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00%.? 18574910 DELAIDE HUNTER HOODLESS, one of Canada's most creative social reformers the turn of the century, was a primary articipant in the establishment of the : omen’s Institutes, the National Council of Women of Canada, the National Council ' of the YWCA, the Macdonald Institute in Ontario, Macdonald College in Quebec, and the Victorian Order of Nurses. At the annual meeting oi a iai'inei's‘ orgaiii.‘aiiai: ii. 1893, she startled those in attendance bj.‘ stating iarterull: that the health of their \\'l\’L‘> and children "which you an neglecting is far more important than that at your animals ‘ She spoke Willi the conviction horn of a tragic persona. and?“ experience One other children, an iiiiaiit son. had died in lts‘bU aitei .. Ar. cud“ drinking intected millt. This tragic event motivated her tor the rest at he: lii< She endeavoured, by various mean» to assist \xoineii throughout Canada to provide more intelligent carc- tor then children, their iairziiies, and tneiiiselt'es, born in 1557, on a tarm near St. George, nonii oi braniztiia. Ullltil'lti, young Aaei‘uiai was in- utiuiigest at 13 children, Her lather died UrlOZ'i.’ she was hurt. Ax. siit inaiui'eti she tit-earn: ti\\ttli w‘, [I‘m difficulttes he: \~.'idtm'eti mother iacec .:‘. rinsing H": .tll‘tt‘ iuiiizix tilttllc \N'nt-n Adelaide married ionii lioodies; t. successzu. flleiliilltlcldlc‘l sire iiiot'et: lii Htlll‘ililtil. Omanc. There, alter lie tieati‘. at her infant son snv; 1': 2 c.ii::;'tiigi. It :' the pasteurization ti: ll.:li Silt: betairie the president oi the Haiiitittr. czancii t I Ii.- it tin, ill:i,ll v l:l‘,l'l\lltill .-“.\\’ii_itllltlll t-,i.~:, it was organigcd ii: that ttt‘.‘ her ext'mriei”... in iize ‘; _~ \7li;ll:2'.llL‘llL‘ul llL'." tielieis that girls aim} t:::t. ugh then: their ltlll‘ililz‘: would beneri‘ :ilttl'tl'f .. i ::_.iii>.;: iii llxllTlt,‘llltlitllltl This 1909 portrait of reformer Adelaide Hunter Hood/es: by john W.L. Foster was painted shortly bc/orc 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 Victonan 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 science for girls and manual training for boys were added to the Ontario school curriculum. Ontario’s Minister of Education, the Hon. OW. 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 Creelx, Ontano. 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 E.D. 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 Government of Canada granted the Institutes a federal charter and provmcial representatives met that same year in Winnipeg to form the Federated Women's Institutes of Canada. Their membership today is 30,000. mi