How Sophie Got Her Way
“Sophie had red hair and was a lively personality,” Joan said. “She was a schoolteacher and goal-focused. She was determined to get that cart path.”
Featured Collection
Women’s Histories
The perspectives and stories of women have often been downplayed or excluded from representations of history. In this collection, discover parts of Edmonton’s heritage history by exploring the stories of women.
We continue to learn and grow together as we build this collection to better amplify the voices and stories of diverse women.
From Edmonton Chinatown: The All-Girls Cultural Troupe
Have you ever heard of the China Dolls? Not the glazed porcelain dolls or the 2015 novel written by Chinese-American…
World War II and the Chinese Women’s Club in Edmonton
An April 1946 photo of three young Chinese women in the Edmonton Journal readily captured a reader’s eye. Freshly home…
Margaret Chappelle: The artist who saved the MacKinnon Ravine
Margaret Chappelle was an unlikely activist: the only child of wealthy parents, and wife to a successful young doctor, she…
Dasha Goody, Born to the Stage
Young people today may not be familiar with the name Dasha Goody, but she was one of the doyennes of…
Daughters of Shining Star
There are many notable women in Edmonton’s history books. The ‘Famous Five’ may come to mind straight away, in addition to…
Louise Umphreville: Edmonton’s Forgotten First Lady
History is how we understand the past and that understanding is based on records made and kept by biased hands….
The Last Best West: Hattie’s Place, Part 3
Disclaimer: Please note that this piece references anti-Black violence, brutality, and white supremacy. A reference to a specific act of…
Dr. Lila Fahlman: The First Muslim Woman Awarded the Order of Canada
Lila Fahlman’s career as an activist began with a riot. It was Canada Day 1935, and the 11-year-old Lila was…
Against the Law: the 1988 Nurses’ Strike
“The government can make all the laws they want, but they can’t stop people from going on strike… You could…
Committed to Community: Hilwie Hamdon and The Muslim Ladies’ Association of Edmonton
Edmontonian Hilwie Hamdon (née Taha Johma, 1905-1988) was a community leader and founding member of the historic Al Rashid Mosque, the…
History of the Edmonton Branch of the Canadian Handicrafts Guild, 1911-1966
Craftwork, as a hobby, has seen a resurgence of popularity recently. Knitting for example, has become a social act with…
Architect Doris Tanner: What did she do? Work and life in fine balance
It’s 2003, early in the new millennium but regrettably late in the story I’m aiming to tell. Doris Tanner died…
Margaret Crang: the AOC of #yegcc circa 1933
When Margaret Crang won a seat as an alderman in the 1933 municipal election, she set the record as the…
Judi Singh: A Black & South Asian musician from 1950s-70s Edmonton
Last year, while exploring South Asian music history in Edmonton, I randomly searched “Singh + artist + 70s Edmonton” and…
Alice Mailhot Ross: Canada’s first female architect?
Growing up, Alice Mailhot set her sights on being an engineer like her father. Perhaps Zepherin Mailhot’s life in frontier…
Womonspace: Creating Space for Edmonton’s Lesbian Community in the 1980s
Womonspace was a social and recreational group for lesbians founded in 1981. Part of Edmonton’s LGBTQ landscape for over thirty…
Nellie Carlson and the Indian Rights for Indian Women movement
Disclaimer: Due to the importance around the legal designation of Indian status, this article sometimes uses the term “Indian” to…
Little Mosque in the Park
How did a mosque come to be in Fort Edmonton Park? Where did it come from? Why does it look…
The Weather Woman of the West: Eda Owen and the Highlands Dominion Meteorological Station
Edmonton’s history is full of remarkable women. From Beatrice Carmichael to Thelma Chalifoux, from Betty Stanhope-Cole to Felicia Graham, from…
Shapeshifting: The Men’s Faculty Club, the Faculty Women’s Club, and Gender at the University of Alberta
As the century continued, Edmonton entered a heyday of its own, including the opening of the University of Alberta in…
Beatrice Carmichael – The Grand Dame of Edmonton Opera
Known to her students and close friends as Auntie Van, Beatrice Carmichael was a classically trained musician from Chicago, who…
Metis Matriarch – Thelma Chalifoux
Our mothers are more than just a physical person, just as our houses are more than just a structure to…
Mind the Gap – Working Women in Edmonton’s history
In the book Women: Her Character, Culture and Calling published in 1890 the author writes; Woman the half of humanity, and…
Betty Stanhope-Cole and the mystery of the missing plaque
Just east of the Capilano Bridge, there is a small park overlooking the Highlands Golf Club. It has a view…
A Place for Women: The Wauneita Society at the University of Alberta
In 1908, Alberta premier Alexander Rutherford’s dream came to fruition. The University of Alberta was formed in Strathcona, and class…
Edmonton’s World War II Heroines
During the five years of the Second World War, Edmonton came into its own as a city, where anything is…
Edmonton’s Pioneer Photographers
Just as importantly, the earliest archivists and some government leaders understood the enormous value of this visual history, and had…