ADDIE’S ANGELS - CLUE #1

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FIRST ASSIGNMENT FOR ‘ADDIE’S ANGELS’ LEADS TO INVESTIGATION OF POSSESSION OF TWEEDSMUIR BOOKS AT HISTORICAL SOCIETY

Our WISH Team, named Addie’s Angels (Remember Charlie’s Angels?), includes (l-r) Karen Murray-Hopf, Ronna Hoogstraten, Margaret M. McPherson (MMM), and Lyanne Lynch and we all live in the community of Glen Morris, Ontario.

Our ‘weapon’ of choice in the WI scavenger hunt is our cell phone. Equipped with GPS, Internet, Facebook, email, text messaging, camera, flashlight, apps like a weather alert, and phone call capabilities, Addie’s Angels have all the tools we need to successfully track down information and find answers to the clues we are given.

Our hunt for a WI Project led us to the South Dumfries Historical Society Museum and Archives at 36 Main St. South, St. George, Ontario N0E 1N0, where we had our picture taken with original Tweedsmuir books.

Tweedsmuirs are history books compiled by Women’s Institute Branches to capture and preserve local community history. They resemble scrapbooks as they contain newspaper clippings, photographs, maps, drawings and a variety of information that often includes a history on topics like early settlers, individual farm families, churches, schools, community centres, war veterans, industries, clubs, and organizations including the local Women’s Institute Branch and anything else pertaining to the development and story of the community.

Lady Tweedsmuir, whose husband was Lord Tweedsmuir and Governor General of Canada during the 1930’s, had been an active WI member in England. She suggested that Ontario Women’s Institute Branches follow the example of English WI Branches and compile detailed local history books. To mark the fiftieth anniversary of the Women’s Institute organization in 1947, WI Branches in Ontario were further encouraged to prepare a history of their local community. This proved to be a popular project and the collections were officially named Tweedsmuir History Books. A decade later, 989 Branches in Ontario were compiling Tweedsmuirs and in 1957 Mrs. R.C. (Hester) Walker was appointed as the first provincial Tweedsmuir History Curator for FWIO (Federated Women’s Institute of Ontario).

Hester was a beloved and well respected woman in the Glen Morris community. Her work began with the Glen Morris Institute in 1936 and during her lifetime membership, she held every major office in the local WI branch and various positions at the District, and Provincial level. Hester became the curator of the Glen Morris WI Tweedsmuir books in 1949, a time consuming and voluntary role she fulfilled for many subsequent years.

The number of WI Branches participating in the compilation of Tweedsmuir books continued to grow. Hester personally conducted Tweedsmuir workshops across the province, providing guidance to volunteer curators in the preparation of these local history books and she helped in the creation of Branch and District manuals for compiling Tweedsmuir Histories.

When I (MMM) was a child, I took piano lessons from Hester’s teenage daughter, Margaret. I can remember seeing the dining room table at her house often covered with piles of newspaper clippings, photographs, papers, scissors, glue, and fountain pens as Hester worked on the Tweedsmuir books in her own home. Margaret remembers her mother regularly typing out pages on an old typewriter and rarely having to start over because she had made a typing error. The Tweedsmuir curators and their fellow committee members were the original Queens of Scrapbooking as hours were spent on collecting material, organizing data, and writing detailed descriptions.

Our team photo shows Addie’s Angels with two of the twelve original Tweedsmuir books compiled by the Glen Morris Women’s Institute to preserve the community’s rich history. The one entitled ‘Glen Village History’, has a wooden cover with a picture hand painted in oils of the village. Margaret remembers her father collecting different scraps of wood for the Tweedsmuir covers, including this panelling from a renovation project.

The book that is lying down required two people to lift it! It is leather bound and the cover was designed and hand tooled by Hester. It depicts the Grand River and main road running through the village and includes the church, the old school house, the Centennial Hall, and the WI logo with its motto, ‘For Home And Country’. Entitled ‘Tweedsmuir History Glen Morris Community’, it is the first book and was started in 1949. It won the Tweedsmuir Cup trophy at the Dominion Competition of Federated Women’s Institutes of Canada in 1953, a first time win for Ontario.

We also looked through another Tweedsmuir book that focuses on farm histories of the Glen Community. There was information about Karen’s father’s family farm, and furniture company, Ronna saw old photos of the house where she now resides and I found an invitation to the 100th anniversary in 1972 of our family farm. We are now celebrating 150 years and are planning another special event. I have been searching for that invitation to add to the memorabilia table and am thrilled to now have a photocopy from the Tweedsmuir book. Special school events in another book, included a picture of Lyanne’s son when he was a participant in a math competition. It is interesting and perhaps fitting, that each of Addie’s Angels during this scavenger hunt experienced at least one personal connection to information in the Tweedsmuir books that WI members from our community compiled. We know there are many more examples to be discovered within the covers of other books that focus on Quilts, Community Events, Horticulture, Women’s Institute, Church History, and Personalities. There are photocopies of each book and the County of Brant Public Library digital collection of the books is almost complete.

Over the years, there have been many examples of the Tweedsmuir books being recognized as an invaluable record of local history. They were at one time recommended by the Ontario Department of Education as a viable source of material in the history curriculum. The Canadian Historical Association awarded the FWIC a certificate of merit for their outstanding contribution to local history in Canada and Rural Historians have frequently accessed the books that are stored at local museums or located at the University of Guelph archives. Tweedsmuir books continue to be compiled by members of the Women’s Institute at the Branch, District, Area and Provincial levels.

The compilation of the Tweedsmuir books has been an ongoing extensive WI project since the inception of this initiative. They are wonderful community treasures for future generations to learn from and to enjoy and appreciate. Created by WI members, the Tweedsmuir books are examples that ‘Extraordinary Achievement comes from Ordinary People.’

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