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EDWARDS, Henrietta Muir

Born
Montreal, Quebec, 1849
Died
Macleod, Alberta, 1931
Biography synopsis
Although better known for her commitment to the advancement of women's rights and her achievements in the field of social, judicial and educational reform, Henrietta Muir Edwards was also an accomplished painter. Raised in a cultured and affluent household, she joined the women's movement at an early age, founding the Working Girl's Association (which later became the YWCA) and launching the first Canadian magazine for working women, entitled "Working Woman of Canada," both with the help of her sister. After studying painting in New York with Wyatt Eaton, as well as in Montreal and Europe, she sold her miniatures, flower paintings and portraits in order to finance the magazine. Her involvement with feminist organizations continued after her marriage and move to Saskatchewan. In collaboration with Lady Aberdeen, she founded the National Council of Women of Canada in 1893, for which she served as chair for thirty-five years for Laws Governing Women and Children, and the Victoria Order of Nurses. She was also appointed chair of the Provincial Council of Alberta, which allowed her to actively support causes such as equal grounds for divorce, prison system reform and allowances for women. Perhaps her greatest achievement came in 1929, when she joined with four other women to obtain a reversal of a Supreme Court decision, thus granting Canadian women the right to be appointed to the Senate and redefining the word "person" in the British North America Act. In addition to her feminist activities, Edwards also maintained a flourishing artistic career, painting the portraits of such notable Canadians as Lord Strathcona and Wilfrid Laurier, and painting a set of china with Ottawa scenery, which was shown at the World's Columbian Exhibition in Chicago in 1893. She also exhibited with the Art Association of Montreal (1883) and the Ontario Society of Artists (1882-1900).
Media used
China painting
Painting
Education
Private study (under Wyatt Eaton, New York)
File & Archive locations
Montreal Museum of Fine Arts / Musée des Beaux-Arts de Montréal, QC
National Gallery of Canada, ON - Library and Archives
Canadian Women Artists History Initiative Documentation Centre, QC
Archives Society of Alberta
CBC Digital Archives
Library and Archives Canada / Bibliothèque et Archives Canada, ON
Canadian Museum of Civilization Archives, QC
University of Alberta Archives
National Film Board of Canada, QC
BIBLIOGRAPHY

