1. hobbies and interests
2. arts and crafts

Muriel Driver Memorial Lecture
Why crafts? Influences on the development of occupational
therapy in Canada from 1890 to 1930
Key words
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Judith Friedland
Judith Friedland, Ph.D., OT (C),
FCAOT is a Professor, Department
of Occupational Therapy,
University of Toronto, 500
University Avenue, 9th floor,
Toronto, ON M5G 1V7. E-mail:
[email protected]
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Historical research
Handicrafts
Occupational therapy practice
he Muriel Driver Award comes to me just one year before my formal retirement
from academia and has given me a fine opportunity for reflection on my own
career and on our discipline of occupational therapy. The fact that most of my
recent research has been historical has enabled me to address questions and ideas that
I have grappled with over time. To be more accurate, it is probably the other way
around; I have chosen to do historical research now because of these questions.
Foremost among these questions is: “Why Crafts?”
Crafts were there at the beginning and there are many settings and situations
where they are still appropriate. Yet we prefer to dismiss them as an unfortunate part
of our past. Indeed, it is as if we are ashamed of these occupations.
When I was a student (many years ago!) we learned a lot of crafts. And although
we laughed about them and were embarrassed to talk about them, we enjoyed engaging in those activities. When I graduated in 1960 and worked in psychiatry, we used
crafts a great deal, and our patients (as they were then called) appeared to benefit
from them. But for all the activity analysis, even when that process became more
sophisticated in later years, I never understood why crafts were used over other occupations.
Now I want to share with you some of what I have learned about “Why Crafts?”
My question takes me into an exploration of influences on the development of occupational therapy in Canada from about 1890 to1930. My rationale is that a better
understanding of our beginnings will help us develop more fully. It is also possible
that there was something inherent in crafts as an occupation that we have otherwise
not been able to provide. Perhaps we can find a modern-day equivalent, if we know
more about that je ne sais quoi.
I begin with a description of the background in terms of the social and political
context of the times; I will then describe the foreground, highlighting three social
movements that I believe influenced our development. With the start of World
War I, the events that mark our beginnings and the various players involved will
emerge. I will conclude with an epilogue, bringing us back to the present and back to
the future.
T
Background
Nearing the end of the Victorian Era, Canada has 7 provinces and the North West
Territories. It has deep ties to the United Kingdom (UK) retaining many of its
customs and traditions. Canada also has close relations with the United States (US),
despite the disputes that surfaced then, as now, and people move freely between the
two countries. Communication is primarily by surface mail or telegram, and travel is
by train and measured in days. Gold has just been discovered in the Klondike and
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hydro-electric power is just
social action (Burke, 1996).
being harnessed at Niagara
Methodists and Presbyterian
Falls. The west is a great
groups are most prominent
expanse of agricultural probecause of their numbers and
duction and mining and
because of their religious beliefs
forestry are growing rapidly.
about salvation and realizing
In Ottawa, Laurier and the
the Kingdom/Realm of God
Liberals are in power until
here on earth. Divisions occur
1911 when Borden and the
less through religion than
Conservative Unionists take
through politics (Allen, 1971).
over. The Liberals then return
Jewish groups, newly immiwith Mackenzie King as Prime
grated and not yet established,
Minister from 1921-1930
care for their sick, their orphans
(Morton, 1983).
and elderly, and ultimately their
In the cities, the industrial Thomas Bessell Kidner (standing, on left). Director, Calgary dead (Tulchinsky, 1992). These
age is well-established and Board of Education, 1912; later to be Vocational Secretary,
acts are seen in the context of
with it the plight of the factory Canada, and occupational therapy founder in US.
justice and righteousness; the
worker, working long hours at
highest of charitable acts being
boring tasks under dreadful conditions. Emigration from those that enable the recipient to become self-reliant
the UK and Europe to North America is high and generally (Cohen, 1995).
brings poverty with it. Poverty also occurs as people move
Women are seen as morally superior to men and their
from rural areas to the cities, leaving farm work for factory forays into the public arena are acceptable based on that
work or for unemployment. Then, as now, homelessness is assumption. The idea is that they will bring to society what
not uncommon. People who are physically ill are for the they bring to their own homes. Middle and upper class
most part considered incurable. Germ theory is well estab- women are expected to do good works as purveyors of
lished but infection still kills with the discovery of penicillin culture, as teachers, and as fund-raisers (Valverde, 1991).
