Fonds - Elgin East District Women's Institute fonds

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Elgin East District Women's Institute fonds

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    • 1918-1998 (Creation)

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    25 v. 3 cm of textual records 67 photographs : b&w and col.

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    Administrative history

    The Elgin East District Women's Institute was formed in 1907. Dr. Annie Backhouse (Backus), a member of the Aylmer Women's Institute, served as inaugural District President (1907-1909). The first Women’s Institute in Canada was established at Stoney Creek, Ontario by Mrs. Adelaide Hoodless on February 9, 1897. In 1904 the Ontario Department of Agriculture began funding seven full-time staff to help promote and organize Women’s Institutes in communities throughout the province. By 1913 institutes were established in all the provinces. In 1919 provincial representatives met in Winnipeg to form the Federated Women’s Institutes of Canada (FWIC), a national organization that co-ordinates the activities of the provincial Women's Institutes. The FWIC’s national office was established in Ottawa in 1958. “The motto ‘For Home and Country’ reflects FWIC aims: to promote an appreciation of rural living, to develop informed citizens through the study of national and international issues (particularly those affecting women and children) and to initiate national programs to achieve common goals. Each provincial organization is represented on the board of directors, which meets annually; new executives are elected at triennial conventions. FWIC are constituent societies of the Associated Country Women of the World (ACWW), the international organization of Women's Institutes and other organizations with common aims and objectives.” The Federated Women’s Institutes of Ontario (FWIO) was founded in 1919 and soon began a process that resulted in the ‘Tweedsmuir Histories’ project. “In 1925, a special standing committee of the FWIO was formed known as the Committee for Historical Research and Current Events….By the mid-1930s, Lady Tweedsmuir, wife of Lord Tweedsmuir, Governor General of Canada, [1935-1940,] …suggested that Ontario Women's Institute Branches keep local history books as the WIs in England did, where she had been a devoted member. In 1940, a recently widowed Lady Tweedsmuir was delighted to approve that these histories should be named after her late husband, and so originated ‘The Tweedsmuir Village History Books.’ Because documenting local history was seen as a fitting project to mark the upcoming fiftieth anniversary of the Women's Institute movement, a campaign was launched in 1945 encouraging every WI Branch in Ontario to prepare a history of their local community before the 1947 celebrations took place. This proved a popular project, and these local histories were officially named Tweedsmuir History Books in 1947….A great boost to these histories was the appointment of FWIO's first provincial Tweedsmuir History Curator in 1957, Mrs. R.C. Walker. By 1964 she reported that all levels of the organization had begun to take Tweedsmuir Books seriously, with well over 1,100 Branch histories recorded.”

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    Scope and content

    Fonds consists of various records created, collected and maintained for reference by the Elgin East District Women's Institute. Fonds is arranged into the following series: 1. Tweedsmuir History 2. Minute and Cash Books 3. Scrapbooks 4. Miscellaneous

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        Open

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        Associated materials

        Bayham Women's Institute fonds Belmont Women's Institute fonds Central Yarmouth Women's Institute fonds Dutton Women’s Institute fonds Eden Women’s Institute fonds Iona Women’s Institute fonds Lakeview Women's Institute fonds Lyons Women’s Institute fonds North Yarmouth Women's Institute fonds Rodney Women’s Institute fonds South Yarmouth Women's Institute fonds Springfield Women’s Institute fonds Yarmouth Glen Women's Institute fonds

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        General note

        Information included in the administrative history was taken from the fonds, from the article concerning the FWIC in the online edition of the Canadian Encyclopedia and from the FWIC and FWIO websites.

        Accompanying material

        The Tweedsmuir Histories compiled by members of the Women's Institutes of Elgin County are available online through the County of Elgin Women's Institutes Tweedsmuir Histories Digitization Project.

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