The Petticoat Expeditions, Part Three: Countess of Aberdeen

199720 min 3 secFilm: Documentary

Direction: Pepita Ferrari

Production: Kent MartinDon Haig

Script: Pepita Ferrari

The Petticoat Expeditions uses the words and works of three extraordinary British women to recount their experiences in 19th-century Canada: acclaimed author Anna Jameson, who kept an account of her solitary journey throughout Upper Canada during the 1830s, when it was unheard of for a woman to travel alone; artist Frances Hopkins, who depicted the legendary voyageurs and their way of life in her paintings as she travelled in the Canadian wilderness by canoe in the 1860s; and Lady Ishbel Aberdeen, social activist, who chronicled her excursions across the country in the 1890s in a photographic travelogue. This breathtaking series paints an inspiring portrait of three women who would not be constrained by convention, and ties their travels to key historical changes taking place in their times. Part 3 follows the life of Lady Aberdeen, who devoted herself to social reform and helped found both the National Council of Women of Canada and the Victorian Order of Nurses in Canada.

Subject categories


  • Women - Portraits > Health and IllnessHistorical FiguresSocial Issues
  • History - Canada - 1867-1919 > PortraitsSocial LifeWomen
  • History > Canada under British Rule (1764-1867)Early Colonization/Settlement
  • Family Studies/Home Economics > Feminism
  • History and Citizenship Education > Imperialism and Colonization (1800s-1900s)
  • Indigenous Studies > Issues and Contemporary Challenges
  • Social Studies > Social History

Credits


director
Pepita Ferrari
script
Pepita Ferrari
producer
Kent Martin
executive producer
Don Haig
camera
Savas Kalogeras
sound
Diane Carrière
Norman Dugas
John Martin
editing
Denise Beaudoin
sound editing
Don Ayer
re-recording
Serge Boivin
Jean Paul Vialard
narrator
Helena Bonham-Carter
music
Judith Gruber-Stitzer
cast
Mary Jane Gibson
Lila Cano
Severn Thompson