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File consists of a recording of Margaret Gibson. Topics of the conversation include family tradition of attendance at Queen's: expectation it would enlarge one's life. Enlistment with Women's Royal Canadian Naval Service (Wrens) in sophomore year, employment in Gunnery training Centre, training crews for target warfare. Family motivation for enlisting; Queen's as a gay, 'sheltered bubble' during wartime; consciousness of war through lack of intercollegiate sports, COTC participation; popular assumption that war would be longlasting, students most useful as trained graduates. Cold reception of first women members by male-oriented Gunnery, gradual acceptance of women's usefulness in releasing men for active duty. Lack of apparent feminist movement on campus: sense of social privilege, broad opportunity, in attending university; acceptance of protected sexual position, unthreatened by later social phenomena of widespread divorce, single motherhood; understanding that men gave more (e.g. their lives at war), paid more (on dates, etc.) without challenging motives for giving, paying. Subject's present support for women's movement objectives. Women careerists (in senior civil service, advertising) among mother's peers, Queen's Class of 1914. Women's limited appetite for unusual careers (1940s), hence limited sense of suppression; enjoyment of expanded career opportunities later, after raising children. Subject's easy entrance into naval work, journalism; feminist resentment as a symptom of the 1950s not 1940s. Elimination of some social problems by postwar rise in standard of living; benefits of unanticipated social welfare programme (comparative hardships, social cruelties of 1930s); optimistic earnest idealism of returning veteran population (no sense of 'society owes us a living'). Student obsession (1950s) with financial security, job particulars. Crinoline cupboards in women's residences. Immediate post-graduate employment as staff writer, women's department, Ottawa Citizen; coverage of thousands of summer weddings in popularity competition with Ottawa Journal. Employment as assistant to Press Attache, Netherlands Embassy, Ottawa; postwar importation of Dutch farmers: 'tulip time in Holland' films for homesick immigrants; grand reception for Prince Bernhardt and Queen Juliana (Dutch farmers pouring into Ottawa clad in farm clothes); Dutch cordiality towards Canadian liberators ('every Dutch girl wants to marry a Canadian soldier'). Employment with Canadian Homes and Gardens magazine, Toronto Globe and Mail newspaper (women's department); 'ingrown' atmosphere of magazine office, preference for newspaper pace, department autonomy. Marriage to Queen's professor, 1953.// lmpossibility of continuing non-unionized career alongside marriage; journalistic freedom of non-union Globe and Mail compared with unionized Toronto Star; long, uncertain hours for standard low pay, 'you didn't do it for the money'. Financial motivations of working women; criticism of working mothers' self-justification of providing 'quality rather than quantity' care for their children. Dangers for working women of economic recession (reduced salaries, loss of jobs, discriminatory hiring policies). Guess that women have 'slipped back' in some ways; entrance of men into traditional women's fields, women into men's; expectation that economy, relative status of sexes, will all level out. Belief in existence of masculine and feminine character traits shared by both sexes; in partly inherent, partly conditioned feminine faith in intuition, masculine faith in rational decision-making. Attempts to come to terms with feminism, having 'predated' it: 'the anger that you sense directed at men is disturbing if you were brought up at a time when you really didn't feel angry at men'. Desirability of freedom of role choice; existence of traditional roles as the result of conditioning. Role of time-limitations, contingencies, natural dictations of choice, in ordering one's life: 'women have sometimes tried to do too much'. Curious sensation of younger generation's interest in objects and styles out of subject's past. Student unrest during 1960s: disappointment of watching student rebels turn into establishment businessmen; Queen's good fortune in strong traditions of student government, small size, good communication; sufferings of idealistic students over movement's quiet death, 'it didn't carry through' for them. Queen's student feminist awareness (1970s). Feminist issues as but one area of current concern: subject's distress over other issues (circumstances not having prompted her to feminist complaint); children's educated concern for Canadian problem of national unity.