not coming until 1928; public health measures are con- Social activism comes to them in their role as "housecerned with sewage and sterilization of milk for children, keepers" of society, and as a component of their religious
and epidemics are always threatening. The role of women faith. Conversely, they are not welcome in political circles
in keeping their homes clean and free of disease is seen as because it is assumed that the political environment is
paramount (Prentice, Bourne, Brandt, Light, Mitchenson, morally degrading. The Women’s Christian Temperance
& Black, 1996).
Union (WCTU) lobbies to prohibit alcohol but realizing
Like the poor, those with mental illness are ignored. that it cannot change laws without the ability to vote, it
Though housed in buildings that are very beautiful, they soon becomes a base for the suffragist movement and
are restrained and for the most part, left to suffer. Some equity (Prentice et al., 1996).
medical superintendents realize that when their patients are
Women attend university in small numbers only, with
engaged in occupations, they can decrease or even elimi- the first of their number at Mount Allison, in New
nate physical restraint (Stodgill, 1966).
Brunswick, in 1872 (McKillop, 1994). Most women in the
By the end of the 19th century, the need for political paid workforce do domestic service, considered respectable
action is clear. With the change from agrarian to industrial because it is carried out in a family setting, and prepares
societies, values appear to have eroded. Political activists a woman to become a housewife. While teaching is the
seek reforms that will ensure good government and will second-largest employment for women, neither it nor
address poverty, disease, and illiteracy (Brown & Cook, nursing are highly respected (Prentice et al., 1996). Others
1974). Socialist ideology, which claims the ability to deal do factory work or piecework in their own home. The
with many of these issues and is strong in the UK, is present patterns of employment and the numbers of women
in Canada, but not strong. The Social Democratic Party of employed change during World War I, but the changes do
Canada is founded in 1911 but social welfare policies are a not last, and women do not work outside the home in great
long way off.
numbers for decades yet to come. Many women feel a
Relief measures are left to charitable and philanthropic yearning to be involved, challenged, and to feel fulfilled.
groups. Much of the work is carried out by religious groups
In this post-industrial age there is recognition that
who see their social responsibilities rooted in their beliefs. more than just the means of production has changed.
The Social Gospel Movement is well-established in the People have lost touch with the natural environment which
cities where it tries to address problems through collective had grounded them previously, and it is thought that
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their souls have suffered. The healing power of nature is
promoted by a group known as the Pre-Raphaelites;
painters who paint life as they see it, and artisans whose
work reflects the natural world around them (Hilton,
1970). Activities like horticulture are considered particularly
beneficial, helping to reconnect people to the earth, which
in turn, is thought to promote health (Cumming & Kaplan,
1993). There is also an idea that health and art are somehow
connected, that making art has healing properties. In this
context, craft work is seen as a morally uplifting occupation
and as filling empty spaces in people's lives (Levine, 1987).
Within a few decades, the Ward Aides and later Canadian
occupational therapists will take up the idea that the connection of mind and hand leads to health, and they will use
it as the motto on their insignia (Canadian Association of
Occupational Therapists, 1986).
Meanwhile, the educational system has begun to question its results and considers changing its methods.
Reformers think there may be better ways to learn than
solely through books and by rote. John Dewey, the philosopher and educator, suggests that learning by doing is
superior to rote learning and that the hand and the head
must work together (Dewey, 1910/1933). One practical
expression of his pragmatist philosophy occurs with
courses in manual training. Children from kindergarten
onwards are given creative and artistic tasks including basic
crafts. Educators suggest that crafts lead to disciplined coordination of hand and eye, accuracy and clarity of
thought, as well as industriousness, and consider these
occupations integral to learning (Kidner, 1910).
Several individuals are brought by the Macdonald
Manual Training Fund to Canada from the UK to develop
programs in the schools (Snell, 1963). Thomas Bessell
Kidner, an architect, arrives in 1900 to oversee the development of technical education in Nova Scotia. He moves on
to New Brunswick, and later to Alberta, to do much the
same type of work (Kidner, Thomas Bessell. Papers, Box 1.)
