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Faculty of Arts
UNB Fredericton

Back to Anthropology

Anthropology

A UNB discipline since 1966

We are part of a long tradition of research and teaching which dates back to the nineteenth century.

Loring Woart Bailey, professor of natural sciences at UNB (1861–1907):

  • published the first paper describing New Brunswick aboriginal ceramics in the inaugural (1883) edition of the journal Science
  • maintained a small museum in the current Sir Howard Douglas Hall

Dr. Alfred Goldsworthy Bailey, L.W. Bailey’s grandson and professor of history at UNB (1938–1970):

  • a pioneer in establishing the discipline of ethnohistory in Canada
  • instrumental in developing an anthropology curriculum in what became the Department of History and Anthropology during the 1950s

Dr. Thomas McFeat, in 1954:

  • the first professional anthropologist hired into the UNB faculty in 1954.
  • You can find out more on our department’s history through UNB Archives & Special Collection

Annex C: the home of anthropology

The Department of Anthropology at UNB is housed in Annex C, a two-storey frame building with a concrete basement. It contains:

  • the departmental office
  • a seminar room
  • two labs
  • a lounge
  • nine offices
  • several small utilities rooms

The outside of the building is sided with ship-lap boards painted in a strong red-brown colour to match the nearby brick buildings.

We moved into part of Annex C in 1976 and expanded to use the entire building.

An enigmatic origin

The designation “Annex C” was not used until 1968. The building was listed as “Labs Annex C” in 1989 by the Canadian Inventory of Historic Buildings and classified as having “good possibility for historical designation.”

This inventory indicates the construction date of the building as 1920. This date is inconsistent with two main legends about the origin of the building:

  • Annex C is of three “huts” brought from the Ripples Prisoner-of-War Internment Camp to UNB in 1946
  • Annex C is one of three buildings brought from Alexander College to UNB in 1947

A 1993 article describes the destruction of the last of the three army huts from the Ripples Camp and leads us to believe that Annex C was brought to UNB from Alexander College.

This college, UNB’s first branch campus, was constructed adjacent to downtown Fredericton and operated from World War II to 1953 to house returning veterans and their families, while the veterans pursued educational opportunities.

It’s possible that Annex C was not purpose-built for Alexander College and that it has an unknown history extending further into the past.

Find out more about Annex C via UNB archives.