File consists of a recording of Hilda Laird. Topics of the conversation include keen desire to attend Queen's; entrance following junior matriculation, uncertainty of goals. Laird family origins, relations with Queen's; Queen's connections with maritime provinces. Illness, father's death, preceding graduation; continued uncertainty of personal ambitions. Enthusiastic return to Queen's as Dean of Women, Lecturer in German (1925); mutual satisfaction of Deanship. Attraction to Queen's through family contacts; enjoyment of university life. Participation in Queen's Drama Guild as performer, executive; election to Levana presidency, not fulfilled after change in academic plans. Success as villain in An Ideal Husband; amusing mishap in dress rehearsal at mental institution; dramatic participation in Faculty Players; inspirational Drama coach Prof. Fallis. Absence of campus entertainments during WWI: student deprivation of normal amusements, usual happiness. Exodus of physically fit male students, 1914; Queen's contingent, Queen's Medical Corps. Experience of Armistice Day, New York, while suffering 'flu. Attendance Pratt Institute of Library Science, together with mother; illness; hard work. Library appointments in Bridgeport (Conn.), Yale; history of appointment (job prerequisites: French-speaking non-American graduate of American library school) to League of Nations Library, Geneva. Subject as first residential Dean of Women (Ban Righ), succeeding to Mrs. McNeill; previous residences run by Alumnae, not officially connected to university. Alumnae insistence on academic Dean, to inspire respect; opening in German Dept. (only now recovering from WWI antipathy) in otherwise tight university; teaching appointment of subject as fluent if unqualified German speaker. Intense application to work: no time for reflective insecurity. Chaotic unreadiness of Ban Righ for opening (1925); organisation of residence as subject's prime duty; priority given esprit de corps in initial difficult arrangements. Election of Women's Residence Council. Belle Eliott, first president of Ban Righ Hall: important cog in residence life, effective liaison between students and subject; pitiful staff resources at Ban Righ; capable bookkeeper, practical nurse Olive Spriggs, 'hydrant' to subject's 'lamp-post' figure.Inefficient weekly collection of residence fees, converted by subject to annual or term payments. Responsibility to parents for students' physical and moral well-being; use made of Spriggs' maternal aura for dealing with anxious parents. Arrangements for medical care, fire-escape precautions in Annexes. Dining protocol in residence, attractive settings; rotating student attendance at Dean's table for better mutual acquaintance. Social interaction amongst students on subject's floor. Adjustment to strict no smoking regulations; memorable comment, 'if the girls want to smoke they can go to the University of Toronto.' Complicated system of late leaves; chasing men out of residences at 11:00 pm. Smoking room established in basement during subject's time. Various origins of students (numerous excellent Ottawa students divided between U. of T. and Queen's, predating Carleton Univ.); absence of political sophistication among female students; varying levels of personal sophistication; residence as healthy educational experience, students gaining vastly from melting-pot surroundings. Subject's distress over limited career openings for women; counselling role, suggestion of library science alternative; absence of militant feminist protest, women's desire for wider opportunities not yet being felt as resentment. Playful relationship between male and female students, women as butt of practical jokes. Failure of men's strike action due to female students' abstention; women's growing experience of power unconnected with any notion of fighting for rights. Student pride in Levana Society as women's organisation; funding through share in AMS fees; Levana Society dances in Ban Righ Hall, imaginative decoration. 'Murder' hoax played on female students by male students. Belief that rule-forcing women to quit work upon marriage was introduced later, not an issue (also, women married later); lectures on opportunities for women, given by female professionals in various fields. Depression period as scarcely affecting university life; economic use of stationery supplies. Expansion, necessitating full-time people both in German Dept. and Deanship; subject's sacrifice of Dean's position (1934), appointment as Assist. Prof. of German following year of study (ultimate Ph.D) in German. Rising interest in German studies during and after WWII; highly successful German-Canadian student exchange programme, begun c.1932.//Appointment as Head of German Dept. (1948-62). Scarcity of female Heads of Dept.; subject as first woman on Queen's Senate. Contrasting concerns of subject, interviewer, as female representatives in male-dominated committees; subject's pride in self as pioneer, but disinterested attitude to participation; honest, expressive debate was all, sex not a factor. Feeling of acceptance, friendliness from male colleagues. Subject's continuing articulate frustration with interviewer's feminist political angle as inappropriate, misleading. Lack of conflict between public/private opinions in subject's career; self-assessed 'sincere' personality. Continuing interest in Queen's Review; lapsed subscription to Queen's journal through boredom with economic articles. Enjoyment of Ban Righ's 50th anniversary; refusal to attend 50th, 60th-graduation anniversaries. Position as honorary President of Toronto Queen's Alumni; splendid talks with former Ban Righ residents. Memberships in Canadian Association of University Teachers, Modern Languages As­ sociation; attendance MLA conventions. Extensive travels while young: 15 months European travel, aet.11; 2 years Geneva, marvellous connections through League of Nations associates; year's travel, 6 semesters study in Germany; interruption of PhD programme by WWII, later completion at Cornell. Semester in Marburg during 400th Anniversary of Reformation; studies in Munich c.1934; awareness of National Socialist atrocities, departure of professors, invalidation of thesis subject prompting desire to leave Germany. Four summers spent at Cornell during Ban Righ years. Happy sisterly relationship with mother, companionship on travels; satisfaction with return to Canada, Kingston, Queen's. Enjoyment of retirement home; satisfaction with arrangements, company, opportunities, nursing care.

