Canadian Women's History Bibliography

Laurie C.C. Stanley-Blackwell is an associate professor of history at
St. Francis Xavier University in Nova Scotia.

In the past decade, the CIHM collection has become an indispensable
resource for Canadian literary and historical scholarship. Researchers
will welcome the Canadian Women’s History Bibliography, which is part
of an ongoing series of subject bibliographies facilitating access to
this rich deposit of our recorded past.

This cerlox-bound guide will permit more extensive use of the CIHM’s
specialized materials in women’s history than can be provided by a
general index. It will enable scholars to uncover a vast literature of
books, pamphlets, and ephemera touching on such diverse topics as
education, temperance, suffrage, health, and religion. Although
19th-century Canadian women were a marginalized presence in the print
medium, it is clear from the subject index in this bibliography that
Canadian female writers were not silent witnesses to the popular
discourses of the day. They were part of an active female literary
culture that turned to writing for self-expression, tackling topics
ranging from railways to recipes, from politics to purgatory.

The bibliography follows a simple three-part format. The introductory
chapter outlines the diverse criteria applied to title selection. Most
notable was the decision to include nonfiction materials written by male
authors that illuminate women’s public and private lives. The main
section of the guide is devoted to a bibliographical listing of no fewer
than 1746 titles arranged according to authorship, with separate
headings for male and female authors. The final section consists of a
subject index to these titles; this last feature will prove
disappointing to the serious researcher, for the choice of subjects
seems meagre.

It is not clear why pages 40 to 45 are subsumed under the heading
“Subjects/Sujets” when they form part of the section entitled
“Register/Registre,” or why male authors are included in the subject
index for female writers and vice versa. Although the compilers did
strive for comprehensiveness, the volume is restricted to French and
English titles only. Moreover, it will be of limited use to researchers
hoping to identify annuals, newspapers, and literary magazines designed
for and/or by women.

Let it be noted, though, that the bibliography’s strengths and
utility far outshine its shortcomings. It is hoped that this guide will
spur scholars on in the rediscovery of women’s words and worlds that
have been so long obscured by traditional scholarship.