The photograph is of Women posing on a lawn. MOF: \"Womens Institute's Convention, U.B.C., 1956\".<\/p>\r\n
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In February 7th 1921 the Pitt Meadows Women’s Institute was duly incorporated with the purpose of bringing culture and education to residents of the community. Mary Jane Harris, one of the first settlers in the Pitt Meadows area, is credited as being the woman who spearheaded the establishment of the group with the application for incorporation being signed by herself and 41 other women – no small feat for a community with a population of less than 500 at the time. The first order of business for the ladies of the Institute was the establishment of a library in the community. A library Committee was establish with representatives from the Institute as well as from the Farmer’s Institute, the Board of Trade, the King’s Daughters, the Ladies Aid and the school principal and by 1929 they had a collection of 93 books and an exchange program with both Haney and Port Kells. Two years later the first library van call was made on February 6, 1931 at 10:00 a.m. at the hall grounds. In 1932 the first donation (of $25.00) was given towards the establishment of a permanent library facility in Pitt Meadows. This fund grew and as there was no library building yet conceived when the Institute disbanded in 1965, the funds were given to the School Board to be used for purchasing reference books for the new Pitt Meadows Secondary School.<\/p>\r\n
<\/p>\r\n
Other responsibilities of the Institute were the running of the Hall until 1948 and the sitting on the Hall Board after its formation in that same year. This included the task of fundraising to equip and then raise the ceiling on the first hall and to equip the second hall (the first one having burnt to the ground in December, 1929) with everything from a furnace to a piano to the dishes in the kitchen. All of this was done with dances and other events and accomplished during the dark days of the great depression. During the War the Institute made quilts for the Red Cross and before there was a doctor in town or a hospital in the area they hosted well baby and other clinics. They hosted speakers on a variety of topics and they organized numerous community events including a fall fair and early Pitt Meadows Days. Their members worked round the clock during the 1948 flood to ensure the army and local flood fighters were fed, bedded down and generally looked after. One final project of the group was the financing of the community history book “Through a Century of Progress: The Historical Story of Pitt Meadows” by Edith McDermott. The group disbanded in 1965.<\/p>","SEO_LINK":"womens-institute","VIDEO_LINK":"","SOUNDCLOUD_LINK":"","IMG1":"1661712137_main_womens-institute_1.jpg","IMG2":"","IMG3":"","IMG4":"","IMG5":"","IMG6":"","IMG7":"","IMG1_THUMB":"1661712137_thumb_womens-institute_1.jpg","IMG2_THUMB":"","IMG3_THUMB":"","IMG4_THUMB":"","IMG5_THUMB":"","IMG6_THUMB":"","IMG7_THUMB":""}X
Womens Institute
The photograph is of Women posing on a lawn. MOF: "Womens Institute's Convention, U.B.C., 1956".
In February 7th 1921 the Pitt Meadows Women’s Institute was duly incorporated with the purpose of bringing culture and education to residents of the community. Mary Jane Harris, one of the first settlers in the Pitt Meadows area, is credited as being the woman who spearheaded the establishment of the group with the application for incorporation being signed by herself and 41 other women – no small feat for a community with a population of less than 500 at the time. The first order of business for the ladies of the Institute was the establishment of a library in the community. A library Committee was establish with representatives from the Institute as well as from the Farmer’s Institute, the Board of Trade, the King’s Daughters, the Ladies Aid and the school principal and by 1929 they had a collection of 93 books and an exchange program with both Haney and Port Kells. Two years later the first library van call was made on February 6, 1931 at 10:00 a.m. at the hall grounds. In 1932 the first donation (of $25.00) was given towards the establishment of a permanent library facility in Pitt Meadows. This fund grew and as there was no library building yet conceived when the Institute disbanded in 1965, the funds were given to the School Board to be used for purchasing reference books for the new Pitt Meadows Secondary School.
Other responsibilities of the Institute were the running of the Hall until 1948 and the sitting on the Hall Board after its formation in that same year. This included the task of fundraising to equip and then raise the ceiling on the first hall and to equip the second hall (the first one having burnt to the ground in December, 1929) with everything from a furnace to a piano to the dishes in the kitchen. All of this was done with dances and other events and accomplished during the dark days of the great depression. During the War the Institute made quilts for the Red Cross and before there was a doctor in town or a hospital in the area they hosted well baby and other clinics. They hosted speakers on a variety of topics and they organized numerous community events including a fall fair and early Pitt Meadows Days. Their members worked round the clock during the 1948 flood to ensure the army and local flood fighters were fed, bedded down and generally looked after. One final project of the group was the financing of the community history book “Through a Century of Progress: The Historical Story of Pitt Meadows” by Edith McDermott. The group disbanded in 1965.
Details:
Latitude: 49.2289131440568
Longitude: -122.68915896048
Direct Link: https://www.pittmeadowsmuseum.com/locations/womens-institute
