Beatrice Caroline Rowley (“R.H. Grenville”), 1917-2017

I did not post this last September, for personal reasons. Bea Rowley—R.H. Grenville—died on the 4th of September, 2017, in Victoria, BC. I received the news from her step-son, Charles, and daughter, Cathy, both of whom have been very helpful on our project. I have visited both Cathy in Toronto and Charles here in the Lower Mainland, and feel connected to their family through our work together. My sorrow was deepened in that Bea’s poetry spoke to me in a way that most of our poets’ works do not. So last year, I felt I could not write a encomium that appropriately expressed the complex combination of professional interest and personal appreciation that I have for Bea, her poetry, and her family. By October, it seemed too late, so here, on the first anniversary of her death, is my inadequate acknowledgement of Bea’s passing, and of our gratitude to her and her family.

* * * *

One of the interesting aspects of our project is that, because our dates of inclusion end at 1950, most of our authors are no longer with us. It is very special, then, to be able to speak to one of them on the telephone, as I have done with Beatrice Rowley back in the summer of 2011. At that time, she was rather flabbergasted that anyone would still be interested in her poetry. I like to think that over the past few years—as indeed emails with her step-son Charles and daughter Cathy have suggested—online interest in her poetry has helped her to understand the enduring legacy good poetry such as hers leaves.

“They say I’m a celebrity!” she grinningly told Cathy, who was with her on her 100th birthday in July. This was in response to letters from “the big shots,” as Cathy calls them, who wrote to congratulate her on reaching her centenary: the Queen, the Prime Minister, the Governor-General, the Lieutenant-Governor… As well as letters from these eminent people, Cathy read her mother poems from The Fountain in the Square, Bea’s only published book of poetry. It is not only in reaching 100 that Bea will be remembered, but for her contribution to Canadian literature, now made increasingly accessible

“I do not fear the dark, for what is night?
Only the shell that holds the pearl of light. (“Night Piece,” by RH Grenville)

Her work retains all those lovely qualities of genuine poetry that the moderns persist in rejecting: I mean poetry thought, clarity, imagery that we recognize as authentic, music, meaning, poignance, and a certain heart-breaking fathoming of the wonder and mystery of human life.” Archibald Rutledge, Foreword to Fountain in the Square

A sad goodbye: Lyn Cook (1918-2018)

On 15 July 2018, the day after children’s author Lyn Cook died, her son Christopher contacted us with the news. Evelyn Waddell, who wrote her children’s books as Lyn Cook and poetry as Margaret Culverhouse, was one of the few authors in our project who was still living when we began our digital revisions in 2008. I spoke to her a number of times on the phone, and exchanged emails with her regarding our work and specifically her entry, which she helped to write. At 95, the age she was when we last spoke, Evelyn was a bright, intelligent woman with a sharp sense of humour and a delight in sharing her life and thoughts with us.

When I visited Ontario in 2012, I was really upset that I did not have time to drive up to Port Hope, where she was living at the time with her daughter Deborah; it would have been fabulous to meet her in person. I was honoured that she and her family appreciated to our project sufficiently that they let us know so soon after her passing.

The following is her obituary, published in the Toronto Globe and Mail on 17 July 2018.

 

More about Isa Grindlay Jackson (1884-1981)

Isa Grindlay, c1918

The saga continues. The little we knew about Isa back at the beginning of the project was captured in her entry in the now-static database housed by the library at SFU. Our current entry, in addition to being far more thorough, is far more correct. But not as correct as we would like, it turns out.

The first set of changes occurred in about 2010, when the database at SFU was revised completely with the help of our diligent RAs, Linnea McNally and Alison McDonald. Our entry was recently revised as a result of questions posed by Dr. Samantha Philo-Gill, who wrote about the Women’s Army Auxiliary Corps in France during the First World War. That story is detailed in an earlier post. The influx of new information led to the updated version in the current project, but the story does not end there. More than the unravelling of biography that Dr. Philo-Gill and I managed, was the serendipitous discovery of our project by Jason Johnson, Isa Grindlay Jackson’s great-grandson.