Writings about
"25 years of leadership and commitment to advancing gender equality." Canadian Newswire (Ottawa) 3 May 2004: 1
"Henrietta Muir Edwards." Imperial Oil Review 90.454 (Winter 2006-2007): 22
"In Memory of the Alberta Five." Alberta Report/Newsmagazine 22.45 (23 Oct. 1995): 27
"Key Moments in Alberta History." Canadian Newswire (Toronto) 1 Sept. 2005
"Obituary." Lethbridge Herald 10 Nov. 1931
"Onward to the Hill..." Ivey Business Journal 64.3 (Jan. 2000): 8
"Portrait." Alberta Historical Review 10 (Spring 1962): 2
"Portrait." Canadian (13-14 Oct. 1979): 14
"Recipients announced in 2006 Governor General's Awards in commemoration of the Persons Case." Canadian Newswire (Ottawa) 19 Oct. 2006: 1
Bannerman, Jean Mackay. "The Famous Five." Leading Ladies Canada. Belleville: Mika Publishing Company, 1977
Bertrand, Magdeleine. Les Femmes artistes du Québec de 1875 à 1925 Montreal: Université de Montréal, 1990
Bickerton, James et al. Ties That Bind: Parties and Voters in Canada. New York: Oxford University Press, 1999
Bumsted, J. M. The Peoples of Canada: A Post-Confederation History. New York: Oxford University Press, 2003
Canadian Heritage. Inauguration of the "Women are Persons!" Monument, Parliament Hill, October 18, 2000. Ottawa: Canadian Heritage, 2000
Cheevers, Brenda. "Talent and hard work guided Henrietta Muir." Calgary Herald 17 Nov. 1975
Cheng, Pang Guek. Culture Shock! Canada: A Guide to Customs and Etiquette. Portland, Oregon: Graphic Arts Center Publishing, 2003
Cook, Sharon Anne, et al., eds. Framing Our Past: Canadian Women's History in the 20th Century Montreal and Kingston: McGill-Queen's University Press, 2001
Dempster, Lisa and Dave Pommer. "Famous Five honoured despite 'human flaws'." Canadian Press Newswire (Toronto) 18 Oct. 1999
Dobrowolsky, Alexandra and Vivien Hart, eds. Women Making Constitutions: New Politics and Comparative Perspectives. New York: Palgrave MacMillan, 2004
Epp, Charles R. The Rights Revolution: Lawyers, Activists, and Supreme Courts in Comparative Perspective. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1998
Famous 5 Foundation. The Famous 5: Nation Builders. Calgary: The Famous 5 Foundation, 1999
Famous 5 Foundation. Women are Persons!: Famous 5 National Exhibit Tour, 1999-2000. Calgary: Famous 5 Foundation, 1999
Ganley, Rosemary. "A Grace Received: The World March of Women." Catholic New Times 24.18 (19 Nov. 2000): 3
Ghosh, Sabitri. "Monumental Questions: the human rights legacy of the famous five." Catholic New Times 23.5 (17 Oct. 1999): 10
Harper, J. Russell. Early Painters and Engravers in Canada Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1970
Hart, Laurie Anne. Collecting and Curating Objects of Ethnography. Edmonton: University of Alberta, 1998
Hayes, Alan L. Anglicans in Canada: Controversies and Identity in Historical Perspective. Campaign, Illinois: University of Illinois Press, 2004
Lahey, Anita. "Foundation to Re-Build History: With the Famous Five." Herizons (Winnipeg) 11.4 (Fall 1997): 10
Lamonde, Yvan et al., eds. History of the Book in Canada: Vol. 2, 1840-1914. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2005
Leishman, Rory. Against Judicial Activism: The Decline of Freedom and Democracy in Canada. Montreal and Kingston: McGill-Queen's University Press, 2006
Library and Archives Canada. "Henrietta Muir Edwards." http://www.collectionscanada.ca/2/12/h12-300-e.html Library and Archives Canada, ?
Lipset, Seymour. Continental Divide: The Values and Institutions of the United States and Canada. New York and Oxford: Routledge, 1990
MacEwan, Grant. "Henrietta Muir Edwards: The lady and the law." Mighty Women: Stories of Western Canadian Pioneers. Vancouver: Greystone Books, 1995
McKendry, Blake. Dictionary of Folk Artists in Canada: From the 17th Century to the Present. Elginburg: Blake McKendry, 1988
McLachlin, Beverley. "The Famous Five who blazed the way for women's rights." Canadian Speeches 14.5 (Nov-Dec. 2000): 13
McMann, Evelyn de Rostaing. Montreal Museum of Fine Arts, Formerly Art Association of Montreal: Spring Exhibitions, 1880-1970 Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1988
McMann, Evelyn de Rostaing. Royal Canadian Academy of Arts/Académie royale des arts du Canada: Exhibitions and Members 1880-1979 Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1981
Mitchell, Alanna. "'Women's Work' Not Worth the Trouble: a Major show of Women's Art through the Century fails to do Justice to the Complexity of its Subject." Globe and Mail (Toronto) 4 Jan. 1997: C12
Morgan, Henry James. The Canadian Men and Women of the Time: A Handbook of Canadian Biography Toronto: William Briggs, 1898
Nicholson, Barbara. Feminism in the Prairie Provinces to 1916 [microform]. Ottawa: National Library of Canada, 1974
Olsen, Kristin. Chronology of Women's History. Westport, Connecticut: Greenwood Press, 1994
Paranjpe, Anand C. Self and Identity in Modern Psychology and Indian Thought. New York: Springer, 1998
Petteys, Chris, et al. Dictionary of Women Artists: An International Dictionary of Women Artists Born Before 1900 Boston: G. K. Hall, 1985
Rennie, Bradford James. Alberta Premiers of the Twentieth Century. Regina: Canadian Plains Research Centre, 2004
Roome, Patricia Anne. Henrietta Muir Edwards: The Journey of a Canadian Feminist Vancouver: Simon Fraser University, 1996
Russell, Peter H. Constitutional Odyssey: Can Canadians Become a Sovereign People? Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2004
Strong-Boag, Veronica et al., eds. Rethinking Canada: The Promise of Women's History. New York: Oxford University Press, 2003
Thompson, John Herd. Forging the Prairie West. New York: Oxford University Press, 1998
Welykochy, Dawn. C is for Chinook: An Alberta Alphabet. Chelsea, Michigan: Sleeping Bear Press, 2004
Westbridge, Anthony R. The Collector's Dictionary of Canadian Artists at Auction Vancouver: Westbridge Publications, 2001
White, Anne. "The Persons Case: a struggle for legal definition and personhood." Alberta History 47.3 (1999): 2-9
Young, Cecil. One Canada. Victoria: Trafford Publishing, 2005

Writings by
Edwards, Henrietta Muir. Henrietta Muir Edwards and others, appellants, and Attorney-General for Canada and others, respondents: on appeal from the Supreme Court of Canada, re: the meaning of the word 'persons'. London: Incorporated Council of Law Reporting for England and Wales, 1930
Edwards, Henrietta Muir. Legal status of Canadian women as shown by extracts from dominion and provincial laws relating to marriage, property, dower, divorce, descent of land, franchise, crime and other subjects. Calgary: National Council of Women of Canada, 1908
Edwards, Henrietta Muir. Legal status of women in Canada: as shown by extracts from dominion and provincial laws relating to naturalization, franchise, crime, marriage, divorce, property, devolution of estates, mothers [...]. Ottawa: F. A. Acland, Printer to the King, 1924
Edwards, Henrietta Muir. Legal status of women of Alberta as shown by extracts from dominion and provincial laws. Edmonton?: Issued by and under the authority of the Attorney General, 1921
Edwards, Henrietta Muir. On appeal from the Supreme Court of Canada in the matter of a reference as to the meaning of the word 'persons' in section 24 of the British North America act: between Henrietta Muir Edwards, [...]. London: Eyre and Spottiswoode, 1928
National Council of Women of Canada. Report of committee on regulations and methods of election of members of schoolboards, [...]. ?: ?, 1898

Full text pdfs of exhibition reviews
Royal Canadian Academy Annual Exhibition.: (Halifax, April 1882) "Royal Canadian Academy of Arts. Third Notice."  Gazette (Montreal)  April 14, 1882.  p. 3.   Full-text pdf
Ontario Society of Artists Annual Exhibition: (Toronto, May 1882) "Art in Ontario. Tenth Annual Exhibition of the Ontario Society. The "Private View" Day. A Capital Display in Both Branches."  Globe (Toronto)  May 15, 1882.  p. 8.   Full-text pdf
Ontario Society of Artists Annual Exhibition: (Toronto, May 1882) "Canadian Art. The Tenth Annual Exhibition of the Ontario Society."  Toronto Daily Mail  May 16, 1882.  p.8.   Full-text pdf

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