Mairi Cowan
@historianmairi.bsky.social
Historian at the University of Toronto. Studies medieval Europe, early modern North America, and contemporary pedagogy. Also cooks, knits, and sings.
Author of https://www.mqup.ca/possession-of-barbe-hallay--the-products-9780228014041.php
Author of https://www.mqup.ca/possession-of-barbe-hallay--the-products-9780228014041.php
Reposted by Mairi Cowan
if you would like to read about early modern hammocks, it's publication day for the article the brilliant @marcynorton.bsky.social and I wrote about them! (open access)
link.springer.com/article/10.1...
link.springer.com/article/10.1...
Towards a history of the hammock: An Indigenous technology in the Atlantic world - postmedieval
When Europeans arrived in the Western Hemisphere beginning in the fifteenth century, they learned that Indigenous groups across the Caribbean and South America valued few technologies as much as the h...
link.springer.com
November 11, 2025 at 1:58 PM
if you would like to read about early modern hammocks, it's publication day for the article the brilliant @marcynorton.bsky.social and I wrote about them! (open access)
link.springer.com/article/10.1...
link.springer.com/article/10.1...
Hivernal. Time for more more tea and blankets
November 9, 2025 at 5:36 PM
Hivernal. Time for more more tea and blankets
LEGO Star Trek TNG!! www.lego.com/en-ca/produc...
Spot (😍😺) is included on the crew! Guinan is holding... Romulan ale?
Spot (😍😺) is included on the crew! Guinan is holding... Romulan ale?
Star Trek: U.S.S. Enterprise NCC-1701-D™ 10356 | LEGO® Icons | Buy online at the Official LEGO® Shop CA
LEGO® Icons Star Trek model kit for adults
www.lego.com
November 7, 2025 at 2:38 AM
LEGO Star Trek TNG!! www.lego.com/en-ca/produc...
Spot (😍😺) is included on the crew! Guinan is holding... Romulan ale?
Spot (😍😺) is included on the crew! Guinan is holding... Romulan ale?
Bright November sky
November 4, 2025 at 3:11 PM
Bright November sky
This Toronto side street has emptied of Halloween trick-or-treaters right around first pitch time
November 1, 2025 at 12:13 AM
This Toronto side street has emptied of Halloween trick-or-treaters right around first pitch time
Reposted by Mairi Cowan
Halloween is the perfect time to learn more about Canada's first documented 'demon possession' case.
Check out this interview with Mairi Cowan about her book The Possession of Barbe Hallay.
Check out this interview with Mairi Cowan about her book The Possession of Barbe Hallay.
Historian discovers new details in Canada's first documented 'demon possession' case | CBC Radio
A demonic possession, a do-it-yourself exorcism, and the execution of an accused witch — welcome to daily life in Quebec City, circa 1660. Historian Mairi Cowan shares the story of Canada’s earliest...
buff.ly
October 31, 2025 at 6:02 PM
Halloween is the perfect time to learn more about Canada's first documented 'demon possession' case.
Check out this interview with Mairi Cowan about her book The Possession of Barbe Hallay.
Check out this interview with Mairi Cowan about her book The Possession of Barbe Hallay.
Reposted by Mairi Cowan
Happy Halloween from the Wren Library, our Halloween Bat is courageously looking into this spooky hood.
mss-cat.trin.cam.ac.uk/Manuscript/B...
f182v
mss-cat.trin.cam.ac.uk/Manuscript/B...
f182v
October 31, 2025 at 4:53 PM
Happy Halloween from the Wren Library, our Halloween Bat is courageously looking into this spooky hood.
mss-cat.trin.cam.ac.uk/Manuscript/B...
f182v
mss-cat.trin.cam.ac.uk/Manuscript/B...
f182v
Autumnal ravine morning
October 27, 2025 at 3:40 PM
Autumnal ravine morning
Reposted by Mairi Cowan
Delighted to share the Call for Papers for a special issue of French Historical Studies on the theme "European-Indigenous Relations in the French Americas" (to be co-edited by Scott Berthelette and myself)
CFP and submission guidelines can be found here:
read.dukeupress.edu/french-histo...
CFP and submission guidelines can be found here:
read.dukeupress.edu/french-histo...
Submission Guidelines | French Historical Studies | Duke University Press
Submission Guidelines | French Historical Studies | Duke University Press
Submission Guidelines
CALL FOR PAPERS
Special issue of French Historical Studies on European-Indigenous ...
read.dukeupress.edu
October 23, 2025 at 7:28 PM
Delighted to share the Call for Papers for a special issue of French Historical Studies on the theme "European-Indigenous Relations in the French Americas" (to be co-edited by Scott Berthelette and myself)
CFP and submission guidelines can be found here:
read.dukeupress.edu/french-histo...
