Fonds - Elma Centre Women’s Institute fonds

The Elma Centre Women’s Institute was formed in the village of Atwood in the former Elma Township in Perth County, Ontario on March 2, 1932. The first president was Mrs. William Petrie, the first vice-president was Mrs. Dave Sanders, the second vice-president was Mrs. Earl Switzer and secretary-treasurer was Jean Hamilton. Elma Centre Women’s Institute disbanded in 1992. The first Women’s Institute in Ontario was established in 1897 by Adelaide Hunter Hoodless in Stoney Creek. Farmers’ Institutes had been established in Ontario in the 1890s to educate men about agricultural practices. The Women’s Institutes focussed on home economics and cultural activities. In 1919, the Federated Women’s Institutes of Canada was formed at a meeting of provincial representatives as a co-ordinating body. The Federated Women’s Institutes of Ontario was founded the same year. The Ontario government created an Institutes Branch in the Department of Agriculture in 1894 to supervise and regulate the Farmers Institutes. By 1920, the Farmers’ Institutes had disbanded and the branch concerned itself with directing Women’s Institutes. It was called the Women’s Institute branch, the Home Economics Branch and the Rural Organizations and Services Branch at different periods in its history. The Branch offered course in home economics in partnership with the institutes. It also supported the activities of the Federated Women’s Institutes of Ontario. In 1925, the Federated Women’s Institutes of Ontario established a standing committee for historical research and current events. In the mid-1930s, the wife of Lord Tweedsmuir, Governor General of Canada from 1935-1940, suggested that all Women’s Institutes create local history books. These became known as the Tweedsmuir histories.