Evlyn Farris and the
University Women’s Club
TAMI ADILMAN

Evlyn Farris was a pioneer in improving conditions in education and employment for
women in British Columbia. She founded the University Women’s Club of Vancouver in
1907 and helped establish the Women’s Liberal Association of Vancouver in 1915. her
work in these organizations and her involvement in the Senate and Board of Governors
at the University of British Columbia (1912 - 19423) influenced government legislation
regarding social policies affecting women.
Evlyn Fenwick Kierstead was born on August 21, 1878 in Windsor, Nova Scotia.
Early in Evlyn’s life her mother died, leaving Evlyn to be raised by her father, a
professor and clergyman at Acadia University. Evlyn’s father had a profound influence
on the development of her ideas concerning higher education.1 Having been brought
up in an academic environment, Evlyn believed in the importance of university training
very early in her life.
When leaving high school at the age of sixteen, Evlyn addressed her graduating
class on the subject of women in a speech entitled “Wux Femina Facto”, meaning “A
Woman Leads the Way”.2 The Attorney-General of Nova Scotia, present at the
ceremony, “subjected her address to seething criticism”.3 It discussed higher education
for women, stressed women’s suffrage, and referred to women prominent in these fields
at that time: Frances E. Willard, Lady Aberdeen, and Alice Freeman Palmer. The
speech illustrated Evlyn’s belief that education was the most important factor in the
advancement of women, and that it would continue to be so in the future.4
She believed the women of the past worked within the constraints of
conventionality, that the women of her time had more advantages, and therefore would
be able to exceed the endeavours of the past to produce a marked change in the raising
of women’s consciousness. Evlyn saw that this consciousness would result in women
becoming part of the decision-making process which affected the living conditions of all
society. She said:
The desire for education is becoming almost a
passion in all enlightened nations. that knowledge is
power and wealth, has long been regarded as
axiomatic and now the people generally are seeking
to obtain knowledge for the sake of power and wealth,
and in this work woman will certainly have a grand
opportunity for displaying her natural and acquired
abilities.5
All this would be possible with women’s “enlarged privileges of education and her wise
use of the ballot.”6
Clearly, she believed the influence of women would produce a desirable way of
thinking and living: “…may we not look to women as the future leader of all good
deeds?”7 Her idea of women’s purity is a definite indication of her early maternal
feminist views.

Between 1894 and 1898, Evlyn completed her Bachelor of Arts degree with first
class honours at Acadia University. In 1899, she achieved her Aster of Arts degree in
both Philosophy and German, also from Acadia. By the time she had completed her
Master’s at age 21, Evlyn was a devout believer in women’s rights. In her 1894 - 1898
scrapbook is a clipping from the progressive newspaper, The Halifax Woman’s Extra:
Written by Women, for Women, About Women, which lists the paper’s future articles,
including Amelia Finch’s “The Revolt of the Daughters”, Winnie Beckwith’s “Natural
Rights Versus Women’s Dependence”, and Evlyn Kierstead’s “The Effect Upon Society
of the Higher Education of Women”.8 Her early writings reflected her future beliefs in
women’s higher education.
In 1899, Evlyn delivered a speech entitled “Woman’s Influence” in which she
reiterated the ideas from “Wux Femina Facto”. She thought that since not all women
could attend university, they must stimulate their minds through reading and discussion.
Intellectual education for women, whether formal or informal, was still largely
unconventional and unpopular. In fact, Evlyn had been asked not to mention higher
education in her speech; that she ignored this advice shows she believed strongly in her
cause and its worth. But even Evlyn was trapped by the restrictive attitudes of the era,
and advocated many of the socially-dictated roles for women. Her speech, “Woman’s
Influence”, included comments on the importance of dress, etiquette and appropriate
behaviour in the presence of men, such as passivity, taking an interest in their work and
supporting their beliefs without question.9
From 1899 to 1905, Evlyn headed the department of History and Political
Science at a high school in Middleton, Connecticut, where she became a member of the
University Club. In 1905, Evlyn Kierstead married Wallace de Beque Farris, a lawyer in
Vancouver where the couple made their home, and where for years Evlyn was to
support legislative reforms through the educational organization she formed in 1907, the
University Women’s Club.
Evlyn’s daughter, Katherine Robson, speculated that her mother formed the club
initially to combat loneliness and a sense of isolation in the new city. Evlyn no doubt
missed the stimulation of other university women to which she had been exposed in
Nova Scotia and Connecticut. The Vancouver University Women’s Club, the second
such organization in Canada, put Evlyn in contact with its other seven chartered
members,10 and thus kept her involved in her all-important field of education.
All of the club’s members had obtained their education outside of British
Columbia, since there was no university in the province at that time. A woman qualified
for membership if she had a four-year degree from any college or university. the
Constitution of the University Women’s Club stated its purpose as being:
To stimulate intellectual activity in college-bred
women, to work for practical advancement of art,
science, literature, and civic reform and to promote
the social welfare of college-bred women.11
Intellectual activity would involve the University Women’s Club with other women’s
organizations in order to discuss academic topics. an interest in the practical
advancement of art, science and literature would precipitate the club’s early activities in
the founding of the University of British Columbia, and the establishment of ParentTeacher Associations in Vancouver. From its inception, the Club viewed its educational

