Producing Memory: Public History and Resistance in a Canadian Auto Town

Abstract

In a city forged by the automobile industry, public history and memory have been deeply shaped by the forces of automobile production. Homages to R.S. McLaughlin, who is widely celebrated as founding General Motors of Canada in Oshawa, Ontario, have powerfully informed public memory in the city. Yet Oshawa is also the site of a storied labour history that also deeply informs public memory, albeit largely through the medium of working-class oral histories.