My research into the unpaid production of supplies and comforts by Canadian women and children during the Second World War is ongoing. The purpose of this blog is to share some of the information I am finding as I delve deep into primary sources – from newspapers and periodicals of the day, to archives of the Federated Women’s Institutes and Imperial Order Daughters of the Empire (IODE), letters and scrapbooks, and to the quilts themselves. The information shared here is by no means comprehensive, and it is hard to conclude any hard facts about this operation, because so much of this story is still untold. So, as I uncover new information, the details of these posts may change. If you see anything posted here which may not be accurate or to which you could add more information, please do not hesitate to contact me.
A Canadian Victory Quilt comes home…
Quilts tell stories. Quilt tell stories about who made them. The designs, the colours, the...
One city’s account of Red Cross Work
I am often asked what we know about how Canadian women went about completing the work of producing...
“A Fine Token of Friendship and Good Feeling”
This week, after finding the 1941 image of an underground hospital in London in wartime (posted on...
Mrs. Walking Sun donates beaded dress to Red Cross
The contributions by Canadian Indigenous women to the war effort, both WWI and WW2, has been...
Lucy Maud Montgomery, Rilla and the War Years
The book series of Anne of Green Gables, by Lucy Maud Montgomery, is known internationally and has...
Quilting on a Continuum
One of my interests in considering Canadian women’s wartime charitable work in textiles, is the...
Finding Mrs. Gordon Boyd in The Daily Gleaner – ‘Hands Across the Sea’
Last month when I made a presentation at the Museum of Lennox and Addington in Napanee, Ontario, I...
Children, War Depression and Patchwork
An article last week by Helen Surgenor of CBC Radio headlined: “Young people are starting to knit...
Quilts from the Second World War tell the Stories of the Canadian Women who Sewed Them
Republished from THE CONVERSATION, February 2023 - Dr. Irene Gammel and Joanna Dermenjian In 1992,...
The Power of the Printed Word
Just about this time last year, in early 2022, I had the opportunity to share my research on Jo...