Showing 201 results

Authority record

Peterson, Betty

  • AR-044
  • Person
  • 1917-2018

Betty Peterson (née Farber) was born in Reading, Pennsylvania in 1917. She attended the fine arts program at Syracuse University before marrying Gunnar Peterson in 1939. The couple were conscientious objectors during World War II and were increasingly dedicated to peace movements following the war, later becoming Quakers. They had two children, Lisl and Eric. In 1950, they moved to Chicago where Peterson was involved in the Civil Rights movement, participating in sit-ins, protests, and other political activities.

In 1975, Betty and Gunnar Peterson moved to Cape Breton out of frustration with the political climate in the United States. A few years after Gunnar’s sudden death in 1976, Peterson relocated to Halifax where she became an active member of the Canadian Voice of Women for Peace and the Halifax Society of Friends (Quakers). Through these organizations she participated in a number of social movements both locally and abroad, including in 1982 when she travelled to New York City to attend a nuclear disarmament rally and present the Women’s International Peace Petition to the UN’s Second Special Session on Disarmament. She also made six trips to Labrador in the late 1980s and early 1990s, where she joined Innu protests of low-flying NATO test flights over Nitassinan, and in 1988 she travelled to Little Buffalo, Alberta on behalf of the Society of Friends in order to join Lubicon Lake Band protests against oil drilling on their land.

Peterson was involved in a number of protests and organizations related to women’s rights, environmental conservation, Indigenous activism, nuclear disarmament, and anti-war movements, including protests against the Gulf War (1991) and Iraq War (2003). She was an organizer of the P7 “People’s Summit” (1995) and a member of the Raging Grannies. She continued to attend protests until a few years before her passing in Halifax, in 2018.

Mount Saint Vincent University. Library and Archives

  • AR-045
  • Corporate body
  • 1873-

Located in the E. Margaret Fulton Communications Centre since 1989, Mount Saint Vincent University’s Library serves as a physical and virtual environment that supports and contributes to MSVU’s research community.

The Library engages in a number of outreach and scholarly activities, including: offering LIBR2100: Library Research, a course designed to equip students with effective information literacy; maintaining the MSVU E-Commons, a repository of scholarly materials produced at MSVU; facilitating instructional sessions and workshops to promote academic integrity; and building community partnerships through the Learning Commons model. MSVU’s Library also contains one of the strongest 2SLGBTQI+ collections in Atlantic Canada in the Women’s Studies collection.

On January 18, 1974, the President’s Administrative Committee determined that a university archives should be established at MSVU, and since then an archives section has operated under the direction of the University Librarian. The MSVU Archives houses the institutional records of Mount Saint Vincent College and University, including faculty and alumnae collections, as well as select community records pertaining to social justice issues.

Carten, Laura

  • AR-046
  • Person
  • 1882-1960

Laura Paty Carten was born in Halifax, Nova Scotia in 1882 and was educated at the Convent of the Sacred Heart.
Laura Carten was a journalist most famous for her Rainbow Club column in the Halifax Chronicle-Herald newspaper where she wrote under the pseudonym of Farmer Smith. The column began in 1916 with the aim of providing a section in the newspaper that could entertain and amuse children. It began with short simple talks and a bedtime story. Very soon, this children's column came to encompass significant space across the page. By 1919, the "club" of readers grew significantly enough that patrons raised money for its various charitable endeavours, one of which was furnishing the newly opened Rainbow Ward in the Halifax Children's Hospital. As children grew up, they could become part of a memory club, who volunteered in their community to keep the many programs established for the Rainbow Club running.
The Rainbow Club column catered to young people of all ages. One day a week, Farmer Smith wrote a column specifically for young children 10 years and under. The Saturday issue was typically reserved for older readers where Farmer Smith wrote about literary topics such as British prose and poetry, as well as American and Canadian literature. A special Saturday issue every winter was devoted to biographical sketches of world-famous women.
Laura Carten also used the influence of the Rainbow Club column to found Rainbow Haven, which was a summer camp for Halifax (and beyond)'s disadvantaged children who were usually poverty-stricken. It began in 1919 and by the 1950s, had provided summer camp experiences to almost 7,000 children.
Laura Carten worked at the Herald until her retirement in 1951, a journalism career spanning 35 years. She had many distinguished friends and acquaintances, many of whom were writers. She was a writer herself, having been published in the Canadian Magazine and in the Nova Scotia Book of Verse. She was a member and the president of the Canadian Authors Association for some time, a member of the Nova Scotia Poetry Centre and was an honorary member of the Mark Twain Society for her contributions to Canadian writing. As a friend of Sister Maura Power, English professor at Mount Saint Vincent College, Laura helped establish a joint-journalism school between Mount Saint Vincent College, King's College and Saint Mary's University.
Laura Carten passed away in 1960 at the age of 78.

d'Assisi, Sister Francis

  • AR-047
  • Person
  • 1898-[1978?]

