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MOODIE, Susanna
- Born
- Bungay, Suffolk, England, 1803
- Died
- Toronto, Ontario, 1885
- Biography synopsis
- Although well known for her writings on a pioneer woman's life in Canada, Susanna Moodie (née Strickland) also sketched and painted, especially botanical paintings of Canadian wild flowers. While preparing for a literary career in England, she married John Wedderburn Dunbar Moodie and moved to Canada in 1831. In Ontario, Susanna Moodie’s three best literary works, "Roughing it in the Bush," "Life in the Clearings," and "Flora Lyndsay," constitute a chronicle of immigrant and pioneer experience dealing with all phases of the process; they included sketches as well.
- File & Archive locations
- Art Gallery of Ontario - Edward P. Taylor Research Library and Archives
- Canadian Women Artists History Initiative Documentation Centre, QC
- Library and Archives Canada / Bibliothèque et Archives Canada, ON
- National Gallery of Canada, ON - Library and Archives
- University of British Columbia - Fine Arts Library
- Trent University Archives, ON
- Esplanade Archives, Medicine Hat, AB
- University of Guelph, ON - Archival & Special Collections
- Harvard University, MA - Schlesinger Library
- Canadian Museum of Civilization Archives, QC
- BIBLIOGRAPHY
Writings about- "From Attic to National Library: Moodie Collection finds new home." Feliciter: Canadian Library Association (Sept. 1987): 1
- "Roughing It in the Bush: Student dig to find log cabin of Susanna Moodie." Ottawa Citizen 6 Aug. 1989: A6
- "Susanna Moodie's Life a Conflict Between Writing, Harsh Necessity. Peterborough Examiner 21 Oct. 1966: 11
- Allodi, Mary. Canadian Watercolours and Drawings in the Royal Ontario Museum. Toronto: Royal Ontario Museum, 1974
- Allodi, Mary. "Two Gentlewomen of Upper Canada." Rotunda 10 (Summer 1977)
- Bell, Michael. Painters in a New Land: From Annapolis Royal to the Klondike. Toronto: McClelland and Stewart, 1973
- Belton, Robert J. "Important Moments in the History of Canadian Visual Culture." Sights of Resistance. Calgary: University of Calgary Press, 2001
- Colgate, William. Canadian Art, its Origin and Development. Toronto: Ryerson, 1943
- Dahl, Edward H. Mid Forests Wild: A study of the concept of wilderness in the writings of Susanna Moodie, J.W.D. Moodie, Catharine Parr Traill and Samuel Strickland, c. 1830-1855. Ottawa: National Museum of Man, National Museums of Canada, 1973
- Dignam, Mary E. "Distinguished Professional Women." Women of Canada: Their Life and Work. Toronto: National Council of Women of Canada, 1900
- Dignam, Mary Ella. "Canadian Women in the Development of Art." Women of Canada: Their Life and Work. Toronto: National Council of Women of Canada, 1900
- Farr, Dorothy and Luckyj, Natalie. From Women's Eyes: Women Painters in Canada. Kingston: Agnes Etherington Art Centre, 1975
- Fowler, Marian. The Embroidered Tent : Five Gentlewomen in Early Canada, Elizabeth Simcoe, Catharine Parr Traill, Susanna Moodie, Anna Jameson, Lady Dufferin. Toronto: House of Anansi Press, 1982
- Guillet, Edwin Clarence. Pioneer Arts and Crafts. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1968
- Guillet, Edwin Clarence. The Valley of the Trent. Toronto: Champlain Society, 1957
- Hopkins, Elizabeth. "31: Susanna Moodie." Profiles in Canadian Literature 3, edited by Jeffrey M. Heath. Toronto and Charlottetown: Dundurn Press, 1982
- Light, Beth and Alison Prentice, eds. Pioneer and Gentlewomen of British North America 1713-1867. Toronto: New Houston Press, 1980
- MacDonald, Florence. "Strickland Family Artists." Canadian Antiques Collector (Apr. 1967): 6-8
- Martin, Elizabeth and Vivian Meyer. Female Gazes: Seventy-Five Women Artists Toronto: Second Story Press, 1997
- McDougall, Anne. Canadian Encyclopedia Online. Historical Foundation, 2009
http://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/tobie-thelma-steinhouse - McKendry, Blake. Dictionary of Folk Artists in Canada: From the 17th Century to the Present. Elginburg: Blake McKendry, 1988
- Morgan, H. J., ed. Types of Canadian Women and of women who have been connected with Canada. Toronto: W. Briggs, 1903
- Morgan, Henry J. Sketches of Celebrated Canadians, and Persons Connected with Canada. Quebec: Hunter, Rose and Co, 1862
- Morris, Audrey Y. Gentle Pioneers: Five Nineteenth-Century Canadians. Don Mills, Ontario: Paperjacks, 1973
- National Council of Women of Canada. Women of Canada: Their Life and Work. Montreal: National Council of Women, 1900
http://archive.org/details/cihm_11965 - National Film Board of Canada. Susanna Moodie [Filmstrip]: English Winds, Canadian Currents. Montreal: National Film Board of Canada, 1984
- Needler, G. H. "The Otonabee Trio of Women Naturalists: Mrs. Stewart - Mrs. Traill - Mrs. Moodie." Canadian Field-Naturalist 60 (Sept-Oct. 1946): 97-101
- Partridge, F. G. "Stewarts and the Stricklands, the Moodies and the Traills." Ontario Library Review 40 (Aug. 1956): 179-81
- Peterman, Michael A. Susanna Moodie: A Life. Toronto: ECW Press, 1999
- Shields, Carol. Susanna Moodie: Voice and Vision. Ottawa: Borealis Press, 1977
- Shteir Ann B. Flora's Fieldworkers: Women and Botany in Nineteenth-Century Canada. Montreal & Kingston: McGill-Queen's University Press, 2022
- Thom, Molly. The Bush-Ladies in Their Own Words: Susanna Moodie, Catharine Parr Traill, Anne Langton, Anna Jameson. Victoria: Scirocco Drama, 2000
- Thomas, Clara. "The Strickland Sisters." The Clear Spirit: Twenty Canadian Women and their Times. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1966
- Tippett, Maria. By a Lady. Toronto: Viking, 1992
Writings by- Moodie, Susanna. Letters of a Lifetime. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1985
- Moodie, Susanna. Letters of Love and Duty: the correspondence of Susanna and John Moodie. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1993
- Moodie, Susanna. Life in the Clearings [reprint of original from 1853]. Toronto: Macmillan of Canada, 1959
- Moodie, Susanna. Roughing it in the Bush; or, Forest Life in Canada. Toronto: McClelland and Stewart, 1962
- Moodie, Susanna, ed. Victoria Magazine (1847-1848) 1847