CFP and submission guidelines can be found here:
read.dukeupress.edu/french-histo...
CBC Ideas is replaying the episode about my research on the case of witchcraft and demonic possession in 17th-century New France! Fun listening for spooky season! 👿🧙 👻https://www.cbc.ca/radio/ideas/quebec-demon-possession-witchcraft-in-1660-1.6685584
Historian discovers new details in Canada's first documented 'demon possession' case | CBC Radio
A demonic possession, a do-it-yourself exorcism, and the execution of an accused witch — welcome to daily life in Quebec City, circa 1660. Historian Mairi Cowan shares the story of Canada’s earliest r...
www.cbc.ca
October 22, 2025 at 12:12 AM
CBC Ideas is replaying the episode about my research on the case of witchcraft and demonic possession in 17th-century New France! Fun listening for spooky season! 👿🧙 👻https://www.cbc.ca/radio/ideas/quebec-demon-possession-witchcraft-in-1660-1.6685584
Reposted by Mairi Cowan
The Jesuit Archives are offering a new $2500 grant focused on Indigenous researchers investigating Indigenous topics. This is a very rich archive with much Indigenous language material. archivesjesuites.ca/en/indigenou...
NEW: Indigenous Research Grant, 2025-2026 | The Archive of the Jesuits in Canada
The latest news from the Archive of the Jesuits in Canada. Get updates on the latest exhibitions, blogs, press releases, and videos today.
archivesjesuites.ca
October 16, 2025 at 12:13 AM
The Jesuit Archives are offering a new $2500 grant focused on Indigenous researchers investigating Indigenous topics. This is a very rich archive with much Indigenous language material. archivesjesuites.ca/en/indigenou...
Good morning from a floofy house panther
October 9, 2025 at 1:04 PM
Good morning from a floofy house panther
Reposted by Mairi Cowan
If you're just jumping on the Blue Jays bandwagon, don't worry - making sense of our complicated world is what we do here at the Museum! We've put together a one-page guide of everything you need to know to avoid sounding like a fairweather fan over the next month. #LetsGoBlueJays
October 3, 2025 at 8:04 PM
If you're just jumping on the Blue Jays bandwagon, don't worry - making sense of our complicated world is what we do here at the Museum! We've put together a one-page guide of everything you need to know to avoid sounding like a fairweather fan over the next month. #LetsGoBlueJays
Reposted by Mairi Cowan
Spent the afternoon pulling apart @historianmairi.bsky.social's article on foodways in New France for my students to use as the basis of their first secondary source analysis. I think they came out with a better idea of what it means when I ask "how did they use the sources to make the argument."
September 24, 2025 at 9:34 PM
Spent the afternoon pulling apart @historianmairi.bsky.social's article on foodways in New France for my students to use as the basis of their first secondary source analysis. I think they came out with a better idea of what it means when I ask "how did they use the sources to make the argument."
🎶 It's the faaaat beariest tiiiiime of the yeeeeeaaar! 🎶
Happy #FatBearWeek to all who celebrate this abundantly wholesome time
explore.org/fat-bear-week
Happy #FatBearWeek to all who celebrate this abundantly wholesome time
explore.org/fat-bear-week
Fat Bear Week 2025
Fat Bear Week 2025
explore.org
September 23, 2025 at 4:02 PM
🎶 It's the faaaat beariest tiiiiime of the yeeeeeaaar! 🎶
Happy #FatBearWeek to all who celebrate this abundantly wholesome time
explore.org/fat-bear-week
Happy #FatBearWeek to all who celebrate this abundantly wholesome time
explore.org/fat-bear-week
Reposted by Mairi Cowan
The autumn equinox is here in the northern hemisphere, meaning that the new season has officially begun.
This woodblock print by Hiroshige captures the colours and feeling of autumn beautifully.
🍁 Maple Trees at Mama, Utagawa Hiroshige 1 (1797 - 1858) , 1857. EAX.4362
This woodblock print by Hiroshige captures the colours and feeling of autumn beautifully.
🍁 Maple Trees at Mama, Utagawa Hiroshige 1 (1797 - 1858) , 1857. EAX.4362
September 22, 2025 at 7:00 AM
The autumn equinox is here in the northern hemisphere, meaning that the new season has officially begun.
This woodblock print by Hiroshige captures the colours and feeling of autumn beautifully.
🍁 Maple Trees at Mama, Utagawa Hiroshige 1 (1797 - 1858) , 1857. EAX.4362
This woodblock print by Hiroshige captures the colours and feeling of autumn beautifully.
🍁 Maple Trees at Mama, Utagawa Hiroshige 1 (1797 - 1858) , 1857. EAX.4362
Happy Autumnal Equinox with lessons from the Royal Museums Greenwich: www.rmg.co.uk/stories/time...
