This seminar course provides students with an introduction to rural history, its themes, debates and sources, and insight into rural community and identity as they were formed and maintained through everyday life.  Students will meet in weekly seminars where they will discuss their research projects and discuss some of the best literature in the field.  Students will hone their skills in understanding how books and articles are written, how a thesis is developed and how authors make their work pertinent to the larger historical narrative. Students will also experience firsthand the pleasures and challenges of working with primary documents in two exciting projects.  This will develop the individual and teamwork skills associated with doing archival research, and planning and executing a public display.  They will do a research project using rural diaries or account books.  This final research essay will fine tune their research, analytical and writing skills, and teach them the value of micro-historical analysis in revising our understanding of larger narratives in Canadian Rural History.