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Irving, Katie
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Whyte, Edith Margaret

File consists of a recording of Edith Whyte. Topics of the conversation include logical choice of Queen's University: Carleton University as too close to family home; Queen's as likely choice for Scottish businessman's daughter, after economic constraints of Depression era, WWII; feasibility of attending Queen's on low budget, less likely at socially sophisticated McGill, University of Toronto. Instance of female students at Queen's existing without change of clothing for two years, waitressing, babysitting, to make ends meet. Natural expectation of university education, encouraged by family; brother's attendance at Queen's.. Timing factor in parents' plans for children's education: possibility of waiting subject's university entrance till brother's graduation, rendered unnecessary by brother's scholarships. Strict regulations of Ban Righ women's residence (four 2:30pm late leaves per year, one 12:30 pm per week); contrast with year in 'terrible' quarters in LaSalle Barracks (WWII military housing), 'a single room that I shared with 11 others'. Boarding-houses as only alternative residence; scarcity of apartments, full-up with married veterans. Horrified response to mature age of war­veteran students; veteran student 'crowding out' of contemporary male high school graduates (forced to postpone university attendance). Bank of Canada Governor as example of man brought to university level of education by DVA opportunity only: former prairie upbringing, no hope at all of higher education. Popular expectation that DVA students would fail miserably, oven wrong by reality: DVA students' serious application, difficulties catching up in some areas, excellence in 'softer' subjects such as social sciences (some drank too heavily, but atypical). Familial responsibilities of married DVA students, many living at poverty level if unsupported by parents. Male-female student ratio (hard to fix, varying from class to class). Marriage as female students' predominant goal, not precluding serious studenthood. Career anxieties of contemporary students, difficulty of finding good jobs; hiring preference accorded veterans. Heated discussions of Marshall plan as only sign of campus political involvement, slight concern for rehabilitation of Europe; local nature of student interests. Unawareness prior to Nuremburg trials of wartime atrocities; awareness of some embittered veterans, not many; veterans' accounts of comic side of experience mostly. WWII as first experience of people held in her affections dying. Unquestioning acceptance of war as highschool teenager; lack of sympathy for conscientious objectors, greater sympathy now (attitude-changing influence of war in Viet Nam); greatest sympathy for alternative service COs in medical corps. Popular distrustful attitude to people of German extraction. Childhood memory of fund-raising activity in aid of Russia. Lack of contact with French Canadians as Ottawa resident prior to Queen's; particular French Canadian friend, gold medallist at Queen's, 'superb' second-hand knowledge of English language, grammar. Letting-go of family maid, marking Depression; many denials of childhood wants, without deprivation. Amusing story of 'certificate of disownership' from local church, freeing her from responsibilities of membership. Graduation in Economics, 1948; details of employment with Bank of Canada Research Dept., International Department.//lndividual protest of unequal pay for equal work as Bank of Canada female employee; Bank's belated recognition of discriminatory policy, job evaluation inquiry, reclassification of jobs (1970) acting as clear grounds for appeal in case of injustice. Moderate stance as proponent of women's rights, belief that women should work for recognition simply by proving their abilities. Appointment as Chief of Computer Services Department, Bank of Canada (together with technical expert as Deputy-Chief). Unthreatened, comfortable position as BA graduate employer of highly qualified people; extensive reading, self-education in current situations, as educational requirements in her position; Bank informality, staff unawareness of each other's formal qualifications; Grade 10 education of former Deputy-Governor Donald Gordon. Inconceivability of combined career-marriage at time of graduation; frustrated, insecure lives of married women in her generation, attractive confidence of younger career wives. Impracticable option of splitting full­time jobs two ways to provide mothers with part-time employment. Divided response to current generation of university graduates: disapproval of those shirking responsibility to earn their living, take up own share of tax burden; conscience-stricken pity for serious job applicants unable to find jobs; impatience with graduates of haphazard university programmes expecting to be paid at the same rates as trained university graduates. Recent contact with Queen's University.

