Norman with whiskers, circa 1900. This is a fuzzy detail from a larger picture of Tighsolas showing Norman and his funny beard. He experimented with beard styles a lot of his life. Also notice the flower beds along Tighsolas. I wonder if they planted them for beauty or to absorb water. Also notice the classic window treatment. A blind, curtain and a plant. All so archtypally middle class and 20th century.
Here’s a bit I wrote on my website about the Royal Commission on Industrial Training and Technical Education. Apparently, in 1907, Macdonald College was reluctant to take in McGill Normal School. It’s easy to see why. Teachers were rabble-rousers.
From 1910 to 1912 the people of the Royal Commission on Industrial Training and Technical Education traveled from sea-to-sea (and overseas) asking leaders in agriculture, manufacturing, teaching, etc. for input, with the goal of overhauling the education system to accommodate the challenges of the New Industrial Age. It was a rare Federal foray into education, a provincial domain.
James W. Robertson, former principal of Macdonald College, headed the Commission and, what do you know, after three years and who knows how many dollars spent, the Commission established that they already had most of the answers, in the form of the Macdonald-Robertson Movement for Rural Education and the Manual Training Movement as well the Kindergarten movement!
This Commission also appeared to be trying to funnel women (who were increasingly entering the workforce) back into the domestic domain, homemaking or housekeeping (since ‘good help was hard to get’) by elevating the status of these ‘professions’. It appears they were counting on happy homes and super-dedicated homemakers to solve the crushing social problems of the day.
“The homes are the units on which civilization is based and out of which it grows. For every reason it is important that girls and young women should be given a vocational ability for homemaking and housekeeping. The influence of the homes on the children is direct and continuous. Good homes minister to the welfare of people by ensuring conditions under which the children may be healthy, wholesome, and happy and be directed toward the exercise of right ambitions and aspirations. The effect of the home on the level of the community is like the influence of the moon on the level of the sea.
