Cynthia Comacchio

Cynthia R. Comacchio^[a] FRSC is a Canadian historian. She is a professor emerita at Wilfrid Laurier University and was named a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada in 2024.

Cynthia R. Comacchio FRSC
Born	Guelph, Ontario, Canada
Academic background
Education	BA, Glendon College MA, history, York University PhD, history, 1987, University of Guelph
Thesis	“The Infant Soldier”: The Great War and the Medical Campaign for Child Welfare (1988)
Academic work
Institutions	Wilfrid Laurier University

Early life and education

Comacchio was born in Guelph, Ontario, Canada, to an Italian family.^[1] She completed her Bachelor's degree at Glendon College, Master's degree at York University and her PhD at the University of Guelph.^[2]

Career

After finishing her PhD, Comacchio accepted an assistant professorship at Wilfrid Laurier University.^[3] She was eventually promoted to full professor in 2000.^[4] In this role, Comacchio received the 2002 Laurier Faculty Award for Teaching Excellence.^[5] After retiring in 2022,^[6] Comacchio was appointed editor of the Ontario History Journal.^[1] In 2024, Comacchio was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada for her "significant inroads into the historical cultures of the young."^[7]

Selected publications

• Ring Around the Maple: A Sociocultural History of Children and Childhoods in Canada, 19th and 20th Centuries (2024)
• The Dominion of Youth: Adolescence and the Making of Modern Canada, 1920 to 1950 (2008)
• The Infinite Bonds of Family: Domesticity in Canada, 1850-1940 (1999)
• Nations are Built of Babies: Saving Ontario’s Mothers and Children, 1900-1940 (1993)

Notes

1. She is sometimes cited as Cynthia R. Abeele