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PECK, Alice (Mrs. James Peck)

Born
Montreal, 1855
Died
Montreal, 1943
Biography synopsis
Alice Peck, née Skelton, was born on 28 December 1855 in Montreal. Her parents sent her to England when she was fourteen years old to attend boarding school. In 1871 her brother Leslie Skelton came to visit her in Europe, and they traveled through Paris, Switzerland, Germany and Belgium. In London, Peck visited the South Kensington Museum (now the Victoria and Albert Museum) in order to view craft revival objects in the Decorative Arts collection. Peck married Montreal businessman James Peck in 1878 and had seven children. The family lived in a large house known as Undermount, which became the center of much of Peck’s artistic and social activity. In 1896 Peck and Mary May Phillips established the Home Arts and Handicrafts Committee to exhibit and sell Canadian crafts under the auspices of the Montreal branch of the Women’s Art Association of Canada (WAAC). Their desire was to revive home art production, and to further opportunities for women to make a living through the arts. Peck and Phillips co-founded the Canadian Handicrafts Guild (CHG) in January 1905. Peck succeeded Phillips as president in 1909. She resigned from the position in 1911 due to family reasons. During the First World War, Peck taught craft-making at a hospital run out of a large home in Montreal, and in 1919 she created a program in her own home for veterans to make handicrafts, calling it “Undermount Industries.” In 1927 Peck travelled to the Maritimes on behalf of the CHG, and while there made contact with Helen Grace Mowat, the founder of Country Cottage Craft. Although the idea to produce a book about the Guild never came to fruition (until Ellen McLeod’s In Good Hands was published in 1999), Peck wrote an article entitled Sketch of the Activities of the Canadian Handicraft [sic] Guild and the Dawn of the Handicraft Movement in the Dominion (1929) in order to recount the CHG’s history.
Media used
Bookbinding
Embroidery
Pottery
Textiles
Memberships
Art Association of Montreal
Canadian Handicrafts Guild, 1905
File & Archive locations
Canadian Women Artists History Initiative Documentation Centre, QC
Montreal Museum of Fine Arts / Musée des Beaux-Arts de Montréal, QC
Canadian Handicrafts Guild Archives at Canadian Guild of Crafts Quebec
McCord Museum Archives, QC
National Gallery of Canada, ON - Library and Archives
Women's Art Association of Canada Archives, ON
Archives of Ontario
Library and Archives Canada / Bibliothèque et Archives Canada, ON
Canadian Museum of Civilization Archives, QC
BIBLIOGRAPHY

