Robert C.H. Sweeny
Position
Emeritus Professor of History, MUN.
Professeur associ茅, histoire, UQAM.
Apprenticeship
SSHRC Post-doctoral fellowship, University of Edinburgh, with R.J. Morris.
Ph.D. McGill University, with Richard Rice, Stephen Randall and Louise Dech锚ne.
M.A. UQAM, with Alfred Dubuc.
B.A. (Hons.) Sir George Williams University with Martin Singer, John Laffey and George Rud茅.
Contact
2413-3535 Papineau, Montr茅al, Qc H2K 4J9
Email: rsweeny@mun.ca
Phone: (514) 563-0016
Research Interests
Digital humanities; Historical theory and method; History of capitalism, Historical Materialism
Current Research Projects
Co-director of the historical GIS project Montr茅al, l'avenir du pass茅 (MAP)
Gender, Property and National Identity.
Recent Publications
N.B. Many of my publications are available from
Enumerators, 1901. A Q-GIS application, Montr茅al, MAP, 2025.
Working Papers: Property in early 20th century Montr茅al. Montr茅al, MAP, 2025.
鈥淗erbert Molson.鈥 Category III biography. Dictionary of Canadian Biography, University of Toronto Press, forthcoming.
鈥淕ender and Social Relations in the City above the Hill.鈥 Montreal鈥檚 Square Mile: The Making and Transformation of a Colonial Metropole. Dimitry Anastakis, Elizabeth Kirkland & Don Nerbas (Eds.) University of Toronto Press, 2024, 219-247.
Owners03.dbf, Montr茅al, MAP 2024.
Overcrowding in Montr茅al in 1901, Montr茅al, MAP, 2024.
Surpeuplement 脿 Montr茅al en 1901, Montr茅al, MAP, 2024.
L鈥檌mportance des femmes comme propri茅taires en 1903, Montr茅al, MAP 2024.
The importance of landladies in 1903. Montr茅al, MAP, 2024.
Residential landlord/tenant relations in 1901. A Q-GIS application, Montr茅al, MAP, 2023.
Rapports entre propri茅taires et locataires r茅sidentiels en 1901. Une application Q-GIS, Montr茅al, MAP, 2023.
鈥淲ho owned Montreal in 1903?鈥 A Q-GIS application, Montr茅al, MAP, 2023.
芦 脌 qui appartient Montr茅al en 1903? 禄 Une application Q-GIS, Montr茅al, MAP, 2023.
鈥淕oing together like a horse and carriage: Rentier marriages and property accumulation in Montr茅al, 1825-1903.鈥 Histoire Sociale/Social History, LIV, 112 (Novembre/Novem-ber 2021) 481-490.
Residential landlord/tenant relations in 1901. A Q-GIS application, Montr茅al, MAP, 2021.
Rapports entre propri茅taires et locataires r茅sidentiels en 1901. Une application Q-GIS, Montreal, MAP, 2021.
A User鈥檚 Guide to the Roll1903 database. Montr茅al, MAP, 2021.
A User鈥檚 Guide to the Owners03 database. Montr茅al, MAP, 2021-3.
鈥淲ho owned Montreal in 1903?鈥 A Q-GIS application, Montr茅al, MAP, 2021-4.
芦 脌 qui appartient Montr茅al en 1903? 禄 Une application Q-GIS, Montr茅al, MAP, 2021-4.
鈥淔rom Commanding Overview to Administrative Tool: Representations of Montr茅al, 1825-1880.鈥 Images, Forms and Narratives from the Global City. Sergio Onger, Anna Rosellini & Ines Tolic (Eds.) Bologna: AISU, 2021, 472-479.
芦 Les in茅galit茅s de richesse et le racisme au Canada. 禄 Centre d鈥檋istoire des r茅gulations sociales, UQAM.
鈥淭he Rock is a Hard Place: Wealth redistribution in 21st century Newfoundland.鈥 Who Pays for Canada? E.A. Heaman & David Tough (Eds.) Montr茅al: McGill-Queen鈥檚 University Press, 2020, 337-355.
Sharing Spaces: Essays in honour of Sherry Olson. Robert Sweeny (Ed.) Les presses de l鈥橴niversit茅 d鈥橭ttawa and the Museum of Canadian History, Mercury Series, 2020.
-- 鈥淪haring Space: the oeuvre of Sherry Olson.鈥 In Sharing Spaces: Essays in honour of Sherry Olson, 1-16.
-- 鈥淒ivvying up space: Housing segregation and national identity in early twentieth century Montr茅al.鈥 In Sharing Spaces: Essays in honour of Sherry Olson, 111-128.
鈥淐anada鈥檚 economic and racial inequities are more stark than ever.鈥 .
Open Letter Concerning the Anglican Cemetery (See link below).
芦 L鈥櫭﹖at des choses. 禄 Revue d鈥檋istoire de l鈥橝m茅rique fran莽aise, 72, 2, 119-122.
芦 Valeur locative annuelle moyenne des habitations sur le territoire de Centre Sud en 1903. 禄 D茅jouer la fatalit茅 : Pauvret茅, familles institutions. Exposition 脿 l鈥櫭塩omus茅e du fier monde, 12 septembre 2019 au 9 f茅vrier 2020.
Ian McKay, Bettina Bradbury, Magda Fahrni, Kathryn McPherson & Robert C.H. Sweeny.鈥淢acdonald Prize Round Table on Why Did We Choose to Industrialize?鈥 Journal of the Canadian Historical Association, 28, 2, 2017, (published January 2019) 90-133.
鈥淣ewfoundland鈥檚 Boom: A study in the political culture of neo-liberalism.鈥 Bryan Evans and Carlo Fanelli (Eds.) The Public Sector in an Age of Austerity: Perspectives from Canada鈥檚 Provinces and Territories. Montr茅al: McGill-Queen鈥檚 University Press, 2018, 279-314.
鈥淭he Challenges of an Equitable Fiscal Policy.鈥 Asking the Big Questions: Reflections on a Sustainable Post-Oil Dependent Newfoundland and Labrador. Barbara Neis, Rosemary Ommer and David Brake (Eds.) St John鈥檚: Royal Society of Canada Atlantic, 2017, 24-43.
鈥淎uditing Equity and the Environment.鈥 : Recipes to Renew Governance in Newfoundland and Labrador. Alex Marland & Lisa Moore, (Eds.) St John鈥檚: ISER Books, 2017, 270-73.
鈥淚ndustrialization, Labour and Historians鈥 Canadian History: Post-Confederation. Edited by John Douglas Belshaw. Vancouver: , 2017, 108-110.
鈥淐apital Markets鈥 Canadian History: Post-Confederation. Edited John Douglas Belshaw. Vancouver: , 2017, 440-443.
鈥淣ew ways to imagine an old city鈥 , January 2017.
鈥淢aking sense of the historical in H-GIS in Canadian universities.鈥 H-GIS Canadian Portal Partnership , June 2016.
鈥淕ender, discrimination and housing in turn-of-the-century Montr茅al. What mapping the census returns of immigrants can tell us.鈥 Frontiers in Digital Humanities, 3, 8 (September, 2016), .
Why did we choose to industrialize? Montreal, 1819-1849. McGill-Queen's University Press, 2015. Finalist for Fran莽ois-Xavier Garneau Medal 2020 of the Canadian Historical Association for the most important contribution to history of the past five years. Winner of the 2016 Governor General's history award for scholarly research: the Sir John A. Macdonald Prize of the Canadian Historical Association.
With Valerie Burton, "Realizing the democratic potential of online sources in the class room" Digital Scholarship in the Humanities, 30, October 2015, .