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adwg 1857-1910 DELAIDE HUNTER HOODLESS, one of Canada’s most creative social reformers the turn of the century, was a primary ‘ of the YWCA, the Macdonald Institute in - Ontario, Macdonald College in Quebec. and the Victorian Order of Nurses. 4‘4 At the annual meeting of a farmers‘ organization in a; 1893. she startled those in attendance by stating forcefulh Social ‘ ‘ ’ V y I, i l . . ,. ‘ . . Reformer " that the health of their WIVES and children "which you are “ " '_ neglecting is far more imponarit than that of your animal.» " She spoke with the conviction horn of a tragic personal ' um“ experience. One of her children. an tniant son. had died in 1889 alter sit-wan Art C‘enile' . . . _ ‘ _ . _ dnnlang infected millt. This tragic event motivated Iier tor the rest 01 her hit. She endeavoured, by various means. to asSist women throughout Canada l‘U provide more intelligent care for their children. their families. and themselves. Born in 1857, on a farm near St. George. north of Branttord. Ontario. young Adclclltlt‘ was the youngest of 13 children. Her father died before she was born. As she matured she became aware or the difficulties her widowed mother faced tn raistng her large family alone. When Adelaide married iohn Hoodless. a successful manuiacturer. she moved to Hamilton. Ontario There. after the death of her infant son. she led a campaign tor the pasteurization oi nttll.. She became the president of the Hamilton branch of lllt’ ioung Woirten's Christian Association when it was organized in that City. Her experience in the YWCA strengthened her beliefs that girls, and through them their families. would benefit greatly if they were trained in homemaking Thir l909 portrait of reformer Adelaide Hunter Hoodlesr by John W.L. Foster was painted shortly before her untimely death which occurred while she was giving a public address in Toronto Classes she initiated in domestic science at the Hamilton YWCA received a most enthusiastic response. In 1893, after serving as a delegate to the World Congress of Women in Chicago, she proposed the establishment of a National Association of the YWCA to assist underprivileged girls. This was founded the following year and she became its president in 1895. Through various activities, Mrs. Hoodless became a recognized authority on domestic science education and child welfare. As treasurer and home economics convener of the Hamilton Local Council of Women, she organized the second branch of the Victorian Order of Nurses, today a national, non-profit organization providing home nursing care, particularly for the elderly and chronically ill. At the end of the nineteenth century, as a result of Hoodless’ efforts, courses in domestic sdence for girls and manual training for boys were added to the Ontario school curriculum. Ontario's Minister of Education, the Hon. G.W. Ross, asked her to travel across the province to inform the public about domestic science and to write a book on the subject. She thus became one of the first women on the province's payroll. Her book, Public School Domestic Science, was published in 1898. Her crowning achievement was founding the Women’s Institutes. On February 19, 1897, she spoke to a meeting of farmers' wives in Stoney Creek. Ontario. Out of that meeting came the first Women’s Institute. The inaugural meeting was held shortly afterward at the home of Mrs. ED. Smith in Winona, Ontario. Adelaide Hoodless was eager to initiate resources for the development of the abilities, confidence, and prospects of women living in rural communities. Her aim was to establish and develop what might be described as a rural university for women and, within ten years. more than 500 Institutes had been organized across Canada. Through the efforts of Mrs. Hoodless, her associates, and supporters such as Senator ED. Smith, the Institutes became widely influential: Increased attention was paid to child welfare and women's interests; medical care and child dental care were more frequently provided; recreational and additional library facilities were established; services for helping immigrants to preserve their own cultures and customs were improved. In 1903, through a grant secured by Mrs. Hoodless from tobacco magnate Sir William Macdonald of Montreal, the Macdonald Institute was established in the Ontario Agricultural College in Guelph (and later, Macdonald College in Quebec) to train Canadian women in the teaching of domestic science. Adelaide Hoodless died suddenly on the eve of her 53rd birthday in 1910. Her vision and determination, however. continue to stimulate women in Canada and around the world. During World War 1, Women's Institutes were introduced into England and Scotland. In 1919 the C-ovemment of Canada granted the Institutes a federal charter and provincial representatives met that same year in Winnipeg to form the Federated Women's Institutes of Canada. Their membership today is 30,000. m 1