William Jenkins
Associate Professor
Office: Ross Building, S410
Phone: (416) 736-2100 Ext: 22488
Email: wjenkins@yorku.ca
Media Requests Welcome
Accepting New Graduate Students
I am a social and economic historian whose primary research interest lies in the immigration of Irish men, women and children to Canada and the United States between 1815 and 1914.
I am a social and economic historian whose primary research interest lies in the immigration of Irish men, women and children to Canada and the United States between 1815 and 1914. I also have research and teaching interests in Irish history in the 19th and 20th centuries, urban history, global and transnational history, and histories of nationalism.
Degrees
PhD, University of TorontoMA, National University of Ireland (UCD)
BA, National University of Ireland (UCD)
Appointments
Faculty of Graduate StudiesProfessional Leadership
President, Canadian Association for Irish Studies, 2021-present
Corey Book Prize Panel Member (Canadian Historical Association & American Historical Association)
Interim Director, City Institute, York University, 2020-21
Director of the Graduate Program in History, York University, 2012-2015.
Community Contributions
BBC-Northern Ireland, Family Footsteps, interviewed about an Irish immigrant family (the Farnons) whose children went on to make significant contributions to the worlds of composing, conducting, and acting, 2022.
BBC-Northern Ireland, Brave New World: Canada, interviewed about the relationship between immigration from the north of Ireland (Ulster) and the spread of lodges of the Orange Order in Toronto in the 19th and 20th centuries, 2015.
Wanted Media (Toronto), historical consultant for a short film written and directed by Mark Magro, entitled Reflections in the Emerald Isle, 30 minutes, released 2013.
Research Interests
- York University Research Leader - 2015-16
- Clio Book Prize (Ontario), Canadian Historical Association - 2014
- James S. Donnelly Sr. Prize, American Conference for Irish Studies - 2014
- Joseph Brant Award, Ontario Historical Society - 2013
- Geographical Society of Ireland Book Award - 2013-15
Introduction – “A Calamity to the Province”, in William Jenkins (ed) Canada and the Great Irish Famine, McGill-Queen's University Press.
Making Space for the Irish: Toronto Before and After the 1847 Migration, in William Jenkins (ed) Canada and the Great Irish Famine, McGill-Queen's University Press.
“Strange and Belligerent Factions”: Irish Immigrants and Social Conflict in Nineteenth-Century Ontario, in Paul Huddie, Cathal Billings, and Arlene Crampsie (eds) New Perspectives on Conflict and Ireland and the Irish Diaspora in the Nineteenth Century, Liverpool University Press.
“Such Bastard Despotism”: Fenian Views of Canadian Confederation, in Jacqueline Krikorian, Marcel Martel, and Adrian Shubert (eds.) Globalizing Confederation: Canada and the World in 1867 (Toronto: University of Toronto Press), 61-78.
“Two Irelands Beyond the Sea”: Exploring Long-Distance Loyalist Networks in the 1880s, in Mary Gilmartin and Allen White (eds.) Migrations: Ireland in A Global World (Manchester: Manchester University Press), 36-54.
Poverty and Place: Documenting and Representing Toronto’s Catholic Irish, 1845-1890 in Patrick J. Duffy and William Nolan (eds.) At the Anvil: Essays in Honour of William J. Smyth (Dublin: Geography Publications), 477-511.
Ulster Transplanted: Irish Protestants, Everyday Life and Constructions of Identity in Late Victorian Toronto in Mervyn Busteed, Jonathan Tonge and Frank Neal (eds.) Irish Protestant Identities (Manchester: Manchester University Press), 200-220.
Views from the ‘Hub of the Empire’: Loyal Orange Lodges in early 20th century Toronto in David A. Wilson (ed.) The Orange Order in Canada (Dublin: Four Courts Press), 128-145
"Locating Irishness in the “Belfast of this Great Dominion”, Toronto 1841-1926," Journal of American Ethnic History vol. 44, no. 1: 135-58.
Creating “A Great Ireland in America”: Reading and Remembrance in Buffalo, New York, 1872-1888, Historical Geography, 42: 184-204.