Kidner is to become a major player on the stage of occupational therapy and will be referred to again later.
Throughout Canada, crafts are also seen as a means of
providing necessities. For example, spinning is a common
activity of daily living, as is weaving homespun to make
clothing for the family. Crafts, like weaving, also teach skills
for livelihood (National Film Board, 1950). Handcrafted
articles are prized and work is exhibited at competitions.
Within this background and context, three social
movements emerge and set the scene for the development
of occupational therapy: The Arts and Crafts Movement,
the Settlement House Movement, and the Mental Hygiene
Movement. Each employs crafts in some way to address
individual, community, and societal needs.
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The Arts and Crafts Movement
The Arts and Crafts Movement was born in the UK and
came from both socialist and artistic ideals. It is seen as a
socio-political response to the industrial age and the plight
of the factory worker, and at the same time, as a celebration
of the power and importance of artistic effort to the
individual and to society.
John Ruskin was considered one of the fathers of the
Arts and Crafts Movement. A poet, painter, and art critic,
he was a prolific writer on the arts, and was said to be the
most powerful and original thinker of the 19th century
(Hilton, 1970). He thought that the decorative arts (which
included crafts) were important because they combined
manual and mental labour. He thought that art possessed
the power to improve society and that it represented the
noblest of labour. He said: "It would be well if all of us were
good craftsmen in some kind, and the dishonour of
manual labour done away with altogether" (Boris, 1986,
p.5). With Ruskin's reputation and standing, these words
elevated the stature of crafts and provided support to the
Arts and Crafts Movement.
Extending his ideas to the education of children,
Ruskin thought that schools could transmit artisan skills
and also what he called the “art spirit” with its potential to
liberate the individual, its ability to unlock creativity, and to
encourage freedom (Boris, 1986).
Being a man not only of strong principles but also of
considerable wealth, Ruskin supported many philanthropic
causes. For example, he supported the work of Octavia Hill,
who worked among the poor and immigrant populations
in south London during the mid-to-late 1800’s. She ran
housing projects and taught people to manage their homes
and finances. She encouraged the practice of traditional
crafts, and helped people develop a sense of community.
Ruskin bought three houses, known as the Red Cross
Cottages, for Hill's housing project (Maurice, 1928). These
houses are still standing today and by coincidence can be
seen from the windows of the British Association of
Occupational Therapists. One of Octavia Hill’s volunteers
was Elizabeth Casson, who later went on to medical school.
She had been so convinced about the therapeutic value of
occupations, that she set up Dorset House School at Bristol
in 1930, which was the first school of occupational therapy
in the UK (Wilcock, 2001).
The influence of William Morris on the Arts and Crafts
Movement was even more central than Ruskin’s. After an
abortive entry into the worlds of architecture and theology,
Morris settled to crafts, seeing them not only as an antidote
to the industrial age and as a means of restoring a sense of
community, but also as capable of bringing great joy and
beauty (Thompson, 1993). Morris, whose designs are again
popular in home decorating today, is famous for his phrase
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"Have nothing in your houses
or purchasers of art, crafts
which you do not know to be
brought women some profile in
useful or believe to be beautithe world of art (McCarthy,
ful" (Morris, 1880/1999, p.54).
1991). One of the founders of
He promoted the idea of art
the Canadian Handicrafts Guild
for all. He said, "I do not want
in 1905, was Alice Peck of
art for a few, any more than
Montreal (McLeod, 1999). She
education for a few, or freewas from an upper middle-class
dom for a few" (Morris, 1877/
family and had been sent to
1993, p. 253). He taught
England for her high school
himself many crafts from
years in the 1870’s. As part of
stained glass windows,through
her program, she visited
tile-making, tapestry weaving,
Octavia Hill’s housing projects
woodworking, book-binding,
and was impressed with the use
and wallpaper design.
of crafts to help immigrant
Morris was a strong Jessie Luther building the first kiln at the Grenfell Mission, women maintain or develop
socialist and wanted to create St.Anthony, Newfoundland and Labrador, 1908
useful skills. With the outbreak
greater equality among people.
