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David Frank

My teaching and research interests are in Canadian History, especially labour, social and political history, the history of Atlantic Canada, and film history. I am a past editor of Acadiensis: Journal of the History of the Atlantic Region and currently managing editor of its book-publishing partner, Acadiensis Press. I have served as president of the Canadian Committee on Labour History and director of the New Brunswick Labour History Project.

Recent courses at the University of New Brunswick:

  • History 1315: Canadian History on Film
  • History 2300: An Introduction to Canadian History
  • History 3331: The Canadian Worker to 1914
  • History 3332: The Canadian Worker since 1914
  • History 5331: Film and History in Canada
  • History 5335: a History of the Canadian Left
  • History 6301: The Making of Canadian History
  • History 6302: Atlantic Canada

Recent books:

Provincial Solidarities: A History of the New Brunswick Federation of Labour (2013), also available in French as Solidarités provinciales: Histoire de la Fédération des travailleurs et travailleuses du Nouveau-Brunswick

Labour Landmarks in New Brunswick / Lieux historiques ouvriers au Nouveau-Brunswick (2010), with Nicole Lang, Université de Moncton

J.B. McLachlan: A Biography (1999). A prizewinning account of the life and times of the champion of the Cape Breton coal miners.

Recent articles and book chapters:

 “Organized Labour and the Making of Public Policy in Twentieth-Century New Brunswick”, Journal of New Brunswick Studies/Revue d’études sur le Nouveau-Brunswick, Issue 2 (2011)

“Why Us? The Campaign against Wage Controls in Saint John, New Brunswick, 1975-76”, Mobilizations, Protests and Engagements: Canadian Perspectives on Social Movements, eds. Marie Hammond-Callaghan and Matthew Hayday (Fernwood Publishing: Winnipeg, 2008), pp. 211-21

Minto 1932: The Origins and Significance of a New Brunswick Labour Landmark”, Acadiensis, XXXVI, 2 (Spring 2007), pp. 3-27. 

“In Search of the Canadian Labour Film”, Working on Screen: Representations of the Working Class in Canadian Cinema, eds. Malek Khouri and Darrell Varga (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2006), pp. 25-45.

Website features:

“James Sugrue”, “Célime A. Melanson”, “James Tighe”, “E.R. Steeves”, “James A. Whitebone”, “Minto 1932”, “Saint John 1976”, “Hot Cargo, 1979”, “Executive Officers of the New Brunswick Federation of Labour” [database]: these and other features on New Brunswick labour history are at www.lhtnb.ca [also presented in French]

Recent reviews and commentaries:

Review of Esyllt Jones and Adele Perry, eds., People’s Citizenship Guide: A Response to Conservative Canada (Winnipeg: Arbeiter Ring Publishing, 2011), in Our Times, vol. 31, no. 6 (December 2012-January 2013), pp. 39-41.

“W is for Workers, not Just for War”, StraightGoods.ca, www.sgnews.ca [posted 29 November 2012]

Review of Sean Wilentz, Bob Dylan in America (New York: Doubleday, 2010), in Labour/Le Travail, 68 (Fall 2011), pp. 214-7.

“Don’t forget Equal Opportunity and the Constitution”, Telegraph-Journal, 22 March 2011, p. A9.

Review of Darrell Varga, ed., Rain/Drizzle/Fog: Film and Television in Atlantic Canada (Calgary: Calgary University Press, 2009), Canadian Historical Review, vol. 91, no. 1 (March 2010), pp. 178-80.  

Recent graduate supervisions:

Lachlan MacKinnon, “Labour Landmarks in Industrial Cape Breton, 1922-2011” (M.A., 2012)

Donald Nerbas, “The Politics of Capital: The Crisis and Transformation of Canada’s Big Bourgeoisie, 1917-1947” (Ph.D., 2010)

Patrick Marsh, “Machinists of Moncton: The Endeavours of Local 594, International Association of Machinists, 1916-1933” (M.A., 2010)

Kimberley Dunphy, “The Feminization of the Labour Movement in New Brunswick: Women in the New Brunswick Federation of Labour, 1913-1984” (M.A., 2009)

Ashley Harding, “Nathan Cohen is for Mourning: A Cape Breton Play in Toronto, 1953” (M.A. Report, 2009)

David Frank, Acadiensis issue       
Frank, J.B. McLachlan Frank Struggle against wage controls David Frank's Landmarks Frank, Labour issue Frank, issue of Labour History

Contact Information:

David Frank

Office: Tilley 117
Phone: (506)458-7431