Ida Martin and Saint John’s Working Class

Patrice Dutil talks with Michael Boudreau and Bonnie Huskins about what they discovered about working class culture in Saint John, New Brunswick in the post 1945 era. They discuss Ida Martin’s 50-year diary and what it reveals about her society. Ida Martin ideas about family, work, marriage, social solidarity, and politics are explored. Her diary demonstrates an active mind concerned with daily worries and small triumphs—the pleasures and pains of the life ordinary. Boudreau and Huskins both teach at St. Thomas University in New Brunswick and their book is entitled Their book is entitled Just the Usual Work: The Social Worlds of Ida Martin, Working Class Diarist (McGill-Queens University Press). This podcast was produced by Jessica Schmidt. If you like our work, please consider supporting it: https://bit.ly/support_WTY. Your support contributes to the Champlain Society’s mission of opening new windows to directly explore and experience Canada’s past.