of war, Peck went to England to
He felt that industrialization had destroyed the natural volunteer in a hospital, and on her return she set up craftgroupings of individuals that had previously supported one work in military hospitals. She used the small reed looms
another. Morris proposed a return to those ways by having that she had seen in England which had been specially conpeople with various skills and trades work together within structed for use in bed. In 1919, Peck set up a workshop for
a community setting. Like Ruskin, he valued a coming veterans in her own home (McLeod, 1999).
together of all aspects of the arts, both within the individual and across endeavours. Morris honoured nature in life,
and in his designs, believing in its healing power and he The Settlement House Movement
The Settlement House Movement starts with Toynbee Hall,
honoured manual work (Kelvin, 1999).
Many North Americans visited and studied with established in East London in 1884 and considered to be
Morris to learn a craft, or to imbibe his socialist views. But the first settlement house (Burke, 1996). The movement
when the Arts and Crafts Movement came to North owes its origins to T.H. Green, a British economist at
America, it lost much of its socialist leanings; it sought Oxford, who like Morris, believed the effects of industrialpeace with industrialization and it focussed more on the ization had destroyed the natural ties of interdependence
health of the individual than the health of the community that traditionally held society together. Concerned about
(Boris, 1986). Now the link between art and health was poverty and crime, Green thought that social reform could
promoted for those who, stressed by working "for pay not only be brought about by the re-establishment of the local
for joy", could find refuge in art. Craftwork was offered community. In his ideal community, members of different
to adults, partly as a therapy and partly in response to classes would be together, and the poor would have access
yearnings for real life, where people could live, work, and to, and be influenced by, their educated neighbours. He
expected his university students (all of whomwere male) to
create together (Levine, 1987).
The first Arts and Crafts Society in North America was give their time voluntarily to work with the poor (Burke,
founded in Boston in 1897 by Charles Eliot Norton, a close 1996). Activities in settlement houses generally included
friend of Ruskin and Morris, and a professor of fine art at crafts, educational classes for workers and for homemakers,
Harvard. George Barton, an architect who had studied with and cultural activities. Because of these activities, and the
Morris, and who in 1917 was to become a founder of the socialist ideals that were espoused, there was a natural link
American Occupational Therapy Association, was the with the Arts and Crafts Movement (Cumming & Kaplan,
society's first secretary (Licht, 1967). In 1903, George Reid, 1995).
Perhaps the clearest link between the Settlement House
an artist, educator, and community leader, co-founded the
Arts and Crafts Society of Canada. Across Canada, Arts and Movement, the use of crafts, and the development of
Crafts style houses and buildings, as well as furniture, tiles, occupational therapy can be found at Hull House in
jewellery, tapestry, wallpaper, and stained glass, became Chicago, considered to be the most important of all settlement houses. It was founded in 1889 by Jane Addams and
popular (Lochnan, Schoenherr, & Silver, 1993).
Many women worked at crafts as part of their wider Ellen Gates Starr, both of whom had met Morris, and were
training as artists. Though welcome primarily as fundraisers members of the Chicago Arts and Crafts Society.
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Starr was an artist and attempted to instill an appreciation for art and the creative impulse in the neighbourhood's immigrant and poor residents. She felt that working
at an art or craft was spiritually uplifting and civilizing, and
would serve as an antidote to the demoralizing repetitiveness of daily factory work (Bosch, 2001). Addams was a
pacifist, a social and political activist, and the driving force
behind Hull House for its duration. She believed in the
power of the community and in the mixing of the classes
but, unlike Green at Toynbee Hall, the purpose in mixing
was so that the classes could learn from one another ("Jane
Addams at Hull House", 1930). She received the Nobel
Peace Prize in 1931.
