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Greg Thomas
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Historian, administrator.
Email: gazette@prairiehistory.net
Born and raised in Edmonton, Alberta, the son of a university history professor, his introduction to Canadian history came during his years at St. Johns Ravenscourt in the late 1960s. A wonderful history teacher named Tom Bredin instilled in him a life-long interest in Canada’s past. After graduating from St. Johns Ravenscourt in 1969, Greg entered the University of Alberta where he pursued an Honours Degree in Canadian History and Economics. Lured by the climate and the opportunity to play rugby year-round, he proceeded to Vancouver in 1973 where he completed his Masters Degree in History in 1976.
During his graduate years Greg had been engaged by Parks Canada to do a survey of Alberta’s historic ranches. This introduction to the public service led to a job offer as a Parks Canada historian located in Winnipeg. Since 1976, Greg has lived and worked in the city. His early work for Parks Canada focussed upon the fur trade sites such as Lower Fort Garry, York Factory, and Prince of Wales Fort. He then moved on to positions in the Interpretation and Planning divisions before becoming the Manager of Cultural Resources Services in the Western Canada Service Centre. This position involves overseeing a number of professional functions, which include history, archaeology, resource conservation, and collection management. This group of professionals provides services to national historic sites and national historic parks throughout western and northern Canada. He retired in 2011.
Shortly after arriving in Winnipeg, Greg joined the Manitoba Historical Society and became involved in its different programs. For many years he was the Chair of the Ross House Committee and led the process, which led to the relocation of Ross House from Higgins Avenue to its current location in Point Douglas. He joined the executive of the Historical Society in the early 1980s and eventually served as President from 1986 to 1988. He has also been involved in other facets of Manitoba’s heritage community. Since 1988 he has been a member of the Forks Heritage Advisory Committee. He has also been a long-time member of the Historic Winnipeg Advisory Committee which provides direction to the City of Winnipeg on developments within the Historic Exchange district. In 2003 Greg was appointed as a federal representative on the City of Winnipeg Historic Buildings Committee. He is presently the Manitoba Governor on the Heritage Canada Foundation.
Greg is married to Sheila Grover, a fellow historian, and they reside in St. Vital. Greg continues to so some historic research and writing as a hobby.
His articles for the Manitoba Historical Society:
An Interview with Moses Neepin
Manitoba History, Number 5, 1983Review: Debra Lindsay (editor), The Modern Beginnings of Subarctic Ornithology, Northern Correspondence with the Smithsonian Institution, 1856-68
Manitoba History, Number 25, Spring 1993Review: Esyllt W. Jones and Gerald Friesen (editors), Prairie Metropolis: New Essays on Winnipeg Social History
Manitoba History, Number 65, Winter 2011Review: Dale Barbour, Winnipeg Beach: Leisure and Courtship in a Resort Town, 1900-1967
Manitoba History, Number 67, Winter 2012Review: Dan Azoulay, Hearts and Minds: Canadian Romance at the Dawn of the Modern Era, 1900-1930
Manitoba History, Number 68, Summer 2012Review: Reinhold Kramer and Tom Mitchell, When the State Trembled: How A. J. Andrews and the Citizens' Committee Broke the Winnipeg General Strike
Manitoba History, Number 71, Winter 2013Victoria Beach and the Cottage Experience: Early Years and Beyond
Manitoba History, Number 75, Summer 2014Reviews: Stefan Epp-Koop, We’re Going To Run This City, Winnipeg’s Political Left after the General Strike and Michael Dupuis, Winnipeg’s General Strike, Reports from the Front Lines
Manitoba History, Number 81, Summer 2016Exhibit Review: Strike 1919: A City Divided/La Greve De 1919: Ville Divisee
Manitoba History, Number 90, Fall 2019Time to Review our Commemoration Programs
Prairie History, Number 1, Winter 2020Review: M. Max Hamon, The Audacity of His Enterprise: Louis Riel and the Métis Nation That Canada Never Was, 1840-1875, McGill-Queen’s University Press, 2019
Prairie History, Number 2, Summer 2020Review: Wes Olson and Johane Janelle, The Ecological Buffalo: On The Trail of A Keystone Species, University of Regina Press, 2022
Prairie History, Number 10, Spring 2023
Page revised: 3 April 2023