advantage as a tool for affecting municipal change. It would become a lobbying group
to ensure the social welfare of college-bred women.
The intellectual activities of the club usually involved discussions of literature and
art with other women’s clubs. For example, in 1908, in a speech entitled “The
Inheritance of the Canadian Educated Woman”, Evlyn suggested that intellectual
activities be pursued by the club and that the benefits of university education be shred
with other women who had not had the same advantages.12 Min March of 1915, Evlyn
addressed the Women’s Canadian Club on “Canadian Literature, Its Pas, Its Present
and Its Future”. She spoke about prominent Canadian authors and their works,
stressed “that Canada has a national literature”, and that women as Canadians must be
aware of its existence.13 She referred to four women as great Canadian writers: Sara
Jeannette Duncan, Agnes C. Laut, Grace Dean McLeod Roger and Agnes Deans
Cameron. In March of 1915, she delivered a speech before the Women’s Literary
Society which discussed the works of Meredith, Bennet and Galsworthy and their views
of women.14 She especially respected Meredith’s opinion concerning women and
quoted him as saying, “The greatest nation will be the one where men and women are
the nearest thing to being equal”.15 Initially their goals were those of an elitist Women’s
club, but as it expanded the University Women’s Club directed its energies towards
improving education, both formal and informal, for women.
The University Women’s club’s primary objective in 1908 was to organize similar
clubs in the province so that they could work together in order to establish the
university.16 Soon after the Vancouver Club was founded, Evlyn promoted her idea of
the University women’s Club in Victoria and in the Okanagan Valley. Rosalind Watson
(Mrs. Esson Young) was a charter member of the University Women’s Club in Victoria
and its first president.17 The Club’s secondary aim was to develop a communication
system which would form a link across the country so that all university-educated
women would be able to affiliate with one another. this proposal later resulted in the
Canadian Federation of University Women (CFUW).
The University of British Columbia was established in 1908. It was moved from
its temporary site to its present Point Grey location during the Liberal John Oliver
government. by 1910, Evlyn had been appointed to the committee to choose a
permanent site for the university. Two years later she was one of two women appointed
to the U.B.C. Senate, the other being Madge Robertson (Mrs. Alfred Watt) of the
fledgling Women’s Institute and of the University Women’s Club of Victoria. In July
1912, Evlyn was nominated by members of the club to become a Senator of the
University.18 It is impossible to determine the degree of influence the Club had on
Evlyn’s eventual appointment. However, out of 340 votes, Evlyn had the fifth highest
number of votes.19 The Vancouver newspaper, The News-Advertizer, recognized the
importance of Evlyn’s position:
The election of Evlyn Farris may be regarded as
evidence of the ever-increasing rapidity of the
progress in the conditions and deeds of women.20
Her appointment to the U.B.C. Senate was extremely significant for two reasons. First,
we must remember that the Conservatives were in power and had made no attempt to
better the conditions for women in the province. Unlike the Liberals, they had not
adopted women suffrage as a party platform and they continually ignored with work of

