This wild spirit : women in the Rocky Mountains of Canada / edited by Colleen Skidmore.

Format:

Book

Contributor:

Skidmore, Colleen, 1957-

Series:

Mountain cairns

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Women--Canadian Rockies (B.C. and Alta.)--History--19th century.

Women.

Canada--Canadian Rockies.

History.

Women--Canadian Rockies (B.C. and Alta.)--History--20th century.

Physical Description:

xxix, 475 pages : illustrations (some color), map, portraits ; 23 cm.

Place of Publication:

Edmonton : University of Alberta Press, [2006]

Summary:

In 1912, Mary Vaux, a botanist, glaciologist, painter, and photographer from Philadelphia wrote of her life's passion: "A day on the trail, or a scramble over the glacier, or even with a quiet day in camp to get things in order for the morrow's conquests? Somehow when once this wild spirit enters the blood...I can hardly wait to be off again."

Vaux's compulsion was one shared by many women whose intellects, imaginations, and spirits rose to the challenge of the mountains between the late-nineteenth and mid-twentieth centuries. This Wild Spirit explores a sampling of women's creative responses in photographs and paintings, embroidery and beadwork, novels and travel writing, letters and diaries, poetry, plays, and posters to their experiences in the Rocky Mountains of Canada.

Contents:

Introduction: This Wild Spirit: Women in the Rocky Mountains of Canada XVII

1 Taking a Deep Interest: Metis and Aboriginal Women 1

"Hosts of Mountain Oasis" (1929) / Janet Munro 21

"Laggan to Maligne Lake and Tete Jaune Cache and Return" (1908): Excerpts / Mollie Adams 31

"The Jasper Story" (1955): Act Two / Elsie Park Gowan 41

"Doubletake" (1992): The Diary of a Relationship with an Image from Partial Recall / Lucy R. Lippard 61

2 Being a Woman, I Wanted to Tell About Them: Literary Travellers 77

"By Car and by Cowcatcher" (1887): Excerpts / Agnes Macdonald 97

"Our Wild Westland" (1889) / Mrs. Arthur Spragge 105

"The Rocky Mountains" (1893): from Through Canada with a Kodak / The Countess of Aberdeen 111

A Woman Tenderfoot (1900): Excerpts / Grace Gallatin Seton-Thompson 117

A Social Departure (1893): Excerpts / Sara Jeannette Duncan 133

"The Rocky Mountains and British Columbia" (1910): from A woman in Canada / Mrs. George Cran 143

Lady Merton, Colonist (1910): Excerpts / Mrs. Humphry Ward 153

3 Free Among the Everlasting Hills: Botanists and Brides 161

"Glacier House Scrapbook" (1897-1910): Excerpts 179

"Our Dear Mrs. Young" (1934) / Mary Schaffer Warren 191

"Camping in the Canadian Rockies" (1907) / Mary M. Vaux 195

"A Maiden Voyage on the 'New' Lake" (1911): from Old Indian Trails / Mary T.S. Schaffer 201

"Letters to Dr. Walcott" (1912) / Mary M. Vaux 203

"Untrodden Ways" (1908) / Mary T.S. Schaffer 227

"Flowers of the Canadian Rockies" (1945) / Mary Vaux Walcott 235

"Flora of the Saskatchewan and Athabasca River Tributaries" (1908) / Mary T.S. Schaffer 239

"Haunts of the Wild Flowers of the Canadian Rockies" (1911): (Within Reach of the Canadian Pacific Railroad) / Mary T.S. Schaffer 243

"The Mountain Wildflowers of Western Canada" (1907) / Julia W. Henshaw 249

"Dearest Mother" (1930-1933) / Catharine Robb Whyte 257

4 At Civilization's Limits: Exploring Women 277

"Why and Wherefore" (1911): from Old Indian Trails / Mary T.S. Schaffer 293

"An Explanation" (1911): from Old Indian Trails / Mary T.S. Schaffer 295

"Old Indian Trails of the Canadian Rockies" (1911) / Portland Telegram 303

"Laggan to Maligne Lake and Tete Jaune Cache and Return" (1908): Excerpts / Mollie Adams 309

"Trip to Jasper Park, Rocky Mountains, Canada" (1911): Excerpts / Caroline Sharpless 317

"A Recently Explored Lake in the Rocky Range of Canada" (1909) / Mary T.S. Schaffer 329

Hunter of Peace (1993): Prologue and Act One, Scene One / Sharon Stearns 343

5 On the Rockies Stark: Mountaineers 349

"The Alpine Club of Canada" (1907) / Elizabeth Parker 361

"Mountain Climbing for Women" (1909) / Mary E. Crawford 367

"Breaking the Way" (1904) / Mary M. Schaffer 375

"A Graduating Climb" (1910) / Ethel Johns 379

"Graduation" (1918) / Rhoda W. Edwards 387

"Portrait of a Giant" (1946) / Georgia Engelhard 391

"The North-West-Canada" (1909) / Moira O'Neill 401

"Canada's Mountains" (1954) / Lynda R. Woods 403

"Mountaineer and Mountains" (1957) / Lynda R. Woods 405

"Sonnet" (1963) / Elizebeth Ferguson 409

6 Wild and Solitary and Beautiful: Mountain Culture/Mountain Wilderness 413

"Jasper National Park" (1924): Canada's Vast New Mountain Playground / Irene Todd 429

The Kicking Horse Trail (1927): Excerpts / M.B. Williams 435

"Honor Memory of Edith Cavell" (1926) / Canadian National Railways Magazine 441

"Marilyn Monroe vs. Scenery at Roxy" (1954) / Bosley Crowther 445.

Notes:

Includes "Selected bibliography" (pages 455-464) and index.

ISBN:

0888644663

OCLC:

64670566

Publisher Number:

9780888644664