Homeland Crisis and Local Ethnicity: the Toronto Irish and the Evening Telegram, 1910-1914, Urban History Review, 38: 48-63.
Remapping “Irish America”: Circuits, Places, Performances, Journal of American Ethnic History, 28, 90-99.
In Search of the Lace Curtain: Residential Mobility, Class Transformation and Everyday Practice among Buffalo’s Irish 1880-1910, Journal of Urban History, 35: 970-997.
Identity, Space and the Political Mobilization of Urban Minorities: Comparative Perspectives on Irish Catholics in Buffalo and Toronto c. 1880-1910, Environment and Planning D: Society and Space, 25, 160-86.
Deconstructing Diasporas: Networks and Identities among Irish Migrants in Buffalo and Toronto 1870-1910, Immigrants and Minorities, 23, 359-98.
Capitalists and Co-operators: Agricultural Transformation, Contested Space, and Identity Politics in South Tipperary, Ireland 1890-1914, Journal of Historical Geography, 30, 88-112.
Patrolmen and Peelers: Immigration, Urban Culture, and the ‘Irish Police’ in Canada and the United States, Canadian Journal of Irish Studies, 28/29, 10-29.
Between the Lodge and the Meeting-House: Mapping Irish Protestant Identities and Social Worlds in late Victorian Toronto, Social and Cultural Geography, 4, 75-98.
In the Shadow of a Grain Elevator: A Portrait of an Irish Neighborhood in Buffalo, New York, in the Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries, Éire-Ireland, 37, 14-38.
Current Courses
| Term | Course Number | Section | Title | Type |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fall 2025 | GS/HIST5532 3.0 | A | The North American Immigrant Experience | SEMR |
| Fall/Winter 2025 | AP/HIST3460 6.0 | A | The Shaping of Modern Ireland | LECT |
Upcoming Courses
| Term | Course Number | Section | Title | Type |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Winter 2026 | AP/HIST3891 3.0 | M | Urban Environments in North America | LECT |
| Fall/Winter 2025 | AP/HIST3460 6.0 | A | The Shaping of Modern Ireland | LECT |
I am a social and economic historian whose primary research interest lies in the immigration of Irish men, women and children to Canada and the United States between 1815 and 1914.
I am a social and economic historian whose primary research interest lies in the immigration of Irish men, women and children to Canada and the United States between 1815 and 1914. I also have research and teaching interests in Irish history in the 19th and 20th centuries, urban history, global and transnational history, and histories of nationalism.
Degrees
PhD, University of TorontoMA, National University of Ireland (UCD)
BA, National University of Ireland (UCD)
Appointments
Faculty of Graduate StudiesProfessional Leadership
President, Canadian Association for Irish Studies, 2021-present
Corey Book Prize Panel Member (Canadian Historical Association & American Historical Association)
Interim Director, City Institute, York University, 2020-21
Director of the Graduate Program in History, York University, 2012-2015.
Community Contributions
BBC-Northern Ireland, Family Footsteps, interviewed about an Irish immigrant family (the Farnons) whose children went on to make significant contributions to the worlds of composing, conducting, and acting, 2022.
BBC-Northern Ireland, Brave New World: Canada, interviewed about the relationship between immigration from the north of Ireland (Ulster) and the spread of lodges of the Orange Order in Toronto in the 19th and 20th centuries, 2015.
Wanted Media (Toronto), historical consultant for a short film written and directed by Mark Magro, entitled Reflections in the Emerald Isle, 30 minutes, released 2013.
Research Interests
Awards
- York University Research Leader - 2015-16
- Clio Book Prize (Ontario), Canadian Historical Association - 2014
- James S. Donnelly Sr. Prize, American Conference for Irish Studies - 2014
- Joseph Brant Award, Ontario Historical Society - 2013
- Geographical Society of Ireland Book Award - 2013-15
All Publications
Introduction – “A Calamity to the Province”, in William Jenkins (ed) Canada and the Great Irish Famine, McGill-Queen's University Press.
