The Ruth Gorman fonds and This Project

The Ruth Gorman fonds is held by the Thomas A. Edge Archives & Special Collections at Athabasca University, having been donated in 2008 by Ruth Gorman's daughter, Linda Gorman, who acquired custody of the records following Ruth Gorman's death in 2002.

The fonds consists primarily of textual records which include correspondence, newspaper and magazine articles and typed and handwritten notes. The correspondence is primarily letters to and from Ruth Gorman and is mainly related to her time working alongside Indigenous Peoples to obtain the right to vote in Canada and her involvement with the Western Canada Concept Party of Alberta. Newspaper and magazine article topics include, among many things, recipes, Indigenous Rights, constitution issues and prominent women. The majority of Ruth Gorman’s typed and handwritten notes are related to her book about John Laurie, however, she does have notes about My Golden West, her cookbook, the Western Canada Concept Party and the Local Council of Women. The fond consists of six series: My Golden West, 1912-1991; John Laurie, 1861-2006; Cookbook, 1929-1997; Western Canada Concept, 1949-1988; Personal Records, 1833- 1999; and Local Council of Women Calgary Branch, 1833-1995.

During the Summer 2022 term, a small selection of records from the Ruth Gorman fonds were made available to a team of GSJ 598/DH 530 students from the University of Alberta. Following a survey of the records provided, the project team selected and arranged a subset of the records based on their interpretation and understanding of the records, as well as their intention to reflect the archival values of the team. The project team discovered many records which related to significant eras in Gorman’s life; these eras became the basis of the curated collections showcased on this website, as well as the inspiration to provide the timeline on the Welcome page. Please note that not all records made available to the team were included in these collections as the goal of this project was purposeful inclusion, showcasing areas of Ruth Gorman’s work and life that seemed significant to the team.

The goal of this project was to arrange a portion of the records of the Ruth Gorman fonds in a way that was meaningful and representative of their creator so that researchers could both easily locate the records they are interested in, as well as better understand the activities of Ruth Gorman and the context in which these records were created. The team acknowledges that this curation is also a reflection of the intersectionality of its members, including the variety of beliefs, life experiences, and values each team member brought with them into their work on this project.