From 1901 to 1903, Jessie Luther, considered an occupat
apist at the time, taught crafts at Hull House
and also ran the Labour Museum (Rompkey, 2001),
established to help immigrants maintain a sense of continuity with their past. Luther left Hull House to work in
other occupational therapy programs until 1906, when she
made the first of many lengthy visits to the Grenfell Mission
in St Anthony, Newfoundland and Labrador. There she
used her settlement house philosophy and her arts and
crafts skills to help create a viable social community. She
taught crafts such as weaving, pottery, and rug-making to
women and to fishers in their offseason so they could
improve their productivity (Rompkey, 2001). Luther
arranged for buyers for the crafts which the mission produced, often dealing with Alice Peck and the Canadian
Handicrafts Guild who provided rawmaterials in return for
various finished products (McLeod, 1999).
There were likely many occupational therapists who
came through Hull House at some point, but the best
known would be Eleanor Clarke Slagle. During her social
work studies at Hull House in 1911, she took a summer
course called Occupations for Attendants in Mental
Institutions (Dobschuetz, 2001). The course had been
started in 1908 by Hull House members, Julia Lathrop and
Rabbi Hirsch in response to the dreadful conditions they
had found in mental institutions (Breines, 1992). In 1915,
Slagle set up the Favill School of Occupational Therapy at
Hull House, purported to be the first such school in the
world. Slagle was a founder and prominent member of the
American Occupational Therapy Association, and after the
US entered the war in 1917, she visited Canada to study the
use of occupational therapy with wounded soldiers so she
could train workers at home (Dobschuetz, 2001). Over the
years, Slagle came back to Canada on several occasions to
speak at occupational therapy meetings ("Occupational
therapy holds", 1927).
William Lyon Mackenzie King, later to be Prime
Minister of Canada, lived in residence at Hull House for
several months in 1896 to 1897 while a student in political
economy at the University of Chicago. Although some208
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what disillusioned by his time in residence (Mavor, James.
Papers, Box 10A), the exposure to issues of dependency
would have helped him to tackle the enormous problem of
re-establishing injured soldiers after the war.
Settlement houses could soon be found across Canada
wherever major cities and the accompanying poverty grew.
All had a mandate to decrease dependency in immigrant
and poor populations, to develop skills and knowledge, to
build communities, and improve quality of life. When the
University Settlement House was founded in Toronto in
1910, there was an expectation that volunteer workers
would be university students; men at the start and in later
years, women (Burke, 1996). People like James Mavor,
Chair of Economics at the University of Toronto, former
colleague of William Morris in the Socialist League in the
UK, friend of Octavia Hill, and member of the Society of
Arts and Crafts of Canada, was typical of the people
involved who crossed between these movements. Such
experiences and relationships likely influenced the report
that Mavor produced in 1899 on compensation for workmen’s injuries (Mavor, James. Papers. Box, 33).
The Mental Hygiene Movement
Spurred on by former mental patient, Clifford Beers, and
the publication in 1908 of his book AMind that Found Itself
the National Committee for Mental Hygiene was formed in
the US in 1909. Beers had written of the dreadful conditions to which he had been subjected while in the hospital.
He also told of his relief when occupied with doing art, and
of his appreciation of the value of trained occupation
instructors (Beers, 1909/1917). Beers' efforts to establish a
mental health reform movement had support from many
prominent people including Jane Addams, psychologist
William James, and psychiatrist Adolph Meyer (Griffin,
1989).
The idea of using occupations to treat people with
mental illness was not new. It had become prominent in the
early part of the 19th century with the reforms that marked
the beginning of the Moral Treatment Era (Bockhoven,
1972). By the late 1800’s occupations were becoming
established in many asylums in Canada and most dramatically at the London Insane Asylum where Dr. Maurice
Bucke was superintendent. The new regime with its
increase in the use of occupations and decrease in the use
of physical restraints, became something of a model in
Canada (Stevenson, 1937). The process of change is
conveyed in the film Beautiful Dreamers, where Bucke,
spurred on by his friend, the poet and philosopher Walt
Whitman, struggles against the idea of physical restraints
and strong drink to keep patients docile (MacLear, 1990).
Following Bucke's example, when C.K. Clarke took
over as medical superintendent of Rockwood Asylum in
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Kingston, Ontario in 1885, he established a myriad of crafts
and other occupations from broom making through
sewing, through the construction of actual hospital buildings. Whether it was the occupations themselves or because
they reduced the need for physical restraints, Clarke
became a strong proponent of occupation.