Margaret McCarthy was born November 8, 1898, to Timothy and Ellen McCarthy of Bantry Bay, Ireland. The McCarthy’s belonged to Saint Patrick’s parish in Halifax, and Margaret attended Saint Patrick’s High School, eventually joining the Sisters of Charity in 1915 where she made her profession of vows in 1918. Sister Francis d’Assisi received a Bachelor of Arts at Mount Saint Vincent College in 1921, and a Master of Arts in History in 1926. In 1932 she received a doctorate degree at Fordham University; her thesis was ‘The changing religious liberty in Nova Scotia, 1604-1827.’ After returning to Nova Scotia, she taught history at Saint Patrick’s High School before becoming Dean at Mount Saint Vincent College in 1938.

Following her tenure as dean, Sister Francis D’Assisi became the President of Mount Saint Vincent College from 1954 to 1965, where she oversaw the school’s expansion, both in campus buildings and enrolment. She was a founding member of the Association of Atlantic Universities (AAU), and maintained Mount Saint Vincent’s membership in the National Conference of Colleges and Universities (NCCU) since 1950. She was also largely responsible for the seal of the college, which first appeared in publications in the mid-fifties.

When she retired as President in 1965, she received the Pro Ecclesia et Pontifice medal and became the Congregational Historian (Archivist) for the Sisters of Charity, a position she held until 1978.

Distance University Education via Television

  • AR-048
  • Corporate body
  • 1982-1999

Distance University Education via Television (DUET) was launched in 1982, providing a method of distance learning where students could watch lectures off campus. It was initially shot with black and white cameras and broadcast to short circuit TVs using ASN (Atlantic Satellite Network), a regional television channel for Atlantic Canada. DUET filmed course lectures in Gerontology, Accounting, Women's Studies, and more, that were broadcast to students studying remotely, who could then phone in with questions and comments. DUET was the result of President Dr. E. Margaret Fulton’s efforts to gain support from provincial and federal governments as well as cable companies. The first director of the program was Dr. Diana Carl.

This program was useful especially to women, in the context of the 1980s when many women were returning to the workforce after raising families and were looking for ways to update their education. The program began with fewer than 100 students but expanded throughout the years of operation.

In 1999, DUET, along with the Open Learning Program became the foundation for the Department of Distance Learning and Continuing Education. Eventually the program transitioned from local channels to digital, and in 2011 it ceased broadcasting and became online-only programming.

Hersom, Naomi

  • AR-049
  • Person
  • 1927-2008

Naomi Hersom was born in Winnipeg, Manitoba in 1927 to Fred and Anna Hersom. She received a Bachelor of Arts from the University of Manitoba in 1947 before beginning a career in teaching. In 1969 she received her Ph.D. in education from the University of Alberta and was appointed associate professor in the University of Alberta’s department of education. Noticing the limited number of women in the faculty, she started an association for women at the University of Alberta.

In 1975, she was appointed head of elementary education at the University of British Columbia, where she met and worked with Dr. Margaret Fulton who was dean of women at UBC at the time. Dr. Fulton encouraged Dr. Hersom to apply for the president position at Mount Saint Vincent, where she became the seventh president from 1986 to 1991.

During her tenure she oversaw the building of the E. Margaret Communications Centre, the expansion of distance education learning and Open Learning Programs, and the Initiative for Women in Science, which established a chair for women in science at MSVU and a science centre with classrooms, offices, and research spaces for students and faculty in the sciences and mathematics departments.

MacLeod, Jeffrey

  • AR-050
  • Person

Dr. Jeffrey J. MacLeod is a professor and Chair of Mount Saint Vincent University’s Political Studies department. He holds a Bachelor of Arts in Community Studies from Cape Breton University, a Master of Arts in Political Science from Acadia University, and a doctorate degree in Political Science from the University of Western Ontario.

Dr. MacLeod’s research explores politics, culture, and art through arts-based methods of inquiry. Dr. MacLeod is also an active visual artist, with drawing, painting, and digital art mediums. He has won an award at HalCon, and his work has been displayed in several galleries including the MSVU Art Gallery.

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