Whyte, Edith Margaret

Tepper, Geraldine Rose, nee Simlewitz

File consists of a recording of Geraldine Tepper. Topics of the conversation include transfer as student from U. of T. to Queen's accompanying law-student husband articling in Kingston; return to Osgoode for first year LLB programme, to Kingston for opening of husband's law office; year spent assisting in office; membership in Queen's first graduating LLB class (1960). Atmosphere of Queen's 18-member class contrasted with Osgoode class of 200. Housing of Queen's law classes in male residence (Morris Hall) basement; lack of provision for female students. Subject and Mary Alice Murray representing 2:18 female-male ratio, high at the time; Osgoode ratio 12 :200. Absence of discrimination against female students by students, professors; absence of political sex­ consciousness in female students; tolerance of the odd off­colour story as 'part of education'; lack of sympathy with woman's excessive protest of 'Dear Sir' form of salutation in recent letter from subject's secretary. Student acceptance of subject's unusual married status. Job-security advantage of marriage into law-practice: novelty factor of women in law as a cause of concern to female students (1950s) despite ample job market. Presentday competitive factor (1200 ap­plicants per law-school opening), taking the fun out of studenthood; open admission to law school (1950s) based on degree; difficulty passing following acceptance, estimated 33 % first year failure/dropout rate; limitless tolerance of female students because of open admission standards, adequate job supply. Normal life as married student at Queen's despite residence tradition, majority single status; law school as three-year grind, more time devoted to study than to social life. Lingering influence of WWII veteran students on campus life: no-nonsense learning atmosphere, emphasis on practical happiness; A-bomb issue as only symptom of ethical unrest. Tragic unhappiness of law student 'misfits', born 10 years before their time. Convocation address (1956) by Adlai Stevenson; hope that Queen's will again engage eminent topical speakers. Psychology professor, former editor of New England Daily Worker, quietly working at Queen's following McCarthy witchhunt. Influence of career-bent all-male childhood playmates in decision to study law; marriage as an unplanned development; practice of warning dates she was set on career. Canadian total involvement in WWII; seeming non-existence of conscientious objectors, draft-dodgers; subject's burning desire to enlist. Enjoyment of position as female lawyer to local Royal Canadian Legion. Domestic safety factor in Canadian lack of protest of WWII. Role of Horace Read (father of Kingston lawyer Gordon Read) in negotiating Canada's entry into war. Subject's continuing support of WWII as absolutely necessary; criticism of frail Canadian civil rights, treatment of Japanese. Canadian Bill of Rights as 'a sore point, "lovely on paper" never effectively used.' Edward Morrow radio coverage of London Blitz, liberation of concentration camps; horror coverage surpassing TV in allowance for vivid imagination. Ignorance of French Canadian war-protest resulting from Anglophone cultural isolation; advances in Canadian social-political awareness culminating in present­ day critical concern. Expensive challenge of Bar exams written in Toronto; 6 weeks 1 exam per week, no results till final notice of pass /failure. Marriage-career combinations of female colleagues; perspicacity of those enrolling in Cont. Ed. updating courses while interrupting career for child­raising; unlikelihood of child-raising combined with fulltime legal practice. Personal decision to forego parenting: high standard of family living acquired during childhood; inability to carry off family life and law successfully. Law school complication of non-practising teachers favouring their own type, though academic students fare no better than eventual lawyers. Expectation that job shortage will soon level off; senior lawyer's observation, 'The greatest present you have is your birth-date' (apropos economic conditions). Variety of fields open to lawyers. Subject's practice, distinguished from husband's for tax reasons, different choice of field; law as a 'nickel and dime' affair, requiring little initial expenditure. Annual assessment of law student cases at Queen's; well-argued sample case of girl refused admission to hockey league. Changing face of Queen's law school: larger representation of women, cultural minorities; larger enrolment; separate building. Strained relations between practising Kingston lawyers, Queen's law faculty, resulting from professors' infiltration into practical field. Serious approach of 1970s students as reminiscent of 1950s; radical difference of '60s students (now adopting pin-stripe suits) . Kingston awareness, as border city, of 1960s student unrest; greater media coverage awarded Queen's activities then than now. Enjoyment of international law conventions; universal similarity of legal problems despite difference in legal systems; realisation that small-town lawyers are not 'hick', isolated, but part of a world-wide 'little society'. Appreciation of personal element in Kingston practice, less likely in a large city; similarity as lawyer to old GP, receiving clients as though they were an extended family.