The Canadian National Committee for Mental
Hygiene was formed in 1918 and its first medical director
was C.K. Clarke (Griffin, 1989). By this time, the war had
added soldiers with shell shock to the ranks of those
considered mentally ill and there was concern about the
crowded, run-down, and poorly staffed provincial mental
hospitals. The committee, determined to improve conditions, surveyed facilities across the country. One survey
noted the highly successful occupational therapy department at North Battleford, Saskatchewan (Roland, 1989).
Thus by the start of World War I, several ideas about
the use of crafts as occupation were already in place. They
were:
• to preserve immigrants’ identity and self-image
• to learn skills for work
• to enhance childrens' learning
• to invoke the art spirit for promoting health
• to relieve stress and restore the soul
• to reduce the need for physical restraints
for Nova Scotia and a woman named Ina Matthews in
Sydney, helped Kidner develop a three-part program:
bedside occupations for those still convalescing, workshop
occupations for those well enough to leave the ward, and
job training for those ready to pursue a new vocation
(Segsworth, 1920).
The program depended on the ward aides providing
bedside occupations at the start, and the local citizenry
providing jobs for the soldiers at the end. Canada’s Work
for Wounded Soldiers program was widely publicized
through posters and films and citizens were asked to buy
savings bonds so that the revenue could be used for the
rehabilitation programs.
Two educational programs to train women to provide
the bedside occupations were organized: one at the
University of Toronto (U of T) and one at McGill
University. The program at McGill was led by Alice Peck of
the Handicrafts Guild, mentioned earlier. One of McGill's
most illustrious grads was Mary Black of Wolfville, Nova
Scotia. In a video-taped interview in 1987, Black recalled
her work with the soldiers noting her sense that more could
have been done (Black, 1987). Black was among the first
ward aides to work with civilian patients who were mentally
ill and also those with tuberculosis (TB). She pursued her
career in the US for 20 years, returning in 1943 as Director
of the Handcrafts Division of the Department of Trade and
Industry where she, like Jessie Luther 40 years earlier at the
Grenfell Mission, promoted the production and sale of
crafts (Black, MG1, V. 2876, Professional Files). She also
authored several texts on weaving.
The program at U of T was in the Faculty of Applied
Science and graduates received a certificate in occupational
therapy signed by the dean. The course was led by H.E.T.
Haultain, Professor of Engineering, and Vocational Officer
of Health for Ontario (Segsworth, 1920). Haultain was a
staunch supporter and years later he recalled how
occupational therapy "… flourished in Ontario as it had
done in no other part of the world" (Haultain, 1945, p. 59).
Thomas Bessell Kidner would turn out to be the individual with perhaps the most influence on the development
of occupational therapy both in Canada and in the US. He
quickly became known for the program of soldier’s
re-establishment that he developed in Canada, and many
Americans, including Jane Addams and Eleanor Clarke
Slagle, came to see it. In 1917, he was invited to the US to
join a group of six individuals who believed in the value of
occupations to heal the sick and injured and thus became a
founding member of the National Society for the
Promotion of Occupational Therapy (Licht, 1967). During
this visit he met occupational therapist, Winifred Brainerd
and soon thereafter he invited her to direct the ward-aides
course at U of T (Brainerd, 1967). After the US entered the
war, Kidner was lent to the US Government to advise on
The events and the players
The events that led up to the formal establishment of our
discipline began during World War I and included the
establishment of the Department of Soldier's Civil
Re-establishment, the ward aides courses, and eventually,
the diploma program at the University of Toronto.
The world had believed that the war would be over
quickly. As the war dragged on it gradually became clear
that Canada would have to do more for its wounded
soldiers; their convalescence would be lengthy, they would
be at risk for psychological problems, and there was an
increasingly large number who would be unable to return
to their former jobs. In addition to the sense of moral
obligation, there was great concern about the economic
implications of dependency. The country was determined
to re-educate these men for other work.
