These comments reflect the experience of working on an assignment that set out to use the farm histories provide by some Women’s Institute branches to understand the rural history of their areas. One reason for the project was that it seemed possible it would bring women’s views and voices to the fore.
In hopes of assisting others to use the farm histories we discussed (and summarize here) what we learned from the 20 Tweedsmuir histories we used. They had been selected from the entire Guelph collection because they seemed to have the best farm histories. The number of farms covered in each varies considerably, however, and only a few include most of the farms in their area.
In general, the subject is less “the farms” than the families who lived on them (their marriages, children, migrations and local movement) and the changes of ownership of land. Tracking these stories can be complicated by the challenge of reliably identifying people, for example because it was common to use the same given names in every generation. Histories often have extended chronological gaps or cover only one period. And there were sometimes inconsistencies and discrepancies on facts and events within and among the histories.
Some of the histories are rich and full; others are brief. They do not necessarily follow the questionnaire that the WI provided as a guideline. (Anyway, those questions did not yield a great deal of useful information on actual rural practice). It proved a substantial challenge to find much in the farm histories themselves that is explicitly about women’s lives and work. Women’s views are there mainly in the things they chose to write about. Their accounts contain people and stories not in standard histories and they invite focus on very specific places.
Using these histories is not a simple matter of extracting information. To find what is original and what is representative and to draw meaning from anecdotes and the details that are included take repeated reading and reflection. Outside context also helps in reading/hearing these specific stories. To interpret the farm histories of an area, it is essential to read the whole Tweedsmuir History volume.
Some of our essays have been deposited in the University of Guelph library (in archival and special collections). We hope they help others to use the Tweedsmuir History collection as a way of learning more about Ontario’s rural history.
History 4620 Seminar, Fall 2003.
