If you recently attended our Kitchener Women’s HERstory walking tour you might be interested in these resources for further reading and learning about women’s history in Kitchener. Jennifer Utting, community researcher and and Stroll walking tour guide used many of these resources when developing the Kitchener Women’s HERstory walking tour.
Why Women’s History walking tours in the month of October?
- Because October is Women’s History Month in Canada! Why October? Because of The Person’s Case, of course!
- In 1992, the Government of Canada designated October as Women’s History Month to commemorate October 18th, 1929.
- The Senate of Canada does a good job of identifying the elitist and racist beliefs and actions of some of the Famous Five.
- Check out the theme for 2025, including an enlightening timeline of women’s history in Canada. So much to learn here! The page also includes some action steps you can take to honour women’s history month – you’ve already done one thing by going on our Kitchener women’s history walking tour!
- Why Women’s History Month still matters
- Learn about other dates of significance for women and girls in October:
- October 4: Sisters in Spirit Day – honouring missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls, and supporting survivors and their families
- October 11: International Day of the Girl – recognizing the unique challenges and inequalities faced by girls and the need for more opportunities
- October 15: International Day of Rural Women – recognizing the invaluable contributions of rural women to food systems of the world
- One more thing: 2025 is the 50th anniversary of the very first United Nations International Women’s Year in Mexico City in 1975!
General local history that includes some women 🙂
- Waterloo Region Hall of Fame (unfortunately you have to browse alphabetically!)
- Waterloo Historical Society (annual volumes also available at local libraries)
- Cambridge Archives
- Waterloo County House of Industry and Refuge
- Ontario Census Search (where you can look for interesting people who lived in Berlin and Kitchener)
- Waterloo Region Generations (A record of the people of Waterloo Region, Ontario (website & database) where you can look for interesting people who lived in Berlin and Kitchener)
- Flash from the Past. Jon Fear and Chris Masterman, Biblioasis, 2018 (available at Kitchener Public Library, local bookstores and often found in secondhand book stores)
Kitchener (Berlin) Residents
- Who was Janet Metcalfe: Canada’s first kindergarten class in KW (2018) Kailyn Severin
Learn more about Janet Metcalfe in this article: A Man of Sterling Worth: Searching for Jeremiah Suddaby. Waterloo Historical Society Annual Volume Number 102, 2014.
The WHS annual volumes can be found in the Grace Schmidt Room at Kitchener Public Library’s Central Branch.
Edna Staebler
- To experience wonder. Edna Staebler: A Life. by Veronica Ross. 2003. (available to purchase from Wordsworth Books, Dundurn Press, Kitchener Public Library or a surprise find in secondhand book shops 🙂
- Food that Really Schmecks (1968). More Food that really Schmecks (1979). Schmecks Appeal: More Mennonite Country Cooking (1988). Finding original copies Edna Staebler’s cookbooks is a bit of a treasure hunt through thrift store and secondhang bookshelves – great fun! Updated versions are available online (WLU Press) and at Wordsworth Books.
- As mentioned on the tour, here is a brief backgrounder to The Cookie Wars in which Edna played a part.
Bharti Vibhakar
- most of what is written about Bharti is in archived articles in the Waterloo Region Record.
- Here are a couple blog posts from people writing about having met her and using her cookbook, Spice of India – Indian Inspiration Week, Weekend Feasting: India in my Kitchen and Five Favourite Cookbooks.
- If you want to get a copy of Bharti’s self-published Spice of India cookbook, you can get one from an online reseller here, or add it to your ‘thrill-of-the-hunt’ bookstore list!
- You might also enjoy Marlene Epp’s article on understanding the immigrant experience in Canada through cookbooks (pdf download). From the abstract: “Ethnic cookbooks examined in this study enabled newcomers to learn how to “eat Canadian” while they also taught Canadians how to “eat ethnic.”
The Dare Strike
A great resource on the Dare Strike and two other strikes in Ontario that dealt with women in the workforce and the issues they face is a thesis by Mason Godden at Trent University.
Edith MacIntosh
- Edith MacIntosh doesn’t even have a Wikipedia page!
- You can hear a wonderful interview with Edith MacIntosh, first woman mayor of Kitchener. Conducted in 1992 at the home of Edith MacIntosh. Oral history collection, Kitchener Public Library – History in the Making.
Mabel Dunham
- Thankfully Mabel has a wikipedia page!
- Mabel successfully applied for several Carnegie grants, one of which supported the development of the children’s section of the library. Here’s some background on Carnegie Libraries.
- The Mennonite Archives of Ontario at Conrad Grebel College have an original carbon copy manuscript of her book, “Conestoga Trails” which was eventually published as “The Trail of the Conestoga” in 1924. It is viewable only by appointment and request.
- Mabel Dunham was also a founding member of the Waterloo Historical Society in 1912, and only woman in the room!
- Mabel Dunham is buried in the cemetery at First Mennonite Church, King Street East, Kitchener
Josephina Thomas
- We know very little about Josephine’s life in Kitchener, but what Peggy Plet has learned so far has come from census records, immigration records and her obituary. The research work continues into her life and the lives of 10 – 12 more women who came to Canada from the West Indies directly to prominent Kitchener families between 1910 – 1930-ish.
- Hear Peggy Plet’s interview on CBC radio as she searches for more information about Josephine Thomas.
- If you want to learn more about the lives of Black people in Waterloo Region, consider taking one of these two Stroll tours – Black Cambridge or Black Presence in Berlin.
Geneva Jackson
- View the 10 artworks donated by Geneva Jackson and the pre-founders to the National Gallery of Canada in 1943. Note: not all of them have images.
- A wonderful resource was the article “A.Y. Jackson’s “Ambitious Young Town”: The Genesis of the Kitchener-Waterloo Art Gallery” by Susan Saunders Mavor. The article appeared in the Waterloo Historical Society Newsletter Volume 105, 2017. The article can be found in the Grace Schmidt Room at Kitchener Public Library’s Central Branch.
More Books
- Women of Waterloo County. (2000) Edited by Ruth Russell – Available at public libraries and sometime a good find at local second hand bookstores
- Women Worth Knowing – A Celebration of Women of Accomplishment. (1995) Written by Jackie Johnson – Available for in-library use only in the Grace Schmidt Room at Kitchener Public Library.
Do you have any Kitchener Women’s history learning resources or connections we should know about?
We expect to add more women’s History learning resources relevant to Waterloo Region as we find them! If you have learning resources or research about women’s history in Waterloo Region, please contact us!