On Canada Day, Jason commented on both our blog post about Isa and the digital copy of Ripples from the Ranks of the Q.M.A.A.C (1918). His kind offer of help (which I inferred from his comment that he had photos and publications of hers) was gratefully accepted. It turns out, too, that he lives only half-an-hour away, so last Sunday I visited for coffee and genealogy. When I arrived, he had laid out about 50 photos of Isa and her family, with stacks of documents and clipping neatly piled beside. I was in heaven! The only problem was, of course, that there is far too much information for us to include in what is already a more-or-less completed entry.

I am really hoping that Jason and his brother manage to find the time to go through, organize, or even catalogue the treasure trove of information about this author’s life. All of our authors are interesting, by virtue of being part of our Canadian literary history, but Isa Grindlay Jackson stands out. She lived a fascinating life, inhabiting a number of disparate spaces, reflected in her poetry and recorded in the diary that Jason has read and annotated.

Our entries list her movements, but do not delve into the deeper experiences of her life: in 1910, at the age of 26, she immigrated to the newly formed province of Alberta; lost a husband and enlisted in the WAAC in the First World War; homesteaded north of Edmonton through the Great Depression and the Second World War; and finally moved to Vancouver, where her second husband died in 1955 and she in 1981, almost reaching her centenary. Hidden within her biography is the fodder for an investigation into the intersection of her strength with the hardships she endured, one of so many women who both settled and wrote about Canada, and Canada’s place in the British Commonwealth, during the first half of the twentieth century. Isa Grindlay Jackson’s life and work would make a fabulous topic for a graduate thesis; were I at the beginning instead of nearing the end of my academic career, I would jump on this one. I’d love to see someone else take up this torch.

 

CEWW and DoCEWW launch, May 25th, 2018

It is with great joy that we are able to announce that as of today, May 25^th, 2018, we are up and live!

Canada’s Early Women Writers (CEWW)

The Canada’s Early Women Writers project at the Canadian Writing Research Collaboratory is now populated with the biographies and bibliographies of 730 female authors. Novelists, poets, journalists, scientists: our authors write in a number of genres, come from a multitude of social spaces and ethnicities, and have published in forums ranging from local newspapers to internationally recognized journals, from small family-owned presses to major players in the publication world.

The stories of these women, and of our delving into their histories, are fascinating. I have posted in the past about our research adventures, such as the discovery of Isa Grindlay Jackson’s peregrinations; or the mystery of nurse Jane Layhew, who married Northrop Frye’s cousin; or the rather convoluted history of Margaret Vance Rody’s one book of poetry, Gleanings (1925, 1931, 1942). The stories are myriad, and it is our privilege to share them with you all.

The Database of Canada’s Early Women Writers (DoCEWW)

At the outset of the project, our task was to find as many early Canadian women authors as possible, after which we would try to fill in the details for as many as we could. We were astonished to discover over 4800 Canadian women who published their first works in or before 1950.

We knew, though, that we would not be able to find biographical details for all 4800 authors, although bibliographical data was more likely to be comprehensive. In order not to lose what information we had amassed, with the assistance of the Digital Humanities Innovation Lab at the Simon Fraser University Library, we created a more extensive and yet simpler database: DoCEWW.

Where CEWW offers extensive bio-bibliographic entries, DoCEWW records each author’s name, alternative names, dates and places of birth and death, residences, titles written, and collections and periodicals contributed to.

While DoCEWW already contains some 4800 authors, the list is not yet comprehensive, so if you know of any other authors to include, or have information to add or corrections to make, please contact us! Neither of our projects would be half as rich without the help of the online community.

 

So thank you all!

Our heartfelt thanks go out to all of the relatives, and friends, and academics who have shared their knowledge and research and family stories with us. This is what our project is all about: sharing stories and information and making sure the women who helped build Canada’s literary world are not forgotten.

Here is the list of some of the wonderful people who have assisted us; if you should be on here and are not, please contact me so I can rectify the omission.