women’s groups in B.C. as much as they could. Therefore, Evlyn’s appointment to the
Senate is quite paradoxical. On the one hand the Conservative government did not
support the women’s demands for suffrage or amendments to existing laws, but on the
other hand, they must have respected Evlyn Farris and her attitudes concerning women
and education. The Women’s Liberal Association was not formed until 1915, but one
wonders if Evlyn as a member of its executive would still have been chosen to sit on the
Senate had the Association been established in 1912.
In February of 1916, Evlyn was upset with the work of the U.B.C. Senate.
Specific tasks allocated tot eh Senate were performed by some Senators and
government officials without the consultation of the entire body. She said,
What annoys the women of the University Women’s
Club particularly is to find that the government has
drawn up the curriculum dealing with the education of
women (which is a power expressly given to the
Senate) without giving us a chance to be heard in the
matter. For instance, the calendar says that women
may attend the classes in arts, but does not say that
they may attend the classes in the Faculty of Science,
the omission is being equivalent to a prohibition. I am
quite sure that this would never have occurred if the
calendar had passed through the hands of the
Senate, for if nobody else had drawn attention to it, I
should have done so myself.21
She said that the University of British Columbia was a laughing stock of academics in
the east,22 and blamed the Conservative Government for the slow development of the
University. Evlyn said that British Columbia had made a commotion about the institution
since its founding in 1908, but by 1916 all that had been done was “to appoint a lot of
deans and begin lectures in a borrowed building and three shacks”.23 Evlyn’s speech
clearly points out her frustration with the government’s apathetic attitude regarding the
establishment of a university in British Columbia.
The new Liberal government would take more interest in financing the University
of British Columbia. In 1917, Evlyn was appointed by the Liberals to the Board of
Governors at U.B.C. Evlyn’s son, John Farris, stated,
My father was Attorney-General in the John Oliver
government. The two of them (mother and father)
were instrumental (with others, of course) in
persuading Premier Oliver to move the University of
British Columbia to its present site in Point Grey.24
Much later, the government of B.C. changed once again to conservative; Evlyn
was not reappointed to the Board of Governors at U.B.C. Former Attorney-General
Manson criticized the new government, accusing them of not reappointing Evlyn for
purely political reasons.25 She was replaced in 1928 by Maude Welch, a woman who
did not possess a university degree but whose husband was a twice-defeated
Conservative.26 When the Liberals later returned to power, Evlyn was reappointed once
again to the Board of Governors where she had been one of the first women on the
governing body of a university in Canada.

Institutions of higher learning recognized their debt to Evlyn Farris. In May, 1923,
she was awarded an honourary Doctor of Laws degree from Acadia University. It was
the first time Acadia had conferred such a degree on a woman and the third in Canada
ever presented to a woman. The President of Acadia stated that the award was
bestowed upon Evlyn for her service in education and in other public services she
initiated and aided.27 In 1942, U.B.C. conferred upon Evlyn the same degree and
bestowed upon her 19 years earlier. Dr. Evlyn Farris now possessed two Honourary
Doctor of Laws degrees for her work in higher education in B.C. At the ceremony in
1942, the citation read in part: “Give her the fruit of her hands, and let her own works
praise her in the gates.”28
The University women’s Club acted as a lobbying group to promote civic reform
for women in Vancouver. The Club’s first activity in terms of bettering social conditions
for women in the city was their Early Christmas Shopping Campaign which began in
1908. The Club was asked by the store clerks to appeal to the public, the request being
that Christmas shoppers shop from December 10th until the last week before Christmas
and in the daytime, especially in the morning when the stores were comparatively
uncrowded. The point of this was to encourage shoppers to complete their shopping
early to relieve the women clerks of the extra long and hectic hours they had to work
around Christmas time.29
Another activity the Club eagerly supported was the establishment of a
permanent building in Vancouver to house women’s societies. In February of 1912, the
University women’s Club was attempting to raise funds to purchase stocks in the
Vancouver Women’s Building ltd. (VWBL). The VWBL purchased a building at 752
Thurlow for $25,000 plus a mortgage. It was the first building in Canada of its kind, and
by the end of 1921, twenty-one women’s clubs and societies had office space there,
including the University Women’s Club.30
The Club, in March, 1914, made a very important decision, later to be enforced in
B.C. by the provincial school board. They made it necessary for “women physicians to
be appointed to examine girls in public schools”.31 It was a progressive position taken
by the Club, readily endorsed by the school board. it would seem that this action was to
provide women physicians with employment.
Several months later, another committee to aid unemployed women was formed
at the written request of Helena Gutteridge, a suffragist and trade unionist who later
became Vancouver’s first alderwoman. Laura Jamieson was chosen to represent the
Club.32 They obviously felt it necessary to become involved with other women’s
organizations in order to better the conditions for women of all social classes.
In 1917, Evlyn Farris, on behalf of the Club, began a campaign to ensure that
sales girls received a weekly half holiday and a limitation on their hours of work per day.
The conditions of women workers were very poor, their wages were low and their hours
long.33 Her endeavour was a success.34
In 1915, Evlyn headed the Club’s Education Committee and was responsible for
the formation of Parent-Teacher Associations in Vancouver. Her hope was to bring
teacher and parents together so that they could have a better understanding of
education for youth.
The University women’s Club of Vancouver was probably more involved with the
amending of unjust social legislation affecting women and children than with any other