Tepper, Geraldine Rose

Platt, Pauline, nee Vipond

File consists of a recording of Pauline Platt. Topics of the conversation include husband's supportive pleasure in subject's late decision to attend Queen's (alma mater of son, daughter, husband). Extracurricular coursework at University of Toronto before marriage; UTS upgrading courses following decision to at tend Queen's. Love of teaching career pursued before marriage, resumed after raising children. 'Exam nerves' in Queen's history course, 'brave fifty' in French coursework; encumbrance of early hearing aids while attending lectures. Husband's helpful lack of sympathy for failure, admonition to study harder. Husband's illness, sale of family home; lODE offer of free home; discontinuation of study considering husband's housebound infirmity, child's illness. Return to Queen's in late 1960s, following passive period after husband's death; acquisition of nine credits by 1970; temporary cessation of studies, reactivated by imagining husband's verdict, 'just unfinished business'. Completion of degree with seven Theology courses (taken with a grain of objectivity); special enjoyment of Judaism course, with two contentious Jewish students 'to give it a flavour'. Lifting of fees for senior citizens; uncomfortable reaction to not paying for tuition. Exam-writing as an exhausting experience; preference for homework, essay-writing. Happy relations with younger students; minor note of discord struck by professor who disapproved of tape recorder (used to assist deafness). Notetaking assistance from classmate-tutor-friend; solitary essay-writing endeavours, 'my pride and joy'. Possibility of using Queen's recreational facilities, not indulged in. Love of reading, attributed to English schooling: transfer to England during WWI with chaplain father, attendance Peterborough Cathedral school (rising at 5:00am to sound of choirboys' practise, 'I thought surely it was the angels'; blowing mouthful of rice in face of girl who insulted Canada), 'Wordsworth country' Church School for Clergy Daughters (bomb-ridden despite assurances of safety; customary search for Wordsworthian 'Michael's stone; arts-oriented curriculum, lacking science or maths instruction). Return by ship to Canada (1918) with 5000 soldiers; fear of submarine attack. Armistice Day 'talcum powder madness' celebrations in Toronto. Failure of math tests for entrance to Riverdale Collegiate; eventual entrance, matriculation, employment as one-room schoolteacher.//Resignation from teaching upon marriage ('the husbands were to blame for that'); schoolboard's application to husband for permission for wife to supply-teach during bad epidemic ('she can go, but she isn't to be given any money'); subject's acceptance of work for pay. Happy spell as rural schoolteacher in Ernestown. Student beginnings at Queen's (Dept.of Extension); increasing deafness; refusal of work learning to teach the perceptually handicapped. Social frustrations of life as a doctor's wife; husband as lieutenant-colonel with Queen's Medical Corps No.7 during WWII; father-in-law as doctor, short-term Liberal MP; husband's rejection of faculty position at Queen's, preferred work as prison doctor. Inequality of personal suffering during Depression, feeling that Canada escaped lightly compared with United States; subject's naive, insensitive personal behaviour throughout Depression; advancement of religious skepticism by social crises since WWI. Husband's support of subject's volunteer interests ('I think some people thought I shouldn't be out of the house so much'); motivation as do-gooder (Historical Society, Girl Guides, local Council of Women, etc.). Ambivalent attitude to women's movement: non-sympathy with aggressive liberation; admiration for Flora MacDonald, Agnes MacPhail; belief in natural distinctions between abilities of sexes; implied belief in women's domestic responsibilities, support for women who are 'free' for non-traditional roles, 'capable' of them; superiority of Florence Nightingale who was 'revered and loved'. RespectfuI admiration for fellow senior citizen Queen's graduate Helen Campbell.