File consists of a recording of Grace Kuehner. Topics of the conversation include parents' provision for subject's education; graduation of sister, 1902. Queen's campus during WWI ; Armistice Day. Student preoccupation with personal affairs, lack of serious political discussion. Limited career opportunities for women. Student summer-waitressing at Lake Louise. General satisfaction of women with their lots, lack of feminist resentments; women's paid work seen as interlude before marriage. Subject's switch from Sciences to Arts to avoid Queen's lab fees. Engagement to husband at Queen's; three years teaching before marriage to raise money. Husband's position at Bishop's University, Lennoxville, Quebec; parties for Bishop's students; faculty members from England. Affluence of students, personal security throughout Depression. Married trip to Europe,1928. Lennoxville during WWII: blackout regulations, lODE war-work, community relief­work. Problems with rebellious students at Bishop's University. Quebec political problems (after subject's departure, 1964). CEGEP controversy. Bilingual ability, courtesy, of French-speaking people in Quebec prior to 1960s; pleasant community relations. Subject's sympathy for French­Canadian grievances, realisation that established Quebeckers may choose not to separate. History of United Empire Loyalists; subject's attachment to monarchy. French­Canadian attitude to England, relations with France. Subject's attitude to women's movement: approval of women's growing self-confidence, family cooperation; disapproval of child-neglect where both parents are working. Subject's present occupations: reading, needlepoint, walking. Reasons for return to Kingston. Niece's research into family history; family reunion held in Kingston.

File consists of a recording of Beatrice Bryce. Topics of the conversation include Increase in female student population at Queen's. Achievements as Dean of Women: changes in childishly restrictive, complicated residence regulations; advocacy of student representation on Ban Righ Board. Strength of Queen's Women's Residences Council, Queen's Alumnae; Alumnae interest in Ban Righ. Residence life as it supports and protects academic excellence. Demands made on subject's 24-hour availability for student consultation. Subject as 'a very maternal dean'; women's growing self-reliance, necessitating change in role. Subject as founder, Canadian Association of Women Deans and Advisors. Expansion of residences, crowding difficulties: packing in students 14 to a room at beginning of term. Attitude to women's lib movement; concern for female students under heavy sexual pressure in freshman year; birth control, abortion, pregnancy in residence, putting out children for adoption. Lack of student rebellion at Queen's (1960s) as result of good student-faculty communication. Housing issue. Sense of enjoyment and power working with men. Dean of Women as a non­ academic position. Equal opportunity for women in graduate studies as an accomplished fact; female representation in student government, Alma Mater Society. Early career, enjoyment of teaching; enforced retirement upon marriage, 1936; career resumption after death of husband, invitation to teach at Queen's. Early decision to teach, parents' encouragement to attend university. Major contribution of women's sorority to student life at U. of T., continuing influence on subject's work habits. Changes in women's prospects, expectations; career-marriage combinations; unusual contact as U. of T. student with pregnant professor. Marital feelings about dependency on husband. Improving effect of marriage on teaching: learning to think of student above all, not of self. Daughter, granddaughter. Subject as Chairman, Kingston Board of Education. Husband's work with Alcan, leading to happy residence in Kingston. Saner relations between male and female residences as result of WRC work, co-educational living in general; former 'panty­ raids'. Single sex residences at Queen's, natural evolvement of co-educational dining. Continued contact with former students. European travel. Art appreciation, gallery tours. Post-retirement work: Board of Trustees, McArthur Advisory Board. Queen's Faculty of Education, present plight of teaching graduates. Inevitability of university career-orientation. Old hiring prejudice in favour of male teachers; market tightness caused by shortage of schools. Difficulty of Noranda mines issue (reinvestment in Chile) for Queen's students, Board of Trustees.

