Tour | Women of Nova Scotia | Historic Nova Scotia

Women of Nova Scotia

Curated by The Historic Nova Scotia Team

Historically, women's experiences have not been as well recorded as men's. This tour attempts to redress that imbalance by showcasing stories about women in Nova Scotia – women young and old, from a variety of cultural groups, socio-economic circumstances, and regions. Each woman's story is unique. Each deserves to be told.

This tour will grow and change as new stories about women are published on Historic Nova Scotia. If you have a story about a woman or women that you would like to share, please contact us: info@historicnovascotia.ca.

Rita Joe (1932-2007)

Rita Joe's childhood was about as hard as it could be, and her life as an adult was rarely easy. Yet hardships and suffering never broke her spirit. Rita always sought to overcome what stood in her way by living with kindness, strength and…

Mary Ellen Robinson (1927-2012)

There are more than a few Nova Scotians who do not make headlines, yet still make important contributions. (Mary) Ellen Robinson (1927-2012) is a wonderful example. In countless, unpublicized ways, this Mi'kmaw Elder lived a life filled with…

Sister Rita Clare (1933-2017)

Sister Rita Clare (1933-2017) grew up in a musical family in Sydney. As a child she attended St. Joseph's School and Holy Angels Convent. She graduated from Holy Angels High School, the school where she would teach music for thirteen years. She…

Anna Hamilton (1918-2002)

Anna Hamilton was born in Brule Point, Colchester County, in 1918. She received her education at Pictou Academy, the Provincial Normal College, and Acadia University, where she completed her B.A. in 1942 and M.A. in 1954. Anna then went on to teach…

Dorothy and Izaak Killam

Take a walk down University Avenue sometime. There’s one name you’ll notice that shows up on several buildings on the street: Killam. Starting at Dalhousie University, you’ll see the Killam Memorial Library looming on campus. Walk further down the…

The Armdale Choir

For more than four decades, Halifax music lovers enjoyed the performances of the Armdale Chorus on radio, television, and live concerts. Starting as a Rhythm Band in 1934 under the direction of Mary Dee (later Mary Dee Girroir), the Armdale Glee Club…

Ostrea Lake Clam Factory

The canning of shellfish, such as clams, lobster, crab, and oysters, developed as an industry around the early 1900s when equipment, canning materials, and a general knowledge of the science of canning coincided with a demand for canned goods. Canned…

Mona Parsons (1901-1976)

Mona Parsons moved to Wolfville at the age of 10 – a move precipitated by the loss of her father’s business in a fire in their hometown of Middleton. Mona graduated from Wolfville’s Acadia Ladies’ Seminary in 1920, and furthered her studies at the…

Canadian Comfort Quilts

Comfort and care. Those are the words linked to the thousands of quilts made by women volunteers during the Second World War. Of all the services that women provided for wartime relief, perhaps the making of quilts represented the most intimate…

The Three Debs

In 1936, the recently widowed Flora Marsh (nee MacQuarrie) and her family of four teenaged children moved from Sydney, Cape Breton, to Halifax. The children grew up in a household rich with music, their mother a talented pianist from a musical…

Jewish Women Volunteers during WWII

The Second World War was a terrifying time for Jews throughout the world. It would take the end of the war and liberating death camps for people to realize the full extent to which Jews were persecuted under the Nazi regime. Canada was not immune to…

Taking the Cure

In September of 1940, Anne-Marie Belliveau, a young woman from Belliveau's Cove, Digby County, was attending the convent school in Meteghan. One night on her way to bed, she began to cough up blood. "I went and told the nun right away," she recalled.…

"Love Rhoda"

Introduction by Curator, Bria StokesburyIn the nineteenth century, tuberculosis - also known as "The White Plague" - was one of the leading causes of death in North America. The Nova Scotia Sanatorium was built in 1904 to treat patients suffering…

Whitman (Tully) House Residence

On March 24, 1914, the Board of Governors of Acadia University in Wolfville announced plans for a Women’s College Residence. The new residence would be home to 50 women plus house several staff members and a matron who would oversee their wellbeing.…

Pelton-Fuller House

Alfred Carl Fuller was born in 1885 to Leander and Phoebe Fuller in Welsford, Nova Scotia. He was ambitious even at a young age, and in 1903, moved to New England and started the Fuller Brush Company. Shortly after the business opened, Alfred gained…

Portia White (1911-1968)

In her later years, Portia May White (1911-1968) offered this explanation for her life:"First you dream, then you put on your walking shoes." In the era in which Portia grew up, few would have imagined that the sixth child of Izie and Rev. William…

Aileen Meagher (1910-1987)

Aileen Aletha Meagher (1910-1987) exemplifies versatility. She ventured down various paths in her life and stood out in each one. Aileen first came to prominence at track and field. At the time, especially at the Halifax convent school she attended,…

The Maud Lewis House

Maud Lewis (1903-1970) is surely one of the only Nova Scotia folk artists who has been the subject of a Hollywood movie (Maudie, the 2016 film starring Sally Hawkins and Ethan Hawke). In recent years, Maud's life and art have also been explored…

Fish, Farm, and Family

In 1915, the Myers house and eight acres of property in Oyster Pond (now Jeddore Oyster Ponds) were passed from James H. and Hannah Myers to their son Ervin Myers and his wife Ethelda. Their home was ideal for a fisherman’s family with a house, large…

Sister Mary Donald

During the Victorian period, it was common practice to create mementos from human hair. Hair art typically was made as an act of rememberance – a memento mori for a lost loved one. Other examples of hair art signify a special bond, created as a…

Hosking General Store, Oyster Pond

Florence (Flora) Henry (1853-1918) came to Oyster Pond in the early 1870s to teach school. She married John Duncan Mitchell in 1875, had two children, Roxanna and William, and was widowed in 1885 at the age of 32. In 1891, Flora started a general…

Petersfield

Just off Route 239, overlooking the south arm of Sydney Harbour, you can pull off the road and enjoy and picnic and a hike in Petersfield Provincial Park. The park gets its name from the Petersfield estate, the grand home built by industrialist and…

The Local Council of Women of Halifax

By the 1890s, women in Halifax and across Canada had created a plethora of organizations devoted to serving and reforming society. From the middle of the nineteenth century, women had been working through church and community organizations to improve…

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