However, the country was not prepared; there were few
hospitals and fewer ideas about how to deal with the
situation. The Military Hospitals Commission, with Sir
James Lougheed, father of former Premier Peter Lougheed
as its president, was established in 1915. One of its first acts
was to set up The Department of Soldier's Civil Reestablishment (Segsworth, 1920). Thomas Bessell Kidner,
who was now Director of Technical Education for the
Calgary Board of Education, was named as its Vocational
Secretary. FH Sexton, the Director of Technical Education
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programs for their injured soldiers. He then joined the staff
of the National Tuberculosis Association where he continued to promote occupational therapy. Kidner was involved
in the design of sanatoria, which always included occupational therapy departments. By 1922, the National Society
for the Promotion of Occupational Therapy had changed
its name to the American Occupational Therapy
Association (AOTA). Kidner served as its President for 3
terms, from 1923 to 1928. He died suddenly in 1932 and
there were many tributes. The addresses given at a special
memorial meeting of AOTA (1932) included 6 tributes for
a total of 10 pages. There were several obituaries including
one in the New York Times. Perhaps not realizing the contributions that he had made, Canadian occupational therapists have never really acknowledged Kidner’s importance.
By the end of the war some 350 women had graduated
from the course at U of T. They had spread out across the
country working with the large number of soldiers in TB
sanatoria and mental hospitals, and to a lesser extent, with
civilians in general hospitals. Two groups emerged who
were determined to keep the work going and to see it established more permanently: one in Manitoba and one in
Ontario. The Manitoba Society of Occupational Therapy
was established in June, 1920. It organized a curative workshop for patients and, interestingly, investigated the possibilities of working with the social service commission of
Winnipeg, rather than within a medical environment
(Stewart, 1922). However, the Manitoba Society was unfortunately not able to continue. The Ontario Society of
Occupational Therapy did manage to proceed and in 1921
received its provincial charter.
Among the five signatories on the charter was Doris
Stupart, a graduate of the first Ward Aides Course in 1918.
She worked for about 4 years only, but during that time
made important contributions. She was the supervisor of
ward aides in 3 military hospitals, and president of the
Ontario Society of Occupational Therapists. She helped
establish the curative workshop in Toronto, and helped lead
the campaign to establish a permanent program for the
education of occupational therapists at the University of
Toronto (Pringle, 1922).
Having just been given the right to vote, being few in
number in the university, and only tolerated in the work
world, the women in the Ontario Society enlisted the help
of prominent men such as the dean of medicine, the president of the university, and neurologist, Dr. Goldwin
Howland. The men supported the occupational therapy
cause and acted as an advisory council (Friedland, 2001).
These were heady days for the ward aides who attracted
considerable attention. In 1922, MacLean's Magazine
published an article entitled: "God Bless the 'Girls in Green'
1922). By 1926, the society’s request for the establishment
of a two-year diploma program for occupational therapists
was accepted and the first class enrolled.
Among those who graduated from that first class in
1928, was Helen Primrose LeVesconte. She had seen the
value of the work done by ward aides while volunteering at
the Spadina Military Hospital during the war. In the oral
history interview she gave in 1975, LeVesconte recalled the
arrival of these "women in green" and when asked what
activities the ward aides used, she said: "I hate to mention
what they did, but then they did the only thing that was
sensible to do, something that…they could measure, that
… a man couldn't say, 'I can't do that because' … [It was]
basketry ... (LeVesconte, 1975; p. 25).”
Unlike many of her classmates and other colleagues,
LeVesconte never married and thus was protected from the
most common cause of attrition in the profession. By 1933
she was simultaneously holding the positions of part-time
Director of the U of T program, Consultant for the Ontario
Department of Health, and Director of Occupational
Therapy at the Toronto Psychiatric Hospital. In 1945, she
became the full time Director at U of T where she remained
until her retirement in 1967 (Friedland & Rais, in press).
Gradually, new educational programs opened across the
country beginning with the program at McGill University
in 1950, and followed, in 1954, by the Université de
Montréal, the first French-speaking occupational therapy
program in the world. And the rest, as they say, is history!
Except that in our case, it is yet to be recorded. Indeed we
hardly know the names of many of the players.
Epilogue
I want to end my talk with a brief anecdote about Marion
Tuu'luk, an Inuit artist, whose story brings us to the present
time and provides us with an example of the role of crafts
as meaningful occupation in the life of a displaced person.
