Documenting First Wave Feminisms

"First wave feminism has long awaited this kind of serious reconsideration. Adopting an appropriately capacious and self-conscious definition of what constitutes first wave feminism, Forestell and Moynagh gather together a wide-ranging and often fascinating collection of documents that shed new light on this politically ambitious and complicated movement, its national context, and its transnational connections." -- Adele Perry, Canada Research Chair in Western Canadian Social History, University of Manitoba "Documenting First Wave Feminisms is a timely collection of primary documents on first wave feminism in Canada, with a well-written and insightful introduction. It is an important addition to the scholarly literature on Canadian first wave feminism which, as the editors point out, has received minimal attention from Canadian historians in the past decade." -- Marlene Epp, Professor, History and Peace & Conflict Studies, Conrad Grebel University College, University of Waterloo

Together with its first volume, Documenting First Wave Feminisms reveals a more nuanced picture, attentive to nationalism and transnationalism, of the first wave than has previously been understood.

This book is the second of a two-volume anthology of primary source documents on feminism in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Unique in its extensive treatment of the first-wave feminist movement in Canada, it highlights distinct elements of its origins and evolution.

The book is organized into thematic rubrics that address key issues, debates, and struggles within the first wave in Canada, as well as international influences and Canadian engagement in transnational networks and initiatives. Documents by Indigenous, Anglophone, Francophone, and immigrant female activists demonstrate the richness and complexity of Canadian feminism during this period. Together with its first volume, Documenting First Wave Feminisms reveals a more nuanced picture, attentive to nationalism and transnationalism, of the first wave than has previously been understood.