of its activities. The study of the laws was initiated by the Club by Helen MacGill. Over
the years the amendments were achieved both by the Club and individual members.
At a meeting in 1910 of the University Women’s Club, a lawyer spoke on
“Women and the Law”:
The members were very shocked to learn that in B.C.
girls of twelve and boys of fourteen could be married;
that married women had no claim to the custody of
their children, the father being the sole guardian; and
that a man could leave his wife penniless.35
The members became aware for the first time that laws relating to women and children
had not changed since the Imperial Proclamation of 1858. In an attempt to correct this
injustice, a joint committee was formed by the Local Council of Women and the
University Women’s Club. The affiliation of the Local Council of Women and the
University Women’s Club
…petitioned the Attorney-General to revise the
inheritance laws to guarantee widows one-half of
marital property.
They also requested that he
sponsor legislation to accord mothers equal
guardianship rights with the fathers of their legitimate
children and to allow deserted wives access to the
earnings of their minor children without a court
order.36
As a result of the joint committee’s work, Helen Gregory MacGill published a pamphlet
entitled, “Daughters, Wives and Mothers in B.C. - Some Laws Affecting Them”.
In December, 1911 and January, 1912, Helen MacGill, the convenor of the
committee to improve laws affecting women and children, compiled a report and met
with Conservative Attorney-General Bowser. She presented him with proposed
amendments to the existing laws. In February, the University Women’s Club made their
first proposal for the pensions of widows. In a report to the University women’s Club,
Helen MacGill stated that the present session of Parliament had made no improvements
in the existing laws relating to women and children. In March a new Committee was
formed to concentrate on a law that would bring about the guardianship of children by
both the mother and father.37
The most notable event of 1912 in terms of advancements for women was
probably the amending of the Legal Professions Act on February 27, 1912. Mabel
French, a lawyer from New Brunswick, was refused entrance to the British Columbia
bar. John Farris remembers his mother’s work on the case:
As to the Mabel French case, there is no doubt that
my mother played an important role in this matter. As
I heard the story from her, in 1912 Mabel French, who
was a lawyer from New Brunswick, had been refused
admission to the Bar of British Columbia by the
Benchers of the Law Society on the grounds that only
persons who were British subjects were eligible to
practice law. The Benchers ruled that as a woman
was not a person she was not eligible. This decision

Evlyn Farris portraits

Evlyn Farris, 1911, Collingwood Library

Evlyn Farris, 1942, upon receiving her honorary L.L.D. at UBC.
(UBC Special Collections)