A. Elizabeth McKim
A.M.D. McWilliam
Ajai Khattri
Alan Kultschar
Anita Birt
Annette Fulford
Arthur W.F. Barrett
Ashley Armsworthy
Beatrice Rowley
Beverlee (Croft) Nelson
Bill Wills
Brenda Hattie
Brian Busby
Bruce Gordon
Cairine Macdonald
Callie Stacey
Carol Fraser
Carolyn Brown
Cathy Rowley
Charles Rowley
Chris Boggs
Christine Kilpatrick
Christine Owen
Coral Ann Howells
Daniel Madden
Daphne Biggs
David Mawhinney
David Reed
Debra Martens
Dennis Brooks
Diana Birchall
Dorian Gieseler Greenbaum
Dresdin L. Archibald
Eileen Santlal
Eleanor Best
Elizabeth Donaldson
Eric Pedersen
Eva-Marie Kroller
Evelyn Bromley
Geir Jaegersen
Geneviève Bruneau
Glenn Belyea
Helen Elizabeth Ross
Helen L. Whyte
Helen Piddington
Helena M. MacLean
Holly Jonson
Jan Gregory
Janice Dowson
Janice Hamilton
Janice Kelly Brown
Jean McCollum
Jim Arnett
John Grove
John Tepper Marlin
Jon Palmer Broderick
Judy Schuett
Karen E.H. Skinazi
Kathy Le Gresley
Kaye Soulsby
Kitt Maitland
Lester Batten
Linda and Bill Jones
Linda Pellerin Cass-Jones
Lindsay Carroll
Liz Tracy Hartzler
Lyn and Debra Cook
Lyn Nunn
Margaret Buffie
Margaret Sweatman
Mark Donaldson
Marte Brengle
Mary Chapman
Mary Joanne Peace Henderson
Michael Edward Bath
Nevin Taggart
Nick Drumbolis
Nora Spence
Pam McCorquodale
Patricia McDonald
Paul Ross
Paula Niall
Ray Saintonge
Ron Robichaud
Samantha Philo-Gill
Sheldon Rose
Simon Pole
Stephen Cox
Steve Willerton (and his father Victor)
Vivian Moreau
William Sivell

Children’s author Lyn Cook turns 100

A few days ago, on 4 May 2018, Canadian children’s author Lyn Cook turned 100, the second of our authors to do so during the course of our project’s development.

I spoke to Lyn a few years ago—I believe she was 96 at the time—and she was a sharp, engaging woman, whose acumen belied her advancing age. It pleases me greatly that she is still with us, especially as her daughter, Deborah, with whom I was in contact, died recently of cancer. At the time, Lyn promised to send me copies of her poetry chapbooks—she self-published three in the 1940s under the pseudonym Margaret Culverhouse, a combination of her second name with her maternal grandmother’s maiden name—but sadly Deborah was unable to find them (“I know I have extra copies somewhere…”).

Lyn Cook was an extremely popular children’s author in the 1950s and 60s. Her first book, The Bells on Finland Street (1950) was based on her experiences as a young mother in Sudbury, Ontario, where the population included a mixture of various Scandinavian and other European cultures. The Bells on Finland Street was followed by 20 other books for children, as well as a Girl Guide Brownie handbook and a study guide for her most successful novel, Samantha’s Secret Room (1963).

Here is an announcement of Lyn’s 100th birthday, published yesterday (5 May 2018) in the Toronto Globe & Mail. A more complete biography is posted in the Canada’s Early Women Writers project at the Canadian Writing Research Collaboratory.

 

A letter from Sara Jeannette Duncan

This morning I received an email from Debra Martens, author of the Canadian Writers Abroad blog, who shares my interest in Sara Jeannette Duncan. Debra has found a fascinating item on sale on AbeBooks: “Autograph Letter Signed by Duncan Jeannette.” Which is to say, a letter purportedly written by Sara Jeannette Duncan on Ladies’ Empire Club letterhead, but with no date and an illegible addressee.

The text of the letter is as follows:

Dear Lady [Mullin?] Thanks for your note. I hope dear A’s things are now safely sailing through the Bay under my berth. Do come in to tea tomorrow, here, about five. I shall be in and expecting you; but if you can’t, let me know. I am off on Thurs – and won’t, I fear, have another chance of seeing you.

And it is signed, as much of her correspondence was, “S.J. Cotes.”

We can extrapolate the date and location from the letterhead and the comment “Do come in to tea tomorrow, here,” As Duncan stayed in the Ladies’ Empire Club in February 1904. She had been in Canada in December of 1903, and was back in Simla, India, in March 1904. That is not to say that she didn’t stay at the LEC on some other occasion, but Marian Fowler’s research, such as it is, suggests not (Redney: A Life of Sara Jeannette Duncan, Toronto, Anansi Press, 1983), and I have found no conflicting evidence.