File consists of a recording of Laura Campling. Topics of the conversation include slight impact of WWII on subject's pleasant time at Queen's. Students' lack of political awareness; discussion of postwar reconstruction; contrast of unthinking patriotism with present day critical attitudes. WWII veterans' benefits; belief that society owed veterans a living. High motivation of veteran students, husband's pleasure in teaching them. Contrast of WWII with war in Vietnam. High ratio of male students to female students, even during wartime; women's representation in Alma Mater Society (waxing duri·ng WWI, waning till 1942); weekly 'Year Dances' at Grant Hall (stress on 'formals' absent during daughter's education); social deprivation of living off-campus. Family expectation that subject would attend university; strong desire to study medicine (not available to women at Queen's), not voiced because not seen as a possible option. Daughters' enrolments in medicine; case of daughter barred from Queen's Med School by female quota restrictions, succeeding brilliantly in medical school at Western Univ.; Western Univ. interviewer's roar of laughter on hearing Queen's sexist grounds for rejection. Biochemistry major as closest alternative to medicine; small enrolment; Dr. Sinclair. Few career-marriage combinations among subject's female peers; marriage as the more acceptable of two alternatives; mother-in-law's admiration of subject's 'modern' post­ponement of childbearing duties to support husband through university. Women's attitudes to university; relief that former attitude 'I'm glad I have my education, in case anything happens' (e.g. death, divorce) has gone by the boards. Employment with Dept. of Nutritional Biochemistry, MIT; energy-consuming child-raising years; employment as part­time demonstrator for Queen's Biology Dept., encouraged by Dr. Krotkov. Shock of discovering recent advances in Biochemistry ('I called myself a biochemist, but I didn't even know what DNA was!'). Unrewarding conscientious volunteer support of children's activities (swimming, skating, ballet, Guides...); contrasting pleasure of job as demonstrator. Interesting conflict stemming from position as United Church-affiliated teacher at Catholic Regiopolis School. Thankful opportunity to prepare lessons thoroughly as part­ time teacher.// Love and individual care given students by Regiopolis nuns; positive analytical approach to problem children; case of Protestant minister's son 'blossoming' at Regiopolis after harmful neglect in public schools. Subject's free rein to teach evolution to Catholic children; respect for Christian viewpoint, fascination with student views on evolution elicited in final exams. Happy double part-time employment demonstrating at Queen's, teaching at Regiopolis. Enjoyment of Queen's Faculty of Education; unexpected self-doubt of teaching ability, raised by methodological differences; unexpected reassurance as to grasp of subject; nervousness as mature student, acceptance by students her children's age. Function of teachers' college as 'attitudinal changing exercise', not grasped by majority of students, wrongly angered by lack of academic content. Envious admiration of younger generation's open discussion of sex, education, politics. Son's attendance at MIT, radical political involvement; convocation show of resistance to Vietnam war. Concurrence in younger generation's pacifism; earlier condemnation of French Canadian war protest; influence of atomic explosions in altering public attitudes. Belief in innate inhibition mechanism preventing aggression within a human group; importance of broadening the group referent to include everyone. Secondary role of large institutions in effecting world peace, primary role of individuals converted to global community spirit. Efficacy of cultural exchange programmes in overcoming prejudice, establishing a core of resistance to nationalist propaganda. Conclusion of Vietnam war as example of collective individual conscience exerting pressure in the public domain. Indebtedness to Konrad Lorenz for views on aggression. Elimination of compulsory cadet corps in local high school. Canadian problem of community with Quebec. Belief that change in citizens' outlook is reflected by government, given time; dependence of cultural evolution on changeover of generations. Initial resentment of French Canadian position during WWII, dislike of hippie slogan 'make love not war'; gradual change of view. Women's residence issue at Queen's: foolishness of abolishing Dean of Women's office until university women are in a position of equality with men. Economic reasons for not combining women's residences with men's (women's are cheaper to run); resentment of ongoing female subsidy of men in residences; contribution of female administrative staff; loss to female population if women now choose to throw their advantages away. Pleasure in social acceptance of women's career-marriage combinations, freedom to choose individual roles; regret that choice is now limited by poor economic conditions. Subject's regret, inarticulate at the time, that she did not continue her own career throughout early motherhood, marriage.