was upheld by Mr. Justice Aulay Morrison. It was
confirmed by the Court of Appeal of British Columbia.
On Friday night, Mr. Bob Hannington, who was then
counsel for the Canadian National Railways in
Vancouver, and his wife were playing bridge with my
mother and father. During the course of the evening,
Mr. Hannington told mother of Mabel French and
suggested she might be interested in trying to do
something about it. She said she certainly was. The
next morning, Saturday, she went down to the
Vancouver office of W.J. Bowser, K.C., the AttorneyGeneral of British Columbia. Notwithstanding that
they were on opposite sides in politics, Bowser
consented to see her. Knowing mother, he didn’t
have a choice. Mother told Mr. Bowser of the Mabel
French situation and said that the women of British
Columbia would not tolerate it and that the Act had to
be amended. After some pussyfooting, Mr. Bowser
said, as the House was going to be prorogued on
Tuesday there was no time to do anything about it.
Mother said there was time and he was going to do
something about it. Finally, he agreed and the Bill
was introduced on the Monday and passed on the
Tuesday, after which the House was prorogued.38
On January 27, 1912, a month before the Act was amended, in a meeting of the
University Women’s Club a report was given by a committee on amending the Legal
Professions Act.39 Clearly, the committee was making little progress with the
amendments so Evlyn, having been inspired by the events of the evening, took
immediate action which resulted in the revision of the Legal Professions Act within a few
days.
In January of 1913, after a Conservative re-election, Attorney-General Bowser
told the Club that he very seriously doubted whether there were to be any changes
made in the Conservative policy concerning the laws affecting women and children, or
the Equal Guardianship Laws.40 A year later, Helen MacGill devised a formal set of
amendments with reference to the existing Laws on Women and Children.
1. That we ask that the right of the minor mother be
made equal to that of the minor father.
2. That the Deserted Wives Act be amended so as to
make the wages of the minor children living with the
mother her separate estate. That the offense be
changed from ‘desertion’ to non-support. To include
in this some clause making grown-up children with
means responsible for the support of the aged and
inform parents.
3. To strike out the clause in the present Act which
frees a man from responsibility for the support of his

minor children if his wife has sufficient means to do so
and that she be allowed to sue for support without
having to leave her husband.41
This was the position of the University Women’s Club. Action had been taken and their
demands finalized. Now they had to convince the Conservative Government of their
needs.
In 1916, the University Women’s Club demanded a new building for women
prisoners but were flatly refused.42 However, not all their applications for Women’s
Reforms that year were rejected. A city council meeting on March 7, 1916 endorsed the
proposals of the University Women’s Club to amendments made to the Deserted Wives
Act. They also approved a new Act regarding the care for the sick and impoverished by
close relatives. Finally, some progress in relation to women’s reforms had been made
after many years of fruitless attempts.
In 1917 the Club was working on ensuring Mothers’ Pensions. After much
debate on the topic the Club needed more aid and carried their proposal to other
women’s organizations.43 Such a pension marked the beginning of social assistance in
British Columbia.
There is some controversy about the part the University Women’s Club played in
obtaining equal suffrage. Linda Hale applauds the University Women’s Club’s work
when she credits them as one of the key organizations for suffrage.44In direct opposition
to this, in an essay entitled “The University women’s Club”, Helen Gregory MacGill
states,
While the University Women’s Club was in itself not a
suffrage society, its officials, and from time to time its
presidents (Mrs. Wm. McConkey and Judge Helen
Gregory MacGill), and others became heads of
suffrage organizations.45
Along the same lines, Evlyn Farris said,
I’ve never belonged to any suffrage society myself….
I’ve been too busy rocking the cradle to think of
helping to rule the world. But I would be glad to have
a vote. I think women with their votes can do a great
deal of good, not only to themselves but in assisting
to set up good government in the country.46
the University Women’s Club no doubt assisted in amending legislation to
improve conditions for women, but was not directly involved in the fight for the franchise.
Obviously, neither Helen nor Evlyn considered the Club a suffrage society, nor could its
function be transformed to serve partisan politics, the new strategy for suffrage agreed
upon by a number of its members. For example, Rosalind (Mrs. Esson) Young, a
Conservative,47 would not have agreed with the Club had it chosen to support the
Liberals’ suffrage platform. As a result, Evlyn helped found the Women’s Liberal
Association in 1915.
Some members of the University Women’s Club who considered themselves
Liberals founded or belonged to the Association. Among them were Mary Ellen Smith,
Helen MacGill, Laura Jamieson and Kate McQueen.48
The Women’s Liberal
Association was formed to help defeat the Conservative government. The Liberal