Platt, Pauline

McBratney, Jean

File consists of a recording of Jean McBratney. Topics of the conversation include Queen's Registrar's office under Jean Royce, Assistant Registrar Jean Richardson (1930s-40s). Personal replies dictated by Royce to admission applications; nearly automatic admission of Arts students, review of Science applications with Dean and Secretary of Applied Science. WWII regulation requiring failing students to withdraw, without supplementary exams or permission to repeat; formal report of failed students to Government as potential draft choices. Scarcity of applicants during WWII; open admission of Arts students, admission quota for Science students. Lack of government financial aid for students throughout Depression; available scholarships, bursaries; no recollection of student withdrawals on financial grounds. Prof. Campbell's friendly banter with typing staff; Dean Ellis' dog-companion, 'Buster', Prof. Ciark's Scottie dog (which bit Dean Ellis). Royce's preparation of exam timetable, sans computer; Gestetner as sole reproducing facility. German students interned in England (WWII),welcomed in Canada if sponsored by Canadian; Queen's students Alfred Bader (later art donor), Kurt Rothschild. Doubled applications after WWII; full-time summer sessions, resulting in 'Class of 48 1/2'; special courses, e.g. Prospecting. Community war effort: knitting; playing cards with soldiers at Barriefield; no recollection of objectors or veteran bitterness. Popularisation of married studenthood by veterans; poverty as a contributing factor to pre-war single studenthood. Dedication of veteran students, occasional academic failure. Financial support of veteran husbands by wives; desertions by ungrateful graduate husbands who felt they had 'outgrown' uneducated wives. Employment by Assistant to Principal (1952-6), by Dean's Office, Faculty of Medicine, (1956-78). Studious campus quiet during 1950s, lack of political protest. Availability of funding in 1960s,former economic stringency: battle of supervisors to raise salaries, employment of teachers on part-time, supplementary income basis, or on Fellowships. Med School requirements laid down by Ontario College of Physicians and Surgeons; Queen's 6-year Meds programme, late switch to 2-year pre-Meds, 4-year Med School system. Arts faculty requirements for Medical programme, dropped in 1974; student illiteracy problem; former mandatory remedial courses for students with English marks below 60. Admission of women to Med School, 1943; higher standards required for entrance compared with men; tendency to drop out as primary reason for rejecting, discouraging them. Barb Campling's protest of refusal (despite superior grades) by Queen's Medical School; acceptance to pre-Meds programme, Western University; later refusal of Meds option at Queen's. Subject's acceptance of women Med students' situation. Increase in number of female applicants, in quota accepted; frequent superiority of female Med students; smaller number of dropouts coinciding with introduction of pre-Med system (2 years plus 4 seems less than 6). Friendly acceptance of Nancy Moffat, first woman graduate of Applied Science, by male students. Low WWII enrolment, general progressive pressure as causes of eventual admission of women to Med School, not protest (nonexistent) by rejected applicants. Regrettable abolishment of standard provincial Gr.13 entrance exams. Difficulty of winnowing sincere students from huge volume of applicants to Med School; lack of formal interviewing procedure at Queen's. Subject's lifetime in Kingston: memory of Depression in terms of economy, not hardship; Queen's salary 'not great', but (more important) the work was interesting.//Acceptance of limited career options for women (1950s); scarcity of remunerative summer or part-time jobs ('no money to do things') to stir ambitions. Subject's Distinguished Service Award from University Council. Volunteer hospital work on fill-in basis; volunteer involvement of faculty wives. Defence of unpaid volunteer work: valuable in an economic recession, as legitimate boost to self-esteem. Enjoyment of Arts courses audited at Queen's and St Lawrence College. Decline in townspeople's tolerance for students since 1930s; memory of city people welcoming returning Queen's football champions, stopping to watch victory snake-dances down Princess St; students as city benefactors even now. Enjoyment of busy Queen's career; lucky variety of first appointment, introduction to student, faculty, and administrative points of view.

