Gordon Goldsborough

Gordon Goldsborough Click to enlarge

Environmental scientist, educator, historian.

Email: gordon@mhs.mb.ca

A member of the Department of Biological Sciences at the University of Manitoba, prior to moving to the University in 1996, he worked for seven years at Brandon University and four years at the University of Alberta in Edmonton. He has also been employed as a Research Scientist by the Manitoba Department of Environment.

He researches the impacts of humans on the aquatic environment, water quality, and the ecology of plants and algae in wetlands and lakes. He has published articles in scientific journals and has contributed to three scientific books. He is a member of the Society of Wetland Scientists. He was a member of the Lake Manitoba Regulation Review Advisory Committee (2001-2004), founding Chair of the Lake Manitoba Stewardship Board (2007-2012), a member of the Lake Manitoba Lake St. Martin Regulation Review Committee (2011-2013), member (2007-2014) and Chair (2014-2018) of the Manitoba Water Council, and member of the International Red River Board of the Canada-US International Joint Commission (2003-2018).

As an active member of the Manitoba Historical Society, he has served as its Vice-President (2003-2004, 2017-2019), President (2004-2006, 2019-2022), Past-President (2006-2008, 2022-present), Secretary (2010-2013), member and Chair of the Management Committee for Dalnavert Museum (2004-2010), Pageant Editor and Production Coordinator of Manitoba History and its successor Prairie History (2005-present), and Webmaster (2003-present). He has also served as a member of the City of Winnipeg’s Historical Buildings and Resources Committee (2017-2019), Heritage Committee of Engineers Geoscientists Manitoba (2014-present), Legislative Building Restoration and Preservation Advisory Committee (2019-2021), and Secretary of the Board for the Manitoba Agricultural Museum (2017-present). He does a weekly column “Abandoned Manitoba” on the CBC Radio 1 Weekend Morning Show (2015-present) and contributed weekly columns “This Old Elevator” and “The Past Lane” to the Manitoba Co-operator (2015-present).

He has written four books: With One Voice, A History of Municipal Governance in Manitoba (2008), Delta: A Prairie Marsh and Its People (2015, co-written with Glen Suggett), Abandoned Manitoba (2016), and More Abandoned Manitoba (2018). The latter won the 2019 McNally Robinson Book of the Year Award. His fifth book, due in October 2013, is On the Road to Abandoned Manitoba.

His community service has been recognized by a Queen Elizabeth Silver Jubilee Medal (1977), University of Manitoba Outreach Award (2001), Douglas Kemp Award (2009), Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal (2012), and Queen Elizabeth II Platinum Jubilee Medal (2022). He was inducted into the Order of Manitoba (2021).

Goldsborough at the site of Samuel Hearne’s signature on a rock at Sloop Cove near Churchill (1983)
Source: Maria Zbigniewicz

His articles for the Manitoba Historical Society:

Reginald Buller: The Poet-Scientist of Mushroom City
Manitoba History, Number 47, Spring/Summer 2004

Science Comes to Manitoba
Manitoba History, Number 47, Spring/Summer 2004

President’s Message - Introduction
Keywords, Volume 36, Number 6, August/September 2004

President’s Message - Publish or Perish
Keywords, Volume 37, Number 1, October/November 2004

President’s Message - Active Membership
Keywords, Volume 37, Number 2, December 2004 / January 2005

President’s Message - Let’s Talk!
Time Lines, Volume 37, Number 3, February/March 2005

President’s Message - History in the Privacy Age
Time Lines, Volume 37, Number 4, April/May 2005

A Thousand Words: The Yukon Party from Manitoba
Manitoba History, Number 49, June 2005

President’s Message - Digitized Books Versus Digital Books
Time Lines, Volume 37, Number 5, June/July 2005

President’s Message - Living History
Time Lines, Volume 37, Number 6, August/September 2005

A Thousand Words: Winnipeg’s Silent Film Star
Manitoba History, Number 50, October 2005

President’s Message - Visual History
Time Lines, Volume 38, Number 1, October/November 2005

President’s Message - The Inaccessible Information Age
Time Lines, Volume 38, Number 2, December 2005 / January 2006

A Union of Manitoba Municipalities
Manitoba History, Number 51, February 2006

President’s Message - The Benefits of Membership
Time Lines, Volume 38, Number 3, February/March 2006

President’s Message - Let’s Work Together
Time Lines, Volume 38, Number 4, April-June 2006

Greening the Treeless Plain
Manitoba History, Number 53, October 2006

Review: Christine Mazur, Simon Statkewich, and David Relkoff, eds., Manitoba Climbers: A Century of Stories from the Birthplace of The Alpine Club of Canada
Manitoba History, Number 53, October 2006

Review: Ted Stone, The Story Behind Manitoba Names: How Cities, Towns, Villages and Whistle Stops Got Their Names (PDF)
Time Lines, Volume 39, Number 1, November/December 2006

Victorian Virtual Reality
Manitoba History, Number 54, February 2007

MHS Resources: Manitoba in 3D

Greetings from Winnipeg: Views of a Changing City
Manitoba History, Number 55, June 2007

Long-Term Trends in the Water Quality of Killarney Lake
Manitoba History, Number 55, June 2007

Review: Cliff White and E. J. (Ted) Hart, The Lens of Time: A Repeat Photography of Landscape Change in the Canadian Rockies
Manitoba History, Number 57, February 2008

HSI: Historical Scene Investigation
Manitoba History, Number 58, June 2008

Manitoba’s War on Wildlife
Manitoba History, Number 59, October 2008

MHS Historical Features: Winnipeg: Then and Now

Manitobans As They Saw 'Em - 1909
Manitoba History, Number 64, Fall 2010

A Remedy for Wooden Legs and Dead Hands: The Early Years of the Winnipeg Foundation
Manitoba History, Number 66, Spring 2011

“Fresh Air for Kiddies”: The Fresh Air Camps of Lake Winnipeg
Manitoba History, Number 66, Spring 2011

Roblin City: A Gleaming Metropolis on the Bay
Manitoba History, Number 68, Spring 2012

Queen Elizabeth’s Diamond Jubilee in Manitoba
Manitoba History, Number 69, Summer 2012

Historic Sites of Manitoba: Manitoba’s Concrete Block Buildings
Manitoba History, Number 72, Spring-Summer 2013

Historic Sites of Manitoba: Manitoba’s Historic Bridges
Manitoba History, Number 73, Fall 2013

Historic Sites of Manitoba: Manitoba’s Historic One-Room Schoolhouses
Manitoba History, Number 74, Winter 2014

Historic Sites of Manitoba: Manitoba’s Military Monuments
Manitoba History, Number 76, Fall 2014

Historic Sites of Manitoba: The Postage Stamp Province
Manitoba History, Number 78, Summer 2015

Dan Bain: The Squire of Delta Marsh
Manitoba History, Number 80, Spring 2016

Historic Sites of Manitoba: Rise of the Concrete Giants
Manitoba History, Number 81, Summer 2016

Historic Sites of Manitoba: The Grain Elevator Countdown
Manitoba History, Number 85, Fall 2017

Abandoned Manitoba: Winnipeg’s Carnegie Library
Manitoba History, Number 88, Winter 2018

Editorial: The State of Heritage in Manitoba: A Call to Action
Prairie History, Number 9, Fall 2022

Review: Terry Dann, Land Title: A Novel of the Prairies
Prairie History, Number 9, Fall 2022

MHS Resources: Manitoba Bricks and Blocks

Page revised: 4 May 2023