Metadata
Title
George Colpitts, PhD
Category
graduate
UUID
6640194395ed4630b6f783b4114393a1
Source URL
https://grad.ucalgary.ca/future-students/supervisor/george-colpitts
Parent URL
https://grad.ucalgary.ca/future-students/graduate/discover-opportunities/explore...
Crawl Time
2026-03-24T03:40:11+00:00
Rendered Raw Markdown

George Colpitts, PhD

Source: https://grad.ucalgary.ca/future-students/supervisor/george-colpitts Parent: https://grad.ucalgary.ca/future-students/graduate/discover-opportunities/explore-programs/history-ma-thesis

George Colpitts, PhD

PhD in History, with Specialization in Environmental History University of Alberta/ Canada University of Calgary/ Canada


Areas of Research

Environmental History\ Human encounters within wild biota, the changing meaning of wildlife , and how humanity has interacted with, found inspiration in, and frequently traded as commodities the wild things around them. My research has included studies of furbearing animals, bears and animal diseases, animals in national parks and trout conservation.

Canadian History\ Pre and Post Confederation History; political, economic and social history

Western Canada\ Fur trade era, Territorial Western Canada, and provincial histories of Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba

Indigenous People, Cultural Exchange and the Fur Trade\ Northern Great Plains Indigenous people and environments, foodways, the impact of historical climate change; and flows of environmental knowledge in the fur trade.

Fur, Modernity and Industrialized relations\ 20th century fur companies, cash, modern consumerism and changing markets in Northern Canada; industrialized fur manufacture and mass marketing in the 20th century, fur as a national staple and consumer products such as the fur coat. My current SSHRC-funded research examines Indigenous transactions with fur trade posts in accounting daybooks, examining credit, debit, straight barter and gift transactions.

Treaty Trade, the State, and Business History\ My last SSHRC-funded research examined the cultural, social and economic impact of treaty cash bonuses and annuities paid in Western Canada in the 19th and early 20th centuries, indigenous annuity cash circulating in early town economies, and its redistribution among treaty people.

Supervising degrees

History - Doctoral: Accepting Inquiries

History - Masters: Accepting Inquiries

History - Masters: Accepting Inquiries

More information

http://hist.ucalgary.ca/profiles/george-colpitts

Working with this supervisor

I welcome applicants who want to push our boundaries of historical knowledge, apply new methods and ask new questions about the people and environments in Canada. I am particularly interested, but not limited to, topics in environmental and Indigenous history, the functioning of the Canadian state in respect to environmental and conservation policies, parks history, consumerism and business history.

Contact this supervisor

Complete the following form if you are interested in working with this supervisor for your Graduate Program. All fields are required, unless indicated otherwise.

Name

Email

Which degree are you interested in pursuing? - Select -History - DoctoralHistory - Masters

Provide a brief overview of your research background and funding you've received.

Why do you want to work with this supervisor?

This question is for testing whether or not you are a human visitor and to prevent automated spam submissions.

Collection of personal information\ Your personal information is collected under the authority of section 33(c) of the Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act. If you have any questions about the collection or use of this information, please visit our Access to Information page.