Home > Artist Database > Bio-bibliographic Database > MOODIE, Susanna

Artist Database

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. "Betty Goodwin" Canadian Encyclopedia Online Historical Foundation, 1998
http://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/betty-goodwin-profile
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

Search by: