Joy Parr

{{Infobox academic

| honorific_prefix =

| name = Joy Parr

| honorific_suffix = {{post-nominals|country=CAN|FRSC|size=100%}}

| birth_name =

| birth_date = {{birth year|1949}}

| birth_place = Toronto, Ontario, Canada

| death_date = {{death date and age|2024|05|12|1949}}

| death_place = Southampton, Ontario, Canada

| alma_mater = {{ubl|McGill University|Yale University}}

| discipline = History

| sub_discipline = {{ubl|Labour history|Gender history|History of technology}}

| workplaces = {{ubl|University of Western Ontario|Simon Fraser University|Queen's University}}

| awards = {{ubl|Sir John A. Macdonald Prize (1991)|François-Xavier Garneau Medal (1995)|J. B. Tyrrell Historical Medal (2000)}}

}}

Joy Parr {{post-nominals|country=CAN|FRSC}} (1949 – 12 May 2024) was a Canadian historian. She was a professor at the University of Western Ontario and held a Tier 1 Canada Research Chair in Technology, Culture and Risk. She was known for her work in the fields of labour and gender history as well as the history of technology.{{Cite web |url=https://www.ssc.uwo.ca/research/crc/parrj.asp |title=Joy Parr |date=5 June 2008 |work=Faculty of Social Science |publisher=University of Western Ontario |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200720202537/https://www.ssc.uwo.ca/research/crc/parrj.asp |archive-date=20 July 2020 |access-date=31 May 2024}}

Life and career

Parr was born in 1949 in Toronto, Ontario,{{cite web |url=https://www.oxfordreference.com/view/10.1093/oi/authority.20110803100307707 |title=Joy Parr |work=Oxford Reference |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240531103840/https://www.oxfordreference.com/display/10.1093/oi/authority.20110803100307707 |archive-date=31 May 2024 |access-date=31 May 2024}} and received her Bachelor of Arts degree from McGill University in 1971 before moving on to graduate school at Yale University, where she received her PhD in 1977 under the supervision of Robin W. Winks. She has taught at several institutions in both Canada and the United States, including Yale, Queen's University, the University of British Columbia, and Simon Fraser University.{{Cite news |url=https://saugeentimes.com/southampton-resident-receives-prestigious-lifetime-achievement-award |title=Southampton resident receives prestigious lifetime achievement Award |date=23 October 2018 |last=Lindsay |first=Sandy |work=Saugeen Times |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240531104714/https://saugeentimes.com/southampton-resident-receives-prestigious-lifetime-achievement-award/ |archive-date=31 May 2024 |access-date=31 May 2024}}{{Cite news |url=https://www.theglobeandmail.com/arts/the-national-nerds-club/article25465696/ |title=The national nerd's club |date=30 June 2000 |author=Tertius |work=The Globe and Mail |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240531105754/https://www.theglobeandmail.com/arts/the-national-nerds-club/article25465696/ |archive-date=31 May 2024 |access-date=31 May 2024}}

Parr died in Southampton, Ontario on May 12, 2024.{{cite web |url=https://www.legacy.com/ca/obituaries/theglobeandmail/name/joy-parr-obituary?id=55228738 |title=Joy Parr |date=31 May 2024 |work=The Globe and Mail |via=Legacy.com |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240531102820/https://www.legacy.com/ca/obituaries/theglobeandmail/name/joy-parr-obituary?id=55228738 |archive-date=31 May 2024 |access-date=31 May 2024}}{{cite web |url=https://www.queensu.ca/history/news-and-events/news/joy-parr-former-queens-history-professor-passes-away |title=Joy Parr, former Queen's History professor, passes away |date=16 May 2024 |work=Department of History |publisher=Queen's University |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240531103106/https://www.queensu.ca/history/news-and-events/news/joy-parr-former-queens-history-professor-passes-away |archive-date=31 May 2024 |access-date=31 May 2024}}

