Skip to main content Skip to search Skip to search

History General

Wives and Mothers, School Mistresses and Scullery Maids

Working Women in Upper Canada, 1790-1840

by (author) Elizabeth Jane Errington

Publisher
McGill-Queen's University Press
Initial publish date
Sep 1995
Category
General
  • Hardback

    ISBN
    9780773513099
    Publish Date
    Sep 1995
    List Price
    $125.00
  • Paperback / softback

    ISBN
    9780773513105
    Publish Date
    Sep 1995
    List Price
    $43.95
  • eBook

    ISBN
    9780773565449
    Publish Date
    Sep 1995
    List Price
    $95.00

Add it to your shelf

Where to buy it

Description

Errington explores evidence of a distinctive women's culture and shows that the work women did constituted a common experience shared by Upper Canadian women. Most of them not only experienced the uncertainties of marriage and the potential dangers of childbirth but also took part in making sure that the needs of their families were met. How women actually fulfilled their numerous responsibilities differed, however. Age, location, marital status, class, and society's changing expectations of women all had a direct impact on what was expected of them, what they did, and how they did it.

Considering "women's work" within the social and historical context, Errington shows that the complexity of colonial society cannot be understood unless the roles and work of women in Upper Canada are taken into account.

About the author

Elizabeth Jane Errington is currently dean of arts at the Royal Military College and also teaches at Queen's University. Her research interests centre on life in 19th-century Upper Canada. She lives in Kingston, Ontario.

Elizabeth Jane Errington's profile page

Editorial Reviews

"Wives and Mothers, School Mistresses and Scullery Maids is a fine example of reading sources against the grain to find new evidence and interpretations that have been missed or ignored by others. Errington searches out the reality of women's lives from commonplace evidence - a reality that at times meant drudgery, unhappy marriages, or non-conformity with the prevailing 'cult of True Womanhood.'" J.K. Johnson, History, Carleton University.
"A first-rate analysis of the myriad roles played by women in Upper Canadian society in the early colonial period." Susan E. Houston, History, York University.

Other titles by

Pioneer Girl

Early Voices — Portraits of Canada by Women Writers, 1639–1914

by (author) Mary Alice Downie, Barbara Robertson, Elizabeth Jane Errington & Maryanne Caswell

Flood

Early Voices — Portraits of Canada by Women Writers, 1639–1914

by (author) Mary Alice Downie, Barbara Robertson, Elizabeth Jane Errington & Susan Allison

Mennonites

Early Voices — Portraits of Canada by Women Writers, 1639–1914

by (author) Mary Alice Downie, Barbara Robertson, Elizabeth Jane Errington & Hariot Georgina Blackwood

Dairy Farm

Early Voices — Portraits of Canada by Women Writers, 1639–1914

by (author) Mary Alice Downie, Barbara Robertson, Elizabeth Jane Errington & Ella C. Sykes

Bees and Maple Syrup

Early Voices — Portraits of Canada by Women Writers, 1639–1914

by (author) Mary Alice Downie, Barbara Robertson, Elizabeth Jane Errington & Emily Elizabeth "Mrs F.". Beavan

Habitant Customs

Early Voices — Portraits of Canada by Women Writers, 1639–1914

by (author) Mary Alice Downie, Barbara Robertson, Elizabeth Jane Errington & Friederike Charlotte Louise von Massow

Ukrainian Prairies

Early Voices — Portraits of Canada by Women Writers, 1639–1914

by (author) Mary Alice Downie, Barbara Robertson, Elizabeth Jane Errington & Maria Adamowska

Mosquitotide

Early Voices — Portraits of Canada by Women Writers, 1639–1914

by (author) Mary Alice Downie, Barbara Robertson, Elizabeth Jane Errington & Emily "Janey Canuck" Murphy

The Canadian Climate

Early Voices — Portraits of Canada by Women Writers, 1639–1914

by (author) Mary Alice Downie, Barbara Robertson, Elizabeth Jane Errington & Mary Ann Shadd

Winter Sports

Early Voices — Portraits of Canada by Women Writers, 1639–1914

by (author) Mary Alice Downie, Barbara Robertson, Elizabeth Jane Errington & Ishbel Marua Gordon