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Bayham Women's Institute fonds
- Museum / Archive
- Elgin County Archives
- Part Of
- Bayham Women's Institute fonds
- Description Level
- Fonds
- GMD
- textual records
- graphic material
- Date Range
- 1917-1987
- Accession Number
- 2007-07
- 2003-03
- 2001-07
- Storage Location
- R5 S1 Sh2 B3
- R7 S5 Sh4 B1 F1
- R7 S5 Sh4 B3
- Museum / Archive
- Elgin County Archives
- Part Of
- Bayham Women's Institute fonds
- Description Level
- Fonds
- Accession Number
- 2007-07
- 2003-03
- 2001-07
- Storage Room
- Archives Storage Rm. 107
- Storage Location
- R5 S1 Sh2 B3
- R7 S5 Sh4 B1 F1
- R7 S5 Sh4 B3
- GMD
- textual records
- graphic material
- Date Range
- 1917-1987
- Physical Description
- 16 v.
- 136 photographs : b&w and col.
- History / Biographical
- The Bayham Women's Institute was established in November 1907. The Institute operated as part of the Elgin East District Women's Institute. The Bayham Women's Institute was disbanded at a meeting held March 31, 1981.
The first Women’s Institute in Canada was established at Stoney Creek, Ontario by Mrs. Adelaide Hoodless on February 19, 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.”
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, from the FWIC website (http://www.nald.ca/fwic.htm), and from the FWIO website (http://www.fwio.on.ca/).
- Custodial History
- Records comprising the fonds were placed in care of the Municipality of Central Elgin at various times and stored at the Municipality's offices in the County Administration Building. Records were transferred to Elgin County Archives in February, 2007 at the request of Sharon Larmour, Treasurer, Municipality of Central Elgin. Records were donated to Elgin County Archives by deed of gift as part of a larger accession in February, 2007 by Helen Van Brenk, District Coordinator, Elgin East District Women's Institute.
- Scope and Content
- Fonds consists of various records created, collected and maintained for reference by the Bayham Women's Institute. Fonds is arranged into the following series:
- 1. Minutes, 1917-1981
- 2. Tweedsmuir History, 1947-1987
- Name Access
- Bayham Women's Institute
- Bayham (Ont. : Municipality)
- Bayham (Ont. : Township)
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