McBratney, Jean

Love, Jean C., nee Hawkins

File consists of a recording of Jean Love. Topics of the conversation include early ambition to nurse; choice of Queen's directed and promoted by parents. Queen's Nursing Science programme c. 1946, connection with Kingston General Hospital. Teenage obliviousness to WWI, later regret for unawareness of others' suffering. Muir House residence, 1946. Classes with ex-service engineering students, comparative interest of their 'what I did last summer' talks. Post-graduation work opportunities. Lack of burning social, political issues on campus; post-war ambition to settle down. Alcohol prohibition on campus. Tame initiation rites. Coldness of old-guard Kingston community towards university, better relations following establishment of Alcan, Dupont. Flexible design of Queen's nursing programme; student separation from university during training years. Levana Society. Divided nursing programme (1946) compared with present integrated programme. Jenny Weir. Work with VON, Kingston City Health Dept. Function of Public Health Nurses in schools then and now; rewarding experience identifying eye­ problems in schoolchildren. Part-time nursing career while raising children; clinical teaching, home visits with students; value of long working acquaintance with Kingston. Nursing hierarchy: current revision of roles and qualifications. Feelings of subject as faculty wife. Career development: Canada Health Survey in Kingston; cancer services in Frontenac County (Cancer Society, U. of T.), especially interesting and encouraging contact with cancer patients of long standing. Comparative contributions of public health nursing and hospital nursing. Comparison of student generations: today's youth more self-confident, articulate, experienced, but basically similar. Dislike of student drinking on street, foul language; observation that she has never disliked a student individually. Support of women's adventures into male­ dominated fields.//Expectation that with birth control, Zero Population Growth movement, more women will choose careers other than child-bearing. Status of nurses: attitude of professionals, public. Expanding VON home care programme, necessitated by government cutbacks in hospital funding. Subject's warm appreciation of Kingston, nursing profession, Queen's University.

Love, Jean C.

