So Much to Do, So Little Time: The Writings of Hilda Neatby

364 Pages·1983·22.647 MB·English

by  Hilda Neatby, Michael Hayden

So Much to Do, So Little Time
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Michael Hayden
So Much To Do,
So Little Time
The Writings of Hilda Neatby
UNIVERSITY OF BRITISH COLUMBIA PRESS
Vancouver
SO MUCH TO DO, SO LITTLE TIME
THE WRITINGS OF HILDA NEATBY
©1 The University of British Columbia 1983
This book has been published with the help of grants from the Canada Council
and the University of Saskatchewan.
Canadian Cataloguing in Publication Data
Neatby, Hilda, 1904-1975.
So much to do, so little time
Bibliography: p.
ISBN 0-7748-0171-9
1. Canada — Intellectual life — Addresses, essays, lectures. 2. Neatby, Hilda, 1904-1975.
3. Historians — Canada — Biography. 1. Hayden, Michael, 1934 — II. Title.
FC95.4.N42 971.06 C82-091383-9
F1021.2.N42
ISBN-0-7748-0171-9
Printed in Canada
CONTENTS
/. SOME WORDS ABOUT HILDA 1
3
Introduction
1. A Short Biography of Hilda Neatby 7
//. HILDA AS . . . 43
2. Woman 45
3. Presbyterian Christian 60
91
4. Westerner 91
5. Canadian 107
6. Student 124
7. Teacher 146
8. Historian 162
///. HILDA ON . . . 189
9. Canadian History 191
10. Education in the Schools 230
11. Universities 266
12. The World Around Her 285
IV. MORE WORDS ABOUT HILDA 313
13. Hilda in Her Context 315
Notes 323
Bibliography 335
Index 347
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
1. Hilda with brother Allan and sister Kate.
2. Neatby family en route from England, 1906.
3. Neatby homestead, 1916.
4. Hilda Neatby, 1925.
5. Letter to Kate, 22 January 1933.
6. B.A. Honours degree certificate.
7. Regina College in the mid-1930's.
8. University of Saskatchewan campus, 1928.
9. Massey Commission members.
10. Hilda Neatby with nephew Blair Neatby.
11. Hilda Neatby receiving Order of Canada.
PHOTOGRAPHIC CREDITS
Plates 1, 2, and 3 are reproduced with the kind permission of Mr. Leslie Neatby.
Plates 4, 5, 6, 7, 9, 10, and 11 are reproduced courtesy of the Saskatchewan
Archives Board, and Plate 8 courtesy of the University of Saskatchewan archives.
particular love for things English, it is quadruply presumptuous of me to attempt
to present Hilda Neatby to the world. Fortunately, the purpose of this book is to
allow Hilda to present herself.
This book is not only about Hilda; essentially, this book is by Hilda. My words,
where they appear, are merely a vehicle for allowing Hilda to speak one more
time. This time she will be speaking not solely on one subject — on education, or
religion, or the role of women, or the history of Quebec — which is how most
people have heard and judged her in the past. She will be speaking about all of
these things and more. This book is Hilda on the world as she saw it and as she
lived in it. She represents an important part of Canada's recent past and provides
a commentary on its present. What she has said warrants being heard as a whole
rather than in pieces. If wrong she deserves to be refuted, not ignored, nor vilified.
I consistently refer to Hilda Marion Ada Neatby, C.C., M.A., Ph.D., LL.D.,
F.R.S.C., as Hilda. I choose this rather than the too cold Neatby, the socially
correct Miss Neatby (it often seemed to me that those who called her this did so
condescendingly), or the academically correct Doctor or Professor Neatby.
During the debate over So Little for the Mind, she protested that critics whom she
had never met thought nothing of calling her Hilda. However, at least in her later
years, she wanted her colleagues to use her first name. It took me a long time to
get up the courage to do so to her face; it is now a habit. I hope that she will not
mind.
The first chapter is biographical, beginning with Hilda on herself and continu-
ing with an account of those events, people and ideas that seem to have made the
most difference in her life. The rest of the book consists essentially of the writings
of Hilda Neatby. The second section contains seven chapters: Hilda as a woman,
Presbyterian, westerner, Canadian, student and letter writer, teacher, and
historian. The third section has four chapters: Hilda on education in the schools,
universities, Canadian history, and the world around her. Each chapter consists
of one or more selections from her published and unpublished works, preceded
by an introduction. Because civilization, Christianity, duty, history, and Canada
were constant themes for Hilda, the divisions are not airtight. A final chapter
discusses, in a tentative fashion, her formation, her ideas, and her relationship
with her times. More needs to be known about her times before Hilda can be
fitted into them.
Most of the material for this book was found in the collection deposited by
Vlll PREFACE
Hilda Neatby in the Saskatchewan Archives in Saskatoon. Some of her corres-
pondence is to be found in the Archives of the University of Saskatchewan. A
number of letters from Hilda to Frank Underhill in the Public Archives of
Canada were brought to my attention by Dale Miquelon; other letters in that
repository to A.L. Burt and Eugene Forsey I found myself. The material in the
Sound Archives was tracked down by Josephine Langham. A number of letters
to Eugene Forsey were sent to me by Blair Neatby. Roger Graham and Ivo
Lambi gave me access to correspondence in their possession. Some of Hilda's
published writings are in the Saskatchewan Archives; the rest I found in the
journals where they appeared. The part of the bibliography of published works
that is most likely to be incomplete is the section on book reviews. The biblio-
graphy of unpublished works, made up mostly of speeches, depends solely on the
archival collections and is incomplete.
Those who have helped me have been many. Hilda's brothers and sisters,
Leslie, Allan, Margery, and especially Kate, provided important information.
Kate's husband Ted and daughter Ruth also aided me. Among her longtime
friends and colleagues, Kay and Roger Graham, Bernadine Bujilla, W.A.
Riddell, Francis Leddy, Greta Rempel, and Margaret Belcher were of particular
help. Among the friends of the 1960's special mention must be made of Ivo and
Jackie Lambi, Hugh and Suzanne Johnson, Mary Hallett, Joe and Cathy Fry,
and Del Gradish, and especially Peg MacVean who provided not only infor-
mation but typing and preparation of the index. Dick Rempel provided me-
mories of the 1940's. My wife Joan helped especially in the final stages. The
archivists of the Saskatchewan Archives Board, especially Darcy Hande, were
patient and helpful. To these and all the others who have provided aid and
encouragement, especially Maria Lipp, and Dale Miquelon who was of special
help in revising the chapters on history and Canadian history — thank you.
PART ONE
Some Words about Hilda