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i "K 3 FARMING TODAY Monday, June 4. 199 0--3 Where it all began -- Museum site birthplace of Women's institute by BILL CODD Cambrid e District Reporter . AMI TON -- One of the H best-kept historical se crets in Ontario is a pris- tinely restored 200~year~old l farm house~cum~museum just 1 east of Hamilton --- with a spec- ' tacular view overlooking the Ni- 1 agara Escarpment and the en tire western end of Lake Ontario. It's the birthplace of the 93- s yearbld worldwide Women's 1 Institute movement -- that bas- tion of rural education, ded- icated to teaching farm women the life skills needed to run a ru- 9 re] household. The museum is well worth a visit ---- and it's within spittin' distance of the main roads lead- ing to Niagara Falls. It's open 5 almost every day of the year. i " And admission is free, although ' there is a donation box near the entrance. The beautifully restored es~ tale is the farm home of Erland and Janet Lee, cofounders of the Women's Institute movement back in 1897. And it was on the dining room table in l the home that Mrs. Lee penned the institute's constitution. The institute's story -- and that of Erland and Janet Lee -- ; is also the story of basic social change in rural Canada -- and around the world as chapters ' were formed abroad. l The Lee's ancestors -- United Empire Loyalists --- had mi- grated from Maryland to this rural district, now less than three miles east of the Hamilton city limits, back in 1792. And by the time the Lee family finally sold the homestead and barns to the provincial Women's Insti- tute organization in 1972, some » six generations of Lees had livedthere. Erland Lee ---- part of the fourth generation -- was a school teacher with enough other careers on the go to fill all of the free time of lesser indi- viduals, without searching for new organizations to start from scratch. Born in 1864, he received a certificate in agriculture from the then Agriculture and Arts Association of Ontario. He was a charter member of the newly- formed Farmers' Institute and served as secretary of that or- ganization for some 19 years. He was also secretary-trea- surer of the local Saltfleet Between 3,000 and 4,000 people a year discover the Erland Lee Museum overlooking the Niagara Escarpment just east of Hamil- ton. The home is the birthplace of the world-wide Women's Insti- Township Agricultural Society, I and served as Saltfleet Town- ship clerk for 20 years. ,Erland was a publicly--spir- ited individual-and prominent in the community. He was also a progressively-minded farmer, overseeing a mixed farming op-- eration with purebred Jersey cattle. He also made dairy but- ter, processed and marketed maple syrup, and grew and sold fruit. e married Janet, who was H also a teacher, and who was chosen by the city of Hamilton to take a special course in Toronto so she could help establish a kindergarten system in Hamilton's schools. In the autumn of 1896, Erland attended a meeting of the Farmers' Experimental Union at the Ontario Agricultural Col- lege in Guelph, and listened to an address by local social activ- ist, Mrs. Adelaide Hoodless of Hamilton. And it was the sub- ject of that address that inspired Erland to form a new educational organization for women, patterned somewhat after the male--oriented Farm- ers' Institute. Mrs. Hoodless had had a 14- monthold baby son die from contaminated milk. And when the comment was made that farmers knew more about farming and raising crops, than farm women knew about runing a household and raising a fam- ily, Mrs. Hoodless dedicated herself to change all that. She lobbied for social change and life skills education where» ver she could. With her words fresh in his mind, Erland invited Mrs. Hoodless to speak at Ladies' Night at the Saltfleet Farmers' Institute. And the following week Erland and Janet were' travelling the backroads of the township by horse and buggy, encouraging as many women as possible to attend a meeting at Squires' Hall in Stoney Creek. There were 101 women at that meeting on a cold, crisp Feb. 19, 1897. And the Women's Institute movement was born. Throughout the years, the original thrust of the organiza- tion has remained -- to educate rural women in home and fam- ily skills. And a history of that quest is documented at the mu- the institute's bylaws and constitution were written. seum. Hilda Beachin, public rela- tions co--ordinator for the com- mittee that oversees operation of the museum, says some 3,000 to 4,000 visitors --mostly insti- tute women on a pilgrimage to the organization's roots, tour the facility each year. And a major portion come from for- eign countries. "It seems most of them come to Canada to visit the museum, and end up bringing local mem- bers who haven't bothered to come, themselves. " nfortunately, she says, I I the museum remains largely unknown to those outside the organization. "We've never really adver- tised it in the past," says Bea- chin. "Our members are all aware of it. And it's our mem- bers that mostly are the ones that come." But that may be changing. "There's a move at the pro- vincial level that the museum start opening Sundays, and for more advertising. We're plan- ning some new brochures, and we'll be attempting'to make people more aware of the mu« Sta" photo by Bill Codd seum's location." Beachin said that the more people who can be drawn to the museum and can be shown what the Women's Institute movement is all about, the more people who could be drawn to join one of the hun-- dreds of local groups across Canada. In the last year, she says, the museum board has built a large Barking lot and new washrooms ehind the home. And picnic ta- bles were added in a park-like setting nearby. "It's a great place to come and have a picnic. Or to just come in and look around," said Beachin. The Erland Lee Museum is lo- cated on Ridge Road, on the edge of the Niagara Escarp- ment overlooking the town of Stoney Creek just east of Ham- ilton. It is less than three miles from the Queen Elizabeth Way l and Highway 8, below the es-§ carpment, and from Highway; 20 to the west and south. 1 The home is located at the top of the Dewitt Road mountain access road. or about three miles east of Highway 20. us 1,,