File consists of a recording of Jessie Cornett.

File consists of a recording of Kathleen Garvin. Topics of the conversation include rewarding study and work, Queen's Faculty of Education. Instructing continuation school classes; Sydenham High School principal as model. Contact with religious sisters; teaching with sisters of Notre Dame; entering Montreal novitiate. Enrolment at Queen's. Customary restriction to summer study: community's need of teaching income. Converting school of autocratic sisters to specialized, departmental system. Subject's voluntary organization (in three weeks' time, from scratch) of Notre Dame school, Toronto. Extreme attachment to Queen's; extramural summer study of English, French, History. Subject's teaching specializations, determined by sisters' weak areas. Discovery of own talents, particularly regrettably not cultivated while at Queen's. National Archives' Canadian History course, Prof. McArthur; importance, beyond mere facts, of philosophy of history. Continued relations with Queen's; decades' service recommending students in capacity as teacher, principal. Today's women seen as undedicated, undutiful. Philosophy of education; proper teaching as character training, not just imparting of knowledge. Lack of stimulus to think in current examinations. Art of teaching connected with discipline to think, student independence. Subject's principalship of five Notre Dame high schools. Work since 'retiring': Assistant Superior, book-keeping, missionary work and relief teaching in north-west Alberta. Work as joy. Recollections of Sisters Goodwin, Cleary. Side Two is a recording of Sister Lillian Teaffe.

File consists of a recording of Lilyan Wiley. Topics of the conversation include Gananoque farm background. Queen's degree in sciences; success in Civil Service professional exam, motivated by teacher surplus, unemployment; seed-testing career with Dept. of Agriculture. Participation in Queen's Alumni: Toronto branch executive positions; representation at founding meeting, Canadian Federation of University Women, 1919. Position as Secretary, Professional Institute for Civil Service scientific employees; members' belief in arbitration (strike action seen as beneath professional dignity); meeting in abbatoirs, chemists' labs,etc. Red Cross sewing group, Bloor St. United Church. Women's acceptance of sexual discrimination in early 1900s. Female teacher's advice to study sciences; subject's thankfulness she is not a teacher. Experience (aet. 17) summer-teaching Norwegian immigrants on prairies; fascination for different culture, 'it opened up a whole new world for me'. Parental support of teacher's advice that subject should attend university. Dr. Marty; Grace Miller. Separate dining establishments run in private homes during rooming-house days. Quiet student life reinforced by lack of entertainment. Queen's contribution during ww1 : sewing for specific French hospital. Sewing circles at Bloor St. United Church, Red Cross Toronto Headquarters. Subject's multilingual 'white Russian' friend. Trip to Russia, 1975 (United Church Observer tour) : easy passage through Russian customs compared with treatment in Montreal; safety walking the streets at night; lining up three times for department store purchase; magnificent railway station decor; comparison of Moscow, Leningrad, Kiev. //Striking up friendship with Russian young woman, remaining nameless for fear of surveillance; young woman's thrill being treated to orange juice (out of season luxury). Marvellous Russian entertainments. Travels throughout Canada, United States, Mexico; holidays in Gananoque area previous to parents' deaths. Peel County Alfalfa Growers' fortunate dealings with Russia: gift of two bags seed to Russia, Russia purchasing large Canadian surplus late in season. Temporary intelligence of Columbo Plan administrators in importing native seed analysts from backward countries, rather than exporting North American 'experts' to implement systems in foreign countries. Pleasure derived from professional use of metric system, Latin nomenclature; international traffic through lab, broad professional horizons. Depression period: longer hours, reduced pay. Visiting Frenchman's horror at Canadian women's compulsory sacrifice of job upon marriage; Civil Service salary reduction for women upon marriage; subject's opinion that women's energies weren't thwarted but redirected (into community work etc.). Queen's reunion for 60th anniversary graduates, 1975. Effects of old age, depriving subject of volunteer handiwork; appreciation of own good fortune, experience as committee chairman of Toronto church discussion group for down­and-outers. Impressive Easter address from 7 handicapped persons, each earning part of his own living: moving experience not only for audience but for speakers also, none of whom had ever been invited to share his experience.