government adopted Women’s Suffrage in 1912 in their platform while the
Conservatives had continuously denied equal franchise for women. In a letter from
Nellie McClung to the Association she said, “Your Premier will not likely change his
mind and so your plan is to change the Premier”.49 In effect, the only recourse for
women was to form a partisan alliance with the Liberals. In July, Evlyn suggested that
the women members canvas all the households in Vancouver to determine with which
party each household was affiliated. Mr. Brewster, the B.C. Liberal leader, endorsed
the Association and acknowledged that
…the laws concerning marriage and the guardianship
of children, and other laws in which women were very
much interested, were in a very bad state in B.C.50
In a letter to the editor of The Sun, July 17, 1915, Dorothy E. Arnold, a woman from
Vancouver, asked,
…is this organization to be representative of the
women of the city or of the leisure class?… In time
this organization will most undoubtedly be a powerful
one… Let us organize as a unit. This will facilitate
success. The ladies, by holding their organizing
meetings during the afternoon, shut out completely
the wage-earning element… In this rather critical
crisis in ‘political British Columbia’ lies a golden
opportunity for the suffrage party. Let us all come
together, women from all walks of life, with the one
aim, one objective point - the common good of all.51
Her observation is a valid one. It is obvious that the Women’s Liberal
Association did not want their membership to include working women. Their purpose
was not to unify women in order to gain the franchise, but to create an organization for
Liberal women only. Because of that, the Women’s Liberal Association remained
essentially middle and upper class. In 1915, on behalf of the Women’s Liberal
Association, Evlyn criticized government policy in their handling of the University’s land
endowments.52 She said, “The government had not turned over one acre of the land”
from the grant that was issued to establish a university in 1907.53
She [Evlyn] contrasted the inability of the board to
vote $800 towards the acquiring and furnishing of a
woman’s residence which would have been otherwise
self-supporting, with the $2,262 spent by the
government on the hire of a carpet for one night for
the Duke of Connaught to stand on, and of the $4,586
for refreshments for the party which visited the Colony
farm. Referring to the $80,000 commission on the
Kitsilano Indian reserve deal, which she said was
‘given to two conservative lawyers for going over to
North Vancouver twice to see the Indians’, she said it
seemed to her that the policy of the government was,
‘dollars for graft but not a dime for girls’. She made it
clear that her criticisms were not directed at the board

of governors, the Senate or the members of the
university staff.54
Evidently, Evlyn was persistent in the improvements of education. When her standards
were not met, she used her position to affect change in policy.
In 1916, the Liberals defeated the Conservatives in the election and women
gained equal suffrage. Evlyn Farris’s husband, Wallace de Beque Farris, was
appointed Liberal Attorney-General and Minister of Labour, making them a conspicuous
couple. The Farrises were a wife-husband team, but there were others: Mary Ellen
Smith succeeded her husband as Liberal M.L.A. after his death in 1917; Reverend and
Mrs. Lashley Hall worked together for equal suffrage; later, of course, angus and Grace
MacInnis worked together in the CCF.
The Farris family lived in Victoria between 1917 and 1921, when Wallace took his
seat in the Legislature. Evlyn acted as President of the Victoria University Women’s
Club for two years while they resided there. In 1921, the Farrises moved back to
Vancouver where they remained the rest of their lives. In November of 1971, at the age
of 93, Evlyn Farris died.
Evlyn Farris was one of the most notable women for the advancement of
university education for women in British Columbia. As an instigator for social change,
she voiced her views in opposition to government policy many times. Yet, one cannot
help but wonder how much of her influence was gained because of her leisure class
position. Through her husband, who was ultimately appointed to the Senate, she
gained substantial respectability and was perhaps able to exercise power more easily
than other women of there time. In addition, her education enabled her to work in her
own right from a favoured position in society for women’s equality in British Columbia.

