The Young Canuckstorian Project - Sadie Knowles

Video Transcription

With the recent pandemic and the courageous work done by our frontline workers, The Young Canuckstorian Project looks to celebrate some of the outstanding community leaders from the past who have gone above and beyond the call for their Lambton, our home.

During the First World War, scrap drives became very important. The scraps were used to help with the war effort. Waste paper, old rags, scrap metal, and old rubber were useful in the war. Lambton County women successfully aided the soldiers at war with these scrap drives. It was during this time that seven women from Sarnia met and would change the face of the art world forever. One of those members especially would leave a lasting impact, Sadie Knowles.

Summer in Sarnia was particularly beautiful in 1914.  The ships were streaming up the St. Clair, families and farmers were busying themselves after a cold winter, when life would completely change on May 7^th, 1914. Canada was suddenly at war. Men and boys were signing up to fight in the war while women were making hospital supplies and taking jobs in ammunition factories.

Everything was pushed aside in order to win the war and save our town. Committees formed including one that collected rags and scrap paper to sell to recycle it and raise money for the Red Cross.

The work was hard, tiring, and dirty but the committee raised $4,800 for the Red Cross by the wars end. At that point seven of the women from the conservation committee teamed up with Norman Gurd, a member of the Sarnia Library Board, to collect art for the Public Art Gallery they hoped to see open in the City someday.

The Sarnia Women Art Conservation Association had its first show in 1920 including paintings by Tom Thomson and future members of the Group of Seven. The Sarnia association members were fans and supporters of the groundbreaking artists before many Canadian art critics and collectors were.

You today cannot imagine the gratitude of the painters, the art critics in Toronto and Montreal were ridiculing these men and their works. In 1950, three remaining members of the association donated the collection of approximately 25 pieces of Canadian art to the Sarnia Library where the collection continued to grow.

Sadie, a children’s librarian at Sarnia Library for over 40 years, was the last surviving member of the group before passing away in 1984. Sadie Knowles' love of community and the art world will be forever remembered in Lambton County.

The story of Sadie Knowles wouldn’t be complete if we didn’t talk about her outstanding career with the Sarnia  Public Library, which started in 1922. In her early days she was trained in Toronto and trained under an innovative librarian at the famous boys and girls house. She brought these concepts with her to Sarnia including her own idea of “Story Hour”. Story Hour was not reading from a book…but rather an imagination exercise for the kids.

Sadie gave herself to her work…and loved “HER KIDS”. She never tired of trying to interest yet one more child in an intriguing book. As of a result of this dedication she served with the Ontario and Canadian Library Association and was known throughout Canada as an outstanding children’s librarian.

The Quota Club of Sarnia named her woman of the year in 1955 and she received the Canadian Centennial Medal in 1967. In 1982, Mayor Marceil Saddy declared a Sadie Knowles Day where she was honoured by the community…..the day it was held?...It was her birthday.

Additional Information

Sadie A. Knowles was born March 22, 1889 to John Knowles, a fireman with the GTR and Mina Knowles (nee. Mooney). Sadie is often remembered as a highly respected children's librarian at Sarnia Library for over 40 years.

Sadie began her career at Sarnia Public Library in 1922.  In 1931 she was placed in charge of the Children’s Library and continued as the Children’s Librarian until her retirement in 1969. During the early years she trained in Toronto with innovative librarian Lillian Smith of the Boys and Girls House.  While she brought in some of the ideas she learned during her time in Toronto, she also brought in many ideas of her own including the formation of the first Story Hour in Ontario.

She was also an active member of the Sarnia Women’s Conservation Art Association from the 1920’s until the group disbanded in 1956. It was this group who purchased numerous paintings and sketches from the Group of Seven and their associates, using the proceeds from funds raised through the collection of recyclable materials.

Starting as a women’s relief group to raise money for WWI efforts by collecting saleable wastepaper and rags, the women successfully aided the soldiers at war until the war ended. Afterwards, a discussion lead by the group’s president Francis Flintoft looked at ways of shifting their efforts to another community need. With a hearty vote of approval, it was decided that the group would use their efforts to form an art committee to buy art from Canadian artists. This proved to be a successful endeavor, having acquired one of the best collections of Group of Seven works in Canada during that time. 

After the group disbanded, Sadie along with the other two other surviving members, Dorothy Carlisle and Mrs. R.V LeSueur, donated their collection of 27 works to the Sarnia Library. These works, along with many others collected over the years, formed the foundation of the Judith & Norman Alix Art Gallery in Sarnia.