Tuu'luk was born around 1910 (the exact year is
uncertain) and lived in a remote area of the Canadian
Arctic until 1961 when her family was moved to the Baker
Lake settlement in an effort to avoid starvation. Though
grateful for her new security she missed "the women's tasks
that busied her hands and gave her purpose" (Bouchard,
2002, p. 23). Tuu'luk began to sew clothing to supplement
her family's income and soon taught herself to do embroidery and make small cloth pictures out of leftover scraps.
One of her earliest works, titled Manitoba, was made after
flying to Winnipeg for surgery for TB in 1967. She recalled
looking out the window and seeing the Manitoba landscape
as a separation of environment and humanity. With the
encouragement of various visiting artists, including some
who were political activists, Tuu'luk's work soon became an
artistic venture. In the 1970’s, she began to show her work in
- Story of a New Vocation for Women - Occupational Therapy
- in which Dominion of Canada Leads the World" (Pringle,
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exhibitions of Inuit art and became well known and highly
respected. In 1990, she received an honourary degree from
the University of Alberta and in 2002, an exhibit of her work
opened at the National Gallery of Canada. Her art is said "to
respond to the totality of her lived reality … [which is]
characterized by geographical displacement, personal
uncertainty, and cultural difference" (Bouchard, p. 18).
indeed, the origins of our discipline can be seen within the
developement of Tuu’luk’s work.
francophone, and anglophone populations, our geographic
locations, and our personal connections all tell different
stories. We need to uncover the stories and begin to build
our Canadian occupational therapy history.
Acknowledgements
I wish to acknowledge funding from the Associated Medical
Services Inc., Hannah Institute for the History of Medicine.
I am especially grateful for the help of my research assistant
Pam Albrecht, MSW. I also wish to thank former students Hadassah Rais, Naomi Davids-Brumer, Sarah Tran, and
Karen Taneja, and the CAOT Archives Committee. Isobel
Robinson and the late Thelma Cardwell encouraged me
and gave freely of their time and knowledge. Mark Sharpe
of nottraditional (Graphics company) developed the 75
images for the PowerPoint presentation that accompanied
the Muriel Driver Lecture, a few of which have been reproduced here. My husband, Marty Friedland, generously gave
his time and expertise and helped with various archival
searches, and my daughter Nancy Friedland provided
several photographs as well as artistic guidance in the
design of the PowerPoint presentation for the lecture.
Conclusion
The roots of occupational therapy lie deep in the soil of
political, social, and artistic ideals prominent at the turn of
the 20th century. The initial treatment tool was occupation
in the form of crafts. From the Arts and Crafts Movement,
crafts were embedded in the importance of art for all, and
surrounded by socialist ideology regarding equality and
community interdependence. From the Settlement House
Movement, crafts helped to maintain self esteem and develop
needed skills particularly for immigrants and the poor,
within a community setting. From the Mental Hygiene
Movement, crafts were found to distract patients from their
pathological thinking and build habits needed for daily
living. In each instance, crafts served as the medium for
working with those who were in some way disadvantaged.
There was an understanding of the power of occupation, of
the value of being engaged, and of the harnessing of
creative energy. The people who became occupational
therapists in those early days were generally artistic in some
degree, liked to use their hands, liked to teach, and to help.
Since those early days, the growth of the discipline has
taken us down many paths pulling us into medicine and
pathology and away from social work, art, and teaching;
leading us into hospitals and away from the community;
moving us to work with physical illness and away from
mental illness. Now, as we look to the market for new
directions, we may wish to reconsider our roots before
determining where to expand our roles. We may then
choose to work with those who are poor, mentally ill, or
homeless; with new immigrants and those like many of our
Aboriginal people who have been otherwise displaced; and
also with those who lack work skills; helping all of these
people to decrease their dependency, and improve the quality of their lives by engaging in meaningful occupations.
The occupations might even include crafts.
I hope I have succeeded in bringing you through the
opening pages of this drama. Of course, this is my perspective and my historical interpretation, based on archival
records and other materials that I have accessed. What is
needed are other perspectives and interpretations: Within
each part of the country there will be differences, and our
story will be the richer for finding them. Our Aboriginal,
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