Dr. Wilson’s interest in rural history (Ontario in particular) began when she participated in the Huron County Oral History project, shifted to immigration and settlement, and now focuses on family strategies for maintaining a life on the land in the 19th and 20th centuries. Her current Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council-funded project explores reciprocal work bees (barn raising, quilting bees, threshing bees, etc.) using Ontario farm diaries. It seeks to understand the creation, maintenance and definition of neighbourhood, its practical workings and imagined states. It deepens our understanding of, and challenges, the much romanticized « pioneer days ». Wilson is also the coordinator of the Rural History Roundtable speaker series.