Gibson, Rose Mary

File consists of a recording of Rose Gibson. Topics of the conversation include TAPE ONE Sad transfer to Queen's from Univ. of Western Ontario: father's inability to fund out-of-town expenses for seven children. Consciousness as doctor's daughter of Depression sufferings; government subsidy of doctor's services, doctors' sliding scale of fees for patients. Slight outsider status as Kingston resident (tendency of residence students to exclude, to group); outsider status of fellow who took insignificant jobs to finance studies; self-support of John Deutsch (studying mornings, teaching afternoons), facilitated by Queen's morning lecture system. Plenitude of bursaries, scholarships, despite want of government-supplied student grants; free tuition for students 'nominated' by donors to Queen's fund drive; generosity of individual professors and townspeople (e.g. Min Gordon) in giving or lending money. Min Gordon as Queen's 'character': unusual status as one of two female professors; odd dress, lack of concern for personal appearance; abnormal driving habits; outspoken if not aggressive personality, 'the women who asserted their rights early didn't do it with as much finesse as they can now'. Women's general disinclination to try for centre stage 'unless it happened'. Popular blame of government for Depression conditions (witness 1930s elections of new leaders);ruinous effect of Depression on students' self-confidence; irony of recent economic recession considering student blame of earlier recession on popular stupidity. Plight of farmers, sending out daughters to town convent boarding-school, paying tuition in farm produce. Availability of paying jobs for young men (service stations, grain elevators), not for young women (not even babysitting); volunteer work available in summer camps. Decision of penniless cleaning lady and husband to accept loans, gifts from friends, never to accept government welfare; couple's habit of attending movies, frowned on by many, not by Gibson. Queen's as a 'closed community' throughout Depression ;local faith in League of Nations, campus concurrence over impossibility of WWII. Childhood understanding of conscientious objection to war as 'perfectly legitimate' attitude, placement of blame for WWI on previous generation's stupidity, pride in family contribution to WWI nevertheless. 'Parochial feuding' atmosphere at Queen's (1930s): Science vs. Arts, city vs. university, Queen's vs. R.M.C., Queen's vs. Univ. of Toronto. Queen's Journal as reflection of 'ingrown' campus interests, less scholarly than in former times, less concerned with world affairs than before or since. Student community. Decline in campus intimacy with increase in size: 'working eleven years in Archives, Idon't even know everybody in the History Dept. now'. Advice given father (bright son of poor widow) to attend university by Newburg Academy professor John Matheson (later Dean of Arts,Queen's); father's self-support through Meds programme (1904) by teaching, working in cheese factories. Attendance at Queen's by five of subject's seven siblings, three nieces, three nephews. Irish maternal grandmother's convent schooling, enrolment of daughters in convent, son in Univ. of Ottawa. Queen's as a 'poor man's college' insofar as local people could afford Queen's who could not afford live-away expenses at Univ. of Toronto. University attendance as foregone conclusion in subject's family. Enjoyable years at convent high school – see Jean Kerr, Please Don't Eat the Daisies (all convent schooling is the same). Women's acceptance of limited options after highschool (university, teaching, nursing, possibly secretarial work); no recollection of resentful attitude, but 'too bad', 'a fact of life'. Father's depression (as WWI medical veteran) at recurring horror of WWII; subject's ignorance of WWII enlisted acquaintances' feelings, veterans didn't tell much (except the odd funny story); willing entrance of many who had decried stupidity of WWI into WWII. RCMP surveillance of German acquaintance during WWII; awareness of own change of heart towards German people, admittedly irrational; lesser anti-German feeling in WWII than in WWI (no posters of Kaisers eating babies). Women's exclusive choice of career or marriage after schooling (often brief spell of work preceding marriage). Attendance at Ontario College of Education (both parents having been teachers); faith in education as enjoyable road to better life. Rural teaching in Ontario, supplying books from father's library; many smart kids from good homes, despite poverty, primitive schooling conditions. Teaching in Sault Ste. Marie, Kingston, looking for better position, wages; inevitable impersonalism of larger schools, less rewarding. Frustrating experience teaching English to technological stream boys; hankering to substitute biography of Henry Ford for mandatory Shakespeare. Belief in duty of schools to impart basic skills, core of knowledge. // Disbelief in WWII even during Royal Visit to Canada, June 1939;pride in brothers' enlistment once it began; Red Cross work, nutrition instruction, no thought of herself enlisting. Acquaintance with alternative service enlister (despite lack of qualifications) in Medical Corps. Value of WWII in ending financial depression, providing people with purpose, unity. Unquestioning support of entrance into war, albeit European war; conception of Europe as centre of western world (heartbroken sentiment at fall of France, though never having seen it); expectation that USA would indeed enter war, after pattern of late entrance set in WWI. Hiroshima as dreadful blot on Western conscience ('I didn't know how Mr. Truman could sleep'); misleading media coverage, 'dreadful but necessary' tone adopted later; censorship of news reports and soldiers' letters; lying nature of media in general (from varying motives), craziness of using newspapers as primary sources of historical truth. Uncensorious attitude to French-Canadian war-resisters. Mackenzie King's tenacity, achievements, despite unpopularity. Sense of depression over Cold War, personal uneasiness at political developments not felt now (1979). Divided Canadian response to McCarthy: dread of Communist infiltration, akin to dread of typhus epidemic; irrational argument over McCarthyism ending in shouting matches; subject's anti-McCarthy stand, interest in recent T.V. documentary. Changes in Kingston (1958) after twenty years' absence: larger, more varied social groups, new multiculturalism (more homogeneous in 1938, more interesting in 1958); thrill of first multicultural exposure (Sault Ste. Marie). Nephew's distraught report of Pres. Kennedy's assassination; personal dismay at senselessness of murder by reported 'crackpot' assassin. Transatlantic shift (1960s) in centre of Western awareness from Europe to USA. Resignation of teaching career after stress-induced illness; attendance University of Ottawa library school,1967;bilingual policy as Univ. of Ottawa's unique value, successful at one-to-one level, constrained at level of public meetings. Employment in Queen's University Archives, 1968, acquaintance with scholarly, post-graduate sector of student population. Horror at wasted time, energy, of Charles Edwards Inquiry into Student Unrest (1960s); unnerving student compulsion to question everything, suffered with difficulty by lecturer Hilda Neatby(?). Condonation (shared by friends) of us draft-dodgers during Viet Nam war. Expansion of student interest in world affairs (1960s) as result of expanded opportunities, world-wide horizons, easy money available to students throughout 1960s; attitude of 1960s graduates (foreign to subject's outlook) that universities owed them employment. TAPE TWO 'Clear road ahead' for students in 1960s, realistic expectation of pursuing chosen career; pursuit of less desired routes in 1930s, 1940s, 1970s, selection of university major with view to employment options; greater flexibility of recent graduates, 'what I do will depend on circumstances'. Admiration for Trent University, belief that small universities have much to offer; certainty that small universities will suffer as students opt for universities better known to employers. Community colleges as excellent but overbuilt phenomena, financially endangered. Expectation of forced curtaiIment of educational curricula, not necessarily a pity: 'the worst days were the days when we had too much, when everything seemed too easy.' Family, education, books, some friends, as greatest influences in life; life as a matter of 'outside influences and inside drive, how you can mesh them together'. Impact of physical environment on individuality: subject's dependence on nearby lake for happiness, brother's homesickness (Saskatchewan) for trees. Self-exclusion from women's rights pioneering, feeling that leaders went (too raucously) too far; conditioned acceptance as female schoolteacher of inequality of career expectations (not of wages); critical response to women's indiscriminate entrance into new fields (why would any woman choose to drive taxi?), belief that job spectrum is artificial now as formerly. Approval of social progress toward considering people as people, not as men or women; probable existence of unfelt discrimination in subject's past (father, though encouraging her to attend university, would likely not have encouraged Med School). Surprised presidency of newly-opened branch of Ontario Genealogical Society; genealogy as today's 'most fashionable hobby'; contempt of historians for genealogical branch of history, undeserved: value of time consuming genealogical study in encouraging local history, providing sense of identity, stability, community with past, in times of change; belief that people are coming to see that minor areas of study are as valuable as major ones. Historians' similar contempt for oral history, failure to conceive of history (like Medicine) as not only objective science ,but subjective art. Value to subject of Hidden Voices interview in reestablishing sense of continuity with the past; future value to young auditors in establishing sense of belonging, 'we're all connected in some way'.

