1:00PM - 2:30PMSession 2 - Family and Gender, Connections and BoundariesPeter Gossage and Lisa Moore (Concordia) - Marriage, Property, and the Law in a Square-Mile Family: The Case of Annie Stevenson Anderson vs David Morrice, 1884Max Hamon (McGill) - "A Very Fair Profit": Commissioner Donald Smith and Investment Networks in the NorthwestElizabeth Kirkland (Dawson College) and Mary Anne Poutanen (Concordia) - Searching for Intimacies Beyond the Notman Photographs: A Case Study of Amy Redpath
- 2:30PM - 2:45PMNutrition Break
- 2:45PM - 3:45PMKeynoteAnnamarie Adams (McGill) - Unravelling Scottish Architecture in Canada: Percy Nobbs, Ramsay Traquair and their Montreal Networks
- 4:00PM - 5:00PMWalking TourRoderick MacLeod
Day 2: June 20th, 2019
- 9:00AM - 10:00AMSession 3 - Architecture and PlaceJulia Gersovitz (McGill) - Architects of the Square Mile, 1860-1914William Fong - Where Exactly was the Golden Square Mile and When?
- 10:00AM - 10:15AMNutrition Break
- 10:15AM - 11:45AMSession 4 - Property, Credit, and NetworksRobert Sweeny (MUN) - Landed Ladies: Gender and property ownership in turn-of-the-century Golden Square MileSherry Olson (McGill) - Applying the Tools of Visualization to Kinship, Credit, and GovernanceMark Shouldice (University of Guelph) - Towards a Taxonomy of Financial-Industrial Networks in Canada, 1867-1914
- 11:45AM - 12:30PMLunch
- 12:30PM - 2:00PMSession 5 - Crisis and Transformation: the Square Mile in the Early Twentieth CenturyStephen Salmon - The Changing of the Guard: Bartlett McLennan, Roy Wolvin and the Leveraged Buyout of the Montreal Transportation Company, 1903-1920Greg Marchildon (U of T) - Max Aitken in Montreal: Financial Innovation and Creative Destruction in the Laurier BoomNicolas Kenny (FSU) - Imperial Boundaries and Intimate Linkages: Reading Soldiers' First World War Letters
- 2:00PM - 2:15PMNutrition Break
- 2:15PM - 3:45PMSession 6 - Private Fortunes, Globalization and DeclineAlexander Reford - Dwindling Fortunes – The Montreal Business Elite and the Great DepressionAndrew Ross (Library and Archives Canada) - From the Golden Square Mile to the Las Vegas Golden Knights: The Globalization of the Montreal GameJoe Martin (Rotman) - The Shift of the Financial Centre of Canada from Montreal to Toronto; 1929 to 1936
- 4:00PM - 4:30PMLocation: School of ArchitectureCynthia Hammond (Concordia) - The Home, The Hospital, and the Healing Garden: Notman House
- 4:45PM - 6:00PMKeynoteLocation: Mclennan LibraryHarold Bérubé (Sherbrooke) - The death of the “Golden Square Mile”? Understanding the mutation of an urban district, 1945-1980
- 6:00PM - 7:00PMReceptionLocation: Mclennan Library
- 7:00PM - 9:00PMBanquet and Closing RemarksLocation: Faculty Club