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DELAIDE HUNTER HOODLESS, one or V‘ Canada’s most creative social reformers t the turn of the century, was a primary articipant in the establishment oi the omen’s Institutes, the National Council of Women of Canada, the National Council of the \‘M’CA, the Macdonald Institute in Ontario, Macdonald College in Quebec and the Victorian Order of Nurses. At the annual meeting at tr tanner.» ai'gtiii.rtitttiii HI 1893. she startled those in attendance by stating rotteiuiw. that the health of their WIVGs and children “.vliitci yn: neglecting is for more important than that or your aninitih She spoke With the conn-rcnon horn of a tragic porno-nth exp rience. One at her children, an intant son. iiad died in 18854 otter drinking infected milk. This tragic event motivated her for the rest ot' liei' lllt‘ She endeavoured, by various means. to assist women throughout Crintidti to provide more intelligent care for their children. their i'amilies, and tlieiriselx-es, Born in 1857, on a farm near St. George, nonh oi Braiitiord. Ontario. young AdL‘lUItlt‘ was llt‘. youngest of 13 children, Her father died before she was born. As she matured she became (I'A'ulL‘ at the difficulties her widowed mother faced in raising her large i'timtlt alone, When Adelaide married Iohn Hoodless a successr lmantitactuiei she moved to Hamilton Ontario. There. after the death of her intant son. she Iecl ti campaign tor the pasteurization oi mill. She became the president of the Hamilton branch or IIiI.‘ toting Warritvn's Christian Association when it was organized in that cm Her experience in the‘ l ”W CA siren: i lit. ill: I her better.» that girls. and through them their families. would benent greatly ii llic‘.’ were trained iii liomumaking This l909 portrait of reformer Adelaide Hunter Hood/es; by john W.L. Foster was painted short/y beforr her untimely death which occurred while she was giving a public address in Toronto Classes she initiated in domestic science at the Hamilton YWCA received a most enthusiastic response. In 1893, after serving as a delegate to the World Congress of Women in Chicago, she proposed the establishment of a National Association of the YWCA to assist underprivileged girls. This was founded the following year and she became its president in 1895. Through various activities, Mrs. Hoodless became a recognized authority on domestic science education and child welfare. As treasurer and home economics convener of the Hamilton Local Council of Women, she organized the second branch of the Victorian Order of Nurses, today a national, nonprofit organization providing home nursing care, particularly for the elderly and chronically ill. At the end of the nineteenth century, as a result of Hoodless’ efforts, courses in domestic saence for girls and manual training for boys were added to the Ontano school curriculum. Ontano’s Minister ofEducation, the Hon. G.W. Ross, asked her to travel across the provrnce to inform the public about domestic science and to write a book on the subject. She thus became one of the first women on the province’s payroll. Her book, Public School Domestic Science, was published in 1898 Her crowning achievement was founding the Women’s Institutes. On February 19, 1897, she spoke to a meeting of farmers’ wives in Stoney Creek, Ontario. Out of that meeting came the first Women's institute. The inaugural meeting was held shortly afterward at the home of Mrs. ED. Smith in Winona, Ontario. Adelaide Headless was eager to initiate resources for the development of the abilities, confidence. and prospects of women living in rural communities. Her aim was to establish and develop what might be described as a mral university for women and, within ten years, more titan 500 Institutes had been organized across Canada, Through the efforts of Mrs. Hoodless, her associates. and supporters such as Senator ED. Smith, the Institutes became widely influential; increased attention was paid to child welfare and women's interests: medical care and child dental care were more frequently provided; recreational and additional library facilities were established; services for helping immigrants to preserve their own cultures and customs were improved. In 1903, through a grant secured by Mrs: Hoodless from tobacco magnate Sir William Macdonald ofMontreal, the Macdonald Institute was established in the Ontario Agncultural College in Guelph (and later, Macdonald College in Quebec) to train Canadian women in the teaching of domestic science. Adelaide Hoodiess died suddenly on the eve of her 53rd birthday in I910. Her Vision and determination, however, continue to stimulate women in Canada and around the world. During World War I, Women’s Institutes were introduced into England and Scotland. In 1919 the Covemment of Canada granted the Institutes a federal charter and provincial representatives met that same year in Winnipeg to form the Federated Women's Institutes of Canada. Their membership today F‘â€" is 30,000. I MIG t ‘.