The bookseller is Robert Wright Books, in Tamworth, Ontario, and one wonders how the letter made its way there… and also who is going to come up with the asking price of $300. Were I in Ontario, though, I would certainly be going for a visit to Tamworth to see the actual letter, and compare the writing against the letters I do have scans of. And oh, if only I had $300 to spare for such delightful ephemera!

If any of you buy it, please let us know!

The Ladies’ Empire Club, c1992, photo by Karyn Huenemann

E. Pauline Johnson in the First World War

Many of you will be thinking at this point: but E. Pauline Johnson died in 1913… And of course you would be right. But she was involved in the First World War in an unexpected (and to me, bizarre) way.

Annie Garland Foster, in her biography of Johnson—The Mohawk Princess, Being Some Account of the Life of Tekahion-Wake (E. Pauline Johnson) (Vancouver, BC: Lion’s Gate, 1931)—includes a lengthy discussion of a gun purchased in honour of E. Pauline Johnson (“L’Envoi,” pp. 156-170), but the gun had slipped from general knowledge. For almost a century, academics and other interested parties studying Johnson have had no clue as to its whereabouts. In November of 2016, the machine gun emblazoned with the name of Tekahionwake “turned up at the Beatty Street Drill Hall, where it had been hiding in plain sight in a regimental museum … nobody seemed to realize the significance of the machine gun, because it was tucked away in a display case, with the identifying ‘Tekahionwake’ inscription on the inside.”

I awoke this morning to a text message from my friend and aficionado of Canadian literature of the First World War, James Calhoun, who had stumbled upon the Vancouver Sun article I have included here. There is no need for me to say more: the article gives the history of the gun—its creation and its discovery—in full detail. I wish I had been aware at the time, and posted immediately this amazing end to a research question that has been plaguing early Canadian literature specialists and Johnson fans for a long, long while. But even now, it is still news to many.

John Mackie, “This Week in History: 1915-2016 — A Lost Relic from the First World War Turns Up,” Vancouver Sun online, 18 November 2016.

  

 

Canadian biographies, artists and authors. A mimeograph collection.

When I first came on board with the Canada’s Early Women Writers project, we had only paper files: you remember, single sheets slid into manilla folders? In many of these files were single pages typed out and mimeographed, referenced with the cryptic “Canadian Biographies Suppl.” The files used in the 1980s, housed at UBC, have long since disappeared (as crumbling loose-leaf papers in archives will do), so we were at a loss as to where to find another copy. We spent years asking other researchers, and searching online catalogues, to no avail. Recently, however, Val Lem (Liaison for English, History, Caribbean Studies, ACS and LLC at Ryerson University Library and Archives) contacted Carole with a catalogue entry from the TPL that looked particularly promising: “Canadian biographies, artists and authors. Canadian Library Association.” As I am in Toronto with some time on my hands at the moment, I set out to discover what this item (which they define as both “book” and—promisingly—”loose-leaf”) is.

Bingo! It is, in fact, the collection from which those pages had been copied. It was originally a collection of data from a survey sent out by the Canadian Library Association in 1946 and answered by as many artists and authors as the librarian receiving the list could locate. Here is the letter describing the project:

Given our expanded mandate, there are numerous authors in this file that we did not previously record the information for. I have copied those pages of interest to our project, but cannot post them online. I can, however, with the blessing of the archivists at the Margaret and Charles Baillie Special Collections Centre, publish the list of authors and artists contained in the file. So here it is.

I have posted the jpgs for easy viewing; the attached pdf file is searchable, but sadly not discoverable by search engines. If anyone wants to do the Canadian Studies world a favour, please consider transcribing the names for us…

Canadian biographies, artists and authors: The PDF
If you have problems with this link, it may be a browser issue. PDFs don’t work in my version of Firefox, but do in Chrome and Safari.

Canada’s Early Women Writers project promotional video

The lovely people over at the Canadian Writing Research Collaboratory at the University of Alberta (Edmonton, AB) have created a short video for us as part of their own promotional activities. (They have created such videos for many of the projects that lie under their umbrella, as it were.) Here’s ours!

Canada 150: Dorothy Livesay

Another of our authors was profiled today in Stephen Hume’s Canada 150 column in the Vancouver Sun. Dorothy Livesay began her career at a pivotal moment in Canada’s literary history, and her activities and activism carried on through to her death only two decades years ago.