ODDS ‘N’ SODS — Anne Evelyn Wilson: a heroine to Canadian

Women working in geology today may think they are pioneering in a predominantly male field. But the real pioneer was from an earlier generation.

Canada’s first female geologist was Alice Evelyn Wilson, born in Cobourg, Ont., in 1881. She combined a natural interest in science and the outdoors with a will of iron and a gift for bringing the past to life for students. The result was a remarkable career with the Geological Survey of Canada (GSC) in Ottawa, spanning more than 50 years.

Her life is described in a collection of biographies of Canadian women, The Clear Spirit (1966, University of Toronto Press, M.Q. Innis, ed.). Wilson studied modern languages and history at Victoria University in Cobourg, intending to go into teaching, but she dropped out before her last year.

After a 2-year stint as clerk in the mineralogy division of the University of Toronto museum, she moved to Ottawa in 1909 to work at the GSC. She worked there as a clerk, assisting palaeontologist Percy Raymond. Her work included labelling fossils, recording specimens in a great ledger and dusting the collection.

Wilson finished her bachelors degree on leave and returned in 1911 as museum assistant, the first woman ever to have a professional position at the Survey. (She would complete a PhD in geology in 1929 at the University of Chicago, again on leave.)

Wilson began to examine, identify and write about the fossils in the museum, but she wanted more. She wanted to be a geologist — to go out and map the rocks and collect the specimens herself. At that time, it was unthinkable that she would be sent to a remote camp. That did not deter her. She chose as her study area the fairly accessible Ottawa-St. Lawrence Lowland and, in 1913, became the first woman sent to the field by the Survey. Mapping this region, determining its geological history and describing its fossils were to be Wilson’s life-long work and her greatest contribution to geological science.

Lack of support and recognition often made her work difficult, and it was only through her perseverance that she reached her goals. In her refined way, she broke the gender barrier many times, including being the first woman admitted to the Royal Society of Canada.

In 1945, she at last earned the title of geologist, a year before she retired at the age of 65. Most of the research in her own field area still lay scattered about in collections, notes and sketch maps.

Now that she was free of her routine duties, she threw herself into life. She kept an office at the Survey and worked every day until she was 82. In 1946, the Survey published Memoir 241, her comprehensive description of the geology of the Ottawa-St. Lawrence Lowlands. The following year, her book for young people, The Earth Beneath Our Feet, was published. Over time, she produced a series of bulletins which systematically described the fossils she had collected.

In 1948, Wilson joined the staff at Carleton University, in Ottawa, as a lecturer on geology. The university later conferred upon her an honorary doctorate of laws, citing her as “explorer of the secrets beneath us” and “animator of the young.”

In November, 1959, she completed her 15th year with the Survey. She gave up her office in 1963 and died the following year.

During her lifetime, she saw an increasing number of women take their places among the geology students at university and the professional staff at the Survey. Her hard-won victories made progress easier for those who followed. — From the federal government offices of Energy, Mines and Resources Canada.