Debra Lindsay
Debra Lindsay joined UNB Saint John in 1997. Prior to joining the Department of History and Politics, she taught in the history departments at the University of Winnipeg and Simon Fraser University.
Responsible for courses in the history of the United States, she teaches specialized courses on Indigenous Peoples in America, on the pre-Civil War South, and on gender, and science/medicine. She was the Director of the Lorenzo Art series (2005–12) and no matter the subject, art is an integral aspect of her course content. She is a Saint John representative on the bi-campus committee struck to implement the recommendations in the Truth and Reconciliation Commission Report.
Her research focuses on nineteenth century science. She began her career working on northern science, the men working for the Hudson’s Bay Company and their Indigenous counterparts in the Smithsonian scientific agenda; however, recent efforts focus on the role of women. Currently working on how women in the Audubon family used biography to promote and preserve the reputation of John James Audubon and John Woodhouse Audubon, she also aspires to move into an entirely new area that focuses on the men and women who worked for UNRRA (United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration) after World War II.
Books
Maria Martin’s World: Art & Science, Faith & Family in Audubon’s America. Tuscaloosa: University of Alabama Press, 2018. [recipient of the Concordia Historical Institute book award for family history/biography, 2019]
The Clothes Off Our Back: A History of ACTWU 459. Manitoba Labour History Series. Winnipeg: Manitoba Labour Education Centre, 1995.
Science in the Subarctic: Trappers, Traders and the Smithsonian Institution. Washington and London: Smithsonian Institution Press, 1993.
The Modern Beginnings of Subarctic Ornithology: Northern Correspondence to the Smithsonian Institution, 1856-68. Manitoba Record Society, Vol.10. Winnipeg: Manitoba Record Society, 1991.
Articles and invited talks
“The Limits of Imperial Influence: John James Audubon in British North America.” Archives of Natural History 47, No. 2 (2020): 302-318.
“Eulogy: J.M. (Jack) Bumsted, 12 Dec 1938–25 Jan 2020,” Prairie History 2 (Summer 2020): 75–76. [delivered 15 Feb 2020]
“Maria Martin’s World: Art and Science, Faith and Family in Audubon’s America.” Charleston Museum, April 2018.
“John James Audubon in New Brunswick.” New Brunswick Historical Society, Saint John, 2014.
Audubon’s Assistant: Maria Martin (1796–1863). Jule Collins Smith Museum of Fine Art, Auburn University, 2011.
“Defining the Mesozoic/Defining Disciplines: Late Nineteenth-Century Debates over the Jurassic–Cretaceous Boundary.” Earth Sciences History 30, No.2 (2011): 216–239.
“Prototaxites Dawson, 1859 or Nemtophycus Carruthers, 1872: Geologists v. Botanists in the Formative Period of the Science of Paleobotany.” Earth Sciences History 24, No.1 (2005): 35-61.
“Intimate Inmates: scientific wives and households in nineteenth century America.” Isis: Journal of the History of Science Society 90, No.4 (Dec. 1998): 631-52.
Recent conference presentations
“The Limits of Imperial Influence: John James Audubon in British North America.” Can Soc for the History and Philosophy of Science, Vancouver, 2019.
“Birds, Beasts, and Backers in British North America: The ‘American Woodsman’ goes North.” Can Soc for the History and Philosophy of Science, Calgary, 2016.
“Barrier or Blessing? Evangelical Lutheranism, Gender, and Science: Maria Martin (1796–1863) a case study.” History of Science Society, Boston, 2013.
“Contextualizing Creativity: Maria Martin, Natural History Illustrator.” Tri-Society Meeting: Hist of Science Soc; Brit Science Soc; Can Soc for the History and Philosophy of Science, Philadelphia, 2012.
“From American Woodsman to Ornithologist: How John James Audubon Became a Scientist.” Can Soc for the History and Philosophy of Science, Fredericton, 2011.
“Lester Frank Ward v. Othniel C. Marsh: Defining the Mesozoic.” History of Science Society, Montreal, 2010.