Making Space for the Irish: Toronto Before and After the 1847 Migration, in William Jenkins (ed) Canada and the Great Irish Famine, McGill-Queen's University Press.
“Strange and Belligerent Factions”: Irish Immigrants and Social Conflict in Nineteenth-Century Ontario, in Paul Huddie, Cathal Billings, and Arlene Crampsie (eds) New Perspectives on Conflict and Ireland and the Irish Diaspora in the Nineteenth Century, Liverpool University Press.
“Such Bastard Despotism”: Fenian Views of Canadian Confederation, in Jacqueline Krikorian, Marcel Martel, and Adrian Shubert (eds.) Globalizing Confederation: Canada and the World in 1867 (Toronto: University of Toronto Press), 61-78.
“Two Irelands Beyond the Sea”: Exploring Long-Distance Loyalist Networks in the 1880s, in Mary Gilmartin and Allen White (eds.) Migrations: Ireland in A Global World (Manchester: Manchester University Press), 36-54.
Poverty and Place: Documenting and Representing Toronto’s Catholic Irish, 1845-1890 in Patrick J. Duffy and William Nolan (eds.) At the Anvil: Essays in Honour of William J. Smyth (Dublin: Geography Publications), 477-511.
Ulster Transplanted: Irish Protestants, Everyday Life and Constructions of Identity in Late Victorian Toronto in Mervyn Busteed, Jonathan Tonge and Frank Neal (eds.) Irish Protestant Identities (Manchester: Manchester University Press), 200-220.
Views from the ‘Hub of the Empire’: Loyal Orange Lodges in early 20th century Toronto in David A. Wilson (ed.) The Orange Order in Canada (Dublin: Four Courts Press), 128-145
"Locating Irishness in the “Belfast of this Great Dominion”, Toronto 1841-1926," Journal of American Ethnic History vol. 44, no. 1: 135-58.
Creating “A Great Ireland in America”: Reading and Remembrance in Buffalo, New York, 1872-1888, Historical Geography, 42: 184-204.
Homeland Crisis and Local Ethnicity: the Toronto Irish and the Evening Telegram, 1910-1914, Urban History Review, 38: 48-63.
Remapping “Irish America”: Circuits, Places, Performances, Journal of American Ethnic History, 28, 90-99.
In Search of the Lace Curtain: Residential Mobility, Class Transformation and Everyday Practice among Buffalo’s Irish 1880-1910, Journal of Urban History, 35: 970-997.
Identity, Space and the Political Mobilization of Urban Minorities: Comparative Perspectives on Irish Catholics in Buffalo and Toronto c. 1880-1910, Environment and Planning D: Society and Space, 25, 160-86.
Deconstructing Diasporas: Networks and Identities among Irish Migrants in Buffalo and Toronto 1870-1910, Immigrants and Minorities, 23, 359-98.
Capitalists and Co-operators: Agricultural Transformation, Contested Space, and Identity Politics in South Tipperary, Ireland 1890-1914, Journal of Historical Geography, 30, 88-112.
Patrolmen and Peelers: Immigration, Urban Culture, and the ‘Irish Police’ in Canada and the United States, Canadian Journal of Irish Studies, 28/29, 10-29.
Between the Lodge and the Meeting-House: Mapping Irish Protestant Identities and Social Worlds in late Victorian Toronto, Social and Cultural Geography, 4, 75-98.
In the Shadow of a Grain Elevator: A Portrait of an Irish Neighborhood in Buffalo, New York, in the Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries, Éire-Ireland, 37, 14-38.
Current Courses
| Term | Course Number | Section | Title | Type |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fall 2025 | GS/HIST5532 3.0 | A | The North American Immigrant Experience | SEMR |
| Fall/Winter 2025 | AP/HIST3460 6.0 | A | The Shaping of Modern Ireland | LECT |
Upcoming Courses
| Term | Course Number | Section | Title | Type |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Winter 2026 | AP/HIST3891 3.0 | M | Urban Environments in North America | LECT |
| Fall/Winter 2025 | AP/HIST3460 6.0 | A | The Shaping of Modern Ireland | LECT |
