Joy Parr

Joy Parr (1949 – 12 May 2024) was a Canadian historian. She was a professor at the University of Western Ontario and held a Tier 1 Canada Research Chair in Technology, Culture and Risk. She was known for her work in the fields of labour and gender history as well as the history of technology.

Life and career Parr was born in 1949 in Toronto, Ontario, and received her Bachelor of Arts degree from McGill University in 1971 before moving on to graduate school at Yale University, where she received her PhD in 1977 under the supervision of Robin W. Winks.

Parr died in Southampton, Ontario on May 12, 2024.

Awards Parr won numerous awards and distinctions over the course of her career. She was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada in 1992, and in 2000 became the first woman to win the Society's prestigious J. B. Tyrell Historical Medal for outstanding work in the history of Canada. Her 2010 book Sensing Changes was awarded both the Canada Prize from the Canadian Federation for the Humanities and Social Sciences and the Edelstein Prize from the Society for the History of Technology (SHOT). In 2018, SHOT awarded Parr the Leonardo da Vinci Medal for lifetime achievement, noting that "Parr has played an important role in redefining the field of history of technology internationally, in inspiring a younger generation to engage with the field, and in building a vibrant community in Canada and beyond."

Selected works