Margaret Anchoretta Ormsby (7 June 1909 – 2 November 1996) was a Canadian historian, particularly concerning the

history of British Columbia The history of British Columbia covers the period from the arrival of Paleo-Indians thousands of years ago to the present day. Prior to European colonization, the lands encompassing present-day British Columbia were inhabited for millennia by ...

. She was head of the Department of History at the

University of British Columbia The University of British Columbia (UBC) is a public university, public research university with campuses near Vancouver and in Kelowna, British Columbia. Established in 1908, it is British Columbia's oldest university. The university ranks a ...

Early life and education

Ormsby was born in

Quesnel, British Columbia Quesnel (Kee-nel in French) is a city located in the Cariboo Regional District of British Columbia, Canada. Located nearly evenly between the cities of Prince George and Williams Lake, it is on the main route to northern British Columbia and th ...

, and raised in the

Okanagan Valley The Okanagan ( ), also known as the Okanagan Valley and sometimes as the Okanagan Country, is a region in the Canadian province of British Columbia defined by the basin of Okanagan Lake and the Canadian portion of the Okanagan River. It is part ...

. She enrolled at the

(UBC) in 1925, graduating with a Bachelor of Arts in 1929, and a Master of Arts in 1931, both in

History History (derived ) is the systematic study and the documentation of the human activity. The time period of event before the History of writing#Inventions of writing, invention of writing systems is considered prehistory. "History" is an umbr ...

. While pursuing her PhD at

Bryn Mawr College Bryn Mawr College ( ; Welsh: ) is a women's liberal arts college in Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania. Founded as a Quaker institution in 1885, Bryn Mawr is one of the Seven Sister colleges, a group of elite, historically women's colleges in the United St ...

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania (; ( Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the United States. It borders Delaware to its southeast, ...

she interrupted those studies to work as a teaching assistant in history at UBC, then graduated from Bryn Mawr in 1936.
Historical Essays on British Columbia
'. McGill-Queen's Press - MQUP; 1980. . p. 22–.

Career

Ormsby taught in the United States for the next three years, then became a lecturer at McMaster University in 1940, returning to teach at UBC in 1943.
Creating Historical Memory: English-Canadian Women and the Work of History
'. UBC Press; 1 November 2011. . p. 225–. In 1955 she was appointed Professor and in 1965 became head of the university's Department of History, a position she held until her retirement in 1974.Cathy Converse.
Mainstays: Women who Shaped BC
'. TouchWood Editions; 1998. . p. 27–. Ormsby was chair of the

Historic Sites and Monuments Board of Canada National Historic Sites of Canada (french: Lieux historiques nationaux du Canada) are places that have been designated by the federal Minister of the Environment on the advice of the Historic Sites and Monuments Board of Canada (HSMBC), as being ...

from 1960 to 1967. She received honorary doctorates from the

University of Victoria The University of Victoria (UVic or Victoria) is a public research university located in the municipalities of Oak Bay and Saanich, British Columbia, Canada. The university traces its roots to Victoria College, the first post-secondary instit ...

and

Simon Fraser University Simon Fraser University (SFU) is a public research university in British Columbia, Canada, with three campuses, all in Greater Vancouver: Burnaby (main campus), Surrey, and Vancouver. The main Burnaby campus on Burnaby Mountain, located from ...

as well as UBC, and holds the Insignia of the

Order of British Columbia The Order of British Columbia (french: Ordre de la Colombie-Britannique) is a civilian honour for merit in the Canadian province of British Columbia. Instituted in 1989 by Lieutenant Governor David Lam, on the advice of the Cabinet under Premier B ...

. During her career she wrote extensively about the history and political development of British Columbia.
Canadian History: Confederation to the present
'. University of Toronto Press; 1994. . p. 370–. In 1976 she was editor of the book ''A Pioneer Gentle Woman in British Columbia: the Recollections of Susan Allison''.Michael Kluckner.
Vanishing British Columbia
'. UBC Press; 1 November 2011. . p. 16–. Ormsby's 1958 book, ''British Columbia: A History'', provided a framework for both timeline and causation of historical events in British Columbia's past.Chad Reimer.
Writing British Columbia History, 1784-1958
'. UBC Press; 1 July 2010. . p. 186–. The book has been used as a resource by many historians and teachers. Although the book is more than 60 years old, it is still held in more than 350 libraries in 2018. Ormsby posited a series of propositions that sought to explain the ongoing pull between maritime and continental forces; the opposition between a hierarchical model of society represented by the

Hudson's Bay Company The Hudson's Bay Company (HBC; french: Compagnie de la Baie d'Hudson) is a Canadian retail business group. A fur trading business for much of its existence, HBC now owns and operates retail stores in Canada. The company's namesake business div ...

and colonial officials, and the more egalitarian ideas of

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

and Canadian settlers; and regional tensions between

Vancouver Island Vancouver Island is an island in the northeastern Pacific Ocean and part of the Canadian Provinces and territories of Canada, province of British Columbia. The island is in length, in width at its widest point, and in total area, while are o ...

and mainland, metropolitan

Vancouver Vancouver ( ) is a major city in western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the List of cities in British Columbia, most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the ...

and the hinterland interior.Chad Reimer "Ormsby, Margaret A." in

Bibliography

Her works include: * - Total pages: 558 commemorating the centennial of the designation of B.C. as a crown colony. *''A Pioneer Gentle Woman in British Columbia: the Recollections of Susan Allison'' (1976) (see

John Fall Allison John Fall Allison (1825–1897) was a pioneer settler, Justice of the Peace, Postmaster and Gold Commissioner in the Similkameen Country of the Southern Interior of British Columbia, Canada. Life and career Allison was born in Leeds in West Y ...

) *''Coldstream - Nulli Secundus'' (1990)

References

UBC Archives, Fonds Description

External links

Jean Barman Jean Barman is a historian of British Columbia. Born in Stephen, Minnesota, United States, Barman arrived in British Columbia in 1971. Her work ''The West Beyond the West: A History of British Columbia'' has been described as the "standard text o ...

Order of British Columbia biography
*Margaret E. Prang
''Margaret Anchoretta Ormsby''
''

Canadian Encyclopedia ''The Canadian Encyclopedia'' (TCE; french: L'Encyclopédie canadienne) is the national encyclopedia of Canada, published online by the Toronto-based historical organization Historica Canada, with the support of Canadian Heritage. Available for ...

'
Archived
at the Wayback Machine {{DEFAULTSORT:Ormsby, Margaret Cariboo people University of British Columbia alumni McMaster University alumni Bryn Mawr College alumni Members of the Order of British Columbia 1996 deaths 1909 births 20th-century Canadian women writers 20th-century Canadian historians Canadian women historians Presidents of the Canadian Historical Association

Early life and education

Career

Bibliography

See also

References

External links