Gibson, Rose Mary

Cullen, Grace, nee Taylor

File consists of a recording of Grace Cullen. Topics of the conversation include subject's idyllic childhood (Braeside, Ottawa Valley) as minister's daughter, family of 7, c WWI. Father's pacifist stance; painful effect of son's dutiful enlistment; son's nerves badly affected by war. Subject's retrospective resignation to inevitable futility of war; praise for German Canadian com­munity known in Eganville; lasting impression of cemetery for Canadian soldiers seen in Black Forest, Germany. High school (Arnprior); enrolment of 4 children in Queen's as closest university. Mother's Scottish origins: thrifty, well-off family life. University attendance for enjoyment of learning, pleasure of friendship: taken for granted, not career-­oriented. Teaching in Braeside following high school. Teachers' College; summer courses at Queen's; residence in Goodwin House, Ban Righ; two years full attendance, 1929-30. Financial security throughout Depression. Teaching as self-chosen profession. Depression period, not recalled in terms of hardship: dinner outings in female friend's red roadster. Employment with Montreal telephone company; 3 years teaching in Eganville. Teaching in Hampshire, England (1935) for League of the British Empire; glorious crossing on cattle boat (500 cattle, 12 passengers). League tickets to George VI coronation, Westminster Abbey; invitation to garden party, Buckingham Palace. Holiday trips to Europe with female friends. 'Heil Hitler' salutations in Germany, 1936. Falling-out with Prof. MacGillivray over German studies at Queen's. 'Standing room only' in soldier-laden Italian 3rd-class railway compartment (end of Abyssinian War). English teaching experience (class suppression, caning, lack of ambition, in rural Council school for the poor) contrasted with Canadian: even in rural, working-class Braeside, students would have been 'reaching for the stars'. Residence in England, well cared-for by English lady's maid. Excellent staff in English schools. Hiking acquaintance with Isle of Wight; trips to London, Epsom Downs. Industrial workers' apprehension over arms shipments to Germany. Friendliness of people in Germany: feeling they didn't want the war. Teaching in Canada (till 1941). Employment with External Affairs Dept. to satisfy war-conscience; meeting with future husband; unpaid overtime work hours. Membership, 1946 delegation to UN, New York; residence in Biltmore Hotel; responsibility to prominent delegates for documents. Marriage, 1947. Youngest brother's participation in WWII; father's unvocal suffering. Canadian attitudes to WWII; no recollection of pacifism, German immigrant/French Canadian problems. Media coverage. Doubt who will act as aggressor in future atomic war.//Gradual return of veterans to Ottawa; lack of bitterness. Subject's retirement after marriage, child-raising. Husband's embassy post in Washington, 1952-57; 4 years residence in San Francisco. Founding of San Francisco branch of Queen's Alumni. Firm belief in UN; dislike of 'one vote per country' system. Washington excitement over McCarthy hearings; Cold War distancing from Russian diplomats. Subject's enjoyment of USA. Posting in 1960s to Los Angeles; Viet Nam issue. Dislike of extremism, belief in conformity; ruination of San Francisco by 'gay' disturbances. Pollyanna hope that things will right them­selves. Happy embrace of motherhood, marriage, in place of office Iife; approval of wider options for women; belief that children need a mother's devoted care; dislike of day-care. Children, grandchildren, as greatest pleasure in subject's life. Modern greed, money-worship; increased salaries-have not meant increased happiness. Subject's continuing faith in religion. Summary feeling 'it was a good life'.

