Here’s my talk about how I came to map Calgary’s literary landscape, and a glimpse of a few of the treasures I’ve found in the city’s storied landscape. Thanks to Calgary Public Library, Chinook Country Historical Society, and Heritage Calgary.
Scribblers & Scrabblers: The Writers of 1920s Calgary
Gumption, ego and a dash of scandal: these are the stories of the small, ambitious literary community of 1920s Calgary. If you’re curious to explore this little-known chapter of the city’s past and its cast of true-life characters, check out my Historic Calgary Week talk Scribblers & Scrabblers: The Writers of 1920s Calgary.
The Writers of 1920s Calgary -- A Reading List
A few writers of 1920s Calgary – top row from L to R: Winnifred Reeve (Onoto Watanna), Flos Jewell Williams, Elaine Catley, George Kerby, Emily Spencer Kerby; 2nd row: Alexander Calhoun, Laura Goodman Salverson, Ethel Heydon, Elizabeth Bailey Price, Georgina Thomson; bottom row: Charlotte Gordon, Mary E. Waagen, William M. Davidson, Nellie McClung.
A few writers of 1920s Calgary – top row from L to R: Winnifred Reeve (Onoto Watanna), Flos Jewell Williams, Elaine Catley, George Kerby, Emily Spencer Kerby; 2nd row: Alexander Calhoun, Laura Goodman Salverson, Ethel Heydon, Elizabeth Bailey Price, Georgina Thomson; bottom row: Charlotte Gordon, Mary E. Waagen, William M. Davidson, Nellie McClung.
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
1920s Calgary — a place many writers called home (Photo: Peel Collection)
1920s Calgary — a place many writers called home (Photo: Peel Collection)
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.