In Her Hands: Women's Educational Work a the Royal Ontario Museum, the Canadian National Exhibition and the Art Gallery of Toronto, 1900s-1950s

Women educators initiated, shaped, developed and practiced experiential, multisensory or object-based education in art galleries, exhibitions and museums in Toronto. Examining women educators' roles in developing educational programming in three sites, the Royal Ontario Museum (ROM), the Art Gallery of Toronto (now known as the Art Gallery of Ontario or AGO) and the Canadian National Exhibition (CNE), sheds light on women's work to make museums and galleries accessible to more diverse publics. Educators were white middle class women, often university educated; their work during the first half of the twentieth century in the development and practice of educational programming was geared to broader publics and ultimately resulted in institutional change. Women working in museums, galleries and exhibitions tailored their programming to: women; children and youth; newcomers to Canada and differently abled community members. By working within the gendered hierarchical structures of large cultural institutions, these educators were able to exercise their own agency and independence through the programming they developed. This gendered geneaology of museum education practice enables us to understand the history of many of the pedagogical practices in place today within these institutions. Coupled with a deeper understanding of museum education origins, this study also reveals that women played integral roles in establishing and developing educational practices that were aligned with progressive education reforms, thereby situating museums and galleries as crucial sites for these pedagogies. These learner-centered experiential pedagogies broadened museum and gallery publics and laid the groundwork for social inclusion in cultural institutions today. This study adds important recuperative historical narratives to the story of Canadian museum education and clears a space for new historical understandings of Canadian museum and exhibition practices. By historicizing museum education, and acknowledging the gendered and racialized nature of these educative spaces, this study will address how issues of access and public education have played out in the city of Toronto.