File consists of a recording of Margaret Angus. Topics of the conversation include TAPE ONE University education as foregone conclusion since childhood; large number of women attending university; parents' belief in higher education, expectation that daughter should maintain high grades, scholarships. Marriage to professor during junior year; family expectation that subject should complete education, outrage at social commiseration,' what a waste of a good education'. Position as faculty wife during final year; amusing relations with mildly disapproving Dean of Women as chaperone of student contemporaries. Student acceptance of limited career opportunities for women; 'put-down' by male law students as sole female non-law student in class. Student concern for campus politics (U. of Montana), lack of interest in national affairs. Transfer to Cornell Univ. with husband and newborn daughter; role supporting husband through doctoral studies; effect of Depression on Cornell, restriction of husband to quarter Assistantship. Employment after birth of second child with Publications Office (Agricultural Dept., Cornell); 'tight living' on joint salaries combined with previous savings, close friendships with other couples in consequence. Cornell as one of three contemporary American universities to offer PhD in Drama. Belief that difficulties would pass; concern for husband's post-doctoral employment, weekly purchase of Sunday New York Times to check for deaths among current us Drama professors. Fear of growing trend toward payment for services in goods not money. Optimism, individual initiative in face of Depression difficulties; freedom from modern weakness of expecting government to solve everything. Lasting inhibition of personal extravagance; lifting of poverty in next situation, indulgence of desire for play-going, etc. Resentment of narrowminded feminine society ('bridge, babies, and recipes') during husband's employment at Teachers' College; transfer to Queen's, contrast of active intellectual atmosphere. Arrival in Kingston after abdication of Edward VIII; apprehension of Royalist Canadian resentment of Americans; self-consciousness of accent, banished at multinational faculty tea. Familiarity with Canada through university course in comparative government, Montana awareness of prairie provinces; impression made by Canada on us as source of alcohol during Prohibition. Postponement of Canadian citizenship till death of patriotic American father; feeling that lack of voting privilege did not restrict important civic activities; application for citizenship (postponed by shock of Kennedy assassination) following research contracts with Canadian government. Vivid recollection of surroundings on hearing of Pearl Harbour bombings; ability of shocking news to imprint visual impressions on memory indelibly. Public approval of inland transfer of Orientals during 'Japanese scare'; blackout measures in Washington, DC; fear for younger brother (in submarine at bottom of Pearl Harbour bay, 'depth charges breaking all around him'). Queen's faculty provision in private homes of accommodation and entertainment for training officers (WWII); amusing evening entertaining trainees, Babel of mixed foreign accents.//Personal involvement in WWII: death of younger brother, daily apprehension for remaining brother. Effect of brother's position as Supreme Commander (Pacific region) in qualifying subject's response to Viet Nam War.; brother's silence on war issues as ideal discreet officer. Scorn for inexperienced, irresponsible criticism of Viet Nam war effort; approval of criticism in conjunction with active political responsibility; feeling that many critics didn't accept their share of the burden and the blame, expected solutions to be 'handed to them on a platter'. Queen's control of student reaction to Viet Nam war owing to excellent communication, quick transfer of educated opinion in small community. Queen's Drama Dept. during husband's chairmanship; ambitious student production schedule; subject's love of sewing, challenging work in costume design. Close relationship with Drama students. Campus fame of costume help as 'sticky bun crowd', source of several student romances. Student recollections of subject's kindness, visits to 'Doc and Mrs. A' in Kingston; sizeable Angus 'Christmas letter list'; 'nice warm feeling' of being so affectionately regarded, frequently visited. Successful 'team' relationship with husband; continuous engagement in historical interests, stimulated by move to Kingston; incessant writing of historical short stories, plays, scripts for radio; surrender of full-time radio station job (after husband's retirement) to make time for writing work, ironic discovery that more demands were made on her as an informally employed woman than when she had work. Current 'peak' in personal activity (past age 70) as certainly enjoyable, sometimes