Ryan Goldsworthy (MA 2011) organized and spoke at the first annual Royal Canadian Military Institute (RCMI) Military History Symposium held in Toronto on 13 October 2017. His topic was “Withering Fire: The Canadian Artillery during the Hundred Days Offensive of the First World War—a Centennial Assessment.” Ryan is the RCMI museum curator where he manages the Institute’s extensive collection and curates its exhibits. Previously, he was the First World War historian and educational interpreter at The Military Museums of Calgary. He is also serves as a City of Toronto Firefighter.
Ryan has been assisted by RCMI Museum intern Connor Kurtz (MA 2016) who is a candidate for a Master’s in Museum Studies at the University of Toronto.
Other speakers at the Symposium were Allan English from the Queen’s History Department, Mike Bechthold from Wilfrid Laurier University, and Jack Granatstein, Distinguished Research Professor of History Emeritus at York University. All the presentations can be viewed here: .
Matthew Barrett, a Queen’s History PhD candidate attended the Symposium, and engaged in a number of lively discussion about his research on the debate over commemoration vs contagion related to military suicides, as well as the Hill 70 Project, for which he illustrated a graphic novel: .