Awards

Parr won numerous awards and distinctions over the course of her career. She was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada in 1992,{{cite web |url=https://www.president.uwo.ca/honour_roll/faculty/research/royal_society_recipients.html |title=Royal Society of Canada Fellows |work=Office of the President |publisher=University of Western Ontario |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240531105424/https://www.president.uwo.ca/honour_roll/faculty/research/royal_society_recipients.html |archive-date=31 May 2024 |access-date=31 May 2024}} and in 2000 became the first woman to win the Society's prestigious J. B. Tyrell Historical Medal for outstanding work in the history of Canada.{{Cite web |url=https://rsc-src.ca/en/awards-excellence/past-award-winners |title=Past Award Winners |work=Royal Society of Canada |date=21 October 2018 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240531105104/https://rsc-src.ca/en/awards-excellence/past-award-winners |archive-date=31 May 2024 |access-date=31 May 2024}}She was the recipient of the 1991 Sir John A. Macdonald Prize (now the CHA Best Scholarly Book in Canadian History Prize) for the best book in Canadian history from the Canadian Historical Association for her book The Gender of Breadwinners, which also won the Association's 1995 François-Xavier Garneau Medal.{{Cite web |url=https://cha-shc.ca/prize-winner/joy-parr-2/ |title=Joy Parr |work=Canadian Historical Association |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240531110052/https://cha-shc.ca/prize-winner/joy-parr-2/ |archive-date=31 May 2024 |access-date=31 May 2024}} Her 2010 book Sensing Changes was awarded both the Canada Prize from the Canadian Federation for the Humanities and Social Sciences and the Edelstein Prize from the Society for the History of Technology (SHOT).{{Cite web |url=https://www.ideas-idees.ca/issues/canada-prizes/archives |title=Archives: Canada Prizes |work=Canadian Federation for the Humanities and Social Sciences |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210815075846/https://www.ideas-idees.ca/issues/canada-prizes/archives |archive-date=15 August 2021 |access-date=31 May 2024}}{{Cite web |url=https://news.westernu.ca/2011/11/parr-nabs-edelstein-prize-latest-honour-for-sensing-changes/ |title=Parr nabs Edelstein Prize, latest honour for 'Sensing Changes' |date= 24 November 2011 |last=Mayne |first=Paul |work=Western News |publisher=University of Western Ontario |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240531110723/https://news.westernu.ca/2011/11/parr-nabs-edelstein-prize-latest-honour-for-sensing-changes/ |archive-date=31 May 2024 |access-date=31 May 2024}} In 2018, SHOT awarded Parr the Leonardo da Vinci Medal for lifetime achievement, noting that "Parr has played an important role in redefining the field of history of technology internationally, in inspiring a younger generation to engage with the field, and in building a vibrant community in Canada and beyond." Parr is also the namesake for the Joy Parr Envirotech Travel Award from SHOT.{{Cite web |url=https://www.envirotechhistory.org/awards-and-prizes/the-joy-parr-envirotech-travel-award/ |title=The Joy Parr Envirotech Travel Award |work=Envirotech |publisher=Society for the History of Technology |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240531110821/https://www.envirotechhistory.org/awards-and-prizes/the-joy-parr-envirotech-travel-award/ |archive-date=31 May 2024 |access-date=31 May 2024}}

Selected works

{{cite book |title=Labouring Children: British Immigrant Apprentices to Canada, 1869-1924 |date=1980 |publisher=McGill-Queens University Press |isbn=978-0-85664-898-4}}
{{cite book |title=The Gender of Breadwinners: Women, Men, and Change in Two Industrial Towns, 1880-1950 |date=1990 |publisher=University of Toronto Press |isbn=978-0-8020-6760-9}}
{{cite journal |title=Gender history and historical practice |journal=Canadian Historical Review |date=September 1995 |volume=76 |issue=3 |pages=354–376 |doi=10.3138/CHR-076-03-03|last1=Parr |first1=Joy |s2cid=162448329 }}
{{cite book |title=A Diversity of Women: Ontario, 1945-1980 |date=1995 |publisher=University of Toronto Press |isbn=978-0-8020-2615-6}}
{{cite journal |title=What makes washday less blue? Gender, nation, and technology choice in postwar Canada |journal=Technology and Culture |date=January 1997 |volume=38 |issue=1 |pages=153–186|doi=10.2307/3106787|jstor=3106787 |last1=Parr |first1=Joy |s2cid=147539838 }}
{{cite book|last=Parr|first=Joy|title=Domestic Goods: The Material, the Moral, and the Economic in the Postwar Years|date=1999|publisher=University of Toronto Press|isbn=978-0-8020-4097-8|language=en}}
{{cite book |title=Sensing Changes: Technologies, Environments, and the Everyday, 1953-2003 |date=2010 |publisher=UBC Press |isbn=978-0-7748-1723-3}}