Cullen, Grace

Baker, Annie May, nee Cooke

File consists of a recording of Annie Baker. Topics of the conversation include Queen's women's residence houses, forerunners to residences proper; subject as housemother (responsible to warden) at Macdonnell House, population of 15 students. Residence restrictions; closeness of residence staff to students neighbourly attitude no longer felt among students since university expansion. Comparative poverty of students then: basic wardrobe of a few skirts, pairs of shoes; absence of radios. Close tabs kept on students. University as a sexual meeting ground, possible source of exciting marriages. Independence of present day students, friendly dependency of earlier residents. 'Fanatic' religious group on campus (1960s) led by Donald Wilson. Dramatic, dangerous orientation pranks, since reduced to level of simple fun. Protected farm life during Depression years. Work at Alcan during WWII ; hiring of women by the thousand during labour shortage, placement according to weight; happy integration of male and female workers. Postwar lay-off of female workers; rehiring priority accorded to single female workers. Varying degrees of education achieved by siblings, according to whether or not they were wanted on the farm; subject's sole educational regret that she is not bilingual. Assumption of part-time work at Queen's as children reached school age; co-ordination of family and work schedules. Opinion that degree of Depression poverty depended on individual drive; social problem of laziness then, high job expectations now. Arrival in Kingston (1941). Canadian sense of security during WWII; dutiful feeling of subject's enlisted acquaintances. Veteran loan benefits. Obloquy attached to conscientious objection; lingering resentment of French Canadian war resistance. Red Cross volunteer-work, knitting of mittens with special hand-openings. 'Do without' upbringing of subject's generation, dependence on luxuries of youth today; difficulty of return to more basic existence (e.g. fuel economy); harm done by credit card economy. Experience as housewife, neighbour; childcare co-operation among neighbourhood mothers; dangers inherent in women's coffee-party syndrome. Rising standard of living in 1940s, 1950s, current economic inflation; expectation of sudden economic 'crash'. Church attendance, concern that children should be given religious instruction; religion as an out­moded social need given today's money, leisure, mobility. Inability of working mothers to transmit basic home-making skills to younger generation; 'craft hunger' of today's young, desire to regain skills of foremothers. Stimulation of return to work (1960), enjoyed as an opportunity for decision-making. Satisfaction with working life; value of experience as cleaning lady in contributing to sense of fair play as supervisor. Replacement of residence houses in 1960s development of Victoria Hall womens' residence, hectic conditions of fall opening. Residence custom of student visits with parents in 'Parents' Room'; gradual relaxation of restrictions in response to student protest. Problems of student uppitiness with cleaning staff, usually resolved by time, discussion. Change in woman's educational aims from marriage-goal to career-motivation. Sad phenomenon of divorces in 1950s caused by educated male's spurning of ignorant woman who dropped education to put him through college. Easy attitude to equal career opportunities for women. Feeling that marriages thrive on variety (lawyers shouldn't marry lawyers). Kingston city expansion; city resentment of rural workers taking additional work in factories; agitation by university dependents against admission of industry to Kingston. Sizeable Kingston boardinghouse business lost to university residences. Dedication required of farming candidates, now lacking; loss of family farms through children's preference for spendable money, freedom, rather than committed time, invested riches. Female night-duty residence desk staff. Change in motivation for attending university from brilliant dedication to mere necessity to fill in time. Change in pattern of university attendance: former custom of obtaining university credits after attending Faculty of Education, by attending summer school (thus requiring decades of work to obtain degree); current receipt of teacher training after BA degree, hence dwindling status of summer school. Teachers' current disillusionment with teaching, discipline problems, problems with uncooperative parents; sharp contrast with subject's upbringing 'to mind the teacher and do as we were told.'

Baker, Annie May