A TRIBUTE TO SASKATCHEWAN WOMEN . . . THAT ALMOST DIDN’T HAPPEN
Posted on May 10th, 2009
Museum of Natural History in 1956 - Saskatchewan Archives Board picture
On this Mothers Day, it seems appropriate to report on the story of the inclusion of a woman on the frieze of the Royal Saskatchewan Museum that pays tribute to the Pioneers.
Early in the process of planning for the 1955 Saskatchewan Golden Jubilee, the provincial government decided to make its major Jubilee capital project a new home for what was then called the Provincial Museum, which had started in 1906, and which had been housed in a variety of locations. The new building would be called the Museum of Natural History and was to be built on the corner of College and Albert adjacent to what is now called the “old” campus of the University of Regina. As the theme of the Golden Jubilee was to honour Saskatchewan’s pioneers, Herbert Garnier, a Winnipeg sculptor was contracted to develop the frieze and dedication.
Garnier originally proposed a design that featured only a single male figure swinging a scythe. The Museum’s advisory committee, which included a number of individuals who would play major roles in Saskatchewan’s cultural history in the next several decades, such as Jubilee Executive Director Fred McGuinness, Provincial Archivist Lewis Thomas and Legislative Librarian John Archer, disagreed with Garnier and argued that a female figure had to be included. In a letter to the minister responsible for the Museum they demanded that a woman be included: “It would be an appropriate tribute to the pioneer women of Saskatchewan and we believe that the omission of a pioneer woman from this design would be widely criticized.” Garnier resisted and contended that the design should be left to his discretion. He claimed that the addition of a female figure would ruin the “verticality” of the design, and “…there were many difficulties in selecting an appropriate dress for the [female] figure.” The committee was unimpressed with Garnier’s position. “Mr. McGuinness,” according to the minutes of the committee meeting, “stated that the committee were [sic] concerned with developing a memorial legend, which would be acceptable to some 900,000 residents of the province and not artistic license.” The dedication ultimately included both a woman figure and a female child figure. These additions represented women’s roles as both mothers and wives and acknowledged women’s specific contributions, just as the scythe by the man’s feet, symbolized men’s contributions. The fact all three figures stood on the wheat sheaves suggested the economic contributions of pioneers were owed to the entire family not just to the men. While some might dismiss the frieze as a symbol of patriarchy, I would argue that the frieze does show an appreciation for the value of women’s contributions and although within the confines of gender roles common during the era, it was still a sincere tribute to the women of Saskatchewan.