Women have long contributed to our society, and the development of British Columbia, through their participation

BC ARCHIVES C-09704 Women and Girls on Front Porch

as inventors, teachers, photographers, nurses, farmers, midwives, mothers, judges, doctors, and computer programmers.

Approaching women's history has its rewards and its frustrations, primarily because of the difficulty in finding documents, as women's records have not been carefully preserved.

There seem to be several reasons for this. Upper-class women had the leisure and education necessary to write letters and keep diaries.

BC ARCHIVES G-04121 Aboriginal Women Packers

Although scarce, the letters and diaries they kept help understand the fears, dreams, and aspirations of these women..

There are court records, school records, ledgers, hotel documents, and a variety of other institutions catering in whole or in part to women or children. These records help give us some insight into the lives of illiterate, or very young women.

BC ARCHIVES PDP03036 Drawing of Women

The decorative, fine, and commercial arts, give historians another type of source for women's history. Portraits, drawings, travellers' descriptions and newspaper stories help us see how they were portrayed at the time.

The writings of missionaries, fur traders, literary men, and the keepers of church and government records, as well as the writings of brothers, sons, fathers, and husbands are also sources of women's history.

"Unfortunately, where the women themselves have been totally silent, such records are sometimes our only sources, and we must read between the lines for the reality of women's historical lives."

..from The Pioneer Gentlewomen of British North America 1713-1867, edited by Beth Light and Alison Prentice, 1980.