Tweedsmuirs are history books compiled by Women’s Institute branches to preserve the local history of each community. They resemble scrapbooks as they contain newspaper clippings, photographs, and handwritten histories. The histories include various information on the community including: churches, schools, land and property, and biographies.

In 2003, Jon Studiman compiled a list of the Tweedmsuirs [1] located in the University of Guelph Archives and Special Collections. He identified with a rating of 4 or 5 in the assessment column those with the best or most numerous histories of individual farms.

Students in the research seminar Rural History, HIST 4620, also used the farm histories to shape a coherent story of the rural history of a particular place. These essays have been deposited in the University of Guelph Library and Archives catalogued as “Student Papers from History 4620”. The call number is XR1 MS A444. Additionally, the class summarized their experience with these farm histories and their potential for rural historians.

Photograph: Woman with a cow, Reuben Sallows collection, University of Guelph Library, Archives, and Special Collections, Agricultural History (XA1 MS A182 #0755)