tiring. Involvement in radio: writing work, Queen's summer course in radio work originated by husband, attended by staff of esc; responsibility for entertaining CBC students. Decision to challenge extent of personal abilities in radio; 11-year Directorship of CFRC (offered by Queen's administration alarmed by degenerate tendencies in Engineering students' broadcasting). Initial student resentment of subject's high standards, changing to dedicated enthusiasm; original work done by students for no official credit; excellent work of female students involved, including technical operations. Kingston as an 'historic goldmine'; astonishment at people who take it for granted, travel to Charleston to see what they ignore here. Queen's Prof. Rex Trotter's suggestion of local material as an unexplored source for subject's novel-writing activities. Positions as President of Ontario Historical Society, first female President of Kingston Historical Society; scatheless involvement as sole female representative in many official capacities - it's pretty hard to put me down'. Concern as newly-elected President to alter Toronto-based character of OHS; travels to chapters throughout Ontario, reputation as 'crusader for involvement'. Sensation of loneIiness as sole female committee member, soon conquered; position as sole female participant in Ontario Heritage Act deliberations at Toronto's exclusive York Club, required as woman to enter by side door, appointed to OHA Board nonetheless. Receipt of Heritage Canada's first travelling award for contribution to preservation of historic buildings. Conclusion (as executive/board member of countless historical associations) that despite conclusions of younger members, exciting progress is being made. Desire not to be identified as 'women's libber' despite recognition of sexist discrimination; doubt as to gains made by women's movement, opinion that some notorious feminists act the role through inability to do much else.//TAPE TWO Necessity to be 'better' in various capacities than male counterparts; approval of male colleagues' identification of her approach as 'masculine' (i.e. realistic, practical). Tendency of women active in historical preservation programmes to damage causes through blind idealism; contribution of Depression experience to subject's successful 'masculine' approach. Effect of personal success on daughter, granddaughters; closer proximity to daughter's outlook on life than to mother's. Importance of realistic estimate of personal talents and limitations; limitless fund of subject's ambitions within the range of her own abilities. Doubtful value of excessive introspection; importance of taking responsibility for personal happiness, working to achieve goals; own experience of disappointments, good sense not to dwell on them.

File consists of a recording of Bertha Bassam. Topics of the conversation include family background. Converting Queen's library to Library of Congress system; work for librarian Lois Saunders. Extramural courses at Queen's, two years full study while coping with illness. Sunday night political discussions at subject's home, 1922. Charlotte Whitton's loyalty, outspokenness; 'her own worst enemy'. Barriefield area during ww1; Armistice Day, 'flu epidemic. Attendance Pratt Institute of Library Sciences. Abortive trip into disreputable New York district: young women reprimanded by fatherly policeman. Class distinctions, prejudices, in Princeton; work at Princeton University Library. Position at Columbia University Library, $1800 annual salary. Selection to work for new University of Toronto Library Sciences school. Offer to join Pratt Institute as Assistant Director, satisfied decision to remain with Toronto. University of Western Ontario's ill-advised library programme.//Male assumption of library administrative positions, despite larger numbers of female graduates; need to encourage women into supervisory positions; women's career-destructive anxiety to please men, fear of criticising. Subject's dislike of 'battling' women's libbers: support of equal opportunity for women, strong support of position of mothers at home. Male, female attributes as largely the result of conditioning. Claude Bissell. Importance of courtesy as a social lubricant. Queen's Alumni parties at Canadian Club, New York. Volunteer work during WWII. Subject's character as Director, respect for colleagues, appreciation of high level of cooperation. Generous proportion of women on U.of T. Senate; subject's opinion that women have not been inhibited by male majorities. Activities prior to retirement: YWCA National Board, American and Canadian Library Associations, etc. Mother's gentle criticism of subject's reticence, importance of formula 'you can't do it' as a goading stimulus. Work at University of Michigan under brilliant director. Career success as the result of opportunities and encouragement, not ambition.