The Extraordinary Meaning of Everyday Life: Joy Parr’s Pioneering Vision in the History of Technology

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Historians aren’t really made to be on film. Or at least not beyond a 15-second “talking head” clip in a documentary, and even then, we can be woefully thrown off-course. As a fan of Diane Morgan’s Philomena Cunk, I’m well-versed in the risks of historians on the screen. This is why I was both excited and terrified when I was asked to create a film about Joy Parr’s scholarly life and impact following her passing in 2024. 

Joy Parr was one of Canada’s leading historians, and she forged new epistemological frameworks and fields through her work in the history of childhood, gender, technology, and environment. She also didn’t like her photo being taken, and there is no film footage of her that I could have used to craft a visual tribute around. To solve these issues, I focused on Parr herself, being led by the work, and so too is the film I made with the help of a fantastic undergraduate student, Sedona Micale. 

Joy Parr

The brief for the film came from discussions with Professor Francesca Bray (University of Edinburgh) and Professor Suzanne Moon (University of Oklahoma), who worked alongside Parr within the Society for the History of Technology (SHOT) to create a more inclusive scholarly environment, specifically through the Women in Technological History (WITH) special interest group. These esteemed professors wanted something that profiled Parr’s legacy of inclusion and scholarship, and wanted me to showcase how scholars today continue to be influenced by her work. As an envirotech historian who was heavily influenced by Parr during our time working together on her Megaprojects website while I was doing my PhD, I wanted these contributors to show themselves “in the field” of their work, as Parr so often found herself. The film was intended to be premiered at SHOT’s annual meeting in Luxembourg in October 2025, when WITH was celebrating an anniversary. Suzanne Moon came up with the title, as Joy rightly always focused on everyday life as though it was just as important as the “big names” in history. 

Hiring Sedona in the summer of 2025, with the help of the Wilson Institute for Canadian History at McMaster University, was so crucial to this project, as she is already an experienced filmmaker and knows so much more about editing, pace of speech, and process than I do. Her father, Dusty Micale, is also an amazing musician, and graciously composed the score to the film. Indeed, the Micales made me feel like I was part of the family and we were on this journey together. I’m so grateful to all of them for their support and for the support of Greg Levine, Joy’s widower, who helped fund Sedona’s trip to SHOT and who provided endless insight and materials throughout the making of the film.

The film that emerged from these efforts, The Extraordinary Meaning of Everyday Life, is just lovely. Its premiere in Luxembourg was emotional, with audience members sharing their memories of Parr and the ways she influenced their own work after the screening. It’s an honest piece, and it profiles Parr’s work and legacy in ways I couldn’t even imagine when first asked to do this project. It’s housed on the Tributes page of Parr’s website, which her partner Greg worked so hard to revive, and I hope it’s a fitting tribute to the amazing scholar and person Joy was. This process made me reflect on the many ways I see Joy’s work influencing my own, most especially in her unapologetic commitment to showing how small Canadian communities speak to global historical patterns, changes, and connections. Please take some time to watch, reflect on, and remember the ways your scholarly heroes have influenced you, and the ways you can show them while they’re still alive. 

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Jessica van Horssen

I am an Associate Professor in the Department of History at McMaster University m. My research interests are in transnational environmental health and contamination, and I always seek to blend historical research with public engagement. I’m currently a Co-Investigator on the Mining Danger SSHRC Insight Grant, while also developing an augmented natures project. My monograph, A Town Called Asbestos: Environmental Change, Health, and Resilience in a Resource Community was published by UBC Press in 2016.

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