Footnotes
1

Author’s taped interviews with John Farris and Katerine Robson, June, 1980 (son and daughter of Evlyn
Farris).
2
Evlyn Fenwick Kierstead, “Wux Femina Facto” (unpublished speech at Horton Collegiate Academy,
Nova Scotia, 1894) p. 1. University of British Columbia, Special collections.
3
The Victoria Times, April 6, 1917.
4
Evlyn Fenwick Kierstead, op. cit., p. 5.
5
Ibid.
6
Ibid.
7
Evlyn Fenwick Kierstead, op. cit., p. 6.
8
Farris Family Papers (Newspaper clipping in scrapbook, 1894 - 1898, Box 58), University of British
Columbia, Special Collections.
9
Evlyn Fenwick Kierstead, “Woman’s Influence” (unpublished speech, 1899), p. 4. University of British
Columbia, Special Collections.
10
Author’s conversation with D. Kennedy (University Women’s Club of Vancouver’s historian), July 1980.
Seven other charter members: Elizabeth Cameron, A.T. Fuller, Maude Hunt, G.H. King, Mary McKenzie,
Ella Perkins, Madeline Champier.
11
Farris Family Papers (The Vancouver Daily Province, n.d., Evlyn Farris scrapbook, 1908 - 1923).
University of British Columbia, Special Collection, Box 59.
12
The Daily Province, May 11, 1908, p. 9.
13
Ibid., March 6, 1915, p. 8.

14

Ibid., March 22, 1916, p. 8.
Ibid.
16
Ibid., November 28, 1908, p. 2.
17
Elizabeth Forbes, Wild Roses at Their Feet, p. 60.
18
University Women’s Club Minutes, July 30, 1912. Courtesy of the University Club, Vancouver.
19
Minutes of Convocation. No. 1, 1912, University of British Columbia. University of British Columbia
Special Collections.
20
Farris Family Papers (The News Advertiser, n.d., Evlyn Farris Scrapbook), University of British
Columbia Special Collections.
21
The Vancouver Daily World, February 2, 1916, p. 12.
22
Ibid.
23
Ibid.
24
Letter from John Farris to Ms. Roberta Pazdro, July, 1979.
25
The Victoria Times, October 1, 1929, p. 1 (con’d), p. 15.
26
The Vancouver Sun, October 4, 1929, p. 8.
27
The Victoria Times, May 23, 1923, n.p.
28
Ruth E. Crummy, “In Memoriam, Dr. Evlyn Fenwick K. Farris”, the University Women’s Club memo,
December, 1971.
29
The Daily Province, December 11, 1908, p. 2.
30
Elsie Gregory MacGill, My Mother, The Judge, Toronto, Ryerson Press, 1955, p. 129.
31
University Women’s Club Minutes, March 14, 1914. Courtesy of the University Women’s Club of
Vancouver.
32
Ibid., October 3, 1914.
33
Ibid.
34
Elsie MacGill, op. cit. p. 158.
35
Ibid., p. 119
36
Linda Hale. “The B.C. Woman Suffrage Movement, 1890 - 1917”, (unpublished thesis, U.B.C., 1977),
p. 54.
37
University Women’s Club Minutes, February 24 to March 9, 1912. Courtesy of the University Women’s
Club of Vancouver.
38
John Farris, letter to Mrs. Roberta Pazdro, July, 1979. The Act was amended on February 27, 1912.
39
University Women’s Club Minutes, January 27, 1912. Courtesy of the University Women’s Club of
Vancouver.
40
Ibid., January 25, 1913.
41
Ibid., November 14, 1913.
42
Elsie MacGill, op. cit., p. 215
43
.MacGill Family Papers (Essay on the University Women’s Club, 1940 - 1950), City Archives of
Vancouver.
44
Linda Hale, op. cit., P. 52.
45
Helen Gregory MacGill, op. cit.
46
The Vancouver Sun., July 9, 1915, p. 3
47
Forbes, op. cit.
48
The Vancouver Sun, July 1, 1915, p. 1.
49
Ibid.
50
Ibid., July 9, 1915, p. 3.
51
Ibid., June 17, 1915, p. 4
52
The Vancouver Province, September 18, 1915, p. 28.
53
Ibid.
54
The Vancouver Sun, April 4, 1916, p. 8.
15