What and when is the autumnal equinox?
When is the autumnal equinox, what date does the autumnal equinox fall on and when does summer end?
www.rmg.co.uk
September 22, 2025 at 11:45 AM
Happy Autumnal Equinox with lessons from the Royal Museums Greenwich: www.rmg.co.uk/stories/time...
Reposted by Mairi Cowan
Read "Sanctity, Solitude, and Society in Early Canada: The Life of Jeanne LeBer, Recluse of Ville-Marie (1662–1714)" by CMS Alumna, Laura Moncion, in 'The Catholic Historical Review', Volume 111, Number 3.
muse.jhu.edu/pub/16/artic...
muse.jhu.edu/pub/16/artic...
Project MUSE - Sanctity, Solitude, and Society in Early Canada: The Life of Jeanne LeBer, Recluse of Ville-Marie (1662–1714)
muse.jhu.edu
September 8, 2025 at 1:56 PM
Read "Sanctity, Solitude, and Society in Early Canada: The Life of Jeanne LeBer, Recluse of Ville-Marie (1662–1714)" by CMS Alumna, Laura Moncion, in 'The Catholic Historical Review', Volume 111, Number 3.
muse.jhu.edu/pub/16/artic...
muse.jhu.edu/pub/16/artic...
Reposted by Mairi Cowan
Dear #MedievalSky & #SkyStorians, could you help, please? I am looking for depictions of orcas from before 1700
I already know:
Olaus Magnus, Sebastian Münster, Pierre Belon, Guillaume Rondelet, Conrad Gessner, as well as the ones on bestiary.ca (s. pic) & the mural in Greifswald
Thanks in advance!
I already know:
Olaus Magnus, Sebastian Münster, Pierre Belon, Guillaume Rondelet, Conrad Gessner, as well as the ones on bestiary.ca (s. pic) & the mural in Greifswald
Thanks in advance!
September 9, 2025 at 6:18 AM
Dear #MedievalSky & #SkyStorians, could you help, please? I am looking for depictions of orcas from before 1700
I already know:
Olaus Magnus, Sebastian Münster, Pierre Belon, Guillaume Rondelet, Conrad Gessner, as well as the ones on bestiary.ca (s. pic) & the mural in Greifswald
Thanks in advance!
I already know:
Olaus Magnus, Sebastian Münster, Pierre Belon, Guillaume Rondelet, Conrad Gessner, as well as the ones on bestiary.ca (s. pic) & the mural in Greifswald
Thanks in advance!
This tree showing its back-to-school colours at the University of Toronto @utm.utoronto.ca @utoronto.ca
September 5, 2025 at 2:56 PM
This tree showing its back-to-school colours at the University of Toronto @utm.utoronto.ca @utoronto.ca
I love that one of the BBC's most popular podcasts among the under-35s is the one where a rotating cast of three academics sit around Melvyn Bragg to discuss their niche areas of research.
www.bbc.co.uk/mediacentre/...
www.bbc.co.uk/mediacentre/...
Melvyn Bragg decides to step down from presenting In Our Time
After 26 years on the programme, the legendary presenter bids farewell to the series
www.bbc.co.uk
September 3, 2025 at 8:59 PM
I love that one of the BBC's most popular podcasts among the under-35s is the one where a rotating cast of three academics sit around Melvyn Bragg to discuss their niche areas of research.
www.bbc.co.uk/mediacentre/...
www.bbc.co.uk/mediacentre/...
Happy Back-to-School to all who celebrate
September 2, 2025 at 11:07 AM
Happy Back-to-School to all who celebrate
Happy Labour Day and Happy September, whatever your labour of the month. (Here, gathering and treading grapes from Fitzwilliam Museum MS 1058-1975 Flanders, c. 1510-1520)
September 1, 2025 at 1:54 PM
Happy Labour Day and Happy September, whatever your labour of the month. (Here, gathering and treading grapes from Fitzwilliam Museum MS 1058-1975 Flanders, c. 1510-1520)
Reposted by Mairi Cowan
OOOOOOOOH, news of our third Jenny Wormald Lecture has dropped just in time for the weekend. Are you excited? See more information below:
www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/scottish-h...
www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/scottish-h...
Scottish Historical Review Trust: The 3rd Annual Jenny Wormald Lecture
Professor Elizabeth Ewan (University Of Guelph): 'Feuding in the Streets? Gender, Crime, and Conflict in Scottish Towns, c. 1500-1600'
www.eventbrite.co.uk
August 29, 2025 at 3:56 PM
OOOOOOOOH, news of our third Jenny Wormald Lecture has dropped just in time for the weekend. Are you excited? See more information below:
www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/scottish-h...
www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/scottish-h...