Dear Editor and Friends: Letters from Rural Women of the North-West, 1900-1920 Contributor(s): Lewis, Norah L. (Editor) |
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ISBN: 0889202877 ISBN-13: 9780889202870 Publisher: Wilfrid Laurier University Press OUR PRICE: $23.74 Product Type: Paperback - Other Formats Published: April 1998 |
Additional Information |
BISAC Categories: - Social Science | Women's Studies - Biography & Autobiography - History | Canada - General |
Dewey: 305.409 |
LCCN: 98166810 |
Series: Life Writing |
Physical Information: 184 pages |
Themes: - Sex & Gender - Feminine - Cultural Region - Canadian |
Descriptions, Reviews, Etc. |
Publisher Description: How did women in the early twentieth century, newly arrived in North-West Canada, cope with their strange new lives -- so very different from the lives they used to lead? How did they see themselves and their role in frontier life? In the early twentieth century, drawn west by the promise of free land, economic success or religious and political freedom, women moved from eastern Canada and overseas to farms and ranches in North-West Canada. They discovered that it was not the utopia touted by government propaganda or land agents. They also discovered that there was a select but diverse group of rural women who shared their common experiences of isolation, of hard work and duty, of poverty and neglect. But, more importantly, they shared knowledge of independence and self-reliance and of pride in what they had accomplished. Through letters written to the women's pages in agricultural newspapers, they forged a vital network that supported, encouraged and educated women in ways to improve their rural lives. Their letters show how these rural women made significant and vital contributions to the settlement and development of the Canadian North-West. |
Contributor Bio(s): Lewis, Norah L.: - Norah L. Lewis taught in the Faculty of Education at the University of British Columbia and in the Faculties of English at Jiaotong University, Shanghai, and at Zhongshan University, Canton. |