Bibliography
Cleverdon, Catherine L. The Woman Suffrage Movement in Canada. Toronto: University of Toronto
Press, 1950.
Crossley, Diane. “The B.C. Liberal part and Women’s Reforms, 1916 - 1933”. Student paper. Victoria:
University of Victoria, 1979.
Crummy, Ruth E. “In Memoriam, Dr. Evlyn Farris”. Vancouver: The University Women’s Club, 1971.
Farris Family Papers, Box 58, 59, 60. Vancouver: University of British Columbia, Special Collections.
Farris, John. Letter to Ms. Roberta Pazdro. Victoria, July 4, 1979.
Gould, Jan. Women of British Columbia. Saanichton, B.C.: Hancock House, 1975.
Hale, Linda Louise. Selected Bibliography of Manuscripts and Pamphlets Pertaining to Women Held by
Archives, Libraries, Museums and Associations in British Columbia. Vancouver: University of British
Columbia, 1978.
- “The British Columbia Woman Suffrage Movement, 1890 - 1917”. Unpublished M.A. thesis.
Vancouver: University of British Columbia, 1977.
Hopkins, J. Castell. The Canadian Annual Review. Toronto: The Canadian Annual Review Ltd., 1918.
Kealey, Linda, ed. A Not Unreasonable Claim, Women and Reform in Canada, 1880’s - 1920’s. Toronto:
The Women’s Press, 1979.
Kierstead, Evlyn Fenwick. “Woman’s Influence”. Unpublished speech. Vancouver. University of British
Columbia, Special collections.
- “Wux Femina Facto”. Unpublished speech. Vancouver: University of British Columbia, Special
Collections, 1894.
MacGill, Elsie Gregory. My Mother, the Judge: A Biography of Judge Helen Gregory MacGill. Toronto:
Ryerson Press, 1955.
MacGill, Helen Gregory. “The University women’s Club”. Unpublished paper written 1940 - 1950.
MacGill papers, Vancouver City Archives.
- “The Vancouver Women’s Building”. Vancouver City Archives.
Matters, Diane L. “Public Welfare Vancouver Style, 1910 - 1920”. Journal of Canadian Studies (Spring,
1979), vol. 14, no. 1.
Minutes of Convocation, No. 1. 1912, University of British Columbia, Special Collections.
Munro, Mrs. Hugh. “Forty Years as a Club”. Unpublished paper, University Women’s Club of Vancouver,
1948.
The News-Advertizer. N.D. 1912. Evlyn Farris Scrapbook. Vancouver: University of British Columbia,
Special Collections.
- April 29, 1942.
The News Herald. March 8, 1937.
The Province. November 28, 1908; December 11, 1908; May 10, 1909; January 20, 1912; August 22,
1912; March 6, 1915; September 18, 1915; January 29, 1916; February 12, 1916; June 1, 1916; June
13, 1924; October 1, 1929; April 28, 1942; May 15, 1942. Microfilm, McPherson Library, University of
Victoria.
Strong-Boag, Veronica. “Mother’s Allowances and the Beginnings of Social Security in Canada”. Journal
of Canadian Studies, vol. 14, no. 1 (Spring, 1979).
The Sun, April 25, 1914; January 11, 1915; June 10, 17, 19, 1915; July 9, 20, 1915; January 29, 1916;
March 10, 24, 1916; April 4, 1916; May 2, 1916; June 1, 2, 30, 1916; July 4, 15, 1916; October 1,
1929; Mach 8, 1936; April 28, 1942; Victoria: Microfilm. McPherson Library, University of Victoria.
University Women’s Club of Vancouver. “Minutes” (111 - 1917). Courtesy of the University Women’s
Club of Vancouver.
The Vancouver Women’s Building. yearbook, 1922. Vancouver City Archives.
The Vancouver World, May 13, 1911; October 31, 1916; February 2, 1916; March 7, 1916; September
11, 1916.
The Victoria Colonist. April 6, 1917; May 29, 1921; October 20, 1925.
The Victoria Times. June 1, 1915; March 4, 1916; April 6, 1917; February 13, 1919; June 23, 1920;
September 20, 1920; October 1, 13, 1920; May 23, 1923; October 1, 1929. Victoria: Microfilm,
McPherson Library, University of Victoria.

Weaver, Emily P., A.E. and C.E. eds. The Canadian Woman’s Annual and Social Service Directory.
Toronto: McClelland, Godchild and Stewart, 1915.
Weppler, Doreen Madge. “Early Forms of Political Activity Among White Women in British Columbia,
1880 - 1925”. Unpublished M.A. thesis. Vancouver: Simon Fraser University, 1917.
Western Women’s Weekly, n.d., 1918. Evlyn Farris Scrapbook. Vancouver: University of British
Columbia, Special Collections.