Position

Professor and Head
Chairman of Editorial Board: Newfoundland and Labrador Studies
Member: English Language Research Centre

Academics

• Ph.D. University of New Brunswick (1995)
• M.A. Memorial University (1987)
• B.A. Memorial University (1985)

Contact

Department of History
Memorial University of Newfoundland
St. John's, NL A1C 5S7
Email: Jeff.Webb@mun.ca
Phone: (709) 864 8420
Office: AA-4019

Research Interests

History of Newfoundland and Labrador; History of Social Studies and the Humanities; History of Mass Media; History of Atlantic Canada.

Current Research

Jeff Webb is a historian of Newfoundland and Labrador. His current research is a study of the MUN Art Gallery (later the Art Gallery of Newfoundland and Labrador), an institution that played an important role in the province in the second half of the twentieth century. This is part of a larger project in which Dr Webb has written on the cultural history of Newfoundland and Labrador, including the history of radio broadcasting, The Voice of Newfoundland, and the history of social science and humanities research on the island of Newfoundland, Observing the Outports. He has published on a range of political and social history topics in the twentieth century, and several essays that address eighteenth century English policy toward the Newfoundland fishery. Lastly, he is an expert on the history of Memorial University, particularly the role of the university’s media unit in community economic revitalization. That last project was the subject of the documentary “The Films of Fogo Island” which he produced and directed.

Early in his career Webb worked on two of the province’s most important archeological sites (the sixteenth century Basque whaling station in Red Bay, Labrador, and the seventeenth century Beothuk village in Boyd’s Cove, Notre Dame Bay). He has published widely in political history, and the history of such fields as lexicography, folklore and anthropology. Webb often uses both archival documents and oral history techniques in his work.

Student Supervision

Jeff Webb teaches courses in Canadian and Newfoundland and Labrador History, as well as courses in historical methodology and oral history methods. He has recently supervised graduate students in areas ranging from legal history, the history of resettlement, the history of sexuality, and the history of architecture.

Notable Publications

Books

• J Webb, Observing the Outports: Describing Newfoundland Culture, 1950-1980 (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2016).
• J Webb, The Voice of Newfoundland: A Social History of the Broadcasting Corporation of Newfoundland, 1939-1949 (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2008).

Articles

• J Webb, “The Rise and Fall of Memorial University’s Extension Service” Newfoundland and Labrador Studies 29:1, 2014.
• J Webb “Confederation, Conspiracy and Choice: A Discussion” Newfoundland Studies 14:2, 1998.
• J Webb, “A Few Fabulous Fragments: Historical Methods in James P Howley’s The Beothucks” Histoire social/Social History 50: 101, 2017.
• J Webb, “William Knox and the 18^th-Century Newfoundland Fishery” Acadiensis 44:1 2015.