Writings about
"Mrs. Jas. Peck, Noted Social Worker, was Associated with this Community." Lachute Watchman 11 Nov. 1943: 7
Alfoldy, Sandra. Crafting Identity: The Development of Professional Fine Craft in Canada. Montreal and Kingston: McGill-Queen's University Press, 2005
Alfoldy, Sandra. "An Intricate Web(b): American Influences on Professional Craft in Canada, 1964-1974." Artichoke 13.4 (2002): 16-20
Alfoldy, Sandra. "Struggles for Recognition: Canada's Textile Pioneers." Crafting New Traditions: Canadian Innovators and Influences. Gatineau, Quebec: Canadian Museum of Civilization Corporation, 2008: 77-86
Bell, Celina. "McCord Exhibition Celebrates a Century of Fostering Feminist Artistic Achievement: 100 Years of Women in Art." Gazette (Montreal) 8 Jan. 1994
Bottomley, Mrs. H. "Report from Mrs. H. Bottomley on the Winnipeg Exhibition, and Her Visit to the Doukhobor Settlement". Canadian Handicrafts Guild Annual Report for the Year 1911. 1911
Broadhurst, Maura Lesley. Strategic Spaces: towards a Genealogy of Women Artists' Groups in Canada. Montreal: Concordia University, 1998
Dignam, Mary Ella. "Art, Handicrafts, Music and Drama." Women of Canada: Their Life and Work. Ottawa: Minister of Agriculture, 1900
Dowsett, Kathleen. The Women's Art Association of Canada and its Designs on Canadian Handicraft. Kingston, Ontario: Queen's University, 1998
Flood, Sandra. Canadian Craft and Museum Practice, 1900-1950 Hull: Canadian Museum of Civilization, 2001
Flood, Sandra. "Craft in Canada: Overview and Points from 'Canadian Craft and Museum Practice 1900-1950' " Exploring Contemporary Craft. Toronto: Coach House Press and Harbourfront Centre, 2002
Gauld, Norma. "Histoire marquée au Coin de l'Art (Alice Peck and May Phillips: The Women Who Founded the Canadian Handicrafts Guild, Montreal 1905, Séminaire de la Série Savoir Faire Présenté par Ellen McLeod)." Nouvelles: Bibliothèque Nationale 30.5 (May 1998): 11
Haskins, Heather Victoria. Bending the Rules: The Montreal Branch of the Woman's Art Association of Canada, 1894-1900. Montreal: Concordia University, 1995
McLeod, Ellen. Enterprising Women and the Early History of the Canadian Handicrafts Guild, 1905-1936. Ottawa: Carleton University, 1995
McLeod, Ellen. "A Legacy of Female Leadership." Inuit Art Quarterly 14.3 (Fall 1999): 18-22
McLeod, Ellen. "Alice Peck, May Phillips and the Canadian Handicrafts Guild." Framing Our Past: Canadian Women's History in the Twentieth Century. Montreal and Kingston: McGill-Queen's University Press, 2001
McLeod, Ellen Mary Easton. In Good Hands: The Women of the Canadian Handicrafts Guild. Ottawa: Carleton University Press, 1999
McLeod, Ellen; Translated by François Beaudin. "La Société Canadienne des Métiers du Terroir: A l'Origine de la Guilde Canadienne des Métiers d'Art Québec." Paroles, Gestes et Mémoires 3.2 (Atmn. 1996)
Phillips, Mary M. "Are Handicrafts a Factor in National Up-Building?" Ottawa Journal 2 Mar. 1912
Phillips, Mary M. "History of the Handicrafts Movement in Montreal, January 23, 1906." Women's Art Society of Montreal Files (Box 6). Montreal: McCord Museum, 1906
Simmins, Geoffrey. "Arts and Crafts in Canada." The Canadian Encyclopedia Historica. Toronto: Historica Foundation of Canada, 2001
Watt, Virginia. "The First National Craft Organization in Canada." A Treasury of Canadian Craft. Vancouver: The Canadian Craft Museum, 1992: 33-8

Writings by
Peck, M.A.. Sketch of the Activities of the Canadian Handicraft Guild and of the Dawn of the Handicraft Movement in the Dominion. Montreal: 1929
Peck, M.A.. "Caughnawaga." Canadian Geographical Journal 10.2 (Feb. 1935): 92-100
Peck, M.A.. "Handicrafts from Coast to Coast," Canadian Geographical Journal No. 4 (Oct. 1934): 201-16
Peck, M.A.. "The Canadian Handicraft." The Argus 22. Oct. 1904: 15-16
Peck, Mrs. James. "Conserving Cottage Industries." The Canadian Gazette London, England: 20 Jan. 1927
Peck, Mrs. James. "From the Canadian Handicrafts Guild Through Mrs. James H. Peck." Royal Society of Canada Proceedings and Transactions 11.2 (1905): 130-4
Peck, Mrs. James. "The Canadian Handicraft Movement." NCWC Yearbook. Winnipeg: National Council of Women of Canada, 1904

Full text pdfs of exhibition reviews
Women's Art Association of Canada (Mtl) - Sketch Exhibition: (YMCA Studio, ) "Women's Art Association"  Gazette (Montreal)  .  p.3.   Full-text pdf

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