The Writers of 1920s Calgary -- A Reading List

Here’s a list of the works I mentioned during my recent Historic Calgary Week talk “Scribblers & Scrabblers: The Writers of Early Calgary.” 

If you’re interested in reading the Calgary Herald account of the Bliss Carman recital in February 1924, you can find it on the Calgary Herald archives, available through the Calgary Public Library. Search “Bliss Carman” and “Feb 9, 1924.” The Herald also reported on Carman’s 1921 event on Nov 18, 1921.

Alexander Calhoun – biography by Donna Lohnes & Barbara Nicholson – Alexander Calhoun (1987)

Charlotte Gordon – RedGold (1928)

Elaine Catley ­– poetry chapbooks

Elizabeth Bailey Price, Ethel Heydon & the Canadian Women’s Press Club Calgary branch – Calgary: Gateway to the Woman’s West (1913)

Emily Spencer Kerby – A New Day for Women: Life and Writings of Emily Spencer Kerby, 1859-1938 (2004)

Flos Jewell Williams – New Furrows (1926)

George Kerby – The Broken Trail (1909)

Georgina Thomson – Crocus and Meadowlark Country (1963)

Hugh Dempsey – Napi, The Trickster (2018)

Laura Goodman Salverson – The Viking Heart (1923)

Laura Goodman Salverson, Confessions of an Immigrant’s Daughter (1939)

Mary E. Waagen, The Wayside Cross (1924)

Nellie McClung – The Stream Runs Fast (1945) 

Stephen Leacock – My Discovery of the West (1937)

Winnifred Reeve – Cattle (1923) 

Winnifred Reeve – biography by Birchall, Diana– Onoto Watanna: The Story of Winnifred Eaton (2001)

Winnifred Reeve – 1918 influenza epidemic excerpt

And! Calgary through the Eyes of Writers (2018)

Writers Lived Here

My latest guest blog post for Heritage Calgary takes a look at a few writers of early Calgary who called the city home. You’ll also find the latest version of the digital literary map of Calgary I’ve been working on during my term as Historian in Residence at the Calgary Public Library.

Towards a literary map of Calgary

As Historian in Residence, I’ve been spending these long pandemic days mapping Calgary’s literary landscape. So far, there is no end of material.

Recently, I blogged about the project over at Heritage Calgary. At the end of the post, you’ll find a snapshot of my work-in-progress: a map showing a few places three famous writers touched down in early Calgary. Yes, Rudyard Kipling, Agatha Christie and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle all came to visit.

You can also read about the project in the Calgary Herald. Eric Volmers’ article features a terrific shot of W. O. Mitchell’s Roxboro backyard.

I’ll continue to post regular map updates on Twitter and Facebook.

Historian in Residence!

I am over the moon to be serving as Historian in Residence at the Calgary Public Library. My term runs March through August 2020. There will be programming, office hours, consultation appointments, and, by the end of the residence, an annotated digital literary map of Calgary.

More details here: https://calgarylibrary.ca/events-and-programs/arts-and-culture/historian-in-residence/